| Show HOW THE U S NAVY BUYS ITS SUPPLIES purchasing department under admiral mcgowan has met all tests successfully centralization the chief merit of the system complimented for efficiency after investigation by congress washington A business concern which can increase its turnover 2500 per cent in 12 months without radical changes in method would to be a pretty sound organization amid all the expansion 0 government activities due to war with far reaching changes in methods ot con ducting business reorganizations in crease in personnel and addition 0 wholly new departments one big busl ness agency of the government has changed not at all except in magal tude that agency Is the bureau of supplies and accounts of the navy which purchases practically everything required by the navy except armor plate guns and shells it ads and clothes the navy buys its stefa metals lumber textiles and provides transportation for the navy s supplies coals its ships and pays its officers and men during the last year this bureau has been greatly en barged by the addition of new officers technical experts from civil life and clerical workers but its organization and methods have fully met all tests of war and have required practically no change says the new york times after thorough investigation cou grass recently declared this great busl ness deflice of the navy to be notable for efficiency as well as one of the biggest business enterprises in the united states there are two reasons for the effi dency an excellent business system end an excellent business man ad miral mcgowan who first became identified with the navys purchasing affairs four years ago after demonstrating his ability as purchasing boffl for the american fleet when it went around the world it chief merit the chief point of merit in the cavys purchasing system is cantrall cen trall all its supply activities are administered from washington no matter bow widely the american fleet may be scattered over the world ships are provisioned in the west in dies sailors are provided with warn winter clothing for destroyer service in the submarine zone around the brit ish isles coal Is dispatched to ships in the philippines nitrates are brought from clothing Is manufactured in new york and norfolk stores are carried at innumerable points ready for delivery to ships at instant notice yet all activities center in washington and navy supply business Is not only kept under the eyes of n few executives but Is expedited by a fine work ing spirit next to centralization and this working spirit probably the most im element in the system Is publicity in dealing with the supply of the innumerable needs under pressure of war other departments have found it expedient to set aside the normal peacetime peace time methods of pur chasing under competitive bids but the navy has adhered to the method of open bidding with full publicity on the principle that the public contributing war funds by taxation has a right to know exactly and in the full est detail how its money is being ex another principle the navy adheres to Is that war demands should be met by the peacetime peace time system of ing great as war demands are they call simply tor an increase in volume of business not a change in the fun da mental method of conducting business if the method has been properly worked out in peace it will meet the exigencies of var directed by mcgowan it every institution Is the length and shadow of one man as emerson said then the bureau of supplies and accounts today reflects the personality of admiral mcgowan ahen the bu acau transacted its affairs with 28 peo plo he knew them all and they work cd under his eye every day helped by the optimism and energy which he ra deates after a year of war with his organization approaching 1000 people he still knows them all and sees them frequently and maintains the original spirit of organization by making unlimited demands upon each individual for work according to his or her capacity with unstinted commendation for nil good work whether the job be great or small when the strength of the navy was about officers and enlisted men the bureau of supplies and accounts did all its purchasing and transportation through naval officers of the paymaster s corps when war came and activities increased by several hundred per cent monthly the organization was strengthened by taking on about a dozen civilian experts from business life aen who gladly resigned good positions and large salaries with private business concerns to don uncle sams uniform and work day and night for the comparatively slender salaries of naval officers other purchasing departments of the government met their early war problems by enlisting advisory corn of business experts who investigated vesti gated given problems outside implied facts made arrangements and offered suggestions alie navy un the contrary ccok its civilian ex oreb n bodal put them into uniform kg and made them part of the alon the navy needed steel for nr thou sands upon thousands of tons of it for construction and other purposes it got a steel expert S R fuller who resigned from a big chicago railway supply concern and went to work in the bureau of supplies and accounts supervising the purchase of structural steel and castings tor ships and shipyards gathers in experts the navy needed cotton millions of ards of canvas duck drill shee tings ind uniform cloth it got W E hooper a cotton mill executive who immediately severed all connections in his industry sold his cotton mill interests unvested nv ested the money in liberty bonds and came into the bureau the navy needed transportation on sea and land all the problems of chartering ships for a worldwide dis of supplies coal and provisions going out to the fleet and nitrate and shellac coming back in na val vessels were placed in charge of benjamin young an expert on ship chartering and ocean transport who severed his connection with a big new lork shipping concern for the period of the war transportation on land was taken over by ellsworth who left a remunerative position with a big railway system to enter uncle sams service the navy needed chemicals and donald riley came from a large chem leal concern to take charge of this department part ment it needed industrial accounting and a great accounting machinery concern made arrangements whereby S ashdown took that activity in hand giving all his time to the development of accounting terns as the bureau s transactions multiplied again and again A department to deal with foodstuffs was provided under F A tallman another dealing with lumber under morford and another dealing with leather and al lied materials under J W the general standard of ability set by the navy for its civilian experts Is that each man must be worth several times what the navy pays him in salary and that he must come into the organization for the period of the war absolutely outside talent with in side control Is the principle followed and this has worked so well that the navy has never been obliged to seek advisory service outside its own orte ornith lias befit from within out can see bids opened in sanda court the bureau s torn structure in the central court of the state war and navy building a room Is provided which can be entered by anyone without pass question or formality there Is an open door en from the street giving access to a room called the publics room and there any person interested la of fering a bid on navy supplies or wish ing to sec that bids are opened fairly can go and atch nil transactions t ces engaged in opening the thousands of bids received dally work in open view of ajay person who w ants to enter this room As fast AS bids ire opened the amounts of each item are posted in books and placed upon counters where anyone may examine them learning all the facts about the prices bid by competitors admiral mcgowans views on publicity tor government purchases are very pronounced ria handling other peoples money things must not only be right he says but they must look right and the best way of having them look right in his belief Is to let the public super vise operations to the utmost extent only in war ams the navy found it necessary to keep any information about its purchases confidential and even in war secrecy Is necessary tor but a ery small fraction of the purchasing where knowledge of details might afford assistance to the enemy centralized purchasing with a well planned organization has made it possible for the navy to increase its turnover many thousand per cent not merely without congestion or other dim cuttles but with actual increase in incomes and lency As purchase have grown larger and more numerous they have been handled with gi eater speed and at lower cost quality safeguarded and with growth and magnitude there has been every care to safeguard the quality of supplies purchased for i the navy ahen we entered the war confusion existed in commodity markets and there was apparent shortage of wool and other supplies it was believed for a time that navy specifications w have to be revised with a lowering of quality but the bureau of supplies and accounts took a determined stand on that point very often in view of assumed conditions it looked like a stiff necked stand against reasonableness despite a widespread wide spread belief among textile men that navy uniforms would have to be made partly of shoddy it the enormous requirements were to be promptly met tha bureau refused to consider any lowering of its standards for uniform cloth and through the department of agriculture secured actual figures regard ing the available wool stock in this country at that time this survey not only proved that there was ample wool in the country for military purposes but checked n wildly rising mark markit it the same stand has been taken n food for our sailors coal for batte ships and practically every article required by the navy the best that Is humanly possible says admiral mcgowan Is none too good tor the men at the front whether they be in the army or navy I 1 hold myself personally accountable to every father and every mother and every wife and every sweetheart that the men I 1 have any supervision and care over are as well clothed and as well fed as it Is possible for them to be I 1 acknowledge that as a personal responsibility resting on me I 1 freely acknowledge it excuses are not receivable cei vable and alibis are not accepted what we want for the navy Is the basti |
