DEPRECIATION—APPRAISEMENT OF THE VARIOUS METHODS
General Considerations
No method of estimating depreciation will ever be devised which will
be applicable under all conditions and to all kinds of property. Such
a panacea for the ills of wasting assets can obviously never be found,
for the very good reason that the same medicine will not suit all
patients. What gives good results in one case may not be applicable or
not equally so, in another case. In discussing the relative merits of
the various methods, therefore, no dogmatic rules for their use can
be laid down; furthermore, without a detailed knowledge of operating
conditions, only their main points of strength and weakness can be
pointed out, and this is all that will be attempted here.
In a critical discussion of methods and their effects, the fact of
depreciation may be considered from either the viewpoint of time or
service. Depreciation when viewed from the aspect of time may be said
to be due to: