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Show I Eyes of the Nation Turned -Upon the Capital - Big Men Who Are Working for Uncle Sam In His Hour of Need - Protection of the President -Mobilizing the Nations Brain Power. I Copyright, 1917, by The International Syndicate. H ROUTE FROM the Middle B wm West to Washington recently, th writer of thIs article, merely H! 4 to satisfy a curiosity, talked B w,t every passenger in, his Pullman. H Thero were no women in the crowded B car. Two of tho men were tent and Hj awning manufacturers, one reprcscnt- B ed a firm of steel shell makers, one B was a partner in a furs manufacturing B concern, two were millers from the H Northwest, three were coal operators, B another was a wholesalo dealer in soap, one represented a knitting mill H in Chicago, one a rubber company in B Central Ohio, one a truck and wagon B factory In Indiana, another readily B gave the Information that ho was an B "inventor," and the remaining pas- H sengcrs were officers and enlisted men J of the Army and Navy, called to H Washington to receive war orders. H Smoking room conversations are Bj quite likely to become confidential, so B when the writer made known tho fact that ho was acquainted in Washington, Washing-ton, his popularity was assured. Thero was no beating about the bush; tho desire of his fellow passengers was" apparent. "Wag there an inside track to this official, or a subterranean passage to that official?" "This fellow who buys the government's govern-ment's tenting do you know him?" "Ever meet General Blank, of the Quartermasters Corps, who has charge of the Army clothing supply,? What kind of a fellow is he. anyway?" Every one of tho passengers of that particular Pullman, with tho exception excep-tion of the soldiers and sailors and, of course, tho "Inventor," sought government gov-ernment contracts for materials; some of thorn war materials and somo of them materials that their makors thought should be war materials, whether they wcro or not. And this Pullman was no exception; all cars 1 entering the big Union Station In - . i Washington average pretty well along j the same line. The proportion represented rep-resented by tho "inventor" can be I classified more appropriately under the caption of "crank" Changes About The City. Washington, heretofore rather lethargic and figuratively inclined to sit back and view events with a critical crit-ical eye, has awkencd with now responsibilities- The city, with an estimated esti-mated Increase in population of somewhere some-where between seventy-five and a hundred hun-dred thousand persons, suddenly finds itself a thing of importance to the nation, the point from which all war activities radiate, with many new branches of government service open to workers and with business of all kinds on tho boom. On tho day a state of war was declared de-clared between the United States and Germany, tho Capital was given lm-potus. lm-potus. All of the gigantic schemes that go toward putting a nation on a war-time footing and entering into the greatest conflict of cho ages were conceived con-ceived and formulated in Washington, where, in most Instances, hoadquar-tors hoadquar-tors were established and thousands of workers placed on tho payrolls. Mr. Hoover's Food Administration is an example of this. When his plan was dccldod upon, before tho passage of tho Food Bill by Congress, his entiro II - I H I UNI , LI ll I J .111, ..III- force of workers consisted of a secretary. secre-tary. Thero are now almost a thousand thou-sand men and women employed in tho Food Administration alone. Efforts to interest millions of women throughout through-out tho country in food conservation havo been successful, and a saving of 52,000,000,000 is expected within a year. The Capital's war-tlmo incrcaso in population enough In Itself to make a good-sized city has changed tho 6utward appearance of Washington to a certain extent. All public buildings are heavily guarded, admission to many of them" is refused sightseers, and government employes aro required to show their Identification cards, containing con-taining physical descriptions and photographs, when entering or leaving buildings" where they aro employed: Officers of the Army and Navy, together to-gether with tho enlisted men, throng tho streets at all hours and givo the city a truo war setting. Tho White House, always a Mecca for tourists and sightseers, has been closed to their inspection. It is guarded guard-ed by both the military and tho police, all strangers being closely watched. At night tho mansion is watched by soldiers who aro stationed a few foot apart around tho whito Houso grounds. Tho gates aro doubly guarded. About