Tr. Ty.

a way that the private figures of no one individual concern are disclosed.

The work of th€ United Typothetae of America, a printers association, isa constructive examplc of what can be accomplished with a standard accounting system. About fourte€n years ago, in 1912, saloonkeepers were rated as 81st in the basis of credit, and the rank of printers was almost as low. Failures in the printing trade were regarded as most ordinary occurrcnces. The variations between the prices quoted by one printer and those quoted by others for the samc job, were so wide that buycrs of printing, generally, learned to appreciate that thc printer knew little or nothing about his costs and werc often able to burr below cost because of the printer's lack of knowledge in this respect,

It was nec€ssary simply to provide accounts that would segregate the manufacturing expenses from the strictly mcrchandising activities, and to suggest the proper bases for computing labor costs. This is comparable, in a way, to mill work in the retail lumber busincss although it was far more difficult for the printer to segregate his varlous accounts.

And thc Seed Tradc men advanced argu- mcnts ttrat their business was so largely subject to factors over which they had no control that better methods of accounting could nevcr be of any value to them. The yield of secd from a givcn acreagc could not be foretold; it was depcndent on wcather