New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-07-19
HOW THE u. S. NAVY
BUYS ITS SUPPLIES
Purchasing Department Under Admiral MCGOWAN, Has Met All Tests
Observation-Disclosures the Chief Merit Of the
System-Compimented for Efficiency After
Investigation by Congress.

Washington.-A business concern
which can increase its turnover 2.6OO
e cent in II months without radical
changes In method would seem to be
pretty sound organization.
Amid all the expansion Of govern
ment activities due to war. with far
reaching changes In methods OF con-
Quoting business, reorganizations, In
crease In personnel, and addition OF
wholly new departments, q big busi-
ness agency Of the government has
changed not at all, except In magni-
tude. That agency is the bureau OF
supplies and accounts Of the navy.
which purchases practically everything
required by the navy except armor
plate, guns. and shells. 1t feeds n
clothes the navy. buys its stee. met
ais, lumber, textiles, and chemicak
provides transportation for the navy's
supplies, Goals its ships. and pays Its
officers and men. During the last
year this bureau has been greatly en-
larged by the addition Of new officers,
technical experts from civil life, and
clerical workers. but its organization
and methods have fully met all tests
Of wal and have required practically
no change, says the New York Times.
After thorough investigation. con-
gress recently declared this great bust
ness Office Of the navy to be notable
for efficiency, as we'll as n Of the
biggest business enterprises in the
United States.
There are two reasons for the eff
ciency-an excellent business system
and an excellent business man, Ad-
miral MCGOWAN, who first became
identified with the navy's purchasing
affairs -four years ago, after demon
strating his ability as purchasing Off
Ger for the American fleet when it
went around the world.
Its Chief Merit.
The chief point Of merit In the
navy's purchasing system is centrali-
cation. All its supply activities are
administered from Washington, no
matter how widely the American fleet
luuy UC SNdtlCACo ONCA ~ "a
Ships are provisioned in the West In
dies, sailors are provided with warm
winter clothing for destroyer service
in the submarine zone around the Brit
ish Isles, coal IL dispatched to ships
In the Philippines, nitrates are brought
from Chile, clothing is manufactured
In New York and Norfolk, stores are
carried at innumerable points ready
for delivery to ships at instant notice.
Yet all activities center in Washington,
and navy supply business is not only
kept under the eyes of a few execu-
tives, but is expedited by a fine work.
ing spirit.
Next to Capitalization and this fine
working spirit, probably the most i'm
portant element in the system Is pub
licity in dealing with the supply OF
the navy's innumerable needs. Under
pressure of war other departments
have found 1t expedient to set aside
the normal peace-time methods of pur-
chasing under competitive bids. but the
navy has adhered to the method of
open bidding, with full publicity, on
the principle that the public, contrib
uting wal funds by taxation, has a
right to know exactly and in the full
est detail how its money is being ex-
pended.
Another principle the navy adheres
to is that war demands should be met
by the peace-time system Of purchas-
ing. Great as war demands are, they
call simply for an increase In volume
of businessmen a change in the fun
damental method of conducting bust
ness. II the method has been proper
ly worked out in peace, it will meet
the exigencies of war.
Directed by MCGOWAN.
If every institution is the length
and shadow of one man, as Emerson
said, then the bureau of supplies and
accounts today reflects the personality
Of Admiral MCGOWAN. When the bu-
rear transacted its affairs with % peo-
pie, he knew them all, and they work.
ed under his eye every day, helped by
the optimism and energy which he ra.
dates. After a year Of war, with his
organization approaching 1000 people,
he still knows them all and sees them
frequently, and maintains the original
spirit of organization by making un-
limited demands upon each individual
for work, according to his or her capac-
ity, with unstinted commentator for
all good work, whether the job be
great OF small.
When the strength Of the navy was
about $4,000 officers and enlisted men
the bureau Of supplies and accounts
did all its purchasing and transporta-
ton through naval officers of the pay
masters corps. When val came, and
activities increased by several hun
bred per cent monthly, the organiza-
ton was strengthened by taking on
about a dozen civilian experts from
business life. men who gladly resigned
good positions and large salaries with
private business concerns to don Uncle
Sans uniform and work day and night
for the comparatively slender salaries
of naval oficers.
Other purchasing departments of
the government met their early wal
problems by enlisting advisory COM
mittees Of business experts, who in
vestigated given problems outside,
compiled facts, made arrangements,
and offered suggestions. The navy,
on the contrary, took its civilian ex-
perts In bodily, put them into uniform,
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