These and like subjects in connection with the appraisal must be taken up during the period of computation and settled. The computing office organization and methods call for no special comment, except to emphasize the need of experienced men, the use of every possible check on the accuracy of the work, and the prime necessity of keeping all notes in such manner that they can be identified and used to re-establish every step taken in the course of the appraisal. IV.—The Preparation of the Final Figure. The final form of the work is, of course, so much a matter of personal judgment that even a suggestion may appear to be useless. The use of such a classification as will conform approximately, if not exactly, with that adopted by the Interstate Commerce Commission is more desirable now than it was 10 years ago, as all the roads in the country are using this classification in their accounts, and the more nearly uniform the work of various State appraisals, the better the results will be. ----- Footnote 18: Unchangeable only for the period under consideration and as regards the purpose of the appraisal. This value varies from year to year, depending on business conditions and on earnings of the company. NON-PHYSICAL VALUES AND METHODS FOR THEIR DETERMINATION. In the published articles treating on the subject of valuation, much stress is laid on the intangible or non-physical elements of value. They have been termed "going concern values," "business values," "good will values," "franchise values," as well as "non-physical" and "intangible" values. So much of the argument of many writers has been taken up with this phase of the question that it is impracticable to recapitulate the various arguments in support of giving these elements a place in the appraisal. The writer cannot agree with those who would place any of these elements of value in the physical appraisal. Value is given to a property, either by reason of the fact that it is an instrument for earning profit, or that it does earn profit or gives promise of profit. The actual investment of capital in a new plant is made with the expectation of earnings. It is not reasonable to attach as physical value, to such a plant, any value in excess of the actual investment. Nor does it appear to be any more reasonable, in the case of an old plant, to assign arbitrary and fictitious values over and above the actual investment remaining in the plant, unless such values are justified and supported by actual earnings in excess of such a rate of interest on the money invested, as it would earn if invested in some non-hazardous security, and—carrying out the clearly-expressed idea of the Courts—such intangible value can only accrue when the rates charged for the service are fair and proper. The capitalist seeking investment bases his ideas of value on: