The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-08-21

discovery, the president is simply
the head of a tremendous big bust
ness!"
With this new conception of our
government, the whole washington
proposition" cleared up in his head
instantly, and he tackled every phase
of it with zest and familiarity. But
every time he attacked with merited
scorn and contempt a condition such
as outlined above (to him the en-
bodiment of inefficiency and absurd
ity) he came up against department
men who admitted what he said and
more. He found them anathematiz-
ing the same things he condemned,
for the most part; willing to increase
efficiency, and having practical plans
all worked out on tap in their pigeon
holes.
He saw clerical work done in a
manner and with wastefulness of
duplication such as he had not
thought any modern office was guilty
of. Yet, as a ripple in the sea of
inefficiency. he was shown how even
in department greatly handicapped
by being under the wing of the
treasury a few things were happen
ing. Until recently eighteen typists
had been kept at work recopyins
each month $4,000 names of work.
ers to whom pay checks we're to ba
sent. Each month they had copied
the same names over and over again,
and working beside them had been
two other clerks to proof-read over
and over again the work as it was
typed to see that no errors were
made. The pay-sheet had, of course,
represented further duplication of
this work, and the checks themselves
still another. Now an ordinary ad-
ldressing-machine has brought all
three operations into one, dispensed
with three fourths of the work, and
made proof reading unnecessary
'Splendidr' commented the business
man. II suppose you discharged the
clerks that week, and have been saw
ing $400 a week at least" His in
formant smiled as he reached for the
law under which he works, making
it compulsory for him to have en-
ployed exactly so many people. NO"
he answered, quizzically; they're all
still at work except the proofreaders;
blu. we had to do some thinking to
lay out work enough for them"
At this the business man stood
honestly agape, hardly believing his
ears. He had been up to this time
rather indiscriminately condemning
department executives. but the pitt
full helplessness of the men running
the details of the great federal or
ganization now struck him squarely
between the eyes. by George!" he
said; 1.-The man running my shipping
department at home has more au-
thority and freedom than that"
The bureau chief flushed a bit at
this blunt comparison. and then said
with a quiet dignity and immolation
which the business man had noticed
more than once in departmental Of
ficialdom, How much do you pay
your shipping clerk % Il pay him
$4,000 year, and he's worth it, II
get $1,000" said the chief, simply.
Whatever practical efforts toward
greater efficiency the business man
was able to locate he noticed came
mostly from below, not from above,
in the organization. The most in
genious engineering to make the, best
out of crippled regulations, antique
custom, and red tape came to his no.
tice. The spectacle of a great gov
eminent obliged to hire the services
of a standard labor-saving machine
and operator outside, by the hour,
because there was no appropriation
(also no psychological moment to get
one), made the business man from
New York emit a shout of laughter
which was largely derision, but which
also began to- contain note of hurt
pride and national shame. The great
est government on earth having
piece work done outside in picayune
way, when the machine was sore,y
needed at the time-a machine such
as large firms in the country use
daily!
Before he left Washington the bus
mess man had gone into the ques-
ton of departmental efficiency from
A to z, simply because he was keen
ly interested. He had advanced the
idea of general central purchasing
bureau. but had been told with an
air of superior wisdom that it had
been and was being tried, but I'M
successfully. The tale of the tech
meal department which desired
special delicate instrument, and how
the central bureau didn't know
enough about it to get one that was
satisfactory, was cited, and so was
the vastness of the governments bus
mess argued as reason why such a
purchasing method could not succeed.
why said his informer, you could
drop the whole billion dollar Steel
Corporation into one of Uncle Sans
departments and lose it,"
But the business man could not
be shaken. "Bigness is an unan-
swerable argument for, not against,
a central purchasing division. If
know anything about running a dig
business, | lay my finger on the real
trouble when | say that diplomacy,
fairness and firmness, as well as keen
buying, is successfully possible in
central purchasing bureau for any
business, however tremendous. Il is
practiced by the biggest businesses
of the country. I've had purchasing
agents who were very good at pleas
ing everybody, but couldn't buy right
weren't business men. On the other
hand, I've had red-headed, uncivil
pieces of flint who could shade down
miser's last gasp bargain but who
were knocked by everybody in the or
ganization. Neither We're one hun