Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1902 — SAVING OF MONEY [ARTICLE]

SAVING OF MONEY

Economical Administration of the Public Affairs of the People of Indiana. ! TIMELY CONTRAST OF METHODS How Money Is Being Saved to the Tax-Payers of the State by the Business Management Being Inaugurated in Our Public Institutions. A few years ago there was much extravagance practiced and ihany a dollar lost ih the handling of publlc ; money, for no other reason than that sysand order were apt wanted and never Inaugurated to carefully aiccount for the same. Under the old management of our state institutions, every article purchased was dumped into one or more store-rooms without regard to quantity or quality purchased, and after the supplies had been delivered it was the business of ho one officer to have charge of same and she that only the amount required for each day was delivered to the various departments; but, instead, the head of each depart-' ment, and oftefi tHCsC Who Were not at the head of the departments in the institution?,had keys to ,the storeroom and .aqtlrprity to help themselves. Such methods could not help blit ,bp Wasteful and would never be permitted by hn individual or private corporation. 1 ■' ■ Not Only* were such methods practiced, but In ordering supplies bids were never’ received and no attempts made to purchase where the tax-payer wopld rpceive ithe, benefit by getting the best possible prices. Under this method of transacting the state’s business in our institutions, more money was wasted in the Indiscriminate handling of supplies in the’ various store-rooms and buildings than it would take to build a room of sufficient size to accommodate everything necessary to carry in stock. At the beginning of the late Governor Mpunt’jS administration, those who were responsible fpr the management Jof the Institutions of the state began to introduce new ideas with a view of conducting the affairs of our institutions upbn business methods. In order to Pee what has been accomplished it is only necePsary for one to take a day off and visit any of the public institutions of our state as they arp - today managed. The writer has gone to the trouble of carefully investigating and going through one of the institutions of the state, and believes what he has found would be of Interest to every tax-payer, and will describe, as near as he can, the method and manner of doing business in the institution that he visited. Upon entering the institution I was at once satisfied that business methods are being used, from the cleanliness that can be seen on every side and the orderly and gentlemanly manner in which the officers conduct themselves. I was more particularly interested in the large and commodious store-room, where every dollar's worth of supplies that was purchased for the institution was delivered. This store-room was of sufficient size to admit of systematic methods by which articles of certain denomination and size may be kept, not only separate, but also in such manner that they are readily accessible at any time. Into this room evbry article purchased for the institution was delivered, checked up and compared with a duplicate invoice which is furnished the storekeeper. It is imperative that this be done before any of the goods purchased are issued to the departments for which they are intended. This duplicate is given a number by the storekeeper, the first invoice received at the beginning of the fiscal year being No. 1 and continuing the numbers consecutively through the year as the invoices are received. The article so purchased is given the same number as the.duplicate in-: and in addition is ,gjyen ipe year in which it. was. purchased. Tliis is necessary in case the goods purchased should be tarried into another year. - '' 1 ' '

The footings cf these duplicate Invoices must compare with the original invoice from which the vouchers are made, at , the end .of each month l , ,or upon any day that the (superintendent of the institution (leeflis it, necessary to call upon the storekeeper to furnish such' footings. This part of the system places the goods in the store-room and charges them to the storekeeper upon the books of the store-rpom as well as upon the, books in the chief clerk’s office of the institntiqn. I found that the officer in charge of tb,is store-room was very conversant and knew exactly Where tb fihd any one .of a thousand articled that were under'his care, and that he was able to advise r the superintendent at any tiihe he was called upon of the condition and amount of supplies on hand and do accurately, show from his records the daily demands upon the store-room by the various departments of the institution. I found that this could qnly be done by a system of records, requisitions and checks that not only show the amount of supplies coming into the hands of the- storekeeper daily, but the amount that is daily consumed by each department. Upon further examination I found that the head of each department was furnished with a requisition book, vyjth instructions that he is, at 9 o’clock

