h they are filed away in a form convenient for reference.
Sometimes the process is carried a step further, and the original slips,
filed away with suitable guide-cards indicating the nature of the
account, themselves constitute the ledger record--which in such cases is
to be found scattered over a number of sheets, one for each transaction,
instead of, as in the case of the ordinary book ledger, a considerable
number of transactions being recorded upon a single page. This
adaptation of the slip system is impracticable except in cases where the
transactions with each individual are few in number, and is not worth
adoption unless the exceedingly large number of personal accounts makes
it important as far as possible to avoid all duplication of clerical
work. The more usual adaptation of the slip system to ledgers is to be
found in the employment of _card ledgers_ or _loose-leaf ledgers_. With
card ledgers (fig. 1) each ledger account is upon an independent sheet
of cardboard suitably arranged in drawers or cabinets. The system is
advantageous as allowing all dead matter to be eliminated from the
record continuously in use, and as permitting the order in which the
accounts stand to be varied from time to time as convenience dictates,
thus (if necessary) enabling the accounts to be always kept in
alphabetical order in spite of the addition of new accounts and the
dropping out of old ones. An especial convenience of the card system is
that in times of pressure any desired number of book-keepers may be
simultaneously employed, whereas the maximum number that can be usefully
employed upon any bound book is two. The loose-leaf ledger (fig. 2) may
be described as midway between card and bound ledgers. It consists of a
number of sheets in book form, so bound as to be capable of being
readily separated when desired. The loose-leaf ledger thus embraces most
of the advantages of the card ledger, while remaining sufficiently like
the more old-fashioned book ledger as to enable it to be readily handled
by those whose previous experience has been confined to the latter. Both
the card and loose-leaf systems will be frequently found of value for
records in connexion with cost and stores accounts, quite irrespective
of their advantages in connexion with the book-keeping records pure and
simple of certain businesses.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Loose-Leaf Ledger (Library Bureau System.)]

Legislative Requirements.

All book-keeping meth