Another  item  to  which  to  give  careful  attention  is  the  matter
of  taxes.  The  accounting  officer  should  see  that  all  taxes
(exclusive  of  war  taxes)  which  were  charged  to  Railway  Tax
Accruals  during  the  test  period  and  therefore,  deducted  in
arriving  at  the  net  railway  operating  income  for  the  test  period,
should  be  paid  and  assumed  by  the  U.  S.  Railroad  Administra-
tion. In  order  that  the  corporation  revenues  may  be  properly
protected,  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  classes  of  taxes  that  were
charged  to  Railway  Tax  'Accruals  during  the  test  period,
should  be  made  and  then  all  similar  payments  (not  war  taxes)
during  the  Federal  control  period  should  be  charged  by  the


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Railroad  Administration  against  its  own  expenses,  and  not
against  the  corporation.  The  railroad  corporations  pay  so
many  different  kinds  of  taxes  that  unless  this  matter  is  watched
very  carefully,  the  corporation  may  suffer  a  loss.  In  this
connection  I  might  say  that  whenever  a  voucher  is  presented
tc  me  for  approval,  whether  for  taxes  or  anything  else  which
might  have  been  within  the  accounts  comprising  the  standard
return,  I  require  a  certificate  by  an  accountant  in  my  office  to
the  effect  that  similar  items  during  the  test  period  were  not
charged  against  the  accounts  embraced  in  the  standard  return.
This  necessitates  an  investigation  in  connection  with  each  indi-
vidual payment  and  I  believe  is  a  good  way  of  safeguarding
the  revenue  of  the  corporation.
Material  and  Supplies.
