The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-24
HUGE WAR WASTE
. SHOWN IN ENGLAND.
Money Thrown Away in
Early Days of War
LEAKS MANY AND BIG
Red Tape of Bookkeeping Made Gov
eminent Lose Millions in Inexcusa-
BILE Way-Not Graft, But Lack
of Reasonable Management

BILE Way-Not Graft, But Lack
of Reasonable Management
London. August est is an old and true
saying that war means waste and APP
parently it must always mean waste,
not only in the actual destruction of
life and property, but in the buying,
handling and preparation of the war ma
terial and the supplies for the fighting
men. The South African war was an
orgy of waste and extravaganza, and
Americans have some recollection of the
waste and graft in connection with the
Spanish-American war. 1t was hoped
that in England the world war would
be handled in a more business-like way,
but the committee of public accounts has
just issued report which, although It
only touches the fringe, indicates that
the waste In connection with this war
has been colossal.
NO GRAFT
There Is no indication of any graft.
although. of course, merchants and trad
ers have made great fortunes As a
matter of fact there seems to have been
no need for graft. Officials Just handed
out the money to everyone who came
along, partly because of their inexperi-
ence and in some cases because they
were too weak or too lazy to cut the
red tape which was all we'll enough when
they were dealing with an army of 800, 900
men, but which became hopelessly ham
pering when they had to deal with an
army of somewhere about 100000.
One of the examples of waste quoted
is IN connection with supplying huts for
the troops in training The total outlay
on these huts was $122 500, 900 and the -
tractors who erected them were allow cd
establishment charges varying from az
to ~ and per cent commission for
profit, the war office supplying all the
material. Curiously enough the one firm
pilloried for holding up the government
was the great contracting firm of Sir
John jackson, Ltd, who, at the begin
ming Of the war did 100000 worth of
work without cent of profit, and then
for additional work, demanded the com
mission and allowances which other firms
were getting. The committee of public
accounts holds this firm up to public
scorn and says nothing about the other
contractors who were paid for all the
work they did. 1t pays a deserved tribute
to the Canadian Cartridge company of
large contract for cartridge cases, re-
ceived payment at the contract price and
then returned all its profit, amounting
to S7SS,245 to the government.
PAY FOR BILLETING
The committee also draws attention to
the extravagant rate paid for billeting
AT the beginning householders were paid
III cents day for each soldier billeted
but although in January, 1915, the army
council decided that this rate was exces-
sive. and reduced it to 60 cents a day,
no change was made in the rate until
the following September. Another item
which is mentioned is s2,25O,O00 paid for
the hire of ocean liners to be used for
the internment of German civilian pris-
oners, owing to the delay in providing
huts.
OF course the committee only touches
the fringe of the extravaganza and only
deals with the big outstanding items.
There is hardly a business man in Eng
land who has had dealings with the war
office who has not his own particular
story OF waste to tell. One of these
was told to me few days ago by a
man who was making up certain articles
for which the government sent him the
partially manufactured material One of
the clauses of his contract was that the
wooden cases in which this material was
sent to him should be returned empty
When the time came to send back the
empttes the manufacturer found that the
cost of sending them would be consider
ably more than the value Of the cases
when new, while he could make use of
the timber in them if he could get it
at certain price. He wrote to the
war office pointing out that they would
save money by abandoning the empties
altogether and buying new cases, but Of
fering about half their new value He
received reply stating that the empties
must be returned by rail, as any other
course would upset the war office book
keeping.
ANOTHER TRIUMPH
Another triumph of red tape early in
the war had to do with the purchase of
large quantity Of socks and body belts
for the soldiers. The war office regula-
tons said that only actual manufacturers
must be dealt with. A dealer discovered
where large stock Of these goods could
be bought cheaply and secured them.
He then offered them to the war office
at reasonable profit, but was turned
down because he was not manufacturer
He held them for a few weeks, sold
them to man who owned a small fac
tory at much higher price than that
at which he had offered them to the
nation, and the manufacturer" in turn
sold them to the war office at COM
Portable profit to himself.
FEEDING TROOPS
Another immense leak in John Bulls
war purse has occurred in feeding the
troops in camp, although that is con-
siderably frightened up now. The army
regulations lay down strictly that each
soldier shall receive SO much meat SO
much bread, so much jam, ETC.. per day.
No account was taken of the individual
soldiers appetite and the Quartermaster
was compelled to draw the exact guam
tity required for the men shown on the
regimental lists every day. 1t did not
matter if 80 or 100 men were on leave
or not. The full rations had to be
drawn, because to do otherwise would
upset the bookkeeping If the men 8
appetite was off and food was left UNI
eaten. it could not be carried over to
the next day, because the next day
rations had to be drawn in full. The re-
suit was that in the neighborhood of
the great camps joints of beef and NUT
ton and hundreds of loaves of bread
could be had by the poor for the asking.
and even then tons Of good food were
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