60 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
ated with the main office and turn in their surplus or apply for a sufficient sum to cover their deficit, as the case may be. The cashiers, receiving tellers, paying tellers, clerks, bookkeepers, are all accountable to the chief cashier, who, in turn, is responsible to the council for the proper conduct of the business intrusted to him. The day-books are balanced every night and the balance compared with the cash on hand. The books are closed the tenth of each month, and audited a week later by a deputed com- mittee of councilors and magistrates. The books must first have been expertly examined, and yet the auditing must be conducted according to a formula which prevents its being a mere formality. Accounts chosen at random by the magistrates are inspected, the contents of certain money bags, also chosen at random, are counted, stocks and bonds are examined, and further the respon- sible cashiers must swear to the correctness of their accounts and balances. This occurs each month ; and there is, further, at least once a year a special, unexpected auditing to make sure that at any moment the balance on the books agrees with the balance on hand.
Taxes. The chief source of income of most municipalities is still their taxes, in spite of the fact that many have undertaken business operations. There has, on the whole, been a growth in amount of taxes. A large part of the sums thus collected has, however, been invested in such ways that there is bound to be a very notable decrease in taxes before many years. In Diissel- dorf, to name one example, taxes are levied on income, land and buildings, trade or occupation, department stores, beer, public amusements, dogs, and transfer of real estate.
Municipal operations. Control, ownership, and operation of gas, water, and electrical works have already been referred to, as have also some other undertakings such as municipal street rail- ways, harbors and docks, stock-yards, markets, etc. A further source of income is municipal landholdings. Many of the munici- palities own large tracts of land; for example: Berlin, 13,400 hectares (a hectare equals approximately 2^2 acres) ; Stettin, 4,900 hectares; Strassburg, 4,600 hectares; Miinchen, 4,400 hectares. As the largest portion of such land is generally outside
