One of the difficulties in improving the efficiency of work, is the extraordinarily ingenious line of excuses that the men will present for not getting their work done properly. Of these, perhaps the most hard─worked is that of improper and insufficient material. When a man is berated for poor work, and presents the argument that he was unable to do so and so because he ordered material for it several weeks previously and the material has not yet arrived, the situation is embarrassing. The best preventive of this is to have small requisition blanks measuring about 2½ by 4½ inches, made up into pads of about fifty each, and to give each foreman a pad. Each blank should have a space for the date, the articles ordered, the time when the article is needed, the particular part of the work where the article is needed, the class of work for which the article is needed, and the foreman's name. The foreman should then be instructed that material will be purchased through the storekeeper, and that non─delivery of material will not be accepted as an excuse. The storekeeper should then go around a job at least once a day, and get from the foremen their requisition slips; and an intelligent storekeeper will see to it that useless and unnecessary material or superfluous material is not ordered. Material that is ordered on requisition, and is not in the storehouse, should be purchased if necessary on a rush order, because, contrary to the ordinary apparent belief, it is economical to spend a dollar for material in order to save two dollars in labor.