N. A. C. A. B

- 1 9

N. A. C. A. B

Vol. IX, No. 15 April 1, 1928

IN T W O SE CT IO N S

Section II

This bulletin is published semi - monthly by theNational Association of Cost Accountants,

26 West 4 4th St., New Y ork

r

A WO RK ABL E SOLUT ION O F T H E BIT UMINOUS '

COAL SIT UAT ION

By Ernest Crowther , C. P. A.

Dean— Pittsburgh School of AccountancySenior Partner — Crowther & Wilson

SINCE April 1, 1927, the bituminous coal industry has beenand is still partially stagnant in the field in which the issue of

wages between miners and operators remains unsettled. News-papers inform us that "possibly Secretary of Labor Davis will beable to get operators and miners together for some basis of adjust-ment, but is is doubtful." The distress of the situation is keenlyfelt and a solution bringing content to both operators and minerswill be extremely welcome.

Sponsored by The Pennsylvania Industrial Survey, Bulletin No.1, "The Shift in Soft Coal Shipments" and Bulletin No. 2,"Freight Rates on Soft Coal" by Dr. Charles Reitell, of the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh and associated with Sheppard and Company,Certified Public Accountants, present very instructive informationcovering their respective subjects and a very discouraging por-trayal of the decline and fall of Pennsylvania in its relation to theannual output of soft coal throughout the United States. Thesebulletins should be read and studied by all interested in the welfareof Nature's gift to Pennsylvania.

PROBLEMS To BE SOLVED

It is not my purpose to attempt the impossible. An immediateworkable solution of the soft coal situation is possible only by gov-ernmental intervention, the submerging of self interests of oper-ators and miners, without concern to locality or state, to such reg-ulation as will secure1. Conservation of the nation's bituminous coal fields.2. Adjustment of producing capacity to the nation's requirements.3. Stabilization of wages and profits.

CONSERVATION OF THE NATION'S BITUMINOUS COAL FIELDS

Industry naturally seeks to locate itself at the point or placemost advantageous to the success of its operations. The elements

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April 1, 1928 N. A. C. A. Bulletin

CO NV EN TI O N P R OG RA M

Tuesday, June 12

Profit Trend in American Industry —Col. R. H.Montgomery

Determination of Labor Standards for Costs andWage Incentive Plans —Mr L. P. Alford

Wednesday, June 13

Simplification of Industrial Accounting — Prof.T. H. Sanders

Plant and Property Records, Appraisals and De-preciation—Mr. Grant L. Bell

Thursday, June 14

Cost Accounting Forum —Mr. C. Oliver Wel-lington

Standard Costs to Reduce Production and Dis-tribution Costs —Mr. G. Charter Harrison

New York CityJune, 11, 12, 13, and 14

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of labor, water, fuel and transportation are important factors indetermination of location. Pittsburgh, with its title, "Workshop ofthe World," splendidly illustrates this application of industry. Sincethe time, twenty years or so ago, when the title, "Smoky City,"as applied to Pittsburgh, was merited, progress, at least in thisvicinity, in the conservation of soft coal has been made. This isevidenced in our generally clearer sky lines.

Conservation of a commodity, with resources unlimited to thepresent generation, receives only the thought of the sincere fewwith broader vision for the future. The conservation of soft coalto which we must look is that which the larger operators are work-ing to accomplish; viz:—

1. Maximum yield per acre production.2. Elimination of wasteful mining operations.3. Decrease waste in soft coal consumption.4. Increase utilization of coal by- products.5. Commercial development of proven research studies.

ADJUSTMENT OF PRODUCING CAPACITY OF THE NATION'S

REQUIREMENTS

While Pennsylvania, through one cause or another, has sufferedmaterially in its decreased output of soft coal, while other stateshave benefited, it is very questionable in the present status of softcoal product ion that any adjus tment wil l r estore Pennsylvania tothe position it formerly held, viz, that of being the largest producer.

The present situation reflects considerable changes. The pastquarter of a century's growth in industry and transportation haswidened the space between the points of soft coal production inPennsylvania and soft coal consumption. Large soft coal con-suming units such as the large steel corporations are their ownsoft coal producers. Other states have materially increased theirsoft coal mining operations and output.

Recurring labor troubles in Pennsylvania with temporary sus-pensions of output in that state have resulted in the ultimate diver-sion of coal tonnage to other states. This phase together with theabnormal requirements during the war makes necessary an adjust-ment of capacity to requirement. It is common knowledge that

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the developed capacity of mines is far in excess of our nationalsoft coal requirements.

Readjustment is a problem. Methods of solution practical onthe surface and not difficult to prescribe will fail unless exercisedby some controlling power.

Removal of other than economic influences in freight rate con-troversies, transfer of benefits from one locality to another as maybe obtained by political influence for this locality or the other,will not solve the solution. Nationalization of mines would be abackward step. What is the solution?

Fuel including soft coal is not far beyond the range of classifica-tion as a public utility. Under the Public Service Commissions ofour several states, and the Interstate Commerce Commission forthe federal government, our public utilities are functioning. With-out such regulation a chaos of the service of public utilities wouldprobably prevail.

It may be claimed, and r ightly so, that the law of supply anddemand with free competition will by process of survival of thefittest, adjust the relation of coal producing capacity and consump-tion. This, however, is primitive to our present day tendency ofattaining economies in operation.

The principle of merging groups engaged in the same activities,within the same localities, for the purpose of economy, must alsobe applied to the soft coal industry as a whole. Obviously suchmerger or mergers would enable a better balanced productionschedule, less operating costs, less marketing and distribution costs.With few exceptions, zoning of coal shipments as was practicedduring the war would become, not compulsory, but necessary as avital factor in securing economy of operations as well as adjust-ment of producing capacity to the nation's requirements.

STABILIZATION OF WAGES AND PROFITS

Belonging to the major basic businesses and as one of the greatfundamental elements of the prosperity of our nation, the coalbusiness is probably the most erratic as to return on investment,stability of wages and operations. The expression is often heardfrom operators that their business is one of either feast or famine,and that since 1917 the seemingly abnormal profits of two or threeyears including that and subsequent years, have been either con -

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sumed in taxes paid or to be paid, or offset by losses and idlemines expense of other years.

As obtained from Mueller's Financial Statistics the rate of re-turn earned by leading bituminous coal companies on their capitalstock and net worth (capital stock and surplus), for the years1911 to 1920 inclusive has been as follows:

Capital .StockYear Capital Stock and Surplus

1 9 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . 3.07% 3.43%1 9 1 2 . . . . . . . . . . . 4.37 4.121 9 1 3 . . . . . . . . . . . 5.05 4.361 9 1 4 . . . . . . . . . . . 3.90 3.701 9 1 5 . . . . . . . . . . . 3.61 3.291 9 1 6 . . . . . . . . . . . 6.87 4.611917 . . . . . . . . . . . 18 . 3 6 9.821918 . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 . 2 8 6.95

1 9 1 9 . . . . . . . . . . . 6.73 4.111920. . . . . . . . . . . 15 . 6 4 7.71

A ve r a g e . . . . . . . 8.09% 5.217,

Excluding the years 1917,1918 and 1920 the aver-age has been : . . . . . . . . 4.70% 3.94%

Since 1920 to the present time it is very doubtful as to whetherthese averages have been maintained. Comments as to the in-adequacy or cause of inadequacy of rates of return may be sum-marized by stating that such low rate of return on the investmentis entirely out of line, compared with other businesses of lesshazards.

Excluding the building trades operations, where strikes in someof our larger cities seem to be an annual spring affair, our majorindustries, manufacturing and transportation, seem to get alongwith very little disturbance on labor and wage questions; and ifany arise, they are able to secure adjustment without any pro-longed suspension of operation. The coal business, vital as it is toother major businesses, is the last in line to evidence anyintelligent attempt to stabilize the supply of fuel, from production

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content as between miners and operators and rate of return on in-vestment. Attribute this situation to what you will— management,labor unions, foreign labor, restriction of immigration, freightrate discriminations —it is all largely a matter of opinion.

The Pittsburgh Press in an editorial in its issue of November28, 1927, said, "The trouble with the coal industry has been thatany individual or group owning a piece of land with a substantialfuel deposit has opened it when he (or they) wished, hired somemen to mine and has started production with more of hope and aprayer toward a good market than any actual knowledge of whatconditions might me. In this respect coal has been in much thesame position as the farmer, production having no relation to priceand profit. Under such utter lack of organization chaos has beenthe inevitable result."

Obviously in a solution to the soft coal situation the individualor group with only a hope or a prayer will pass out of the picturein the readjustment whether brought about by capable managementor government intervention.

Possibly the suggestions of the late Andrew Carnegie in hisarticle on Labor and Capital, published many years ago when labortroubles were experienced in the steel industry may be fruitfulto the coal industry. He said, in part; "What we must seek is aplan by which men will receive high wages when their employersare receiving high prices for the product, and hence are makinglarge profits, and per contra, when the employers are receiving lowprices for product, and therefore small if any profits, the men willreceive low wages. If this plan can be found employers and em-ployed will be `in the same boat' rejoicing in their prosperity andcalling into play their fortitude together in adversity. There willbe no room for quarrels and instead of a feeling of antagonismthere will be a feeling of partnership between employers and em-ployed. There is a simple means of producing this result, and toits general introduction both employers and employed shouldsteadily bend their energies.

"Wages should be based upon a sliding scale, in proportion tothe net prices received for product month by month. It is impos-sible for Capital to defraud Labor under a sliding scale."

Suggestions from the side lines, whether in business or play,

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have no weight or bearing unless in the form of commands froman authoritative source. The time has passed for the passing on ofthe price of adjustment between operators and mine workers'unions to the consumer. No permanent solution to the soft coalsituation will prevail until the obstructions between miners andoperators, that are arrogant or self seeking, have been removedfrom the coal business. The miner is entitled to steady work and afair living wage. The operator is entitled to a fair return on hisinvestment. Stability of wages and profit will follow when thesetwo elements are realized.

THE SOLUTION

In conclusion, it may be said that the entire problem, at themoment, is one of technical analysis of the situation, analysis by acompetent group of business technicians, engineers, and account-ants. A Review Board of this type should be appointed, either byState or , preferably, by Federal authorities, with instructions toreport at the earliest practicable date. Operators and minersshould, in advance, agree to be governed by the findings and recom-mendation of this impartial Review Board.

COMMENT AND DISCUSSION

BY GEORGE F. HERDE, C. P. A.

Mr. Crowther mentions several points in connection with theproblem of the coal industry, which appear to me as being worthyof additional comment.

He has pointed out, for instance, that the matter of conserva-tion of coal under some form of Government control might be ad-vantageous, and I believe he does not limit this idea of conserva-tion to the mere control of production and consumption of theproduct.

