Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-26
PEACE HAS IT'S NEEDS, TOO
Shall Business Men. Enlisted to Defeat
Germany. Be Allowed to Retire From
Public Affairs When They Have
Done the Job?

WHEN the logs jam in stream in the
w spring drive in the lumber region
the most expert lumberman is sum
moned. He spends hours, and it may be
days, studying the mass until he finds
what is known as the key log. Then he
knocks this log out and the timber begins
to move down stream once more.
This is what has happened in the ship
yards. The plans were made for the
ships. Men were on hand to build them
And the yards were full of STEEL But
the ships were not moving from the
ways as rapidly as they should. Mr..
Schwab, one of the most expert steel men
and one of the most successful manu-
facturers in the country, was summoned.
He studied the situation and then sug-
gested that tn war industries board
decide what steel mills should produce
the steel needed, that the Emergency
Fleet Corporation should determine what
tonnage should be moved monthly from
the mills to the yards and that the yards
themselves should decide in what order
the various forms of steel should be
shipped, based on the order in which it
was to be used. Now everything will
move smoothly.
Simple, isn't it? But why did not
some one think of it in the first place?
Edward n. Hurley, of the shipping
board, says that the "know how of
Schwab is worth million dollars
month to the Government. This is
modest estimate of his value. II SchWdb
shortens the var a week he tUiN sure the
world billion dollars.
But Schwab is only one of scores of
expert business men who are giving their
services to the Government in the pres
ent grave crisis. In ordinary times he
and they are too busy with their private
affairs to give much attention to public
business.
Mr.. Schwab, however, has devoted
some thought to the relation between
politics and business, for he said during
the winter that in the future the world
is t, be governed by the producers. He
was at first misunderstood, as it was
assumed that he meant the wage earn
ers, as though they were the only pro-
ducers. But he was not advocating any
narrow class system. Producers are
found in all ranks and they are ner-
tricably united, just as the Government
found that all industry is interdepend-
ent When it attempted to decide what is
essential and Whdt nonessentini.
When the war ends it will be unfor-
tunate if the great producers who have
enlisted to help the Government win the
war shall take their discharge and pay
no more attention to public affairs.
Government is at bottom a great busi-
ness enterprise, but it has never been
conducted as such. The ancient idea was
that government existed for the benefit
of the governors. That idea still sur.
wives in Germany. And in spite of all
our talk of democracy, it is the predomi
nant theory on which all large American
cities are governed.
We have a shining example of it righ
here in Philadelphia, where the City Hal
is filled with political appointees doing
little or no work in order that whatever
faction happens to be in control may fine
as many places as possible for its loya
followers. Victory at the polls is sough
of the spoils of Office. Men are appointed
to high places as a reward for service.
rendered and their underlings are ap
pointed, not by them, but by the leader
of the victorious faction. When con
scientious man happens to be put at tn
head of a department he finds himsel
tied hand and foot if he tries to reform
ng-standing abuses.
The capable and efficient business men
who would not tolerate for day in thei
own establishments such conditions a
every one knows prevail in City Hall, ar,
apparently Indifferent.
There is log jam in the City Hall
1t is 'damming up the stream of progress
and preventing the payment of adequat
salaries to the deserving policemen an,
fremen, delaying important public work
and wasting the resources of the city il
a most z ftravagant manner. What W
need is n expert who can knock out tn
key log and allow business to proceed il
businesslike way. There are such me-
here, but they do not offer themselve
and when asked to serve they beg to b
excused.
If these conditions are allowed to con
tinue we shall have failed to profit b
one of the most important lessons of tn
war, namely, that If we are to har
governmental efficiency the producer
must take an active part in the conduc
of public affairs.