The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1915-11-12

method OF securing and charting this Information
become that it requires little labor and its COST
by comparison with the results achieved IN as
sisting in Intelligent buying, is remarkably 10Y"
Other charts corrected daily, keep the bureau
informed as the amount of stocks on haho
In every detail, not only at the storehouses put
on the ships well. Since the navy through us
extensive wireless system is in constant colh-
munication with every ship afoat, the task OF
keeping up these charts is not SO difncult as II
seems.
Or the bunch of cards making up ships com
psny also producble on the instant
Machines have reduced the amount of work In
the accounting section more than so per cent.
There refnements of cost keeping in a mill
tary establishment that not known in q
private establishment for all expenditures must
conform to some specific item OF an approprla'
ton BILL and appropriations for the naval estab-
lislment are found in three different appropria'
tion acts.
Roughly speaking, 1000 900 separate accounts
must be kept properly to meet the requirements
of the law and to furnish the information as to
costs, gross and detailed, needed. Imagine .
ledger with 3O00O 900 accounts
Here the cards and mechanism have come in to
the extent that half the number Of men needed
Is months ago are now required to do the work
In addition a great deal Of new work has been
taken
The of card punching machines Is re-
sponsble for the larger economies.
The machine is SO arranged that 1t sorts the
punched cards, arranges them in proper groups,
ascertains the totals of the figures indi :ated by
the punched holes and prints on sheet the
results 1t is accounting reduced to mechanism
OF course the usual machines such as adding
machines and the like, part of the equipment,
In fact the whole trend OF the reforms in this
section has been to reduce everything TO q
mechanical basis
The result is great economics in operation. In
creased efficiency. increased accuracy and in
cd observer
ing thing is the disappearance Of books. Few
indeed are the books in sight remarkably slim
the files. In other words, the accountancy sys'
TEN has been reduced to the simplest dimensions
Ask any man. officer civilian. in the estab,
lishment how the whole organization has been
made over in such a time, and he instantly Will
tell you that Sammy MCGOWAN did It. And then
he will grow confidential and tell you what he
esteems is the secret of the whole accomplish
ment the spirit that McGowan has put into his
entire force We don't tolerate grouches." your
informant will say. We all belong to the Don
Worry club and MCGOWAN is its president"
Another thing this paymaster general has done
is to establish in Washington. with the approval
of the secretary of the navy. a school for navy
pay officers These officers appointed from
civil life competitive examination. They &C
into the service equipped with a good academic
educat ton but with knowledge of the navy
and it's needs Hence the new service school
which has in this years class Is young officers
who are being trained in their new profession
Admiral MCGOWAN himself is a product Of
civilian training. When he secured his appoint
ment in the pay corps in 1894 he was South
Carolina newspaper man who had worked his
way through college and law school by running
brick yard and serving as ticket agent at 9
railway station. Maybe there he got the training
which has made him great business executive
The fact that he has spent most OF his nava
career at sea accounts for his insstence that the
fleet and not the bureau is the thing to BIZ
kept in mind
When he left the Atlantic fleet to go ashore a!
paymaster general his commanding officer. AID
miral Badger said OF him. He has made the pay
department OF the fleet smoothly working mil
itary machine.
That is the ideal he holds up to his burea,
and corps: make 1t smooth running miitar,
machine"