The Australian House of Repre- | is exactly thirty-two centimeters. The sentatives (Aug. 4, 1910), by vote of system is decimal, its terms are fixed thirty-five to two, urged the British in metric units, and the metric standParliament to adopt the decimal ards thus become those of China. system. The parliaments of Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand had already taken similar action. In the United States every committee report upon the subject in Congress has favored its adoption, as have also the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and many organizations. Synopsis of the System.-The fundamental unit of the metric system is the meter-the unit of length. From this the units of capacity (liter) and of weight (gram) were derived. All other units are the decimal subdivisions or multiples of these. These three units are simply related-e. g., for all practical purposes one cubic decimeter equals one liter, and one liter of water weighs one kilogram (1 meter = 39.37 in., 1 kilogram= 2.2046 lbs.) The metric tables are formed by combining the words ter,” “gram,” and liter" with six numerical prefixes, as in the follow Denmark recently (by law of May 4, 1907) adopted the metric system to take effect for official purposes April 1, 1911, and for public transactions one year later. The Chinese Empire (by law of Aug. 29, 1908)| adopted a modified system in which the unit of length, the ch'ih (foot), ing tables: 66 66 me XII. PUBLIC FINANCE, BANKING, AND INSURANCE PUBLIC FINANCE HENRY B. GARDNER Budget Making. During recent the appropriations. The necessity of years there has been in this country devising some plan to overcome this a growing recognition of the impor- evil and to concentrate responsibility tance of sound principles of budget has been emphasized during the last making and accounting as a means of session of Congress by the President, avoiding waste in public expenditures the Secretary of the Treasury, the and securing efficiency in the admin- chairman of the Senate committee istration of public affairs. on finance, and the House committee on appropriations. In the Senate, indeed. there was formed a committee on public expenditures composed of the chairmen of the various committees having charge of appropriations; but this particular plan failed to yield important results. Congress, however, appropriated $100,000 to enable the President to investigate the organization and accounting systems of the executive departments. and this investigation is now under way. In the field of federal finance a step toward a more careful estimate of expenses by the executive department was taken by the inclusion in the sundry civil appropriation bill, March 4, 1909, of a provision requiring the Secretary of the Treasury, after receiving the departmental estimates, to compare their total with the estimated revenues for the ensuing year. If they prove to be in excess of the estimated revenues, he is required to submit them to the President. If the President, after consultation with the heads of departments, believes that they cannot, without injury to the public service, be reduced so as to bring them with in the estimated revenue, he is then required to recommend to Congress new sources of taxation or new loans to make up the deficit. According to Mr. Tawney, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, the value of this provision is evidenced by the fact that the estimates submitted to Congress in Dec., 1909, were $80.261.738 less than the estimates submitted at the previous session and $44,706,231 less than the appropriations made by Congress pursuant to the previous year's estimates. The great obstacle to economy in appropriation and the maintenance of an approximate balance between revenue and expenditure lies in the great number of committees among which is distributed the work of determining the sources of revenue and State Control Over Expenditures. -In the field of state and local finance Indiana and Washington were added, in 1909, to the list of twentythree states which had already provided some form of state control (through examination of accounts, the requirement of reports, the establishment of uniform accounting systems, or some combination of these requirements) over the accounts of local financial officers. Bills for establishing similar systems have also been introduced in the legislatures of New Jersey and Kentucky. The legislation in both Indiana and Washington is modeled on that of Ohio. The Indiana law, which perhaps represents the most advanced type of legislation of this character, provides for a state board of accounts composed of the governor, auditor. and state examiner, the last named being an officer created by the law. He must be "a skillful accountant and well versed in public accounting," and is to be assisted by two deputies, and and reporting." A somewhat similar bureau has also been established in Chicago. (See IX, Municipal Govern FEDERAL REVENUE AND field examiners. The state board of accounts is to provide an uniform accounting system for all local bodies, which shall exhibit a true account | ment.) and detailed statement of receipts and expenditures of all public officers. It is also to provide a complete cost system for all public service industries. Full financial