The conservation of natural resources has never been accom-plished by legislative measures in the past, but is actually accom-plished from time to time by the operation of natural economiclaws. In the case of the coal industry this is evidenced in thegrowing use of oil for fuel and electricity produced by water

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power, both of which have conserved the coal supply and are in afair way for more extensive use, with corresponding effects uponthe curtailment of uses of coal. Therefore, from this standpoint,the problem of conservation does not appear to be a serious one.

;Again, the coal business has been referred to as in the natureof a public utility, and therefore an industry which might be gov-erned or supervised in the same manner as other public utilities.This is essentially true, but the competition of the coal businessbetween States makes it extremely difficult to effect a settlementof the problem in that manner.

Another point mentioned is that of production and consumptionand their relationship in the industry. This is a serious factor andit would be a decided advantage to the industry and to the publicto control production in such a manner as to stabilize the businessby restraining the operation of fly -by -night units and by maintain-ing the operation of those fields and mines which permit of thebest possible results in the interests of all concerned. This formof control could only be effectively instituted by Federal author-ities under some national law.

Therefore, we are faced with the fact that the coal problem ismade tip of a number of problems or factors which will demandattention. In addition to the problems of labor and freight rates,we are faced with a situation where the industry is so highly cap-italized today that it is impossible for the operators to make a fairreturn on investment and pay a living wage to the wage earnersand the problem of the industry is to solve this difficulty.

If we could divorce politics from Government, the solution wouldseem to be simple and rest in the nationalization of natural re-sources. Since that is impossible. then it seems to me that a com-mission, such as the Interstate Commerce Commission, would bein a position to eliminate many of the difficulties and solve someof the important phases of the problem.

This commission would have to possess powers similar to thoseof the Interstate Commerce Commission and have control of oper-ations, the fixing of values for determining returns on investment,sale prices, and other features of supervision embracing the entireindustry.

The creation of such a body as this would pi obabiy necessitate a

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constitutional amendment, which, in all probability, at presentwould not meet with much favor. Aside from this method, nolegislative measures which we may now attempt to utilize can solvethe problem of coal.

The method which I suggest would necessarily be experimental,as was true of the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commis-sion and the institution of its powers in the railroad 'business, butI am personally convinced that this is the most satisfactory wayout of the difficulty, even though it may require time, and is theonly feasible method of effecting legislation to influence an in-dustry in such a way as to place it upon a substantial basis, andin a fair way to solve economic problems such as confront us inthe coal industry.

The Secretary's Corner

In the days when we were very very young the Bulletins werewritten, edited and published by the Secretary in person. In thosehappy days he had no difficulty in getting any or all of his materialinto print. The Bulletins were terribly good in those days. How-ever, as the years passed by and the organization extended, it be-came more difficult for the Secretary to get his material passed byMr. Kester and his high powered editorial staff in competitionwith such rhetorical sky rockets as A. W. Bass of Pittsburgh,Adrian Metzger of San Francisco, E. J. Stearns of Syracuse, andmany others.

The consequence has been that our membership has been de-prived of the inspiration, moral and educational, which was fur-nished by the nuggets of wisdom and good advice which were dis-played from time to time for their edification by the Secretary ofthis Association.

This has been a matter of serious regret to the Secretary if tono one else and, after giving serious thought to the situation, hehas finally made an arrangement with the editorial powers wherebyhe may possess a corner of the Bulletin for his own exclusive usefree from any editorial restrictions, with the provision that the

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editorial department shall not be responsible for anything whichmay appear in this particular section.

In this column, to be known as the Secretary's Corner (untilwe get a better name, we offer one of the new optimistic holelessdoughnuts for the best suggestion), there will appear from time totime items of information and expressions of opinion for which noone but the Secretary is responsible. No one is required to agreewith the policy, if any, or the contents of this column. Everyoneis invited to express freely his criticisms and contribute gen-erously of his advice.

We shall try so far as possible to operate the column withoutpolicy or without system. We shall pay little if any attention tothe copyright laws; and we refuse to guarantee any of the in-formation. It will contain some sense and some nonsense; factspertinent and impertinent; anecdotes real and imaginary sugges-tions prudent and imprudent; and incidents personal and imper-sonal. We hope it will not be so serious as to be boresome nor sofrivolous as to be uninteresting. But, in any event, it is going tobe our very own. We hope you like it.

I should like to call your attention to an article which appearedin the Atlantic Monthly for March, 1928, entitled the ShermanAct Today, Shall the Small Industrial Unit Survive, by JamesHarvey Williams, President of J. H. Williams & Company, ofBuffalo, N. Y. Many of you have heard me express my opinionson this subject and that is why I want you to read what Mr. Wil-liams has to say. I consider that Mr. Williams has made a realcontribution to our business literature because he agrees with me.

When I was in Erie a week or so ago one thing which im-pressed me very much was the fact that the Erie Chapter hasalready made substantial progress on the organization of its pro-gram for next year. This struck me as a very good idea. It isperfectly true that next year's program may be in the hands of adifferent director in many chapters, but there is a great deal ofpreliminary work that can be done on the program at this time ofthe year, when this year's experiences are fresh in mind, whichwill be of great value to next year's board.

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I have visited some of our smaller chapters lately and I havebeen greatly impressed with the earnest work which is beingcarried on in some of these smaller groups. The success of achapter does not depend upon its size. There is no reason whya small chapter, if it truly represents the industrial community,cannot do just as constructive a piece of work as one of our largerchapters. In fact, there are many advantages which the smallerchapter has, particularly in a compact community, as comparedwith a larger chapter operating over an extended territory.

I ran into Doc Reitell, of the University of Pittsburgh, Presi-dent of the Pittsburgh Chapter, in Buffalo a short time ago and, asusual, he was as busy as a squirrel laying in its winter food supplyafter the first snow. I have not space to enumerate all the activ-ities in which he is engaged at the present time, but among othershe was making a trip on behalf of the City of Pittsburgh for thepurpose of studying the methods of paying school teachers in ourprinciple cities. I didn't know they paid them. He had been asfar West as Denver and as far South as Atlanta.

What interested me most, however, was his sleepmeter. Itseems that the Simmons Bed Company is conducting a researchas to the sleeping habits of the American people. They have de-vised a meter which is attached to the bed and turned on whenone starts to go to sleep. It registers the movements of the humanbody throughout the night by means of a tracing needle and pro-duces a record not unlike the charts produced by the instrumentsof the Weather Bureau. The idea is to find out how peacefullyone sleeps under varying conditions, physical and mental. Doc isone of a number of subjects who are being used as the raw ma-terial for this investigation. It is quite a compliment because allthe subjects are supposed to have minds. It seems that alreadysome interesting information has been developed. The averagehuman being moves about every nine minutes in the course of hissleep. At least that is what Doc said. I should have enjoyedlooking at his chart the morning he left Buffalo. These sleep -meters must have an interesting time. I think Briggs ought todraw a cartoon on "What a sleepmeter Thinks About."

S. C. M.

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T H E P R O F I T T R E N D IN I N D U S T R Y

This is the topic of one of the most important sessions of the1928 N. A. C. A. Annual Convention. Colonel Robert H. Mont-gomery is organizing this session. To provide a factual basis forthe discussion a questionnaire has been prepared by our NationalDirector in Charge of Research, Mr. Harry A. Bullis, Comptroller,Washburn- Crosby Co., Minneapolis, Minn. This questionnairehas been sent to many trade associations and individual businessexecutives, and it is hoped that a large number will fill it out andreturn It. III order, however, to get as broad a distribution aspossible and therefore a good representation of different lines ofbusiness, it has seemed advisable to broadcast it through the mediumof our Bulletin, with a request that all members who can shouldfill out the questionnaire either by indicating actual figures or byexpressing figures in terms of per cents, using the earliest year,1923, as the base or 100ofo. Below is given a copy of the letterwhich accompanied the questionnaire. A copy of the question-naire will be found on the back of the outside cover of this Bul-letin. Members are requested to detach it, fill it in, and send it toN. A. C. A. Headquarters, 26 West 44th Street, New York City.

MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA,

Gentlemen:

One of the most vital questions affecting American industry today is thesteadily narrowing margin of profit . In recent years this situation has beenthe subject of frequent comment and discussion in the papers and maga-zines and elsewhere. We are told that in some lines of industry profitshave been entirely wiped out, while in many lines they have been materiallyreduced. We hear frequently the complaint that although a satisfactoryvolume of business is being done, no profits are being realized.

There is probably considerable tru th in these statements, although forthe most part they have not been supported by actual proof and probablyin some cases are erroneous generalizations based on individual experience.With a view to getting a t the real facts of the situation the National As-sociation of Cost Accountants will devote one session at its next conven-tion to a discussion of this question and in order that this discussion maybe based upon facts and not upon suppositions, the Research Departmentof the Association has instituted a study to find out what the actual profittrend in different industries has been during the past five years.

We wish to enlis t your support in this study. The material accumulatedwill be treated in strict confidence. The information will be collated andpresented as the basis of discussion to be conducted under the leadership of

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Colonel R. H . Montgomery, of Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery, a t thenext convention of the Association to be held in New Y ork on Ju ne 11, 12,

13 and 14, 1928.Following the presentation of the results of this study, there will be con-

sideration of the causes of the conditions disclosed and of the possible

remedies.While fully realizing the extent to which the questionnaire method of

accumulating information has been overworked, we feel that this questionis of sufficient importance to justify an appeal for your co- operation. Weask you to k indly fil l in the brief questionnaire enclosed with this letter andmail it to us a t your earliest convenience. We would a lso very much appre-cia te i t if you would supplement this questionnaire with a letter giving yourpersonal opinions as to the causes which have contributed to the profit trendin your particular industry during the past five years and in the eventthat the profit trend has been downward, what remedies you believe would

alleviate the situation.You will note that while we are interested in the experience of your own

business, our investigation is directed at the trend by industries, and we wouldappreciate your opinions as affecting your industry as a whole, illustrated,of course, if you wish from your own experience.

A complete record of the study by our Research Department and of thepapers and discussion presented at the convention in June will be sent toeach person contributing to the research through the return of the enclosedquestionnaire. May we have your co- operation?

March, 1928.

Very truly yours,

HARRY A. BuLms,

Director in Charge, Research.

ARTH UR WARD FOX 1882 -1928

'Ale lost another of our pioneers in the death of Arthur WardFox, of Hartford on March 3 after an extended illness. ArthurWard Fox was the first President of our Hartford Chapter and itwas around his energetic personality that the chapter was built. Hewas appointed to the National Board to fill a vacancy in March,1922, and served for four years. It was during his administra-tion as President of the Hartford Chapter that the first RegionalConference was held in Hartford and the organization which hebuilt at that time has served as a model for most of the Regionalconferences which have since been held.

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His death at a comparatively early age brings to an end a veryactive career which was intimately associated with the public lifeof Hartford. In spite of the fact that his health was never verygood he always found time and energy to devote to those move-ments in which he believed. He was active in the Y. M. C. A.; hewas head of the Community Fund for a number of years; he wasChairman of the Board of Education; a member of the Board ofAldermen, and participated actively in many other movements.