each morning, to fill up with pen and Ink one of these blank requisition)! by naming therein the articles and apiount wanted, with the understanding that he is to only draw one day’s supplies at a time. -He must number this requisition and he must also keep iii his book «pe stfib *rhicb W an exact copy of the order sent from the store-room. He is also instructed to date his requisition one day in advance, and as soon as the storekeeper receives these requisitions from the various departments of the institution he immediately sends them to the superintendent’s office, who carefully considers the various articles asked for, and if in his judgment they are njecessary, h.e gives his approval by signing each requisition and sending them back to the storekeeper. The storekeeper then carefully goes over each requisition, giving it the store number. If there is anything called for on the requisition that is not in stock, he at oncq makes an order on the superintendent for the items. This request must be in the hands of the superintendent at 10 b’ciock each day. I found that the storekeeper very carefully weighs out and measures up the articles called for by each department and delivers them at 3 o’clock of that day, getting the officer’s receipt for the supplies on the requisition heretofore made. The storekeeper then takes these requisitions and credits himself on the stock record with the amount of each iteip Issued, credits in dollars and cents and being thb actiial cost that Is shown byi his duplicate invoice.' This stock redord is a large book that will show at a glance every article that is ip the store-rqom. In the first column of this record ie. given the amount of the apticlp on hand at the beginning of the month, then the amount receiv : ed puring fpe month, tb.e. invoice nupiiber; "price and total value. Then follows 81 spaces fbr the dally Issue for the month, the 1 total of which is the issue for the entire moqth deducted from the amount On hand and purchased during the month, leaving the amount on hand at ihe end of the month. Or, n o her words the storekeeper at sny time c°n tell from this record exactly w*at, h e hoq nv, band of any article with which he is charged, and can furnish an Accurate inventory of the $5,000 worth of supplies that are usually In stock,, by having one day’s notice. After +W mrmis>tlons referred to are completed and entered on the books of the storekeep-t er, they are sent to the clerk’s office, where an abstract of the footings of each day’s supplies are made and entered into a book for that purpose, showing the dally cost of each department, and at the end of the month a recapitulation is made showing the monthly cost of each department. It was very noticeable in making this examination, that it was possible for the superintendent, at the close of each day’s work, to accurately tell what it had cost for that day to run each department and to also tell exactly what it had cost to feed each inmate of the institution for that day, which amount varied from six to seven cents per day. One department of this store-room that was very interesting to me was what they termed the “condemnation” room, and before the head of any department Is permitted to draw anything new from the store-room, he is compelled where possible to duplicate it* with the old or worn-out article. This article is condemned by the storekeeper and stored away In this room in lots of ten or twenty, so that at the end of the year they can be carefully counted by the board of managers and orders given for their disposal. This feature alone more than twice over pays the officer who is responsible for the safe-keeping of all the supplies purchased for the institution. I also found that this storeroom was the manufacturing center of the institution; here all institutional clothing, shoes, tobacco, or any article that is necessary to be made for the inmates, was manufactured and an accurate cost of same was kept by the storekeeper. It has been demonstrat-

ed that a great saving is made to the stat 6 by the institution manufacturing thesb articles. The tobacco for which 4hey had been paying from 28 to '32 cents per pound was now being made for from 8 to .9 cents and a much bettier quality than they had: purchased. Shoes that cost from $1.50 to $1.60 per pair were now being made for $1.21 and a milch better shoe. Discharge ‘ clothing, or suits that are given the inmates; ; when they are released from» prison now the state about s4;rperr suit and a better suit than could .be bought for twice that money when purchased under the old way of doing business at the institution. It has certainly bqen demonstrated that system and order is pur ppbjic institutions: lead to economy, apd the people of, the state are tp be congratulated upon,, the manlier in which the public affairs 'of our state are boipg handled, and there is nothing about a piiblic institution that; will induce its officers to be economical more than to have their daily transactions on record so that same is subject to inspection at all times by the board of managers, superintendent, or the public. System and method are the fundamental principles of economy, and as long as the state of Indiana continues as it is in the management of its state affairs, the chance for scandal and corruption to thh handling of public funds will be reduced to the minimum. I And further that in consulting the statistics of the statb, if the per capita cost of maintaining our state institutions in 1 <99 had been what it was in 1891, it would have cost the state $340,539.76 snore money. This saving can' be accounted for in no other way ■than by the strict business management that leas been Introduced ■; ;; vo ,-i {in '-b' ' i >'