The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-04-12
Maj. Carl White, Topeka, Is
Paymaster of the 35th.
He Has Several TOpekans Who
Are His Assistants.
PAY THE men OFF QUICKLY
1926, 900 Francs Taken by Di-
vision for a Month.
Silver and Gold Scarce-NOteS
Are Largely Used.


Last Saturday morning obseryant
pedestrians saw an army camionette
drive up to the corner of Rue Carnot
and Porte-au-Rupt. and perhaps
noticed that Maj Carl R. White and
two armed soldiers were the passen-
ger personnel of the vehicle. If
they watched the camionette for
little while they saw group or men
in khaki carry two large sacks up
stairs and into the three dingy little
rooms occupied by Major White and
his corps of assistants, later bringing
five small steel chests from the
camionette and depositing them in the
aforesaid closets which are dignified
by the name OF rooms" over here
where space is valuable. There was
nothing spectacular about this pro-
ceeding, and no particular attention
was paid to the incident, but in the
two large sacks and five small chests
was the sum of 2.725,000 francs
which Maj. Carl r. White, Q. M. e,
U. S. A, disbursing officer of the
| Thirty-fifth division, and formerly in
the office of the adjutant general in
Topeka, had brought from Toul to be
used in breaking all paymaster's rec
| ords for promptitude in the A. E. F.,
| for on Sunday, March 2, he was able
| to report that every unit in the
| Thirty-fifth division had received its
| pay for the month of February. To
| the best of the knowledge of those
| connected with the disburSing officers
office, no division has ever been paid
so promptly since the American. ex-
peditionary force came into being.
Great Work to Pay Men.
Few people realize the immense
amount of detail work connected with
such an elementary matter as pay
| ing the soldiers, but when one stops
| to consider the various rates of pay
49, n CT HA q.
lotments, insurance premiums, liberty
| bond purchases, etc, (which have to
| be provided for, the job becomes more
complicated. Add to these things the
facts that all pay is first calculated
| in dollars and cents, and deductions
therefrom made in terms of American
money; then the balance must be
| computed and paid in French money,
or on the basis of francs and centimes;
after which the record must be re-
| calculated in terms of dollars and
cents; and then one can understand
| that it is far from being a simple
matter for the paymaster's office
force to make their books balance each
month. When the division is at full
strength as it is now, about $4,000
men have to be paid.
| OF these, fully .95 per cent have in
surance premiums to be calculated,
and about SO per cent of the men
have home al1otments to be deducted
|
auctions, the paymaster finds he still
| has to handle in the neighborhood
| of 100000 francs in cash, each
month. Silver gold and small change"
is hard to get, in France, and so the
| government has reSorted to the ex-
pedient of printing 50-centime, 1efranc
and e2-franc notes for use in paying
the soldiers, and these small notes
are referred to by the doughboys as
"cigaret coupons while the notes of
l 1r- Id
wrappers" because of their size, and
the peculiar thinness of the paper on
which they are printed. And all of
these things add to the labor of the
@. NJ. c. disbursing officer.
Had Three Assistants.
| When the .35th divisions disbursing
office was opened in France on the
18th ~of May. 1918, Major White had
| the assistance of one officer and three
men, and this small force was kept
busy fifteen hours a day, and then
could not keep up with their work,
but as all attention was being given to
| getting men to the fighting front, the
matter of pay was not of such prime
Importance in the minds of those who
were at the head of affairs. Gradual
| ly, however, Major White assembled
an office force of fourteen men, but
since last September he has been with
| out the assistance of commissioned
| roughs computing machines and six
| typewriters in their office equipment,
and they are kept busy most of the
time. as the force strives to reach the
| ideals of their chief in the matter of
promptitude. To the average soldier,
| pay day is an important time, and
prompt payment by Uncle Sam means
high morale on the part of his men.
| Major White is Quite modest and un-
assuming in demeanor, and when con-
| graduated upon the achievements of
| his office in breaking all records this
month, he said:
Thirty-Four Million Francs.
ct is very gratifying to me. of
course, to be able to report our work
| finished so early in the month, but
| without the earnest cooperation of
| the men who are working under my
| direction, it would have been impos-
sible to have made the record we did.
Every man takes a personal pride in
having the work of the office done
| accurately and quickly. and to them
more than to me belongs the credit
Since May 10, 1918, up to and includ-
ing March 8, 1919, our office has
handled A34,687,176.c2 francs or an
amount equal to s6.364, 1881, figur-
ing at 1he present rate of exchange,
and I have not found one single case
of dishonesty among them, altho this
| immense amount of money was
handled in actual cash, almost all of
it in currency, under circumstances
which are about as far from ideal as
one can imagine. At times we have
had the money piled in corners on top
of packing cases, and in all sorts of
odd places. accounting has had to be
done under trying conditions, but the
men have never failed to do their ut
most to reflect credit upon their or
ganization. l sometimes wonder what
sort Of work these men would do IN
banks and offices at home where they
have every facility at their command.
| when they have done so well over
here. Some of them will hardly know
how to act, when they get a whole
desk, or maybe a room by themselves,
instead of having to work while touch
| ing elbows with their companions in
a little place ike this where visitors
have to stand simply because there is