Evening star., 1924-06-08
Real Workers in the National Capital

ican Navy was not as fine an instru-
ment as 1t is now. w. c. whitney as
Secretary of the Navy discovered
in 1888 that all the money spent by
the Navy for supplies had gone into
the hands of six men. They may
have been honest, but the system was
silly. He put the Pay Corps In
charge of all the business OF the
business ever since. The Pay Corps
is not directly interested in the big
or little Navy argument All it has
to do is to provision and, clothe and
fuel and bank the ships of whatever
Navy there may be wherever they
are. And it does.
Reforming Business Methods.
Potter was one of the prime forces
in the tremendous work Of REFORM
ing the Navy's business methods. His
bursing money helped standardize
the new practice. Now that he is
paymaster general he has a little
class Of five officers studying world
exchange. The Navy does not get the
worst of the exchange situation, no
matter where its ships may be-and
money they want in the sort of
money they want when they get shore
leave.
He was one of a group of officers
who radically changed and improved
the entire accounting system Of the
Navy. Some of his monographs on
this subject have been translated
into Japanese and French. Not long
ago the British admiralty officially
announced in Parliament that it is
reforming its system of cost ac-
countancy upon the American plan.
a g..
The Navy has officers in Brazil and
Peru, helping those friendly South
American nations modernize their na-
vies. The American cost accountancy
system goes in there, too.
Admiral Potter. the Man.
He is tall. slightly gray, smooth
genial" 1t has sort Of blah sig
nificance as often uss-d-as though
the person described is a hand-shak-
er. Rear Admiral Potter is friendly.
cordial, likabfe. There is nothing
of the stand-off about him. He is
an enthusiast over the Navy's busi-
ness side. But he is not a profess
sional enthusiast. He impresses one
as sincere, capable. big-in a word,
fine Between times he has been able
to write several novels that have
been real successes.
/ have said the bureau of supplies
and accounts is efficient. 1t is more
than that. 1t has its officers in fac
tories. learning how cloth is woven
and in broom factories watching the
making of brooms
1t keeps a set of books by ma
chinery in the Washington Offices so
that the exact cost of every ship can
be discovered by putting a few per-
forated cards through a separator.
Wa. Right. Experts Wrong.
1t operates railroad bureau which
routes its men by the quickest and
best routes all over the world, and
fuel bureau that saved the govern
ment half million in buying oil last
year. and a textile bureau that saved
$500. 900 on cotton, being right where
wise cotton men were wrong.
1t sends out allotment checks for
46. 900 men to heaven only knows
how many beneficiaries each month
and gets them all straight.
II has handled millions upon mil
lions of money-split into 4S7 appro-
priation accounts under 1.400 sub
heads. thanks to Congress, although
the British navy gets along with fif-
teen-and its accounts are straight
to a penny.
Rear Admiral Potter will tell you
all about these things. But he will
not tell you about Rear Admiral Pot
ter.