The Irish standard., 1892-01-30
sUNCLE ga MS MA u SACKS.

kJll IL NJ l4!Alla0l1J1lkJs
tf How the Many Postal Pouches
Arc Handled.
All Locks Must T.. Changed oace In
Eight Years The Busy Pos.
Office Equipment De-
pertinent.
Once in eight years all the locks on
United States mail bags must be
changed, if not oftener says the Wash
tngton Star. This is because after
awhile good many lost keys get
around, and they are not very safe to
have SO distributed. Just now the
equipment division of the post Office de-
partment IS making over two hundred
md fifty thousand old locks, merely for
the purpose Of rendering them different.
They were very good in their day, and
are so still in other respects.
At first it was suggested that all these
two hundred and fifty thousand locks
should be thrown away. The junk men
were asked how much they would give
for them, ana they said twenty cents
hundred pounds. This did not Seem
large. inasmuch as the post office had
originally paid afty-sevcn cents apiece
for the locks. Therefore it was con-
Guided to make them over again, and
this is being done now at the repair
shop OF & street at a cost Of six and
three fourths cents per lock. It is avery
pretty sight to see the workmen cut the
old contrivances apart, polish them up
on idly-ravoiving grlndstoncs, which
give out showers Of SPARKS, reorganiziilg
the tumbters and putting together the
pieces into as good shape as the new
lamps which the magician in the story
Of Aladdin exchanged for old ones.
These locks, as has been said, are to
secure mail bags, but even more inter
esting are the nail bags themselves and
eheir histories. Naturally, in the course
of human events, these receptacles wear
out now and then. This being regarded
as inevitable, in former times they were
turned over promptly to the junk man
Now, however, it is all very different
According to the regulations, as fast as
she bags show symptoms Of wearing
out they are forwarded to Washington
one finds in the equipment shop on G
street great rooms heaped with enor-
NOUS stacks OF mail sacks in al! stages
OF use, decay, and, one might almost
say, of decomposition.
Upon arrival they are conveyed by
big elevator to the third floor, where
one hundred and ten women sit sewing
with coarse thread. The bags are made
of jute. Some Of the women wear
Ounce caps OF brown paper on their
heads, and all are as busy as SO many
bees They are all sewing upon mail
sacks, and when one has finished her
task she holds up her hand. At once
the foreman ia charge goes to her,
takes the bag She has finished and laws
1t on pile. In exchange, he gives her
another, which he takes from stack
near by. The sacks in the latter pile
are in all stages Of dilapidation, and
the rule is that each worker must take
che one on top wooden partition
shuts off the women from sight of the
pile, because some complained awhile
ago that it was possible for others to
see when there We're good sacks on top,
and so escape bad ones. It is like the
system Of takes" in newspaper Office.
Thus far only the jnte bags have been
spoken Of. But there is another room
In which the leather mail pouches are
mended, twenty-five workmen being
employed for the purpose. This sys-
tenn has grown mp Within the last four
years. So short a time ago only eight
women and three leather workers were
employed to do the work. But it was
believed that q great economy would
result from devoting attention to the
mending Of old sacks, and this has
proved 50 far true that many Thousand
fewer bags are raade annually now than
were required in 1887, although the
post office business has increased one
quarter since then. The bags are man
ufactured in New York state.
When the mending Of each bag is fin
aslaed it is inspected by man who is
the only person in the United States
with whom the decision lies as to when
mail sack is worn out and shall be
used no longer, Condemned ones are
al! utilized in one fashion or another
The best parts of them are used for the
bottoms Of sacks that have to be re-
paired, while other portions serve for
patches, the ragged bits being slashed
off with sharp knives Such rags go to
the junk shop. After each sack has
been repaired it is taken to a room
where a piece Of rope for drawing it's
mouth together is strung through it by
q blind woman. Another room is de-
voted to the making OF coin sacks, in
which postmastecs send money.
Symbolic Language.
Some years ago a white man was cap
Eured in the course Of raid made by
&he Amazon warriors of Dahomey upon
a missionary settlement. A few weeks
later his anxious wife received from him
message, which consisted simply Of a
pebble. d piece of charcoal, pepper,
grain Of parched corn and 3 rag. There
was no difficulty in TRANSMITTING it by the