The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

June, 1910 structed by competent architects with a view to the traffic and channel in ques- tion. That is, the boats are going to be made to fit the river, not the river to fit the boats, and the former is obvi- ously much less expensive. Again, at Chicago recently, when rep- resentatives of shippers from the whole country met to protest against the pro- railroad posed horizontal increase in freight. rates, the need for a common- sense working out of the deep water- ways problem by engineers and others with a keen eye for the practical and commercial features was urged. It was by the only by considering the problem from realized shippers present that a practical, commercial viewpoint will results be achieved in the improvement of our western rivers which will be of any use in regulating railroad rates by means of water competition. A number of conservative and meri- torious suggestions regarding the water- ways problem were brought forth at this Chicago meeting of shippers, many in private conversation rather than on the convention floor. One may be men- tioned. It was suggested that the trou- ble with the between St. Paul and St. Louis is' not «so wuen 4 Mississippi matter of depth or channel as an utter lack of landing facilities, suitable ware- houses equipped with economical freight handling devices, and proper arrange- ments for transferring cargo rapidly and cheaply from cars to boats and vice versa, This phase of the matter has not yet suggested itself to our pork barrel poli- ticians; these had rather spend 10 times as much "deepening" the channel. In brief, the people of the middle west are beginning to realize the true signifi- cance of their waterways problem, name- ly, that it is a matter for engineers and business men, not politicians and orators, "to settle. It is to be hoped that this Sentiment will grow, for only under business conditions may we expect the development of our majestic inland riv- €rs and lakes to proceed along lines that will be a benefit at once to the people, the shipbuilders and the marine frater- nity, 'moniously arranged. "TAE. MarRINE REVIEW Boat Shop Organization By F. G. Cospurn. HE advantage of processing work in shops, and of the "departmentaliza- tion" of shops, are too well known to call for extended treatment of the subject here; but I will show how the principles of that type of shop organization are ap- plied to a navy yard boat shop. This particular application I do not, of course, recommend for all boat shops, for each shop has its own peculiar conditions which must be studied before it can be systematized ; but the principles, the same for all shops, I think are fairly well illustrated by it. All will agree that shop efficiency de- mands sufficient floor space, good illumi- do so as to lay out the future work of his men. But if he did not arrive at a layout, something would arise to make him forget it and he would have to do it all over again and he would probably not get it the same. In assigning one job and getting it ready, he would for- get the others, for a man can do but one thing at a time, and then he would have to map it out again. In the mean- time a man would run out of work, but rather than appear idle, he would nurse _ his job. Rush jobs would get all the . attention, the others would suffer. Two mechanics would want a machine tool at the same time, so one would have Bill of Lumber for One 20-Foot Dinghy. Pieces Kind of req. for Mark.| material. Part; Thickness one boat. jin inches. Jin inches. | Ft. and In. Width |Length in | Remarks. | Bie. nation, and a sufficient equipment of machine tools, transportation facilities, and hand tools and appliances, all har- Ts 'at. not. also: just as important that the foreman be pro- vided with tools and facilities for plan- ning-co-ordinating, and supervising his work? It is absurd to expect good work from a mechanic unless he has good to wait. These instances and _illustra- tions could be multiplied indefinitely. The old way requires more supervisory men, more machine tools, more mechan- ics for the same production--or, another way of saying the same thing, is costly and wasteful. The organization I will describe pro- vides a method of planning work well in Fic. 2--RovutTe Boarp. equipment; it is just as absurd to expect results from a foreman unless he has an equipment. In the old fashioned way, the fore- man had to carry in his head the condi- tion of all the work in the shop, and endeavor to remember what he had to advance, and for recording the layout; and puts the results of the planning out in the shop, visible at all times, thus providing facilities for co-ordinating the work and leaving the foreman with the majority of his time to devote to actual way, which it supplanted, it reduces the SS SN aie SS ae Ns Ai Saat hae