He was born in New Haven in 1882. He joined the Johns -Pratt Company in 1905, and was successively Assistant Treasurer,Treasurer and Vice - President. A few years ago he was madeVice - President and General Manager of Billings & Spencer Com-pany, which position he held at the time of his death.

Possibly, if he had conserved his strength more selfishly, hemight have lived a few years longer, but the sacrifices which hemade in the public service and in the service of his profession willstand as a monument more to be desired than a few more days oflife. His success was based upon his achievements, the record ofwhich is engraved upon the history of the community in which helived.

BOARD MEETING

The regular meeting of the Board of Directors for March washeld on Thursday evening, March 15th. In the absence of Mr.Stevenson, Vice - President C. Walter Coapman presided.

The Treasurer's report, as usual, showed a thoroughly satis-factory condition of the Association's finances. Mr. Sweetser,Director in Charge of Chapters, reported on the activities ofthe Hartford Chapter in securing the co- operation of theManufacturers' Association of the State of Connecticut, backedby the Governor of the State, for the establishment of several newchapters in Connecticut. He also reported on the prospects for achapter organization in Louisville, Ky. Professor Sanders, Di-rector in Charge of Education, reported on his correspondencewith university and college instructors in accountancy as to pos-sible assistance from the N. A. C. A. Mr. Warner, Director inCharge of Membership, reported in regard to the drive to reach

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N. A. C. A. Bulletin April 1,1928

5,000 members by May 30th. He stated that it would take morethan 200 applications in April and May to reach this objective.He said all the chapters were co- operating in the attempt and hehoped that the objective would be attained. Mr. Bell, Director inCharge of Publications, reported that the book containing the fourScovell Prize Essays was now in proof and lie hoped that it wouldbe ready for distribution within the next five or six weeks. Mr.Bullis, Director in Charge of Research, reported at considerablelength on the status of the research on the Profit Trend in Amer-ican Industry which is to be presented at the opening session of ourconvention in June.

The Board discussed the natural business year and adopted aresolution approving the principle as applied to those industrieswhose business is of such a nature as to indicate a natural businessyear other than the calendar year. Resolutions of regret on thedeaths of C. H. Smith, of Pittsburgh, and Arthur W. Fox, ofHartford, both former members of the National Board, wereadopted and the Secretary was instructed to incorporate in theminutes fitting memorabilia of these two founder members of theAssociation. The Secretary reported on the status of the conven-tion sessions, all of which are in satisfactory shape. The conven-tion program would seem to be the best we have ever prepared andall the sessions are in excellent shape at the present time.

IMPROVE M E NT IN BUSINESS CONT INUE S

By The Brookmire Economic Service, Inc., New York, N. Y.

Business activity in the United States during February showedanother sharp rise and is now approximately ten points up fromthe low level of last December, but still a little below the rate ofactivity witnessed a year ago. As a result of gains in all factorsover the January rate, our Business Index jumped from 99.6 inJanuary to 105.4 in February. A year ago the Index stood at107.4. This index is corrected for seasonal variation and seculartrend so that the 100 line on the chart represents what might betermed "Normal."

The physical volume of output in basic industries (Cotton, Lum-ber, Steel and Iron) rose sharply and is once again above normal.

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The recovery in iron was rather slow and it is the only one of thefour factors mentioned to show a rate of activity below normal.Car loadings made a fair gain over January, but remain below ayear ago. Automobile output expanded sharply, carrying thisfactor above normal for the first time since March of last year.Construction activity rose to a level only slightly below the peakfor all time which occurred in March of 1926. Department storetrade increased fairly sharply in February and the volume is nowat about a normal rate.

BUILDING CONTRACTS AND CONTEMPLATED PROJECTS AT RECORD

LEVELS

The construction industry continues as a powerful influence insustaining a high rate of business activity. In February, contem-plated building and contracts awarded figures were the heaviestever recorded for that month. With contemplated building fig-ures in recent months showing a strong tendency, we believe it safeto assume that the spring months of this year will witness a periodof construction activity never before equalled in this country. Thismeans that the building industry will most likely contribute morethan its full share of activity to business as a whole during the sec-ond quarter of this year at least. The fact that residential build-ing is again on the increase is worthy of special mention. In Janu-ary, residential contracts awarded were 17 per cent above a yearago, while in February a gain of 47 per cent over last year wasreported. The improvement in this type of construction will havea far - reaching effect on general business activity since residentialconstruction affords by far the greater amount of employment andalso affects a wider number of building material dealers. In otherwords, increased activity in this type of building makes for a betterbalance in general business activity.

CONCLUSION

The probabilities are that business activity will gradually im-prove until summer when there is usually a seasonal decline. Thismay be accentuated this year by political uncertainty, but it shouldprove only temporary and will probably not prevent the usual up-turn in the fall, which may easily be stronger than normal.

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Dayton 67 10 10 47 30 16 6 20 20 2 25 . . 186Buffalo . . . . . . 202 5 5 13 3 8 3 10 20 26 45 .. .. .. 15 153Cincinnati . . . . . . 151 5 5 22 6 8 4 10 20 16 35 .. .. .. 15 146Toledo , , . . . , , . . 50 5 5 46 12 8 5 10 20 23 . . 134Tw i n Cities . . . . . 39 5 5 25 24 7 3 10 20 2 14 . . . . . . . . 115Er i e 49 5 5 19 27 8 3 10 20 . . 10 . . . . . . . . 107Cleveland ..159 5 10 23 18 5 20 20 101Ph ilad e lp h ia . . . . 333 5 5 13 3 8 3 10 20 5 14 . . 15 101Hartford ... . . . 143 5 5 22 15 .. 3 10 10 17 10 .. .. .. 97Det ro i t . . . . . . . . 1 6 9 5 5 10 12 7 3 10 20 4 . . . . . . . . 15 91Ut ic a . . . . . . . . . 44 5 5 19 21 8 3 10 20 . . 91Syracuse . . . . . . . 78 5 10 13 6 8 4 20 20 2 88Pittsburgh . . . . 166 5 5 16 9 8 4 10 20 4 5 .. .. .. .. 86In d ian ap o lis . . . . 56 5 5 13 9 8 4 10 20 2 9 . . . . . . . . 85New York . . . . . . 8 4 6 5 5 . . 3 8 5 10 20 14 . . . . . . . . 15 85Rochester . . . . . . 1 9 2 5 5 16 6 8 3 10 10 2 14 . . . . . . . . 79Scranton . . . . . . . 49 . . 5 34 12 6 1 10 10 . . . . 78Columbus ...... 73 .. 5 22 12 8 3 10 10 2 -'Chicago . . . . . . . 2 2 4 5 . . 10 3 8 3 10 10 2 20 . . . . . . . . 71San Francisco . . 87 5 5 10 6 8 3 10 20 4 .. .. .. .. .. 71Albany . . . . . . . . . 44 5 5 19 18 . . 3 10 10 . . . . . . . . . . 70Worcester . . . . . 63 5 5 16 6 . . 3 10 20 2 . , 67Los An ge les . . . 78 5 5 . . 3 8 3 10 20 54Boston . . . . . . . . 1 9 5 5 5 13 6 8 5 10 . . 52Sp r in gf ie ld 93 5 5 . . 3 7 5 10 10 2 . . . . . . . . 47Providence . 57 5 5 . . 3 .. 3 10 10 . . 8 .. .. .. .. 44Ha w a i i . . . . . . . . . 38 5 5 . . 18 . . 5 10 . . 43St. Louis . . . . . . 87 . . 5 . . 9 . . . 10 10 5 3 . . . . . . 42Baltimore . . . . . 93 5 5 10 3 . . 3 10 . . 2 . . 38Milwaukee . . . . 85 .. 5 .. '6 8 3 5 10 .. 37Kansas City ....131 5 . . 8 3 .. 10 .. 26Seattle . . . . . . . . . 22 . .

CHAP T E R RAT I NGS

Ratings for the Year to February 29, 1928

Cincinnati . . . . . 151 45 45 258 111 76 32 90 180 189 283 10 75 .. 40 1434Dayton . . . . . . . . 67 35 35 208 111 53 21 65 160 38 74 10 75 . . 35 920Pittsburgh . . . . . . 166 30 30 117 84 47 23 60 180 64 105 10 75 .. ..

825Buffalo ..... . . . 202 30 30 105 51 53 18 55 180 46 122 10 75 .. 45 820New York . . . . . 8 4 6 30 30 53 18 40 30 60 180 128 98 10 75 . . 25 777Philadelphia . . . . 333 30 30 93 36 50 26 45 180 53 83 10 75 .. 15 726San Francisco . . . 87 35 35 106 87 42 21 65 160 28 41 10 50 .. 30 710Tw i n Cities . . . . 39 30 30 135 120 43 18 55 130 18 50 10 60 . , 10 709Rochester . . . . . . 1 9 2 25 25 102 42 54 18 55 170 9 104 10 65 . . 15 694Indianapolis . . . 56 30 30 135 72 20 24 60 150 32 44 10 65 .. 672Ut ic a . . . . . . . . . 44 30 30 129 117 48 18 60 130 10 13 10 60 . . 10 665Cleveland ......159 20 35 100 39 33 27 65 180 38 41 10 55 ..

..643

Chicago . . . . . . . . 2 2 4 30 25 50 18 46 21 60 150 53 91. .

45 . . 50 639Syracuse . . . . . . 78 30 35 84 69 44 25 70 160 23 20 10 55 . . . .

625

899


Ra t in gs for th e Ye ar to Fe b ru a ry 29 , 1928

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Worcester . . . . . . 63 30 30 120 60 36 18 60 150 17 19 10 65 10 625Kansas City . . . .131 20 25 134 27 41 20 40 130 102 19 10 30 25 623Erie . . . . . . . . . . 49 30 30 108 78 49 18 60 140 12 22 10 55 612Milwaukee .... 85 15 30 83 102 42 26 55 110 16 27 10 50 . . . .10 576Hartford . . . . . . 143 30 30 120 57 9 18 60 120 39 20 10 40 553Boston . . . . . . . . 1 95 30 30 59 27 42 30 60 90 25 63 10 60 . .. . 526Scranton . . . . . . . 49 15 20 140 60 30 12 60 70 2 6 10 65 . . 10 500Springfield .... 93 30 30 55 21 30 26 60 110 25 31 10 55 483St. Louis . . . . . . 87 15 30 55 54 27 15 55 140 19 9 10 40 10 479Det ro i t , . . . . . . 1 6 9 25 30 93 57 7 21 60 80 35 2

. .50 . . 15 475Haw ai i . . . . . . . 38 30 25 71 39 16 20 55 80 12 17 10 60 . .

, .35 470

Toledo . . . . . . . . . 50 15 10 126 39 8 12 30 50 111. . , .

35. .

