The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-12-05
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question, and Don bother mi
now" Il the answer, oftsn.
Don't bother me now" means that We refuse
to Sivs knowledge ct the particular moment whsI
il would bs most eagerly received, written indshoJ
on the young mind and stored away for use al
through life.
Don't bother mo NOW" may bother You,
child for many year to come
In this Sundays cartoon, Mr.. Mcoay selects
for his II can't be bothered taxi tho management
from top to bottom, Of an absolutely necessary
public service, the ordinary street car line.
Tho trouble starts, as ID usual, with the in,
dividuals and with nations AT THE TOP. In
this picture you See first, the with tho money
the STOCKH0LDER. Complaint 10 made to him
perhaps through newspapers, perhaps through
personal letters.
His answer is, II can't DO bothered" although
he is the ONE man that ought to be bothered since
he tho source of power he hands the thing along
to tho president of the road who comes next h. in
turn, cant be bothered" and hands it on to the
general manager.
So it goes with II can be. bothered" from the
manager on down to the superintendent, inspector,
foreman.
And finally, at the bottom of the picture, az is
natural and inevitable the sacred formula, Il cant
be bothered" comes from the workman at tho bot
tom Of the pile who can be bothered to give the
woman with the child the information she wants.
The don't bother me" answer does harm in this
country from top to bottom from East to West, and
from the Canadian line to the tip end Of Florida
Don't bother me- cost the nation billions of
dollars in the war. Everybody was stealing, wasting
proatsering, but, from tho top down, nobody had
time TO attend to such little thing stealing mil
lions Everybody answered: II can't be bothered;
MY time is too valuable for details; toll somebody
ELSE" Nothing was done to protect the public
from the grafters, prohteers, thieves and MASTERS.
In every business house in the country this pic.
ture should be hung up. It ought to be in the man
ayers office, and it ought to be downstairs in the
packing department.
Every business suffers because somebody, refus-
ing to be bothered, passes the question along to
someone below him.
Once moderately intelligent man took charge
of q newspaper. His first step was to discharge
full, and that wore good coat Of tan, indicating
each case the assistant was doing tho work with
which the head man could not be bothered; there
fore, tho head man was released and the assistant
got the job
The assumption proved to be quite sound. In
some departments removing tho assistants also
helped when he happened to be Of the type that also
" couldn't be bothered"
With this picture, Mccay's memorandum, shorter
than usual, reads:
II hope nobody will be foolish enough to imagine
that think the president Of q company ought &c
hand out the lead pencils or count the postage
stamps.
Il hope no one viii think am foolish enough not
realize that real intelligence consists in concentrat
ing on tho BIG thing, when you Arc manager, and
finding the right people to concentrate the minor
details.
The trouble II that, in America, many have rot
The habit Of passing EVERYTHING along. When
the man at the top ALWAYS refuses to concentrate,
to take responsibility and passes the proposition on
down. the others below him get the habit and do the
same.
Tho Job Of each Of M should be to make up our
minds what part Of the work Is OURS, then attend
10 that a. well a. we know how, whether It bothers
rs or not never pass IL down, and making sure al
ways that It Ii passed to the right man or woman II
L Is somebody elses job"