fifteen thousand names have, boon added to tho government's payroll pay-roll all of theso working in Washington Wash-ington since the ontranco of tho United States into tho war. Fullyas many havo been added to take tho places of regular employes who have Joined the military forces, taken more lucrative positions with other employers employ-ers or left government service for other oth-er reasons. Naturally, tho greatest Incrcaso in the personnel has been in tho War Department, where tho normal force of eighteen hundred civilian workers has jumped to almost six thousand. The division dovotod to ordnanco claims the greatest Incrcaso, but not a single branch of tho department's activity ac-tivity has escaped considerable expansion. expan-sion. Tho War Workers. Tho Treasury Department figures second, having added over two thousand thou-sand names 'within tho past six. ZJc? Brr. months. It Is probable that another i thousand' workers will be taken on by this department bofore tho end of. the present year as a result of recent action ac-tion by Congress. It is estimated that these will bo needed by the Internal revenue bureau to care for tho increased in-creased war tax provisions. The activities ac-tivities of tho Treasury Department aro so varied that definite figures of rapid growth aro Impossible. The Civil Servlco Commission has examined over two hundred thousand applicants in tho present calendar year and has certified sixty-five thousand of them for places in' the government service more than a third of them being be-ing for positions in Washington. War work in tho nation's big print shop, the Government Printing Offico, has reached largo proportions. Vast numbers, of orders covering every conceivable con-ceivable Class of nrlnflnp- nml Kln,4l have been taken care of and rushed through to complotion. Working forces wcro augmented as rapidly as possible to meet tho demand, and tho shop's linotypes and presses do not stop when tho six o'clock whistle blows. Tho workmen aro divided into sevoral shifts' and tho factory works through tho full twenty-four hours of each day. Uncle Sam's Official Bulletin, conducted con-ducted by tho George Creel Bureau of I Information, is a now publication printed by the Government Printing Office. Tho first issue camo out on May 10, 1917. It has oight or more pages, and over eighty thousand copies aro printed each evening. During a single month, tho government govern-ment print shop, aside from all othor routino work of tho various departments, depart-ments, Congress and the bureaus printed twonty-fivo million registration registra-tion cards, together with oighteen million mil-lion certificates of registration, blanks, vouchers, telegrams, instructions, etc In connection with registration total-4nffapproxiraately-foar-biliion copies. The first Liberty Bond lssuo required K11 large quantities oi rush work. One ' MBl' million copies of posters, printed in two colors, were delivered within tho R space of a few days. Four million Bp copies woro printed of what is known , MP as tho "Boy Scout Poster," and ten HQ million copies of it were printed on circulars, applications, etc. MQ "Cranks" Flock To Capital. B Tho war has sent "cranks" and their ' BP pet schemes to the Capital In droves, , B and they have caused considerable Re trouble to the police. But tho latter ' K. handlo suspicious cases in a business- like manner, and, considering the ma number of theso addled creatures who Brs havo descended upon Washington, the Kv police havo wondorful tact and de- H termination In getting rid of them. ; mt A Mobilization Of Bruins. B There are a hundred or moro men H; government at nearly doublo union hours whose time the government has K, never beon able to buy in peace times. . H The names on the various war com- mittees are thoso of men who in pri- H' vate life command bhjger salaries or Hk: receive blggor incomes than $100,000. B, They aro prototypes of Herbert C. H Hoover, and. the story of his energy, MM ability and sacrifico is a household B tale here and abroad. Mm. The list of names of bbj men who H -are working for Uncle Sam in his hour JJK of need Is growing longer each day, and It has been stated that it resom- -iH Wes a series of pages from "Who's A Who." Virtually ail of tho men havo ) H made real sacrifices, cither in home : H life, money, business interests or per- IB. sonal comfort, to go to Washington. JB There are no heroics about it Off- JKj hand, the average citizen could not 'wWm name ten of them. Most of them will B never get their names in tho news- WW ZZL tOT a Islnff mention. H but history win show how biff a part B they played in the struggle to mako H tho-woxid e-r-domocracy. B |