436Columbus . . . . . . 73 10 15 84 63 25 9 30 60 120 19

. . . .. .. . . . 435Providence . . . . . 57 25 30 56 24 18 18 60 70 19 29 10 60 10 429Los Angeles .... 78 30 20 21 39 18 60 120 2 7 10 50 10 387

Albany . . . . . . . . 44 25 25 95 75. .

15 45 20 14 20 10 40 384Baltimore ...... 93 25 20 77 45. .

18 160 20 38 7. .

30 . .. .

, . 340Seattle . . . . . . . . 22

. .5

. . 10. . . . . .

15

Chapter Meet ing Da tes

Albany -April 18.Boston -April 26.B a l t i m o r e -A p r i l 1 7 .

Buffalo -April 26.Chicago -April 19.Cincinnati -April 17 and 26.Cleveland -April 18.Columbus -April 23.Dayton -April 24.Detroit -April 19.Erie -April 16.Hartford -April 17.Hawaii -April 24.Indianapolis -April 18.Kansas City -April 23.Los Angeles -April 24.

Milwaukee -April 12.New York- Apri110.Philadelphia -April 20.

Pittsburgh -April 18.Providence -April 9.Rochester -Apri l 18.

St. Louis -Apri l 17.

San Francisco -Apr il 23.Scranton -Apr il 24.Seatt le -April 11.

Springfield -April 11.Syracuse -Apri l 17.

Toledo -April 24.Twin Cities -April 10.Utica -April 16.Worcester -April 12.

900


Chapter Meeting Notes

B A L T I M O R E

The Baltimore Chapter held its regular February meeting at the Emer-son Hotel on February 21 and the dinner hour found thirty -three of thefaithful on hand. After the dinner, which was pepped up by some veryfine piano selections by Mr. E. Zabrisky and some singing, President Northtook charge of the meeting. Several matters of chapter business were dis-posed of and then the bad news was spread around, we were without a

speaker for the evening.Mr. L. H . Angstadt, Cleveland manager for the International Business

Machines Corporation, was to have spoken on "Inventory Control andSome of Its Problems," but at the last minute word was received thatillness prevented his fulfilling the engagement and we were left on our

own, so to speak.It is much to the credit of the local members to be able to say that, in

spite of this handicap, we ha d a very interesting and enjoyable meeting.President North first offered for discussion the 13 Period Year, con-

cerning which there is more interest manifested all the time. The talkbecame very general and quite a few of those present gave their opinions,

some in favor of a change and some in opposition.Next we took up the subject of the evening, and local problems with

regard to Inventory Control were brought up by members connected withmanufacturing industries, together with the methods used for correctingfaults and eliminating errors. Methods of taking the inventories were alsodiscussed, this subject being very fresh in the minds of those concerned,

due to the recent yearly inventories.This meeting proved very conclusively that our own members have their

problems, that they are trying to solve them, and that they are willingand ready to enter such a discussion when the opportunity arises. Theseare the prime reasons for our existence as an association and such a meet-ing as Baltimore had in February proves that the Chapter is a live and doing.

C O LU M BU SWhile the attendance at the regular monthly meeting of the Columbus

Chapter held on February 27 a t the Chittenden Hotel was somewhat belowpar, the meeting was the most interesting and enthusiastic since the birth

of this infant chapter.During the dinner which preceded the regular session, Mr. C. B. Harpster,

our hard working song leader, led the members and guests in group sing-ing which a dded much to the spirit and general a tmosphere of the meeting.Mr. Paul F . Wol fe, director of music, again officiated at the ivory keys.

President Lee T. Assion, following a plan inaugurated a t the last meeting,requested several members to arise individually while they were being intro-duced. This plan of introducing members has already shown results and

901


a noticeable spirit of good fellowship is becoming more prevalent as themembers become better acquainted with one another.

Mr. W. D. Miner, Comptroller of The Willys- Overland Company, Toledo,Ohio, was the first speaker of the evening, the subject being "Supplying theCost Information to Foremen and Executives." Mr. Miner, as a result ofhis long experience in accounting work, handled the subject in a broad andinteresting manner, dovetailing the major subject with a most interestingand able review of the development of the automobile industry and themanagement problems encountered.

Other speakers enlisted from the Columbus Chapter were: William J.Bennett, Auditor, The Buckeye Steel Casting Company; Lawrence C.Haaser, Comptroller, The Ohio Locomotive Crane Company, Bucyrus;Harold J. Patterson, Comptroller, The Columbus Show Case Company,and Clarence P. Willcox, Assistant Treasurer, The Columbus Union OilCloth Company.

These speakers were drawn from quite diversified industries and thisgreatly increased the interest and enthusiasm both in their addresses andthe question period which followed.

At the close of the meeting a rising vote of appreciation was extendedto Mr. Miner who i s a lso President of the Toledo Chapter of the NationalAssocia tion of Cost Accountants. Mr. Miner was also requested to extendthe good wishes of the Columbus Chapter to the members of the ToledoChapter a t their next meeting.

D A Y T O N

Members of the Dayton Chapter were very fortunate in the choice pro-gram presented at the last meeting which was held on Tuesday evening,February 2 8, a t the Engineers' Club. The subject "Federal Income Taxes"was very timely, and the speakers who dealt with its various phases werethoroughly capable in every sense of the word.

Mr. F. W. Bentz, Assistant Treasurer of the National Cash Register Com-pany has been in charge of all Ta x matters for his company since 1909,while Gordon S. Battelle and J . C. Cassel are both in the Public Account-ing field, and might well be qualified as experts.

Mr . Bentz, who spoke first on the program, presented some of its his-torical aspects and called attention to the fact that the tax laws of thepresent t ime were not the first the United States had ever had. Income taxlaws were passed in 1861, '62 and '64 to provide revenues during the CivilWa r . Incomes in those days were much smaller than now, so the law wasfra med to r ea ch the man who had an income of $500 or more.

Mr. Bentz was fol lowed by Mr. Battelle, who told of some of his experi-ences as Income Ta x Counsel for small and large concerns. H e told ofsome of the ruses used in an effort to escape the payment of taxes, andalso read reports concerning a recent development which brought to lightthe activities of a f irm of bogus Income Ta x expert s. When their recordswere brought in to Court i t was shown that the small but t idy sum of $205,-

902


000 had been collected as retainer fees from concerns who felt that maybethey had a chance of getting refunds from the Government, and were willingto advance one -half of the fees when the claim was filed. The fee wasto be on a contingent basis at the rate of 35 per cent. The case wascited in support of the assertion that it is the ambition of many Firms andindividuals to avoid the payment of Income Taxes and that they a re wi llingto u se any means to accomplish their ambition.

Mr. Cassel spoke from the standpoint of the Accountant, and laid downthree "R's" for the guidance of the profession:

Read the law and current decisions.Rights of the Tax - payer. Know them thoroughly.Respect for Government tax -men.He also advised the group to take advantage of every possible deduction,

and said that the man who is over- conscientious may lose some of his rights,and that if the deductions taken are not allowed, the penalty is not greatenough to offset the advantage that might be gained by the policy of mini-mizing ra ther than the policy of evading the tax.

The meeting a ttracted a great deal of attention locally and good publicitywas secured from the newspapers. Six separate stories were run concerningthe meeting, and tota l column space of twenty -three inches was used.

D E T R O I T

The Detroit Chapter held its regular monthly meeting on Thursday,March 15. Fifty members and guests were entertained at a steak dinner,augmented by M. E. Sheppard's entertainment of music and songs. Thetechnical session opened at 8:15 P.M., with one hundred and sixty mem-bers and guests in attendance. This is the largest number to attend anyof our meetings, and is, in itself, sufficient tribute to the speaker of theevening, Mr . Ray H . Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan's address on "Wa ste and ItsDetection" was emphasized from the viewpoint of the production engineer.The speaker's long and practical experience in the furtherance of manu-facturing economy added weight to his carefully prepared data.

M I L W AU K E E

The March meeting was attended by 56 members and guests. LawrenceG. Regner, General Auditor of Briggs & Stratton Corp., Milwaukee andVice - President of the Milwaukee Chapter N. A. C. A., talked on "AnAdaptation of Internal Forecasting and Predetermination of Net Profit."He to ld in detail how a forecasting statement is prepared at the beginningof each month and also outlined the method by which they obtained adaily net profit and loss sheet, and a daily condensed balance sheet. Bothof these daily reports are verified at the end of the month.

The Briggs & Stratton Corporation work their cost on standard and theoperation of the different phases of their business on budget. All budgetsare very carefully worked out through the co- operation of all departments.The cost of sa les is obta ined daily. Units are priced at standard cost or a t

903


deviation cost, whichever cost is later. By means of time saving devices,such as a tabulating machine, much of the deta il in daily work is disposed of.

The next meeting, April 12 , will be held in the offices of the A. O. SmithCorporation, one of Milwaukee's largest industries. There will be a planttour in the afternoon, dinner in the plant cafeteria, followed by a meetingin the evening, at which members of the accounting department will talk.

Particular emphasis will be la id upon the method of payroll control whichhas been developed by this company. This is the first plant tour of theMilwaukee Chapter this season. A tour of the Jones Island Sewage Dis-posal Plant has also been arranged for the month of May. A talk onthis Plant was given a t our December meeting by the Plant 's Chief Engineer.

The Milwaukee Chapter has been so busy with work this season that themembers have decided to loosen up for an evening by having an informaldinner dance, Thursday evening, March 22. Last year we had the goodfortune of having Doc McLeod with us, but he has just written us thatit will be impossible for him to be here this year. W e are more thansorry, Doc, and so ar e the ladies.

N E W Y O R K

On Tuesday, March 13, 1928, the New York Chapter held their regularmonthly dinner and meeting a t the Machinery Club. Mr. Henry B. Fernald,of Loomis, Suffern & Fernald, Certified Public Accountants, New York City,was Chairman of the meeting.—he unfinished portion of the February program on "Accounting Short

Cuts" was presented by Mr. S. K. Augustine, of the American RadiatorCompany. The particular subject was "Simplified Accounts Payable Pro-cedure." Mr. Augustine explained clearly how simplifications had been madeeffective in Accounts Payable methods. Discussions on this subject had tobe ca lled to a halt in order that the general subject for the March meeting.Payroll Accounting Methods, could be taken up.

Mr. Fernald, before presenting the first speaker on "Payroll AccountingMethods," gave a brief description of some of the more important differ-ences in conditions under which payroll systems are operated. The followingis an outline of the conditions: Location, Terms of Employment, Nature ofEmployment, Regularity of Employment, Means of Recording, Education ofEmployees, Cost System, Nature of Labor Reports, Organization of Ac-counting Staff, and Form of Payment.

The speakers were Mr. Ha r ry L. Morgan, Chief Accountant of DuPontViscoloid Company, Arlington, N. J., and Mr. Harmon Newell of the samecompany, Mr. Edward J. Gilbride, of the DeLaval Separator Company,Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; and Mr. John M. Jardine, of Rodger s & Hagerty, Inc.,New York City.