reports are to be presented to the examiner each year on prescribed forms, by all counties, towns, cities, townships and school districts in the state, and these reports are to be summarized, tabulated, and published by the examiner. The examiner also has full power of examining the accounts of all public officers. Existing conditions in the country at large are thus summed up by Mr. Roy Smith in a series of articles in the Journal of Accountancy, Vol. IX. This movement which began in a single state in 1878 has spread until now over one half the states have more or less extensive systems of supervision over local accounting. The authority in seventeen of these states includes that of the installation of systems of accounts for a part or all local officials. Only six of the twenty-five states exercising supervision do not require reports from any local officers. Only one of these states exercises no auditing power, and all enjoy more less effective means, clearly stated in the statutes, of enforcing their laws upon the local governments. or Other agencies exercising an influence in the direction of uniform accounting by cities have been the federal Census Office, the National Municipal League, and the National Association of Comptrollers and Accounting officers. An investigation of municipal expenditures and accounting, by a competent commission, is being carried on in Chicago, and the thorough investigations of the Bureau of Municipal Research in New York are producing important results in connection with the methods of preparing the budget and in the accounting systems of that city. In Aug., 1910, Herman A. Metz, ex-Comptroller of New York City, donated to the bureau $10,000 a year for three years for the purpose of making available to American cities the best principles and practice worked out in municipal accounting EXPENDITURES Receipts and Disbursements.-The outcome of the financial year ending June 30, 1910, was much more favorable than was anticipated. The previous year had shown an excess of ordinary disbursements over ordinary receipts of $58,734,954, or, if we add the expenditures on account of the Panama Canal, a deficit of $90,154, 397.34. This favorable showing was due to the fact that on the side of receipts all items, with the exception of customs, which fell slightly below the estimates, exceeded the estimated amounts, while all expenditures, with the exception of those for Indian affairs, fell below the estimated amounts. The excess in receipts from internal revenue was $16,000,000, from the corporation tax $6,000,000, and in receipts from miscellaneous sources $7,000,000. The saving in expenditures took place chiefly in the Department of War, $9,000,000, and in the Post Office Department, the deficit in which was only $8,496,000 as compared with the Secretary's estimate of $16,881,000 and $19,501,000 in 1909. Under these conditions it has been possible to withhold the bond issues which earlier in the year seemed inevitable. The available cash balance in the Treasury fell, however, from $124,453,841 to $100,490,784. Federal Appropriations. That the second session of the sixty-first Congress made some effort in the direction of economy, is shown by the fact that for the first time since the second session of the fifty-seventh Congress appropriations showed a decrease as compared with the year preceding. Omitting in both years the permanent annual appropriations, which are practically unaffected by the action of Congress in making its annual appropriations, the expenditures for the post office, practically met out of the revenue from the post office, the expenditures for the Panama Canal, and the advances to the reclamation fund to be repaid out of that fund, the appropriations for 1910 were $615,975,404 and for 1911, $594,436,831, not a large decrease, but still notable in view of the fact that between 1904 and 1910 appropriations calculated on the same basis increased by over $150,000,000. The most important financial measures of the fiscal year 1909-10 were the joint resolution submitting to the state legislatures an amendment to the constitution authorizing the imposition of an income tax by the Federal Government; the tariff act of Aug. 5, 1909, including a section imposing a Federal tax on the net incomes of corporations; and the two acts of June 25, 1910, one authorizing the issue of bonds to provide funds for reclamation projects, and the other providing for the establishment of postal savings banks. The Tariff Act.-The preliminary work of preparation of the new tariff bill was done by the Committee of Ways and Means of the House and Finance Committee of the Senate during the winter and spring of 1908-09, the former committee holding extended public hearings. The actual work of legislation was deferred to the special session which convened March 15, 1909. On March 18th the bill was reported to the House by the Committee on Ways and Means. It passed the House on April 9th, was reported to the Senate, with extensive amendments, by its Committee on Finance on April 12th, was passed in its amended form by the Senate on July 8th, and was sent to a conference committee which reported on July 30th. The bill, as reported, was passed by the House on the next day, and by the Senate on Aug. 5th, on which day it