140 NATURE OF CAPITAL AND INCOME [Crar. VIII 
Our present object, however, is to show, not the methods 
of practical bookkeeping, but merely the application of 
economic principles to such bookkeeping. The chief ob- 
ject is to find the philosophical basis of accounting. Care- 
ful examination shows that accounting is at bottom not a 
mere makeshift but a complete, consistent, and logical sys- 
tem. When thus conceived and understood it will be seen 
to be of importance, not alone to the accountant but also to 
the economist. For his purposes, the only method of con- 
structing income and outgo accounts which is philosophic- 
ally correct, and which can serve as a basis for economic 
analysis, is the method by which are recorded, for each 
article of capital, the values of all its services and disserv- 
jces. These services and disservices are of many kinds. 
Sometimes they consist of money payments, sometimes of 
productive operations, and sometimes of enjoyable ele- 
ments. These all enter the accounts on the same footing, 
but in the next chapter we shall see that after being thus 
entered, the items may be so combined that all except the 
enjoyable elements will cancel among themselves.