Public utilities have given rise to many knotty problems, and much comment has been heard, pro and con, as to the reasonableness of their income and expenses. A public utility is commonly thought of as a natural monopoly, but a regulated one, which does not settle its own rates. It is under the jurisdiction of the various regulatory commissions which are found in all states with the exception of Delaware and Kentucky. These commissions are supposed to set the utility rates at that point which will yield a reasonable rate of return on "fair value," plus enough to cover operating expense., but the more or less familiar discussions and decisions as to what "fair value" and a reasonable rate of return are, and the methods of determining them, will be passed by here. Instead, it is proposed that the gross, net operating, and net income of the utilities be examined in their relation to some of the other values and costs, and that some of the major operating expenses be subjected to a survey as to what they include, their reasonableness, and their relation to total operating expenses.

The purposes of accounting instruction in universities and colleges, although manifold and dependent upon innumerable circumstances, may be grouped into two major classifications. These two classifications are the social purposes and the private purposes. Some might point out a third group of purposes, that is, those growing out of the needs of particular institutions as affected by their character and location, but ordinarily these latter facts merely influence the social and private purposes and do not form a third group. Of the two groups, the social purposes should be considered the more important. To bring out the social function of the subject should be the most important purpose of accounting instruction. Accounting instruction not only serves the two private purposes, the vocational and professional, directly, but it has an additional private purpose. The accounting instruction is a foundation stone in any course in commerce or business administration. Thus persons enrolling in a commerce course, and whose ambition is to become business men, partake of this instruction and can use it later to their own individual advantage.

Reviews the book "Foreign Exchange Accounting," by Christian Djorup.