Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-11-12

MNE# W. business office of the navy. Also it is
WfMAS the butcher, the baker, the banker, the
MSAY tailor and the grocer of the navy. 1t
XXX pays out some $145 100000 a year. 1t
O. a saves Jacks money for him and the
- savings bank it operates has deposits
aggregatng $253000. 1t operates two great clothing
factories at Brooklyn and the other at Charles
ton S. c. In another aspect it is one of the biggest
purchasing agencies in the country.
So remarkable have been it's achievements in the
twelvemonth that many requests have come to it
recently from business establishments, public and
private, for information as to it's methods.
The spirit behind the change is that of boyish-
looking wideeyed, eversmng officer, who just
forty-fve years od-and he does not look it-holds
the rank and draws the pay of admiral, he
being paymaster general of the navy and chief of
the bureau. Rear Admiral Samuel MCGOWAN he is
to outsiders. Mr.. McGowan is the form of address
he insists upon within the bureau But in the navy
generally by all ranks and all grades, he is dubbed
behind his back of course Sammy MCGOWAN.
In the IA months he has been paymaster general
he has made over his bureau. What is more he has
secured the hearty and enthusiastic support of the
entire force That, to anyone who knows how any
government organization is welded precedent, is
amazing.
Somewhat given to the making of epgrams in his
instructions, oral and written, Admiral MCGOWAN
has uttered two that give hint of the predominant
ing ideas behind his reforms Make it bureau with
small b and navy with a big NJ is one, and
Remember that the stores exist for the fleet, not
the fleet for the stores
The paymaster general and his bureau of supplies
and accounts have their Offices in the great pile
known the state, and navy building
Pennsylvania avenue, fanking the White House on
the west When the building erected some
forty years ago it the largest Office building
in the world. Each corridor in it has the appear
ance of a battalion of barrooms, for each of the
many corridor doors has it's middle two-thirds
masked by shutter door. The all inter
communicating.
The paymaster generals Office is the end one in
a suite of five Across the hall seven
more rooms. In the navy building, in a street
near by, are some more offices Of the bureau.
When Paymaster General MCGOWAN took over the
job he inaugurated at once cleanup campaign,
Down from the walls came the dusty old pictures.
Bookcases and file cases went out. Current and
absolutely necessary bureau files went into one
room in set of steel vertical containers, for
general purposes, and in the purchasing end,
the hall, they likewise were reduced.
Private Libraries also went out. Upstairs the
navy department maintains splendid naval IL
brary and this is available for all purposes
Abolish roll-top desks" the word. Where
fat-tor desks were not available the department
carpenters took off the roll tops Since then
standard Office furniture has been adopted for
the entiTe bureau
All intercommunicating doors in the suites
were taken off the hinges. Walls were painted
in light coiors Then the chief of each room or
division chief was required to put his desk in
the middle of the with his force grouped
about him. Now the paymaster general can
stand in his room and look down the line and
see exactly what is going on.
But that isn't exactly the point. The object
is not to keep an eye on the people much
it is to convey the idea of unity. The division
chief who sequestered in his little nest,
might be tempted to write letter to the chief
next door. doesn't do it under these conditions
He says, SAY, Bill, how about so and so?" or
goes over and discusses it at close range.
Stationery in use was reduced to the fewest
possible simple kinds.
On a shelf handy to the paymaster generals
hands is a book some IA inches long by IL inches
wide. In it is all the information that once oc-
cupied big fleroom. This information pertains
to the present duty and availability for sea or
shore duty, as the may be- OF all OF the z5O
officers making up the pay corps.
The pages of the book faced with trans
parent celluloid. When pay officer is sent on a
cruise his name and the essential date are in
scribed on typewriter slip and inserted at the
bottom of the section devoted to pay officers on
sea duty Place by place the slip moves up au-
tomatically and in this way one may observe
at glance who is due for shore duty and VINO
for sea duty as, under he law, for every two
wears of shore duty paw officer must take three
years Of sea duty.
S And thus with all records. No effort has been
shared to reduce them all to the simplest and
most graphic form. The messenger force
reorganzed and squad told of to act express
messengers. This insures speed in the move
ment of papers from desk to desk and to the
secretary's office. No paper remains more than
Is minutes awaiting transmission.
One of the very first things Paymaster General