Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-06

occurred by the hundreds which forced
the change IN systsn ~ . step toward
economical running Of the govern
foent machine. However many II
these have come 10 light.
One waste under the old system was
the duplication " effort on the part
0f many ~ the dtpsrtnents Fep,o-
sentative Fess, Of Obio, once pointed o1t
IN the House that in many ossee doz-
IN bureaus of the government ucre
Duplicating work, and that under tho
cid aystem Congress ~ called upon 10
appropriate money ten of twelve times
over the same work where II Il thu
1 performed IN tncsc dozen Different
places. The budget s0tefn wifi reroo-
dy this among many other evils when
the first budget ia presented % Con-
gfess.
4 Film FIim.PIam.
a recent instance Is known of vhers
one brsnch Of the government desired
to obtain a quantity ~ moving Pfc
tare flna. ~ tho old system providsd
no means of this department. knowing
that another department, right here
I in Washington, had surplus aiook
Of film and that an exchange night
be effected the department aeekipz
the film went into the open rnarket
for II. a private individual discover
ing the excess supply in one DEPART
ngent and the need for hlm Ia The
ether, bought the ilm in his own name
and sold Il back ~ the other braneh
Of the government, making a comfort
able profit for himself which was. of
course. dead loss % the government.
Unfer the new system, a co-o~dinator
s1Iuld have fixed fair price for tho
{ film. and the transfer would have
been made directly from one depart
ment 70 the other without any delays
and hagsiing over the amount of funds
/ to be transferred AZ a consideration
for the film supply.
Probably the greatest loss IN ne
matter Of sale Of supplies il chargea.
BILE to the War Department - was
almost inevitable that the War De-
partment should be oyersfocked vHh
food stuffs AZ the end u hostiiifles and
after the American Ezpeditionary
Forces were returned 10 this country
and remobilized. Everyone is famu.ar
with the manner in which the War
I Department disposed Of its excess sup
plies, and many families benefited
through the purchase Of canned goods
and other surplus stock az very low
prices
War Department supplies also in
cluded vast quantities. Or blankets. tex
/ tiles n aIl sorts, automobiles. and al
most everything else. Tbousa de ard
thousands Of dollars worth Of this na.-
teriaI were sold 70 any purchaser fo-
( fractional parts % their real values
( The old bugaboo arose of the depart
psent having the surplus stock De-
na-ring much higher prices from
other departments which needed them
than were demanded in open sales 20
the public.
4 While all of this was going on the
shipping Board. for one example vas
/ buying food supplies for the crews ~
Z its ships in the open market There
( II no doubt that much Of the old war
4 Department stock purchased by pri-
/ vate individuals for a song was re-
7 sold u the other branch of the govern-
rnent, the shipping Board. az prices
which were reasonable enough. bur
I represented 4 handsome profit % the
T individuals who bought up quantities
/ cf War Department surplus stock for
I this very purpose.
This sort ~ thing is impossible now.
Z Each department IS 70 have a director
of purchase and a director of sales.
both of whom VIII keep IN close touch
with the chief co-ordinator. Copie- ~
I the surplus property reports of each
4 department are to be furnished 70 the
chief co-ordinatcr.
4 General Dawes has emphasized that
\ the new agency Tor the sale and ex-
change OF government supplies Is en-
tirely independent Of all other depart
inents of the government. Just as Is hls
Budget Bureau.