Nearly all of the differences in conditions outlined by Mr. Fernald werebrought out in the talks that were given and a number of the points werefurther explained in the discussion that followed.

904


ST. L O U I S

Once again we must place another meeting into the upper class from thestandpoint of unusual interest.

Mr. H. B. Stone, the Industria l Engineer for the Evens a nd H oward Fi reBrick Company, told u s a grea t many things about "Wage Incentives" thatI am sure very few present had previously given much consideration to.He handled his subject l ike a master, and as one who ca n back up his state-ments with a great many years of experience and study.

The discussion which followed was as long and as interesting as thepresenta tion of Mr. Stones paper itself.

The Blu e F lame Boys were on hand to furnish hot music that was appar-ently enjoyed by all present.

The innocent little four - dollar pot started in January was increased toeight in February and this time it happened to be Renard, our DiligentDirector of Programs, who would have carried away the cash had he been

present.I imagine the interest in this will increase when the announcement is made

that the pot will be twelve dollars a t our meeting on March 20.

S C R AN T O NThe members of the Scranton Chapter had a chance to view all of the

evidence a t the regular monthly meeting held on the evening of February 28.The speaker of note was William F. Sims, who travels about the countryquite a lot but resides in Chicago between gunshots and holds down the ;obof Assistant Sales Manager of the Felt & Tarrant Co., the originat ofthe Comptometer. It

Mr. Sims spoke on the topic, "The Unit Method of Accounting," onwhich ground he was perfectly at home. As has been said before, he getsaround these United Sta tes considerably and in his travels contrives to wormhis way into many an unsuspecting manufacturing establishment. Whilethere he does his duty by improving their cost system and, we hope, sellsthem a couple of comptometers.

Of course, this is a ll more or less incidental. The part that really interestsa cost accountant is the remarkable collection of cost forms, sheets, andtickets which he has gathered from a large number of some of the mostfamous of our industrial plants. It was a revela tion to view and examine thepapers which make profits possible in such well known corporations as theGeneral Electric Co., General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Chrysler, Hudson,National Cash Register, Pennsylvania Railroad, and a host of others of likestanding.

S P R I N GF I E L DThe Springfie ld Chapter held the best meeting of the year in the El Patio

Room of the Clinton Hotel on Wednesday, March 14. Seventy -five membersand guests were present a t the dinner which started a t 6 :30 P. M., and aboutninety members were present a t the meeting a t 8 P. M.

905


The management of the Clinton Hotel welcomed the chapter back home byputting across a royal "Welcome Home" stunt by having Ernie Andrews'"E l Patio" Troubadours, who broadcast through WBL, play during thedinner hour. After the dinner, two versatile colored clog dancers were fur-nished by the hotel. They gave several selections, accompanied by the or-chestra , and, if measured by the applause, the music and enterta inment wereenjoyed by all .

Roy B. Kester, in charge of research a t National Headquarters and a lec-turer a t Columbia University, ably handled the subject of the evening, "AnAppreciation of Depreciation." His advocacy of frequent appraisal of thefixed assets to reflect the changed price of the dollar medium of value meas-urement and then basing deprecia tion on the appraised value to get the trueoperating costs certainly drew forth a l ively and interesting discussion.

Although the rule of the Springfield chapter is to close promptly at 10P. M., our genial National Secretary was present, and he had not been heardfrom up to that hour. So Doc McLeod was given the floor and the fiveminutes that he sa id were his l imit when he opened up lengthened to half anhour, and the time was fil led in the way that only "Doc" could fil l i t .

Those who were so unfortunate as to have missed this meeting with its finedinner, splendid entertainment, instructive address by Mr. Kester, i lluminatingand lively discussion which followed, and last, but far from least, Doc Mc-Leod's half hour, missed one of the finest meetings the Springfield Chapterhas had since its organization.

Better mark the date right now for the next meeting to be held April 11rl time, same place) and not miss another good meeting.

T O L E D O

How the new Toledo chapter of the National Associa tion is growing rap-idly and creating widespread interest among business leaders outside thechapter's regular membership, is indicated by the fact that out of 66 whoattended the Toledo meeting on February 28, there were 21 outsiders or po-tentia l members and 45 of the chapter's 64 members. This is especially sig-nificant as the Toledo chapter was first organized last fall .

Leaders in the chapter, however, believe that the chief reasons for growinginterest in the work of the chapter are the quality and reputation of the speak-ers which have been obtained to address the meetings. In the case of the lastmeeting , the speaker was Prof. Wi lliam H . Bamberg, who has charge of theextension work in accounting for Ohio State University and who discussedactual problems created by the intricacies of the Federal Income tax.

Prof. Bamberg expla ined that there are several hundred interpretive courtdecisions, precedents, and laws governing income tax procedure and that athorough knowledge of the laws as well as an abili ty to figure is necessary towork out the tax problem. When an average group is given a definite prob-lem to figure, he sa id, no two answers would coincide and there would be achance that none would be correct. The reason for this is the difference in

906


the interpreta tions of the laws and the difficulty in placing certain items forexemption. Seven new laws have been passed since March 1 to explain thechaos which is found in the jurisdiction of the federal tax laws.

Dr. Stuart C. McLeod, secretary of the national organization, who spokebriefly, told the accountants that they are in a wonderful field in the MiddleWest because of the trend of industry to move westward.

Members of the Toledo chapter are active in extending their work else-where. W. E. Miner, president of the Toledo chapter, for example, spoke be-fore the Detroit chapter on February 16 and at Columbus on February 27where his topic was "Cost Information." He discussed methods for supply-ing information to factory foremen and factory executives.

T W I N CITIES

What wou ld you other cha pters do if you received a messa ge a t the exacthour set for your scheduled meeting stating that your principal speaker anddrawing card was hung up on a jury and could not possibly be with you?Tha t is the exact situation we were confronted with on March 13 (possiblythe date had something to do with it) .

Fortunately we have several capable and willing members on our rosterwho can face such an emergency and turn a seemingly hopeless meeting intoa very interesting and enthusiastic session.

Hats off to Professor H. J. Ostlund, of the University of Minnesota , for theefficient manner in which he filled the breach. Without any opportunity forbrushing up on the subject, he proceeded to lay before us a comprehensivehistorical review and unbiased presentation of the subject of InternationalCalendar Reform. His talk engendered such an interest in the matter thatquite a l ively discussion resulted, in which many participated. The propon-ent s of this suggested reform were l ed by H. A. Bullis, while the opponentsra llied round the standard of Alexis Caswell, whose chief objection centeredon the fact tha t his birthday, falling on March 29, would be outlawed in theevent of a twenty -eight day month. After giving due consideration to thevarious pros and cons of the question, the meeting went on record as favoringthe thirteen -month calendar. Those of the opposition died fighting with theirboots on.

Having disposed of such a "timely" matter the meeting was next devoted toa general discussion of the subject originally planned, viz.: "Allocation ofDistributing and Administrative Costs to Commodities and Districts." Thewhole- hearted way in which the boys took part in this informal forum wasvery fine indeed and proved that those who come to our meetings are menthoroughly sold on the development of sound costing procedure.

Our gathering was wide -awake and profitable despite the initial disappoint-ment in the forced absence of our announced speaker. Before adjournment,the chair appointed a nominating committee to submit a list of officers anddirectors for next year and report their results a t our April meeting.

907


W O R C E S T E R

The subject of the March meeting was undoubtedly the most difficult under-taken by the Worcester Chapter this season. An attempt to reduce selling andadministrative expenses to the basis of sound cost accounting is usually assatisfying as the proverbia l search of "the blind roan hunting in a dark roomfor a black cat that is not there." This meeting, however, did not deal intheory but discussed a concrete case in actual use. For that reason it wassatisfying.

The subject was presented by Mr. Julius F . Lovell, of the Norton Com-pany. Mr. Lovell illustrated his paper by the use of diagrams showing theflow of administra tive expenses, general selling expenses and specific sellingexpenses to 25 product classifications. H e grouped these 25 products underfive major product classes. He claimed advantages in building up expensesthrough the use of many general ledger expense accounts ra ther than analyz-ing expenses from a few composite expense accounts. There is doubtlessgieater accuracy in charging expenses against known objectives than in lump-ing them in with other less definite items and resorting to some scheme of dis-tribution for the composite tota l. General selling expenses and administrativeexpenses are distr ibuted monthly but not on the basis of the current monthlysales of the product classes. Monthly sales are cla imed to fluctuate withoutany logical rela tions to actual selling expenses of the month. The average ofseveral years' sales adjusted for known basic changes is considered a morescientific method than a short range distr ibution based on sales over a shortperiod.

Whereas the distribution of selling and administrative expenses is not aneasy task it seemed more easily solved by the methods Mr . Lovell uses.There was lots of discussion participated in by Harold F. Walton, of the RileyStoker Corporation, and W. E. Freeland, of Massachusetts Institu te of Tech -nology.

Mr. Harold F. Walton, of the Riley Stoker Corporation, was elected Vice -President to succeed Herbert R. Hare, resigned. Mr . Wa l ter W. Ridler, ofthe Royal Worcester Corset Company, was elected a director for the balanceof this year.

The a ttendance of the Worcester Chapter is holding up unusually well thisyear. There were 59 present a t this meeting.

Chapter News Items

B U F F AL O ' S A N N U A L S U P P E R D AN C E

When folks travel hundreds of miles to a ttend a party, the reputation ofthe chapter staging it must be good, if we do say so ourselves I At a ny r a t ewe certainly get a big k ick out of having our many out -of -town friends withus, be it for a dance or what not.

The affa ir took place in the Ballroom of Hotel Buffalo, Saturday, February

908


25. It was a real party and everyone of the 90 couples enjoyed it. DocMcLeod was on hand and so was Fra nk Sweetser. Doc Reitell came upfrom Pittsburgh and Stanley Le Brocq and Horace Briton blew in fromHamilton. Frank Sweetser brought with him a Buffalo friend, CarltonParker. It was great to have these men in Buffalo again to do honor to us.

The famous "numbered lady" party of Buffalo's Regional Conference of1926 was echoed. Orders came to produce six of the snappiest dancing part-ners we could find —and we did. As a matter of fact, Mac —well, he justhated to let anyone have a chance a t his fa ir lady; she caught the same ideaabout hi:n ! —And how!

These parties are always a bit slow in getting started, but what of it.Everbody makes up for it before the night is over. Joe Armbruster 's or-chestra furnished the music and it was certainly peppy enuf. A flock ofspecia l dances had been arranged to mix up the crowd but they weren't needed.

Shortly after eleven, Miss Helen Curtin, local teacher of dancing, hadtwo of her assistants, give an extended and most interesting demonstrationof "Rhymthic Expression." Miss Curtin announced that this was only thesecond exhibition of such dancing to be given publicly in Buffalo. Ann andRose, both charming girls, showed how easy it is, when freedom of expres-sion is attained, to imitate the movements of many animals. They were grace-fu l beyond words. In fact their imita tion of a fish was so realistic that FishCommissioner Reitell presented them with medals signifying perfect speci-mens! He has since inquired about the possibili ty of putting on these dancesin Pittsburgh. It was a most beautifu l demonstra tion and there were manyfavorable comments about i t.

