rise, its
profit or loss; and thirdly, they are to furnish statistical data to
assist the management in its interminable battle to reduce expenses
and increase revenue, and to enable the owner to determine the
efficiency of his administrators. Bookkeeping _per se_ is no part
of this discussion. The fundamental purpose of that art is to cover
the first two objects, and, as such, does not differ from its
application to other commercial concerns.

In addition to these accounting matters there is a further type
of administrative report of equal importance--that is the periodic
statements as to the physical condition of the property, the results
of exploration in the mine, and the condition of the equipment.

ACCOUNTS.

The special features of mine accounting reports which are a development
to meet the needs of this particular business are the determination
of working costs, and the final presentation of these data in a
form available for comparative purposes.

The subject may be discussed under:--

1. Classes of mine expenditure.
2. Working costs.
3. The dissection of expenditures departmentally.
4. Inherent limitations in the accuracy of working costs.
5. Working cost sheets.

In a wide view, mine expenditures fall into three classes, which
maybe termed the "fixed charges," "proportional charges," and "suspense
charges" or "capital expenditure." "Fixed charges" are those which,
like pumping and superintendence, depend upon time rather than
tonnage and material handled. They are expenditures that would not
decrease relatively to output. "Proportional charges" are those
which, like ore-breaking, stoping, supporting stopes, and tramming,
are a direct coefficient of the ore extracted. "Suspense charges" are
those which are an indirect factor of the cost of the ore produced,
such as equipment and development. These expenditures are preliminary
to output, and they thus represent a storage of expense to be charged
off when the ore is won. This outlay is often called "capital
expenditure." Such a term, though in common use, is not strictly
correct, for the capital value vanishes when the ore is extracted,
but in conformity with current usage the term "capital expenditure"
will be adopted.

Except for the purpose of special inquiry, such as outlined under
the chapter on "Ratio of Output," "fixed charges" are not customarily
a special division in accounts. In a general way, such expenditures,
combined with the