Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-02-25
LETTER FROM
CARTER JOHNSON
U. S. n. Training Camp,
Pelham Bay, New York,
7th Reg. Bar. c..


cost the people additional taxes, it will
benefit us to mediate upon the propo-
sition and to ascertain whether Uncle
Sam is really an efficient and econom-
ical business man, and can operate the
railroads of this country better than
private ownership, and to the advant-
age and profit of the common people.
as Uncle Sam an efficient and eco
nomical business man? Can we justly
fortell his ability as a good railroad
manager and business man from what
we know about him through the navy?
If we can, | shall write freely about
some of the things I have seen and
learned since | become blue jacket
over IA months ago. Kindly bear in
mind that while | am giving you some
of my personal experiences, and re-
vealing things that l have seen and
know to be positively true, which can
be verified by any other navy man,
l am not attacking the government or
trying to create new policies, nor will
| say that the navy can be run better
than it is being run now. l do intend
to give you few facts that will be
worth while taking into consideration
when the final discussion of railroad
manipulation is taken up.
AS long as l have been in the SER
vice, l have seldom seen the govern
| ment thrifty, saving or economical. 1t
displayed wonderful signs of efficiency
as a great war machine, but at a
tremendous cost.
Money of No Concern
"a U. S. Naval Captain in France.
Captain Frank Evans, son of fighting
Bob Evans, once said in speech be-
| fore some of us boys, that the navy
had lots of money and stopped at moth
| ing if money could buy it, and that if
| anybody wanted help, material or
| finances, the navy said: Here it is,
take it.. Why did this Captain make
| such statement? He knew that in
back of the navy were the whole
| American people, who stood for all
| expenses. The point l wish to bring
out is that money is no object to the
government, and when money is no
object, you become careless and spend
full. You become slack in your system
| and lose your efficiency.
"If the government wishes to oper-
ate the railroads to the benefit of the
the real value of money.
81 have noticed whenever there has
been a thing to be done, whether it
was shoveling coal, handling cement,
or assembling airplanes, there were
generally detailed many more men to
perform the work than were needed,
often two to three times the necessary
number. The men usually got into
each others way and no more work
was accomplished. Private ownership
would eliminate this great waste of
labor,
No One Breaks His Neck
81 will give you an idea of how or
ders are issued and finally received
by the men who do the work. The
station is run by captain. Under
the captain we have a lieutenant
commander, who receives his or
ders from the captain. The COM
mander issues his orders to the officer
of the day, who is usually an ensign.
The officer of the day issues his or
ders to chief petty officers, who issue
their orders to petty officers or section
leaders. These petty officers or Sec
ton leaders come in direct contact
with the men, and of course issue
their orders to the men under their
charge. There are exceptions to this
rule, but this is generally the way
the man who actually does the work
gets his orders. From the captain
down, no one feels as though he must
break his neck to get things done. No
one does. All possess an easy sort
of feeling that their money is COM
ing on pay day no matter if they do
full days work or a half days
work in ten hours. Keep moving
this is all that is required of the men
The saying is that you can do any
thing in the navy if you can get by
with it. If you don't get by with it,
it is different story. They generally
get by with it.
at has made me indignant more than
once to see how some of the men
serve their cruise with so little work
Many of them do not earn their salt
They are commonly known as politi-
clans. Their chief aim seems to be
to do their bit and not their most
which aim they accomplish very well
: Most of the men in the navy have a
soft time of it, and very few over
work. This is probably very we'll
because it encourages men to enlist
and stay in the service
Waste i'm Labor and Time
II will repeat again that a great
amount of waste is incurred in labor
, time and material. Provisions and
! materials are handled roughly, care.
lessly and are oftentimes damaged
Everything is drawn from warehouses
that are never empty. No one feels
that he must be careful with nipple
ments or saving on material, because
he has no real personal interest in
the government, the personal interest
you would feel if you were working
for firm and owned stocks or shares
in it. The question is: will this same
feeling exist among Uncle Sans rail
road employers if the government
takes charge?
Let us assume that the government
owns the railroads. 1t may operate
, them very efficiently and render good
service to the public. 1t may lower all
passenger and freight rates to moth
ing, if you please, but if the income
does not exceed the expenses, the vot-
/ ing people will have to make good for
deficiencies through taxes.
Government railroad manipulation
will be a swell thing for people look
ing for politicians job, people who
want big job with big pay and all
the credit, while they have someone
under hem. to do all the work. 1t would
be just like taking milk from the baby
God knows that we poor jiggers have
a hard enough time keeping square
with everybody on this side of heaven
with all this flu around and high cost
of gasoline, without making a new
field for bloodsuckers. 1t would really
be nice to land big job in a railroad
office with Uncle Sam holding the pay
roll and live on the cream of the land,