Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-10


ttf> new idea for cheaper
ing the cost of the ma
~ tional mail service.
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~ 4: :: &: :: =: :: ::
day. 1t will be super
seeded by a cotton canvas pouch with leather
bottom, and considering that the service has
about ,000, 900 leather pouches in use now the
Postmaster Generals latest plan should effect a
saving ultimately of about 50, SOC, 900. Expe-
rience with the present cotton canvas sacks in
transporting second, third and fourth-class
matter has shown that they far outlast the
others, and besides a fully equipped pouch Of
this character will cost barely $3.50, where the
leather pouch is worth IS at contract figures.
The scheme is one which has long been dis
cussed by Mr.. Wanamaker, Second Assistant
Bell and Maj. R. D. Tyler. chief of the mail
equipment division. Various plans were thor
oughly studied and this week force Of men
was put to work making dozen or more of the
| proposed new pouches, which are to be used as
| samples and practical expositions of specica-
| tions to be followed in the manufacture here
after. These dozen pouches will be sent to the
larger post offices throughout the country so
| contractors can have q look at them and pre-
| pare their bids to furnish a stipulated number
for the department The government does not
manufacture its own mail bags yet but the
locks are put up here and perhaps some future
| Postmaster General will succeed in establishing
| the pouch factory here as well. A force of $50
| men and women now repairs bags, pouches and
| sacks. which were once thrown out and sold for
old junk, and the /, 500 600 pieces handled every
| year have already brought an annual saving Of
$50 600 to the Post Office Department.
TIE MAIL BAa REPAIR SHOP
The mail bag repair shop" as it is officially
known to the Postmaster General, is really the
only one in the country. A small branch exists
in Chicago, but the bulk of the work is done
here. The whole establishment has grown up
In the last six years and there is no telling to
what proportions the mail equipment will ex-
tend in the next six. Previous to 1857 every
big post Office and about every other small one
| throughout the country boosted it's own repair
shop. The result that more often than
otherwise pouches and sacks looked rather like
sleeves than mail conveyances, while piece only
needed to be slightly torn cut when the
scrap pile claimed it and the junk dealer found
rare bargains. Now the whole business is CEN
| tralized. Every postmaster is compelled to
send his surplus mail bags to what
! ever post Office in his section has been
denominated an official repository. From
| there the collection is regularly sent to WASH
lnSton and after the immense & street repair
shop" has inspected tine invoice the needed
mending is supplied and the bags go 20 the
mail bag storehouse' in the same building.
Postmasters requiring additional mail equip
ment notify Second Assistant Postmaster GEN
eral Bell of the fact and the storehouse fur
! nishes the cargo demanded. In this way the
department keeps track of its machinery and
sound mail bags are constantly replacing the
! punctured articles. Instead of being intricate
the system has been made very simple as well as
| highly serviceabe by Gen. Bell. and If the gov
ernmeut sooner or later manufactures its own
| supplies the appropriations for equipments can
! readily be reduced one-half, and contractors
| will have meager pickings.
The rules of the department for 1892 and
| 1893 require that all surplus mail bags and all
| pouch locks at post Offices on the line Of the
| railway postal service be at once forwarded to
| the following repository Offices, according to
| their several locations Boston. New York
| Atlanta, Cincinnati. Chicago. St. Paul, st.
Louis and San Francisco. the Washington Office
being called into requisition for like purpose
! covering offices in the District. Delaware
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Caro-
| lima and South Carolina. Post offices not stu
| ated on railway postal lines send their surplus
| equipments to the "storehouse' direct, while
defective bags come in the same manner from
all parts Of the country, regardless of postal
routes. Every one of the 2, 800 900 pieces there
fore, finally passes through the mail clearing
house" at the capital, and a great institution
the concern certainly il. 1t does not employ as
many helpers the minis and money manu-
! featuring bureau, but in a manner it is fully as
interesting. The "repair shop" presents
that anomaly of no civil service in
a civil service department. and critics
have called it ''the slave pen" "Uncle Sans
harem," and similar uncomplimentary names
Rut to the Orteide Observer il Looks ne fat
ful employees could earn as much in the repair
shop" under the government as In like estab-
lishments without the executive circle, and so
far from being treated like brutes, the humane
order OF Mr.. Wanamaker's second assistant
gives the Woodworking helpers what at least no
other government concern furnishes gratis 1t
is only small thing such matters 60, but the
best of hot tea and coffee. with extras ad libi-
tum. is a highly acceptable addition to the
oftentimes sparse luncheon Of a piece worker
who earns less than 50 per day.
NOT A SMALL JOB.
The building used as a storehouse and repair
shop is five stories in height and every foot Of
available space is taken up for the service. It
isn't very small Job to handle 800. 900 mail
bags per year and plenty Of room is necessary.
Including the leather pouches, cotton canvas
sacks and jute bags. which last. by the way,
Mr. Wanamaker also hopes to replace with
American-made canvas in preference to the
foreign lute, which is Twice AS expensive.
average Of 1000 individual pieces reach the
shop daily from all parts Of he.country. The
bulk Of mail matter goes west and consequently
the heavie demand for extra equipments
comes from the eastern post Offices As soon
as a consignment arrives in the morning two
select workmen are turned loose among the
leather pouches and one other takes the lutte
and canvas sacks in hand Every pouch and
bag is subjected to a thorough examination for
defects and stray mail matter which
postal clerks may have overlooked. Quite
frequently registered package or bunch of
ordinary letters tumbles out, and in such cases
the find is Immediately shipped to the Office
from which the invoice was billed. The treas
ure trove is sometimes Of q curious order, but
that is not allowed to count. and the work Of in
spection goes ahead. As soon as twenty
pouches or sacks have been found in good con-
dition nineteen are rolled together and placed
In the twentieth, to be taken to the storehouse
for reshipment to some office demanding ex-
tras. Leather pouches often have rents, rail-
| way catcher pouches are frequently cut by
cars, the ordinary sacks generally show rough
usage in the same way and are minus the tying
string Of the same time. For these there
IL . remedy above stairs and the sorters
duty ends when he has either sent the consign-
ment up for repairs or condemned portion Of
II as no longer worth mending. II the latter,
the best pieces Of canvas are cut out for patch