Housekeeper for the Government
If Edmund F. Mansure '24, appointed General Services Administrator last May by President Eisenhower, was a worrying type of man, the nights would not be long enough to accommodate all his concerns. As the general housekeeper and landlord for the whole panorama of Government agencies, Mr. Mansure reigns over what is a veritable domestic empire. He has already made the headlines, for he has not only swung into action on a large scale, befitting the scope of his new job, he has also effected big savings in small ways. Even such matters as what happens to bureaucracy's paper clips: the sum total of hours spent in extended coffee breaks; the amount of space taken up by old Government files: and the improved sorting and merchandising of the contents of Government waste baskets have all received his attention, with appreciable savings of time and money.
Mr. Mansure left his textile company in Chicago, of which he has been president for many years, to accept a double-header assignment: Administrator of General Services and Administrator of the Defense Materials Procurement Agency. Over 5,000 Government buildings are tinder his supervision and $430 million worth of supplies must be purchased for federal agencies. More than 20,000 peoole are employed in the General Services Administration and 140 million square feet of floor space are under GSA domain. Enough records are stored to fill seven Pentagon buildings. Mr. Mansure is also the ultimate custodian of stockpiles belonging to the nation which amount to more than four billion dollars. These reserves include critical defense materials and such assorted items as feathers, sapphires, opium, castor oil and Mansanese.
The Federal Simply Service, responsible for procuring equipment for Government agencies, does an astronomical marketing job. Here again Mr. Mansure, whose agency buys $60 million worth of supplies yearly, has gone far toward reducing waste by standardizing purchases. Where GSA formerly bought ten grades of paper clips, it now buys four. Instead of 54 types of steel desks, it now purchases eight; and for the 25 different chair styles formerly bought, there now is only one. The new administrator also looked outside his office window, over the parking lot, and as a result installed a motor pool, cutting down the number of cars used by his own agency from 36 to eight.
Another successful crusade inspired by Mansure's desire to reduce unnecessary spending was getting rid of old Government files which took up needed space. For the first time in history, the Government began throwing away old files faster than it filled new ones. Such measures cut federal-leased office and warehouse space ten per cent, with the expectation that another seven per cent can be saved in less than a year.
In his position as Administrator of the Defense Materials Procurement Agency, Mr. Mansure is in charge of the highly specialized job of buying and safeguarding the national stockpile of strategic and critical materials. In all 93 items are in this category, located at 323 different places in the United States. Four vaults are maintained for precious stones, platinum and industrial diamonds.
Mr. Mansure, who received the LL.B. degree from Chicago Kent College of Law, brings to his present work outstanding executive ability, tested on many fronts of achievement. During the war his textile firm, which has a business of five million dollars annually, with factories in four large cities, supplied the Government with materials ranging from cartridge and machine-gun belts and webbing equipment to parachute and gas-mask assemblies. He has always been interested in politics. He has served as secretary of the Illinois Republican State Finance Committee and member of the party's campaign allocation committee. In 1937-38 he was the State Central Committee's treasurer; and delegate to the GOP National Convention in 1940.
EDMUND F. MANSURE '24
