The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-12-21
,PERSHING HAS TURNED
| BUSINESS NANQU|CkLY
Handles Military and Com
mercial Affairs For Uncle
CARRIES A BIG BURDEN
Found Many Facilities Lacking
In France; His Great
Enterprise
j. w. PEGLER.

| With the American EXpeditionary
Mail. General John Pershing has
turned man Of business He had to
| when his country handed him the job
of managing the biggest enterprise in
American history military and COM
mercial.
General Pershing's grocery store
alone dwarfs the biggest wholesale
! grocery to the size of a crossroads
! store.
His transportation problems make
T! those of any private concern look like
children's play with string of clock
/ work choo-c hoo cars.
| And these are only two divisions of
the great industrial enterprise now
| going on under John J. Pershing, gen.
eral manager. Later he will take on
| the added task OF military operations
! His employees will be numbered not
! by thousands but by millions as the
| war goes on and Americas plans are
carried out to the full And we are
proceeding on the assumption that the
war will go on to military decision
Ia knock out!
Sunday papers if it distributes real
above their pay.
Responsibility of Pershina.
! Pershing's responsibility to his boys
! only begins with their pay. Feeding
is day day job We must clothe
them make soldiers of them, arm
them, provide perfection of surgi-
cal care when they are wounded. And
when Sammy from home makes
the supreme sacrifice General Perish
ing, the soldier, sees that as far as
the circumstances permit, that Sam
my receives an honorable burial, the
soldiers due
The further you follow the parallel
of Pershing's firm and the big bust
ness house, the smaller becomes the
private concern
When BLACK Jack" came to France
he found the seaports lacking facili-
ties for landing the tremendous ton
mage for our army Men and supplies
come into the army's charge the mo-
ment the transport comes into har-
Dor. The army must unload the ships.
1t must furnish all transportation
and storage. Cold storage must be
found for perishable foods.
Army Had to Build Docks.
! The army had to build docks to
accommodate bigger ships than had
ever come into these ports before
Storehouses and barracks were quick
: ly projected and laid out. Railroad
yards were put in so that the docks
could be quickly cleared to make room
for more ships. To do these things
Pershing had to import labor.
The ports lacked unloading machin-
1 ery-cranes, engines, light RAILWAYS
Ihere was no use trying to make
SHIFT with the appliances of the old
days Pershing had to get things. to
nave the work done He picked big
men to head the departments and
they are doing their tasks under his
general direction.
transportation problems don't
with the unloading of the shin. We
mad to have big food and and cloth
ing depot, medical supply base and
an aviation center.
! Rolllng-stock and the railway lines
themselves were run down Bring
over locomotives and cars was the
! generals decision. Special railway
{ engineer regiments were thrown into
the work of bolstering I'D the rail-
Wav system. They also built sidings
and spur tracks to allow the quick I'M
loading and return of cars.
What Goes On Under Square Ruil+
Soldier Man.
All this goes on under the snuaro-
tbullt, solid scldier-man, John Persbino
/ who never was trained to build sea-
ports, run a grocery or make now
railroads out of old He tackled tho
Job because his superior said "fboro,s
the work-go to it." His TEMPLES al
ready shot with gray. have grown .
| ilttIe grayer; his determined face
reeh!s 10 nave a few more wrinkles.
But that indOmitable square law e+i1I
means the same to those who meet
nlm-force, courage, and. as an old
lllloe sammy said today 'the belly for
a fight" ~
The ouartermaster had too big a
Ioaa under the new emergencies in
J france. General Pershing examined
the situation and made new depart.
ment-the department of transporta-
uon. He picked one of the biggest
railroad heads in America to boss fhis
sectlon Now the quartermaster mere
~ distributes food and CLOTHING IN
the troops. The transportation depart-
ment takes over the complicated task
OF carrying it to the men in billets
training schools or trenches.
Inc engineers also were overbrr-
dened. So Pershing made another di-
vision of the work Hereafter tho
transportation department must do All
construction work necessary for. the
transport of supplies or men.
Yes. business is fine thank YOU m
der John Pershing, "Black Jack" SOL