Next came the announcement that food was ready to be served in the maindining room. Talk of a New Years Eve celebration! It wasn't in i t with thisparty. The gang was there to raise heck, and did. Howard Zwickey, whohad been starring a t Shea's Buffalo for the past week, sang several songs andgot a big hand. He has a lovely high tenor voice and always makes a hit .

Then we went back to the dance. Somebody discovered a flock of confettiand streamers and we proceeded to have an indoor "snow storm." And it

was some storm.Nobody wanted to go home at two o'clock so we kept right on dancing.

Even three there were some who would have stayed, but we decided to stop.Our out -of -town friends say they will come again; the Buffalo folk said

it was a great party. Ed Patton was general chairman and he had a live com-mittee, including Bob Stark , Bob Wardrop, Fred Morgan, Gus Kunkel, HenryKnapp, Howard Kellar and Ha rry Whitney.

CI N C I N N AT I

Even the annual show of the Cincinnati Kennel Club will have an in-direct representation of the Cincinnati Chaper of the N. A. C. A. Mr. A.Chas. Guy, our director of research and standardization, and Mrs. Guywill exhibit their prize winning cocker spaniels.

909


Mr. F. J . Heinritz, of the Per ry G. Mason Co., and past president ofthe chapter addressed the members of the Cincinnati Business Women'sClub at their monthly meeting on March 13, using as his subject, "CostAccounting and Modern Business." This meeting was arranged for andsponsored by the chapter under the direction of Director Carl A. Buse.

Mr. H ar ry W. Weiss, C .P .A. of Roden & Weiss, and past director of ourchapter, addressed the weekly meeting of the Co- Operative Club, March 6at the Cincinnati Club upon the subject of the preparation of Income Ta xreturns. He explained in detail the various clauses set forth in the varioustax blanks. Harry is a char ter member of the club and one of the chapter 'sfirst members.

Since the advent of the new models of a popular car and the resultingentering of the competitive field by several other makes of autos, our mem-bers have been waxing enthusiastic over the coming plant visit to the worksof the Chevrolet Motor Company Plant at Norwood. Great things are instore for those that attend this meeting, as the boys at the plant are agood live bunch and we can be assured of something "doing every minute."

Mr. Ike Lanier, partner of the public accounting firm of Murphy, Lanierand Quinn, was operated on for the removal of his appendix early inMarch. The operation following an acute a ttack was successful and a lthoughMr. Lanier was in quite serious condition for several days we are all mightyglad to learn that he is now out of danger and on the road to speedy andfull recovery. Mr. Lanier was to have delivered our Broadcast on IncomeTaxes this month.

Mr. J . M. Manley, secretary of the Cincinnati Branch of the NationalMetal Trades Association, in addressing the Cincinnati Chapter meetingin February invited the N. A. C. A. members to a ttend the joint meeting ofthe National Metal Trades and the National Industrial Conference Boardto be held in Cincinnati on March 1 and 2. The subjects for discussionwere of great interest to our members, "Wa ges and Prices, Their Move-ment and Relationship," "Public Expenditures and Taxation," and "TheParadox of Profitless Prosperity."

Our of a total atendance of 82 at the afternoon sessions, 13 were mem-bers of the N. A. C. A. and a t the evening sessions 8 more came in. Thoseattending were Misses Madge Miller, Edna Knuepling, Ada Wurzelbacher,Messrs. D. Todd, Edgar Swick, A. J . Schneider, F. W. Conzett , H. P. Ritter ,A. F . Gunther, Thos. B. Frank, E . M. Christopher, W. E . Emerich, J . M.Reed, Fred Allen, Fred Westergard, Oscar Held, R. W . Edwards, W .McK. Meyer , W. L . Clawson, Robert Aslicraft , and James F. Allen.

We welcome to our membership Mr . Walter Schmid, secretary to theSwiss Consul in Cincinnati, Mr. Schmid has only been in this country four

910


months, and through his associa tion with the Y's Men's Club, to which ourpresident, Thos. B. Frank, delivered an address on "Costs," became interestedin the work of the N. A. C. A., and was very much pleased to become

affiliated with our organization.

The first Board of Directors' meeting for March was held Friday evening,March 2 , and the following matters were disposed of:

Due to the absence from town for indefinite periods of Mr. John Deckerand Mr . A. Chas. Guy, members of the auditing committee and Mr. Riethon account of illness we were compelled to appoint a new auditing com-mittee consisting of Ed. Swick, Geo. Klu smeyer a nd H . W. Boal, who pro-

ceeded to dig into John's accounts with a vengeance.Membership work was given the bulk of the time. We now have 62

new members since the start of the chapter year, 20 over our quota of 42.Judging from the various reports turned in we may expect about another

twenty applications in the next few weeks.It was voted to send an invitation to the Lumberman's Association of

Cincinnati to a ttend our March meeting to hear Eric Camman on "StandardCosts." This organization has been holding several meetings for the pur-pose of discussing costs and we believe that they will be benefitted by our

meeting.

R. J . Beaman, senior partner of R. J . Beaman & Company, announcesthe movable of his offices from 409 -412 Union Central Building to 1418 -1423Union Central Building. Expanding business necessita tes the move to larger

quarters.

Cincinnati Chapter is seriously considering the founding of a ChapterCradle -Roll. Two additional candidates for enrollment have just arrived inthe past few days a t the homes of Robert J. Nieman, office manager of theH. Nieman Company, and Ra ymond W. Rack, assistant supervisor of costsof the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company. Both are husky boys, the

former arriving on March 6 and the l a tter on March 4 .

Cincinnati welcomes Mr. F. E . Tappen, of the Powers Accounting Ma-chine Company, who has just transferred to our chapter from Chicago.Cincinnati may not be the "windy city" that Chicago has the reputation ofbeing, but we are sure that we ca n ma ke F. E. feel a t home. Again wel-

come.

Horace G. Crocket of New York and Mr. Heywood of Boston were Cin-

cinnati visitors for a few days the first week in March.

Mr. Geo. H . Klusmeyer has joined the ranks of those prosperous indi-viduals that not only sport new cars quite often but a lso sport new homes.

911


He has just acquired a beautiful new abode in the Paddock Hills section.When does the house warming come off?

Our past president, Mr. F. B. Thomas, controller and merchandise managerof the Burkhardt Brothers Company, is leaving for a few weeks golfingtrip down South. Upon his return to Cincinnati he winds up his affa irs inour city preparatory to moving to Chicago to accept a position with theLyon -Healy Music Company of that city. We regret very much to looseBundy, mustache and all, but this old world must progress and we accord-ingly wish him well and hope that all good things come to him in thewestern metropolis.

Prof. J . B. Heckert, C.P.A., the hard - working secretary of the new Co-lumbus Chapter, paid our city a visit on March 9. He addressed the ses-sions of the Ohio State Conference of Credit Men in session at the HotelAlms, using as his topic, "The Cost of Carrying an Account."

D A Y T O N

Here comes another one of those le tter s from Frank Stilwell. What doeshe want now? A thousand industries in Dayton, and a representative fromeach in the Dayton Chapter. Ambitious is he? Say, that boy is so ambitioushe would try to sell a membership to a traveling auditor who made Daytononce in ten years.

Chapter President Lohnes spoke before the Mathematics Club of theOhio Teachers' Society, in session a t the Y. W. C. A. on February 27. Histopic, "Inaccuracy in Business and How to Overcome It," was in keepingwith the purpose of the organization.

Here is one we think is real news, and J . A. will wonder how the reportergot it. Well, here it is, fellows: Our good friend, Jas A. Dalrymple —call him "Daddy" now. Yes, i t's a boy, Robert William; weight, nine pounds;born February 25. Page the director of membership, and do it quickly,before the fa mily moves to Springfield to be with J . A. on his new job. H eis taking a new job with the Springfield Street Railway Company. Nowthat 's something like having blessings come in droves.

Frank Stilwell writes in from a business trip to Chicago, Milwaukee,Minneapolis and Duluth, to tell about seeing Mr. R. F . Whistler , of theN. C. R., on the tra in. Our members will recall Mr. Whist ler as a recentspeaker on "Wa ge Incentive Systems," and will remember that at the closeof his address he had to leave the meeting and call the fire department tohelp him get into his house because he had left his keys inside. Fra nk saysthe latest dope is that he just leaves the doors open now when lie goes

away.

Mr. F. W . Bentz, who spoke on "Federal Ta x Laws" at our February

912


meeting, gave us the derivation of the word, tax. H e is authority for thestatement that it comes from the latin word, tangare, which means "totouch." He is a l so responsible for the suggest ion tha t a great many peoplethink the use of the term is very appropria te because they have found thatUncle Sam has va rious and sundry methods of ma king a "touch."

Ma x Monroe occupied the presiding officer's chair at the February meet-ing. Mr. Lohnes was out of the city so Ma x ha d to do the honors. Very

well done, Max, your presiding is very dignified.

Mr. C. E . Roselle and Mr. John R. Morse, of the Cincinnati Chapter,were guests at the February meeting. Mr . Morse is moving the scene ofhis activities to Dayton, and is transferring from the Cincinnati Chapterto Dayton. We a re very g lad to welcome him into the fold.

Mr . Burton F. Newman, of Miami Jacobs College, was introduced asa new member a t the February meeting. The only way to get a certificatefrom Prof. Smith is to belong to the Dayton Chapter and attend every

meeting.

Our chapter secretary, Charley O'Neil, is given to fiving trips. At theclose of the meeting on February 28, he grabbed a train for Chicago. Be-tween battles he managed to reach Mr. W. B. Castenholz, of the La SalleExtension University, and tied him up for our March meeting. LeavingChicago, just after the next speech by Mayor Thompson, Charley touchedMinneapolis, New York City, Rochester and Buffalo, and reached Daytonin time for a meeting of the Board of Dir ectors a t noon on Ma rch 9 . Some

stepper, Charley.

I N D I AN AP O L I SOn February 24 forty -three members, friends, wives and sweethearts of

the Indianapolis Chapter met in the Blue Room of the Spink Arms Hoteland enjoyed a very delightful chicken dinner. Before starting the mealPresident Eveleigh called for introductions and each man introduced himself

and his guest, whether wife or sweetheart.After enjoying the excellent food, Mr. Eveleigh announced that the meet-

ing would be conducted in true N. A. C. A. style, and that all present wouldhave an opportunity to join in the discussions following the main address.Mr. Eveleigh called upon the secretary for the r eading of any unusual com-munications having been received perta ining to this particular meeting. Onesuch communication having been received the secretary read the following:

MY DEAR MR. EVELEIGII :Your announcement of the special meeting scheduled for February 24

for husbands and wives certa inly reached us at an opportune time. I want toassure you that my wife and I will not fa il to be present. We desire enlighten-ment on this ever - present subject of "Family Money" and how to control

it through the medium of a "Household Budget."

