or for any other purpose. The use of the column for such check-marks leaves the page in neater shape than do check-marks placed indiscriminately, besides being a clearer guide.

In Figure 11 is shown a ledger page which is convenient where the items are to be described at length. The descriptions of debit and of credit items may be separated by the device explained in connection with Figure 14.

FIG. 11.-LEDGER SHEET WITH WIDE DESCRIPTION COLUMN.

In Figure 12 is shown a form which combines a ledger page for coupon accounts and a record of coupons paid. The combining of the two is a great time saver, and the arrangement for noting the bond numbers of coupons paid is very convenient. In the first debit to the account -that for the payment of coupons presented by John Doe-record of the bond numbers 137, 138 and 139 is made in the description column in the ledger part of the page, and check-marks (V) are made in the proper spaces in the form for bond numbers of coupons paid. In the fourth debit, the First National Bank of Chicago has presented twenty-five

FIG. 12.-COMBINED COUPON LEDGER AND RECORD SHEET.

coupons cut from bonds whose numbers are not consecutive. To list all these numbers separately would require considerable time, and then the record would not be as clear as that obtained by the device here used. The letter "a" is used to designate the coupons covered by this entry. This letter is then placed in each of the little squares showing the bond numbers of such coupons-i. e., 44, 45, 123, 124, 125, 126, 232, 412, 413, 414, etc. The next party presenting a bunch of coupons whose bond numbers are not consecutive is given the letter "b," the next "c," and so on. As is evident from a study of the figure, this device shows easily and

quickly what coupons have been paid, and who has presented any particular coupon. In case the ledger space on the page is exhausted before the form for bond numbers of coupons paid is filled, the use of the latter is continued, only the ledger space of the next page being used. It is more apt to happen, however, that several pages will have to be used for the bond numbers of coupons paid before the ledger space of one page is filled. If more than 999 bonds are outstanding from which coupons are to be presented, of course two or more pages will have to be used for recording the bond numbers of the paid coupons.

The use of these various ledger forms suggests again the very great convenience of the loose-leaf system. Under this system, whenever an account calls for the use of any one of these forms or of any other form which may be suggested by the needs of the case, such form may easily be inserted in the ledger and the records be kept in the clearest and most convenient manner. The system is adaptable to any need that may arise. This is not true of the bound book; for while a number of different forms may be bound under the same cover, it is impossible to foresee just how many pages of each kind of form will be needed; and it is impossible to group them in the most convenient manner for a series of accounts. Moreover, at any time a new kind of account may be received which, for the greatest clearness and convenience, will require a kind of record different from any in the book. In such a case, if the loose-leaf system is used, all that is necessary is to have the printer prepare the new form, and insert it in the binder. Furthermore, under the loose-leaf system there need be carried in the ledger only such pages as are needed, while in a bound book there are certain to be many unused pages, and the number of such unused pages is sure to be increased as the number of different forms is increased. When all of the pages of a certain form are used, the book must be filed away with many pages of the other forms unused. This takes space in the vault and adds to the expense.

JOURNALS AND LEDGERS FOR THE ESTATES DEPARTMENT.

In the Estates Department, especially if the amount of business is large, it is convenient, if not essential, to have record forms prepared especially for the kind of work handled. There is much variety in the forms used by different companies; and it is of course true that a company doing only a small business in this line will find convenient the use of forms somewhat different from those required by larger companies. The chief points of excellence to be desired in a system for keeping accounts of this character are: simplicity and clearness; adaptability to both large and small accounts; adaptability to accounts requiring many sub-accounts and to those requiring but few sub-accounts; convenient arrangement for rendering statements to courts or to others directly from the books, without the necessity of the stenographer being furnished with a separate copy of the account.

With all these points and some others in view, the best system of books for the Estates Department that the writer has seen is that described in connection with Figures 13, 14, 16 and 18, which was adopted by the company using it after experimenting with other forms. This system involves the use of a general journal, in which is given in skeleton form the total transactions for the day in all trusts; individual journal sheets in which the transactions for each trust are entered in detail in chronological order; ledger sheets, and memorandum sheets. The looseleaf system is used except for the general journal.

Figure 13 shows the general journal used in this system. The size of cach page is 1514 inches wide by 1434 inches deep. This book serves the double purpose of furnishing a resume of the total transactions for the day in all the trusts that are active for the day, and of distributing the items to their proper places among the general accounts with a minimum of labor and yet with accuracy and clearness. Reading from the center of the book outward on either page, the headings are: Date, Memoranda, Cash, Bank, Income, Principal, Individual, Unimproved Real Estate,

FIG. 13.-LEFT-HAND PAGE, GENERAL JOURNAL, ESTATES DEPARTMENT.

Improved Real Estate, Real Estate Mortgages, Land Contracts, Notes, Bonds, Stocks, Total; the headings, with the exception of the first two, corresponding to the names of the general accounts carried. This company finds it convenient to maintain a separate cash-drawer in this department, and hence the columns for both Bank and Cash. Where such a cash-drawer is not maintained, the Cash column would of course be unnecessary. In one of the columns headed Memoranda are entered simply the names of the trusts having transactions during the day, and opposite such names, in the proper columns, the debits or credits to the various accounts under each trust. In the figure, since it is necessary to show the form here in two parts, the names are entered in both of the Memoranda columns; but in practice they need be entered but once.

In Figure 13, the first entry shows that there was received for the M. N. Andrews trust, $4,829.30, which is debited to Cash (left-hand page). On the right-hand page, $1,500 of this amount is shown credited to Principal, and the balance, $329.30, to Income. In the second entry it is shown that there has been received for the Estate of M. J. Champion,

$7,500, which is debited to Cash (left-hand page), and credited to Improved Real Estate (right-hand page). Also, for this estate there has been expended $250, which is credited to Bank (right-hand page) and debited to Income (left-hand page). In the eighth entry it is shown that there has been disbursed for the Estate of D. G. Wainright the sum of $11,515.75, of which $3,000 is debited to Bonds, $2,000 to Real Estate Mortgages, $6,350 to Improved Real Estate, and $165.75 to Income. The last entry shows that of the funds received during the day, $16,000 was deposited in the bank. The totals in the total column on either page represent the totals of all items on the page except the Cash and Bank items. The total shown on the right-hand page agrees with the footing of the Cash column on the left-hand page; and that on the left-hand page with the footing of the Bank column on the right-hand page. The footings of the various columns are carried forward from page to page for a week or for any convenient period, and are then posted to the general accounts.

FIG. 13.-RIGHT-HAND PAGE, GENERAL JOURNAL, ESTATES DEPARTMENT.

The day's work being thus summarized in the general journal, the work for each trust is entered in detail in the individual journal of the trust, the form for which is shown in Figure 14. The credit entries are made directly from credit tickets, and the debit entries from the stubs of the department check-book. This journal, it will be noted, separates entries for Income account from those for Principal account, which is a convenience not only in posting, but in the rendering of separate statements of the two accounts. At the left of the space headed Memoranda will be noticed the headings Dr. and Cr. This is a device for separating the descriptions of debit and credit items, the former being begun next to the date line, and the latter under the abbreviation, Cr. This enables the eye to quickly pick out the descriptions of the two classes of items.

In Figure 15 is shown another journal form somewhat similar to this, but arranged in cash-book style, with receipts entered in the lefthand column. At the top of the first page in this journal are given brief memoranda regarding the trust. Concerning this see the discussion in connection with Figure 18.