Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-10-26


sells. as they are no longer needed for
the use Of the War Department. be
! so used that they shall be subject to
Immediate recall in emergency. Not
only will this give the Army a needed
feet of transports. but such ships as
| the Leviathan. possessed OF high
speed, will be available to the Navy
by transfer from the Army in case Of
an emergency which the Navy must
meet The Leviathan could in stress
transport 5000 marines or. thanks to
It's speed, would make valuable
auxiliary cruiser for the fleet.
\
When the war was on and Maj.
Gen. Goethals. clothed with almost
arbitrary powers
Development of was developing the
Army Supply. the Army he called
| in officers whom he knew to be ex-
perienced in business matters or quite
competent to meet the vexed sub
jects that would confront them in
the business world. He was able to
supplement their number. all too
small. by drafting from business con-
Germs the most efficient administra-
tive officers. He did not hesitate to
reQuisitIon them. nor they to respond
| to the call he sent for their aid In
developing the system without which
| the supply of the Army would be
| failure.
The new operating divisions. di-
| rected by officers and trained bust
ness men OF such caliber and spurred
by the patriotic feeling that they
were winning the war. never hest
tated In loyalty to the chief or to
the system that he was creating. The
war il over and the driving power
| that impelled the whole force to self
sacrifice and action Is no longer felt.
The citizen administrators who were
| giving their experience to the gov
| eminent have gone home. Many OF
the officers who had come back to
| the Army from the business life OF
| the civilian had left the Army again
to make living commensurate with
their ability and their needs. Army
omcers OF less varied experience have
taken the places of the men who
yielded the supply officers together.
ana they bring neither the enthu
siasm Of the war period nor the as
ISOLATION with the scheme of oper-
rather. imbued with the old Army
IDEA that the way TO transact busI-
ness is to stand by presidents.
II the department reverts to its
pre-war business system, 1t may go
along very well as long as the Army
|
event of another war the very first
th1ng the War Department would
nave to do to Insure efficiency wouJd
pc TO enect a reorganization on busi-
ness lines.
Brig. Gen. Herbert NJ Lord, director
OF the division of Army finance. ap-
peared before the
ArmY Finance House committee on
n;r;.;o, military affairs and
replied to sugges-
tons that this division caused either
delay in paying Army bills OF added
expense In maintaining the office.
Gen. Lord said at the outset that
the same principle that obtains in al,
the great business concerns applies
10 Army business matters, namely,
! made by an agency entirely distinct
from the purchasing branch. He
cited many Instances in commercial
business where this practice was en-
forced, and Representative Greene of
Vermont added that 1t was the prac
tice of all the great railroad systems
to have three branches-the purchas-
ing. the auditing and a cashiers or
paying branch.
Gen. Lord also mentioned numerous
instances where his office, by a care
full examination of bills before paving
them, had saved large amounts, which
otherwise the department would have
paid. He said that the several bu-
reaus need not maintain a solitary Of
fcer to keep their accounts; for the
finance division does 1t all. 1t sends
twice month to each bureau or sec
ton to which Congress had allotted
funds a statement of the balances Oh
hand to the credit Of the allotment,
and is prepared to give the balances
at any moment a bureau asked for the
information.
To illustrate the great efficiency
gain Gen. Lord pointed out that be-
fore the war he had $50 assistants TO
keep the accounts of the Quarter
master Corps; at the time of the con-
solidation, shortly before the signing
Of the armistice. of the bureau pay
divisions. to form the finance division,
he took over 1895 employees, and that
number. forming the Pay Corps for the
| whole Army. is now reduced to 200.
Gen. Lord produced the records to
show that the finance division had
caused no delays in the payment of
contractors where the supply bu-
| reaus have done their part in the way
Of furnishing certificates of accept
| ance, except In cases which, in the
view Of the disbursing officers, need
| ed investigation. and that these In
vestigations had resulted in the saw
ing OF many thousands Of dollars to
the 900 on a pay
| ment approved by the engineers, $780,
! 600 on a single payment by the quar-
termaster general and many other
! claims.
| Through the assertion of many con-
tractors that they could not subscribe
to liberty bonds because the govern
ment was holding back their money.
Gen. Lord started an investigation
which showed that in the city of New
\ York alone more than $6.000,000 in
| claims of contra ctors was being held
up on grounds more or less technical.
Inside of two weeks the finance divi-
sion. by the expedient of reserving u
nominal balance so as not to close the
case and relieve the bondsman, was
enabled to settle almost in full all
these amounts to the relief of the
contractors.
j BY the maintepance of the single
disbursement ONCE, the eight supply
bureaus are relieved from the over
head charge of maintaining as many
separate Offices with a resulting saw
ing in expense to the government.
II The ordnance division has adopted
= single system Of bookkeeping for
the entire War Department. except
ing the civilian aesavities of the an
u Einsars. iastaaA- Of tha- ssxsnal meth