913


Some time ago my wi fe informed me that we were going to work on abudget. She got the idea at a bridge party, but I think she missed someof the essential points. She was very much imbued with the idea. "Nextmonth," she says, "we're going to operate on a budget."

"What 's a budget ?" I inquired."Merely another word for system," she answered. "You simply plan in

advance what you are going to spend your money for and you spend it accord-ing to plans. So much for food, this much for insurance, that much forclothes and a certa in amount for amusement, enterta inment and so on, and,"she added, "when you make up the budget you 've got to stick to it . There'sno chea ting or fudging."

"D o you mean to tell me," I argued, "that you can tell thirty days inadvance what you 're going to have to buy —that you know when a t ire willblow up and you have to get a new one —that you can anticipate how muchof your private stock will be consumed at any one social session? If youthink you can you're crazy, and if you really can you 're too smar t to needa budget."

"It not only can be done," she said, "but it's going to be done. Nextmonth we start budgeting. If you think you're going to have to buy tiresor make any illegal purchases, put them and everything else in the budget.Because if you don't you 'l l just have to wait u ntil the next month. There'sto be no more monkey business. We'r e going to start living within ourmeans."

So she makes up her budget, gives me a copy of it and says: "Now,don't ask for any funds if the item isn't budgeted because it won't do youa b it of good."

It worked out fine from her point of view, but not so good from my sideof the fence. Being the first t ime I 'd ever played budget I overlooked a lotof bets.

I tr ied to nick her for three or four dollars to get in a penny -ante game,but penny -ante wasn't in the budget. Neither was there anything in thebudget about golf balls —or anything else I seemed to want.

"Ca n' t we fudge just a little bit ?" I asked her. "Why not cut down alitt le on the grocery bill and slip me a few extra dollars ?"

"No, sir ," she said, "tha t 's what 's been the matter with you a ll your life.You 're always spending money for something when it should be spent forsomething else. That 's the evil the budget system cures." It sure wastough. I couldn't beg, borrow or steal from her. Every time I made arequest for funds I had a head -on collision with old Mr . Budget. I t beganto look like I'd divorced myself from my own money and I guess I wouldhave if the s tores ha dn't come to my r escu e and put on a lo t of sales.

The sales broke up our budget game. "There's a sale on lace curtainsto- day," the Mrs. sa id to me, "and it will be absolutely criminal not to takeadvantage of, I couldn't buy the material for half what they're asking forthe curta ins."

"I s it in the budget ?" I demanded. "If it isn't there's no use talking

914


about curta ins. You know we're living by system, rules, regulations and

budgets now.""But this is different," she says. "It 's doing the sa me th ing as the budget

—it's saving us money in a different way."There was sale after sale of first one thing and then another, and each

time she bought something it was the same old story. It was somethingwe simply had to have in a short time anyway. W e couldn't get alongwithout i t and by taking advantage of the sales she simply was doing me a

favor." I may be buying a little more stuff than I would if I had to pay full

price for i t ," she would say, "but look what I 'm saving you."The savings might be there but the trouble is that I have never quite

caught up with her. She is a lwa ys one month's sa les a head of me. But a tthat I wou ld ra ther it were tha t wa y than to have to f ight a bu dget tha t I

don't understand.If this special meeting on "Family Money" will help to clear up the ob-

cure points of this budget game, I possibly will enjoy playing it more in

the future.Sincerely yours,

Name furnished on Application.

President Eveleigh gave a very interesting discourse on the evolution ofthe budget and in some manner was able to trace back that "budget" origi-nated many hundreds of years ago and at first represented a pouch orbag. After this interesting talk he introduced Miss Elizabeth L. Cowanof the Equitable Life Assurance Society who rendered a masterly talk onthe handling of family money. Miss Cowan wa s able to draw on her yea rsof experience in the capacity of "Financial Advisor" to many hundreds offamilies. Many husbands and wives could learn much from Miss Cowanon how to handle their personal financia l affairs.

Following Miss Cowan's address interesting points of discussion werebrought up by our Mr . and Mrs. Stevens, Mr, and Mrs. De Ross, Mr. and

Mrs. Eveleigh and L. A. Baron.

S C R A N T O N

The Board of Directors of the Scranton Chapter met for luncheon atthe Chamber of Commerce at noon on February 16. At this time planswere completed for the approaching chapter meeting. In view of the factthat William F. Sims of the Felt & Ta rrant Company was to be the speaker,i t was decided to invite the members of the Scranton Credit Granters' Asso-ciation to meet with us as our guests to hear Mr . Sims.

Ralph M. Sheridan, director of membership of the chapter outlined hisplans for the coming campaign to increase the membership of the society.Mr . Sheridan has divided the members into four teams and has chosenMessrs. Cook, Britta in, Hoffman, and Hiller to act as capta ins of the variousdivisions. We will have more to say about this next t ime.

915


T W I N CI TI ES

The vacancy on our chapter board of directors was filled on March 8 bythe election of Wm. J . Rivers to serve for the remainder of this year.

We a re gla d to welcome to our membership Mr. Paul H . Shaw of WestMedford, Mass., who comes to us by transfer from Boston Chapter. Mr .Shaw is now located in St. Paul.

Our secretary- treasurer, Alexis Caswell, recently gave a talk before aclass in the Business School of the University of Minnestota on the sub-ject of "Wha t An Execu tive Expect s from a Private Secretary."

Twin Cities Chapter is now within two members of reaching the quotaestablished for it by national headquarters at the beginning of this season.Let 's see how far over the ma rk we can go! Every member is expected todo his part.

Notes on Current Literature

Financial and Business Forecasting. Warren F. Hickernell.Bureau of Business Conditions, a Division of AlexanderHamilton Institute, New York. Two Volumes. 1928. 914 pp.Price, $10.00.It is probably a fair statement of the case to say that present day busi-

ness management in the United States is characterized by the use of sta t-istical data as a basis for the formulation of business policies. Some arebeginning to suggest caution against what they mainta in is the too prevalenttendency to use figure facts and too often lose sight of the human factorand the more or less intuitive factor which is developed in a business execu-tive through long years of experience. However, that may be, this book intwo volumes, dealing with the subject of business forecasting, is a fine con -tribution to this field of business literature.

Since the establishment of the Federal Reserve Banking System and theincreasing use of forecasting services, some have suggested that the businesscycle is a thing of the past, that no longer will there be disastrous ups anddowns in business history which have characterized the past. ProfessorIrving Fisher of Yale has suggested that the more desirable thing is to studythe methods by which the business cycle can be done away with —a thingwhich he considers entirely feasible —than to study the means by which theups and downs of business may be forecasted and business policies be formu-lated in accordance with the trends of business.

Volume I of the present work is based on a doctoral dissertation whichthe author submitted to the faculty of the Yale University in partial ful-

916


fillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Thepresent work, however, has been written chiefly for the man in active busi-ness ra ther than for the scholar. I ts style is, therefore, somewhat popular,and while difficult points of theory have not been side - stepped, the volumesfor the most part are characterized by a clear style of writing and makepleasant and easy reading.

In an approach to the study of this subject, the author states that thebusiness conditions which must be gone into for an adequate understandingand treatment of the subject are in the main of two classes: (1) Thosefactors which are present in every business cycle; and (2) the accidentalfactors which have been present in one or more cycles but which do notbehave similarly in every cycle or do not appear regularly as cyclical factors.In the first class may be grouped such items as the supply of loanable funds,new financing, new construction, prices of building materials, factory pro-duction, employment, wages, business profits, etc. In the second group willbe put such accidental factors as crops, polit ics, gold production, paper moneyinfla tion, and Federal Reserve Bank policies. These two pha ses of the su b-ject comprise the bulk of the present work.

A rather careful examination of the phenomena of panics from the his-torical standpoint is given. This comprises the major part of the firstvolume. While this portion deals chiefly with the financial and businesshistory of the United Sta tes, some consideration is given to similar outstand-

ing events in other countries.Volume 2 deals ra ther with the actual field of business forecasting. The

author says in his preface here that the four essentials in business fore-casting a re: (1) Business sta tistics; (2) a knowledge of economic prin-ciples; (3) perspective, based on a study of business history; and (4) goodjudgment in applying principles to the interpreta tion of statistics. Whilerecognizing the value of mathematics and mathematical devices in the hand-ling of business sta tistics, he decries the too great importance and oftentimestoo great faith placed in the derivation of mathematical formulae and theresults secured through the use of these formulae. Only through an inti-mate knowledge of all of the factors involved, some of which are human,or to be more specific mental ra ther than physical manifestations of humanfactors, can anything like a solid foundation for successful business fore-

casting be built up.In the second volume one finds a lso chapters devoted to specific industries

and to individual commodities. The stock exchange, real estate, sectionalcredit and sales conditions, etc., are treated. Among the individual com-modities considered, are food stuffs, textiles, metals, building material, fuels,

paper, tobacco, hides and leather, etc.The volumes are well illustrated by charts and good bibliographies are

furnished. The bib liography at the end of the second volume, dealing withgeneral statistical sources and statistics of business activities, particularlyas related to specific businesses and commodities, is particularly good. Itis too bad that the publishers have not thought it desirable to furnish anindex to these volumes. While the tables of contents are fairly full, the

917


lack of an index detracts greatly from their use for reference purposes.However, the volumes make very interesting reading, and will doubtless taketheir place as a distinct contribution in the way of a survey and resume ofthe investigational work which has been done in this interesting field of humanresearch up to the present t ime.

The tables of contents of the two volumes which well indicate the scopeof the work follow:

Volume I Volume I I

I Theories of the Business I Human Nature and CrisesCycle I I The Trend of Business

II The Law of Loanable I I I The Cross - CurrentsFunds IV Yardsticks of Trade Activ-

I I I Smoothing the Business ityCycle V Loanable Funds

IV The Origin of Panics and VI Forecasting the Stock Mar -Depressions ket

V The Mississippi Bubble and VI I Charting the TechnicalCycle Theory Position

VI The Sou th Sea Bubble VI I I A n a l y s i s of IndividualV I I A Century of Colonia l War Stocks

Cycles IX Analysis of Investment Is-

VI I I First American Prosperity suesBoom X Analyzing Land Values

IX Why Study the Napoleonic XI Forecasting Section CreditPeriod? and Sales Conditions

X America's "Wildcat Bank- XI I Forecasting C o m m o d i t ying, " 1811 -18. Prices — General Factors

XI The Brightest Spot in XI I I Individual CommoditiesAmerican Banking His- XI V I n d i v i d u ai Commoditiestory: The Panic of 1925. (Concluded)

XI I The Bank Wa r and the X V Plans for Preventing thePanic of 1837 Evils of Price Fluctua-

XI I I Cotton Speculation, Cur- tionsrency Inflation and the XV I Business Conditions, 1895 -Crisis of 1839 1914

XI V Groping for a Panic -Proof XV I I The World Wa r .Money System XV I I I Foreign Debts and Foreign

XV A Decade of G old Plethora Investments of UnitedStates

XV I Civil Wa r Politics and Fi- Bibliography

nanceXV I I Money Kings of the Rail-

way AgeXV I I I Panic of 1873

XI X The Struggle for GoldXX Four Explosions

918


N O T E S

Our National Director in Charge of Chapters, Frank L. Sweetser, Treas-urer and General Manager of the Dutchess Manufacturing Company, has,during the past year, been serving as president of the American ManagementAssociation. There came recently to our publication desk a copy of his an-nual report as president of the association. It is entit led "Promoting SoundManagement" and reviews the work of the year and gives a brief announce-ment of the plans for the new year.

