Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-23
THE REGISTRY DIVISION.

Efficient to the highest standard is the force
employed in the registry division, but it works
in the midst of irremovable dirt, continually
dropping plaster, splintered floors and an at
mosphere Of decay that ought to make a life of
toll therein burdensome even to q Mark Tapley.
The main registry room is bad enough, but it
is comfortable and beautiful when compared
with the "opening room" Of the same division.
This is an apartment about 20 feet square and
Is one Of the most important in the Office. Its
festooned door frame is bruised and SCARED
from frequent contact with the innumerable
pouches that have been thrown in and out
through it. The furniture is extremely crude
the room is overcrowded during more than
half the day, the floors are worn to such an
extent that the nails which hold them
together are decided impediments to
graceful pedestrianism, and the whitewash
on the walls was neither artistically
nor sufficiently applied. The plaster,
where there is any. is cracked, but more fire.
qucntly it is entirely absent. The timber sup
ports are not missing. neither have they been
planed or sandpapered. Yet in this little hole
Is received every piece OF registered mail
matter handled in the office. Does any body
realize how much that means? OF government
registered mail alone the men in the ''opening
room" last year handled letters and packages
which contained an aggregate Of S497 671. $40;
nearly five hundred million OF dollars-to say
nothing Of the immense quantity of registered
matter received and sent by private individuals,
the value Of which is not known. This room is
without organized protection. and it can have
none 30 long as it is where it is. Washington
has more registry business than any other city
in the country, with the exception of New York
and Chicago, and the aggregate value of the
matter handled is much greater than in any
three other offices.
THE REVENUE ROOM"
Another section of the registry division is the
revenue room" This is in the cellar and can
be reached from street. 1t is one of the
worst offices in which the United States ever
compelled any Of its employees to work and if it
was In a state prison the board Of visitors would
shut 1t up rather than have convicts work in it
for ten or twelve hours a day. The ceiling is
low and 1t is made more easily approachable by
the slaughter-house floor, which has been put
down in places to keep the employees feet off
the damp concrete floor. Daylight never gets
into all of this room; it occasionally fringes the
portion nearest street, but that is its limit SO
the electric fluid has been called upon to con-
tribute something like sufficiency of illumi-
nation. From this dungeon all the revenue
stamps are shipped by three men. II there was
a larger force more men would be made
sick. Whenever the river climbs lit
tie above high-water mark or sewer
backs up the occupants of the revenue room
are made aware Of it. The last overflow left its
silhouette on the wall-it was more than two
! feet deep. In the rear Of the dungeon is the
elevator cage and every little while there is a
pile of plaster on the floor, coming from the
ceiling. An art gallery of clippings from illus
trated papers brightens one spot on the white
washed wall, but their levity is more than over.
balanced by the stern rules governing the
office and which are hung alongside the pic
lures