also received the sig nature of the President. The most marked reductions proposed by those in charge of the bill were contained in the House bill; the rates contained in this bill were considerably raised in the Senate; the bill, as finally passed, conformed more closely to the Senate than to the House bill, but embodied some compromises between these two bills, the reductions from the level of the Senate bill being apparently due in large measure to the intervention of the President. The House Bill. The most marked changes in the bill as originally presented to the House were the placing of iron ore, bituminous coal, hides, and mechanically ground wood pulp on the free list, and the imposition of a tax of 8 cts. a pound on tea, which has for many years been admitted free. Considerable reductions were also made throughout the iron and steel schedule, the average reduction on iron and steel products serving as raw materials and tools for manufacturers amounting to about 25% of existing duties. The rate on pig iron was reduced from $4.00 to $2.50 and on steel rails from $7.84 to $3.92. On iron and steel products ready for consumption there was little or no reduction, and in some cases duties were increased. Slight reductions were made on the products of leather other than gloves, the duties on which were considerably increased. On timber hewn, squared or sided, the rate was reduced from 1 ct. to ct. per cubic foot, and on sawed lumber, not planed or finished, from $2.00 to $1.00 per thousand feet, with corresponding reductions on planed and finished lumber. On clapboards there was a reduction from $1.50 to $1.00 per thousand. On the lowest grade of printing paper worth less than 2 cts. a pound the duty was reduced from et. to ct. a pound, and on the next higher grade (worth from 2 cts. to 2 cts.) from ct. to ct. Reductions of from 20% to 25% were made in the case of meats and of about 15% in the case of marble. The rate of 20% on agricultural implements was reduced to 15%, with the provision that they should be admitted free from countries which admitted free such implements when imported from the United States. a still further increase. In the iron There were also numerous reductions of minor importance on a great number of other articles, particularly in the chemical schedule. In the glass schedule the duties on some of the larger sizes of plate glass were lowered, but on some of the smaller sizes they were increased. In the textile schedule the changes were not important. The duties were lowered on unbleached cotton yarns, and some reduction was also made in the cheaper grades of carpet wools and dress goods of wool with a cotton warp. There were reductions also on threads, twines, and cords made from flax, hemp, or ramie, and on certain classes of oilcloth, and rugs and carpets made of vegetable fiber other than cotton. On carded and combed silk the duty was reduced from 40 cts. to 35 cts. per pound. There was a very slight reduction on refined sugar. On the other hand, in the case of some articles, certain classes of hosiery, leather gloves, co-tremely difficult to say what alteracoa, chocolate, spices, and liquors, there were notable increases. The duties were also slightly increased on lemons and pineapples. The bill passed the House without substantial change except that the duty on tea was abandoned and a duty of ct. per pound was retained on wood pulp from countries imposing restrictions on the exportation of pulp wood or wood pulp, and the countervailing duty on mineral oils provided for in the existing law was removed. tions in rates are involved in these changes, but there can be little question that in some cases they mean a distinct increase. In the main the conference bill which was enacted into law followed the Senate bill rather than the House bill, although, as a result of the pres sure brought to bear by the President, hides were replaced on the free list, and the duty on boots and shoes was reduced from 25% to 10%, a rate below that of either the House or Senate bill. The duty on bituminous coal (existing law, 67 cts.) was placed at 45 cts. per ton; on iron ore (existing rate, 40 cts.) at 15 cts. per ton: on lumber in the rough at $1.25 per thousand feet, and the rates on planed and finished lumber were reduced even slightly below those in the House bill. On clapboards the rate was fixed at $1.25. On the cheaper grades of printing paper, worth not over 2 cts. per pound, the rate was fixed at ct. per pound. In a few cases, including meats and agricul tural implements, on which rates had been reduced by the House and restored by the Senate, the House rates were retained. They were also in The Senate Bill.-In the Senate the duty on hides was restored, and duties were imposed on coal and iron ore at rates somewhat lower than the existing rates. The duty on lumber in the rough was increased to $1.50, with a somewhat less than proportionate increase over the House rates on planed and finished lumber; the existing rates on clap-boards were restored, and the existing rates of 30 cts. per thousand on shingles increased to 50 cts. The House rate of ct. on the cheaper grades of printing paper was doubled, and the existing rates on the cheaper grades of writing paper increased. The liquor schedule was subjected to |