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

matter to pound hammer along to mechanical
fame and seventy-fiye of Uncle Sans hard
round dollars per month. In a vast store room
just beyond Superintendent Kirkbride has a
stock Of some 1000 lea.hern pouches on hand
a. . usual thing, and another fight OF stairs
leads the visitor beyond tine locality where sail
makers are patching up registered canvas
pouches to the sewing room, where the hard
est work of all is done
When il comes to the actual reiuyenation Of n
canvas or jute sack there is probably nothing
much more tough to sew upon, except seasoned
lumber or cast iron. The sewing room attends
to that particular need of the repair shop, how
ever, and 100 employees make it their business
to turn out 1900 serviceable pieces of patch
work every working day. Tue male sex can't
handle needle properly in official opinion, and
Is consequently barred beyond assisting TO
bring up the defective sacks, CARRYING them
down when repaired, and keep tab on the guam
tity and quality of the work produced The 100
employees OF the sewing room are all women, of
all ages. all colors and previous conditions of
servitude. To sew seryiceable pieces over the
rents OF forty sacks is an average days labor
and 81 cents per sack is the entire amount
which congressional appropriations permit the
department to pay. 1t is exhausting manual
labor of the most exhausting kind. but il is not
skilled labor, and even then many of the en-
ployes earn as much per month do some of
the skilled piece workers in the government
printing Office. The sewing room may be a
Z
look that way specifically, nor is the grinding
In the interests OF q corporation or monopoly.
THE PAY is FAIR.
In proportion to the amount Of work re-
quired the pay is fully as large as that allowed
the male employees, although some of the female
labor associations have made life a burden at
times for the second assistant postmaster
general and the chiefs of division under him
Undoubtedly the work is hard for the nav. But
% In fO-
should cut off slice of the appropriation. II
a larger appropriation is allowed this session
the ruling prices may be increased. because the
chief OF the equipment division has succeeded
in reducing the annual expenses from S2s5 900
to $3.50 900 during the last few wears. although
the volume of work handled by the ''repair
shop" has increased Is per cent in the same
time. The saving has been made by utilizing
old odds and ends in furnishing the needed
repairs. ard the all-around net gain to the
department has advanced from little or nothing
to nearly IS per cent.
Hereafter the government will manu- facture
its own locks for use in both the mail service
and free delivery system. Ever since it's estab-
lishment the "repair shop" has worked over
the locks that needed tinkering, but during the
last few months an addition was made to the
building. the necessary machinery put In
and forty skilled mechanics. who are paid BY
the day, carry on operations behind lock and
key on the top floor. The crude steel required
for the apparatus is of course purchased from
contractors, but the finished product is now
turned out from the repair shop" The knot
catch employed on the canvas and jute sacks is
the simplest i'll construction and easily made
after the so-called dog lock" and slide have
been turned to their proper shape. Like the
employees at the bureau of engraving the real
locksniths are not allowed to leave their sepa-
rate work room during business hours, and the
operation of making new locks out OF old ones
goes merriiy on, while the division chief has
provided safeguards against any possible filch-
ing of the mechanical secrets, which would
make robbing mail bags an easy matter. The
contracts with lockmsking firms have expired
and gradually the government product will
take the place of corporation outputs. 1t is
claimed that the official job is much more
serviceable and less expensive idea, and the ex-
periments with free delivery system locks have
so far filed the bill satisfactorily.
Naturally it will be many a long day until the
supply of contract locks has been absolutely
replaced but the most important results are
expected from the registered lock department
There only one eInploye Iabors, and he is in
room Closely locked. even against his fellow
mechanics. Nobody is ever admitted to the
secret precincts of the registered locks, and the
coin vaults OF the treasury are not more ex-
elusive. The locks used on registered mail
pouches are infinitely more intricate than the
common mail lag article, and their mechanism
is guarded closely as the scheme of running
silk threads across the back of treasury notes.
At any rate. the Postmaster Generals scheme
affords, through the trick of the new-fangled
registered lock, a less degree of temptation to
the dishonesty inclined postal clerk while the
pouch is en- route.
The next few years may also bring the man.
ufacture of mail equipments under direct gov
eminent control as well as the repairs, but even
II they do not the "store house" and repair
shop will be establishments Of a very unique
order.