The Raymer enterprise., 1915-11-11

q saves Jacks money for him and the
~ savings bank It operates has deposits
asgfegating $253O0O It operates two great clothing
factories one at Brooklyn and the other at Charles
ton. s. C. In another aspect II is one OF the biggest
purchasing agencies In the country
DO remarkable have been its achievements in the
'"eiVemontn that many requests have come to It
recently from business establishments public and
private, for Information as to its new methods
<ihe spirit behind the change is that of boyish.
Ioosihg, wideeyed. ever-smiling officer Who lust
iorty-hse years od-and he does not look it-holds
the rank and draws the pay of a rear admiral he
pelhg paymaster general of the navy and chief of
ihe bureau Rear Admiral Samuel MCGOWAN he is
p outsiders. Mr.. McGowan is the form of address
ne insists upon within the bureau But in the navy
generally by all ranks and all grades he is dubbed
oehihd MIS- back OF course. Sammy MCGOWAN.
ID the II 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 anv
government organization is welded to precedent is
amazing.
somewhat given TO the making of epigrams in his
Instructions. oral and written Admiral Me(,owan
mas uttered two that give hint of the predominant
Ing IDEAS behind his reforms. Make 1t bureau with
small and navy with big ~" is one, and
Remember that the stores exist for the feet. no,
the feet for the stores"
and accounts have their Offices in the great nile
known as the state, war and navy building on
pennsylvania avenue. fankng the White House on
the west When the building was erected some
forty years ago 1t was the largest office building
in the world. Each corridor in It has the appear.
ance OF battalion of barrooms for each of the
many corridor doors has its middle two-thirds
masked by shutter door The rooms are all inter
communicating.
The paymaster generals Office is the end one In
a suite OF five rooms. Across the hall are seven
more rooms In the navy annex building in a street
near by. are some offices of the bureau
When Paymaster General MCGOWAN took over the
job ne 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 a set of steel vertical containers, for
General purposes and In the purchasing end,
across the hail. they likewise we're reduced
Private libraries also went out Upstairs the
navy department maintains a splendid naval II.
brary, and this is available for all purposes
Abolish roll-top DESKS" the word Where
hattop desks were not available the department
carpenters took of the roll tops. Since then
standard Office furniture has been adopted for
the entire bureau.
All intercommunicatng doors in the suites
were taken OF the hinges Walls were painted
division chief was required to put his desk in
the middle Of the room 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 10 much as
it is to convey the idea OF unity The division
chief who sequestered in his own little nest,
might be tempted to write a letter to the chief
next door. doesn't do 1t under these conditions.
He says. Say, BILL how about 30 and so?" or
goes over and discusses 1t at close range.
Stationery in use was reduced to the fewest
possible simple kinds
On shelf handy to the paymaster generals
hands IL q book some IA inches long by IS inches
wide. In It Is all the information that oc-
cupied big fleroom. This information pertains
Ito the present duty anj availability for or
shore duty. as the case may be. of all Of the 230
officers making up the pay corps
The pages Of the book are faced with trans.
parent cellulod. When pay officer is sent on
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 q glance who Is due for shore duty and who
for sea duty as. under he law, for every two
years OF shore duty paw officer must take three
years OF sea duty
And thus with all records No effort has been
spared to reduce them all to the simplest and
most graphic FORM The messenger force was
reorganized 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 once No paper remains more than
1b minutes awaiting transmission.
One OF the very first things Paymastef General