Announcement is made of the annual meeting of the American Foundry -men's Association to be held in Philadelphia, May 14 -18, 1928. In addition tothe highly technical papers relating to the industry, such subjects of moregeneral interest as management, foundry costs, materials handling, and ap-prentice tra ining are on the program. In connection with the meeting, therewill be an exhibit of foundry machinery and equipment.

The American Association of Mechanical Engineers announces that onApril 23 and 24, 1928, there will be held at Benjamin Franklin Hotel, Phila-delphia, a meeting devoted to a discussion of materials handling. Among thepapers to be presented a t the technical sessions will be the following :

"Modern Handling Methods in Railroad Transporta tion," by G. C. Wood-ruff, Asst. Freight Traffic Manager, New York Centra l Railroad.

"Material Handling on Steamship Piers a t H ome and Abroad," by WillardC. Brinton, President, Terminal Engineering Co.

"Store Door Del ivery of Freight by Motor T rucks, " by F . J . Scar r, Sca rrTransporta tion Service.

"Handling Methods and Equ ipment in a La rge Mail Order Hou se," by H.E. Odonath, Chief Engineer, Sears, Roebuck & Co.

"Pneumatic Handling of Materia ls," by Harry S. Parks, Holly PneumaticSystems, Inc.

"Modern Methods of Handling Coal, Ore and other Bulk Materials," byAr thu r F . Case, Manager, Coal and Ore Division, Wellman, Seaver, MorganCo.

"Methods and Equipment for Fuel Handling and Ash Disposal," by JamesR. McCausland, Superintendent, Coal Bureau and Steam Heat Section, Phila-delphia Electric Company.

"Materia ls Handling," by Harold V. Coes, Vice- President, Belden Manu-facturing Co., and Past Vice - President, American Society of MechanicalEngineers.

National Headquarters has just been informed that through the death of amember, the following copies of the Officia l Publications of the N. A. C. A.are available:

919


Volume I, completeVolume II, completeVolume II I , completeVolume IV, number 19 missingVolume V, number 4 missingBulletins, new series, numbers 1 -105 complete, except for numbers 32

and 74.Year books 1920, '21, '22, and '23.No price has been set on any of this materia l. If a ny members are inter-

ested, headquarters will be glad to act as an intermediary.

Employment

Men AvailableThe following members of the Association are available for

employment:No. 757 — Certified Public Accountant, thorough knowledge commercial and

industrial accounting procedure, manufacturing costs, budgets, etc. Sevenyears in public practice; fifteen years with manufacturing corporations ascomptroller, supervision of financia l statements, costs, budgets, taxes, etc. Ac-customed to big business, large staff of assistants, subsidiary companies withdiversified interests. Very successful in revision and centralization of ac-counts and control. American; protestant; good personality and appearance;excellent health; married. Preference, New York Metropolitan District orNew Jersey. References, best. Salary open.

No. 758 — Accountant, married, Walton training, thoroughly versed in gen-eral and industrial accounting procedure, is desirous of establishing a connec-tion of responsibility with a future. Association covers a number of yearswith Missouri and Illinois corporations as Accountant, Supervisor of Ac-counting, Office Manager, Auditor - Treasurer, commercial, manufacturing andfinance fields. An irreproachable record open for perusal.

No. 759 — Executive accountant, Auditor, and Cost Expert desires change ofassociation. Understands taxation work. Experience in costing installationsof food products, printing, and engineering industries. Keen accountant gen-eral finance and advocate of budget working. Member Commonwealth In-stitute of Accountants, Sta te License as Companies Auditor, Fellow of RoyalStatistical Society, England. Born 1899. Married. Present location Aus-tra lia but wil l transfer to any part of the globe for good prospects.

Positions AvailableThe following opening, which may be of interest to members of

the Association, have been brought to our attention. Replies should

be addressed to the key number in care of the Secretary's office.

920


No. 301 -A —A manufacturing concern in the New York Metropolitan Dis-tr ict is now insta lling a cost accounting system in its several factories. Theywant a young man, preferably with public accounting or engineering experi-ence, to analyze statements from the various factories and check up on theoperation of the system. H e will have to do some traveling. The positionrequires personality and tact. Salary, $2,600.

No. 302 -A —A progressive firm of Certified Public Accountants has anopening for an accountant who is experienced in the designing and installa-tion of systems and methods for accounting, office routine and statisticalwork and the use of tabulating machine equipment in connection therewith.

Applications for Membership

The Executive Committee has ruled that the names and addresses of all applicantsfor membership in the Association shall be published in the Bulletins for two week in advance of the date on which they are sent to the Director -in- Charge of Member-ship for approval. The following applications will be forwarded to the Director twoweeks from the date of this Bulletin. Comments in regard to these applications wbichare received from members of the Association during this two weeks' period will beattached to the application before they are forwarded to the Director -in- Charge.

Bal timoreReuwer, F. Earl, Emerson Drug Co., Baltimore, Md.

BostonBlake, D. P., Dewey & Almy Chemical Co., 235 Harvey St., Cambridge,

Mass.

ChicagoCoffey, Cyrus Bernard, 1441 West End Ave., Chicago, Ill.

CincinnatiMize, Noah, 2503 Auburn Ave., Cincinati, Ohio.

ClevelandLacharia , D. L., Y. M. C. A., East Liverpool, Ohio.

Colu mbu sCurtis, Ramey S., Coshocton Glove Co., Coshocton, Ohio.Fletcher, V. L., J . A. Tiernan T ire Co., Columbus, Ohio.James, Ben P., Monroe Calculating Machine Co., Columbus, Ohio.

D a ytonNewman, Burton F. , R. R. No. 1, Dayton, Ohio.

Er ieBarker, Eugene Frank, Rickert Shafer Co., Erie, Penna.Freebourn, George W., 801 East 24th St., Erie, Penna.Williams, Harold L., Remington Rand Business Service, Erie. Penna.

921

r —


DetroitEnright, Earl James, 961 Howard Ave., Windsor, Ontario, Canada.Hollar, Arthur W., Dominion Forge & Stamping Co., Ltd., Walker -

ville, Canada.

HartfordAllen, Lillie, 3 West St., Simsbury, Conn.Page, Atwood Collins, 314 Collins St., Hartford, Conn.Partridge, Irving E., Jr., Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., Hartford,

Conn.Pickings, Ernest C., New London Ship & Engine Co., Groton, Conn.Nye, George Lawrie, 30 Ramsdell St., Groton, Conn.

IndianapolisLevy, Lewis, 3434 N. Salem St., Indianapolis, Ind.

New YorkBrocks, John D., 2971 Marion Ave., New York, N. Y.Ricketts, Grodon P., 178 Eliot St., Fairfield, Conn.Schermerhorn, Chadbourne, Stanchfield & Levy, 120 Broadway, New

York, N. Y.Smith, Milton L., News Print Service Bureau, New York, N. Y.

PhiladelphiaYarnall, Frank W., Electro Dental Mfg. Co., 33rd & Arch Sts., Phila-

delphia, Penna.Mogal, Lloyd F., 1312 Linden St., Reading, Penna.

PittsburghBerry, William J., 1234 Franklin Ave., Wilkinsburg, Penna.Carren, M. L., 118 Shaw Ave., Turtle Creek, Penna.Moore, Frederick R., Pittsburgh School of Accounting, Pittsburgh, Penna.

ProvidenceLeffingwell, Charles Haze, 131 Alexander St., Cranston, R. I.Stewart, Harry Lorne, Textile Finishing Machinery Co., Providence, R. I.

St. LouisAlles, John A., Century Electric Co., 1806 Pine St., St. Louis, Mo.Luenstroth, Harold W., Century Electric Co., 1806 Pine St., St. Louis,

Mo.

San FranciscoBrown, LawrenceE., 429 Bank of Italy Bldg., Stockton, Calif.Tjossem, L., 617 South 6th St., San Jose, Calif.

SpringfieldSlayton, Albert E., Bigelow- Hartford Carpet Co., Thompsonville, Conn.

922


Syra cu seKingsbury, Henry Walter, J. T . Robertson Co., Inc., Syracuse, N. Y.

Toledo

Hamlin, Horace J ., Libbey Glass Mfg. Co., Toledo, Ohio.

Utica

Jones, Andres Meeker, Savage Arms Corp. Turner St., Utica , N. Y.

Ou t of Cha pter Ter r i tory

Mayhall, William F., 804 Arizona St., El Paso, Texas.Nagaoka, Tokuje, Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha, Economic Research Dept.,

Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan.Taylor, William, Prest- O -Lite Storage Battery Co., Toronto, Canada.Thompson, Roy W., Amazon Kniting Co., Muskegon, Mich.

923

N

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COST ACCOUNTANTS26 WEST 44th STREET, NEW YORK

RESEARCH PROBLEM —THE PROFIT TREND IN AMERICAN INDUST RY

Industry

CompanyNOTE As this investigation is being made by industries, we urgently request that you indicate above the line of manufacture in which you are

en gage d in o rd e r t h a t we m a y m ake p ro p er c l a s s if i ca t io n o f t h e in fo rm a t io n . W e w o u ld a l s o li ke t o h av e t h e n a m e o f y o u r C o m p a n y ,bu t t h is is n o t e s s en t ia l. Th e in fo rm a t io n wil l b e t re a t e d in co n f id en ce . No n am es wi ll b e d is c lo s ed in t h e p u b lis h e d rep o r t s . W e willap p rec ia t e it if y o u wi ll su p p lem en t th e in fo rm at io n given in th is q u es t io n n a ire b y a le t t e r ex p re s s in g y o u r o wn o p in io n s a s t o t h ecau s es an d p o s s ib le rem ed ies in y o u r p a r t icu la r in d u s t ry .

F I S C A L Y E A R S

months months

endin g _ I ending1927 1926

months months

endin g

months

endin g endin g19231925 1924

1. Net Sales in Dollars.

2. Net Income before Interest Charges,Federal Taxes and Dividends.

Nam e and address to which

copy of the report of th is

investigation should be sent.

zan

aodr `w

a

NON00

N. A. C. A. B

Documents

Transcript of N. A. C. A. B