Ellsworth American., 1918-09-04

snd made them part Of the organizs
ton
The navy needed steel for war. thou
sands apon thousands Of tons Of IL
for construction and other purposes
II got steel expert. S. r. Fuller. who
resigned from a big Chicago railway
supply concern and went to work II
the bureau Of supplies and accounts
supervising the purchase Of structural
steel forgings and castings for ships
and shipyards.
Gathers ip Experts
The navy needed eotton-miTlioas Of
yards OF canvas, duck. drill. steetings
and uniform cloth II got W. r. Hoop
er, q cotton mill executive. who imme
dlately severed all connections In bis
industry. sold his cotton mill interests
Invested the money In Liberty bonds
and came into the bureau.
The navy needed transportation on
sea and land. All the problems Of
ships for worldwide dis.
fributIon Of supplies. coal. and pro
visions going out 20 the fleet, and nj,
trate and shellac coming back in na-
val vessels were placed In charge Of
r. Young. an expert on ship
,hartertng and ocsan transport. who
severed his connection With big New
York shipping eoncsrn for the period
u the war. Transportation on land
vas taken o~er by o. ~ Ellsworth.
xho left a reraunerative position with
/ big railway systsfn TO enter Uncle
SANS service.
The navy nes-sed chcrsgcals. and
Donald Riley came frcm a iarre chem
cal concern TO take charge ~ this de
,artment. II peeted indn~srfai ae-
,ounting. and a great aecouHriug Ha-
,hinery concern made arrangements
whereby c. s. Ashdown took that &C
fvify In hand. giving sii hts time TO
he development OF accounting -ys-
ems Rs the bureaus transactions nsgi-
iplied again and again. A. department
o deal with foodstuffs wss provided
Inder y. A T1Ilman: another deRfing
xfth lumber under C. NJ M0rfnrd, sFsd
mother dealing with leather and al
E~d materials under J. W. Mcintosh
The general standard OF stality s~r
- the navy for its civilian experts ~
hat each Haan must be worth ssrsrrA
lines what the navy pays him In SAT-
.ry, and that he must come irsu' the
fer the period Of tho war
-Out<ide talent with, In
ide esutroi- Is the principle followed.
md ttsas has worked so well that the
lavy hMs never been obliged to seek
advisory service outside Its own or
limitation Gruwth has been entlrFag
rom within cut
cas See Bids Opened.
In sAnda court. the bureaus tenn
,orary structure In the central court af
he state. war and navy building, a
Dom Is provided which can be entered
" anyose wfthauS pass. question. on
ormality There is an open door. en-
cred frnm the street, giving access to
room called The Puhlic's Room, >
ind there any person interested in of.
ering bid on navy supplies or wish
ng to see that bids are opened fairy
an 10 and wztch all transactions.
engaged In opening the
thousands Of bids received daily work
n open view Of any person who wantz
10 enter this rg.ozn. AS fast as bids
are opened the ssnounts Of each iten
are posted In books and placed upon
counters, whers anyone may exAnius
them. learning all the facts about the
prices bid by competitors.
Admiral McGowan's views on pub
1cIty for government purchases are
very pronounced.
-fn handling other peoples money
things must not only be right" ha
says. but they must look right" And
the best way of having them look righi
In his belief. Is to let the public super
wise operations TO the utmost extent
Only In war has the navy found n
TO keep any informatSou
about It's purchases confidential. and
even In war secrecy is necessary foi
but a very small fraction OF the pur'
chasing. where knowledge OF details
might afford assistance TO the eaemy
Centralized purchasing with o well
planned organization has made 1t pos
sibie for the navy TO Increase Its turn
over many thousand per cent not mere
ly without congestion or other diff
culties, hut with actual Increase il
incomes and efficiency. As purchase
have grown larger and more numerous
they have been handled with create
speed and at lower cost.
Quality Safeguarded.
And with growth and maguitud'
there has been every care to safeguart
the quality Of supplies purchased 70
the navy. When we entered the wa
confusion existed in commodity mar
kets, and there was apparent short
age Of wool and other supplies. II wa
believed for a time that navy specif
cations would have to be revised, wit
q lowarfng of auaffty Rryf tha huraai