The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-29
ONCE EVERY EIGHT YEARS
The United States HAIL Looks Must
Be Changed to Ensure
Safety.
Unclo Sam II Getting Economical
In Having Them All
Altered.
Process Of MsndinR the Old Pouches. .
Work which Il Done By
the Women.

Once In eight years all the looks on the
United States mail bags must be changed.
II not oftsnsr. says the Warrington Star.
keys get around, and they are not very safe
to have 20 distributed. just now the
equipment division of the posteGtes de-
psrtment ID making over 25O, 900 old looks,
merely for The purpose Of rendering them
different. They were very good in their
day, and are still 90 in other respects.
Al first II was suggested that all these
100000 locks should bs thrown away. The
iunkmsn we're asksi how much shsy would
give for them and they said 20 cents per 100
pounds. This did not seem large, mas
much % the postofhce had originally paid
81 cents APIECE for The locks. Therefore il
was concluded to make them over again,
and this 10 being done now at the repair
shop or 9 street at q cost Of 6N cent? per
lock. II is,a very pretty sight to zee tho
workmen cut the old c~ontrivances apsrt,
polish them up N rapidly revolving grind
stones. which give ont showers Of sparks.
recognizing the tumblers and putting to-
Rether the pieces into ~ good shape a. the
now lamps which the magician In the story
Of Aladdin exchanged for old ONES.
These looks, az has been said. are TO 80
cure mail bags; but even more interesting
are the mail bags themselves and their his
tories. Naturally. in the course Of human
events. these rscsptaelss wear out now and
then. This being regarded a. inevitable. in
former times they we're turned over
promptly to the junk men. Now, however,
II 10 all very different. According to the
regulations, - fast % the bag shows symp-
toms of wearing out they are forwarded to
Warrington from all over the United STATES.
Thus one finds in the equipment shop on @
street great rooms heapsd with enormous
stacks Of mail sacks in all stages Of use, de-
cay, and. one might almost say, of decom-
position.
Upon arrival thsy are conveyed by a big
elevator to tho third floor, where ITO women
cit sewing with coarse thread. The bags
are made Of jute. Some Of the M wear
Ounce caps of brown paper on their hsvds.
are all sewing upon mail sacks, and when
ever one has finished her task she holds up
her hand. At once the foreman in charge
goes. to her. takes the bag she has finished
and lays it on . pile. In exchange he gives
her another. which he takes from 4 stack
near by. The sacks in the latter pile are in
all stages of d~ilapidation, and tho rule is
that each worker must take the one that is
on top. A wooden partition shuts off the
women from sight Of the pile because some
complained a while ago that 1t was possible
for others to see when there were good
sacks on top and 80 escape bad ones. It ia
Office. |hHf
Thus far only jute bags have been spoken
of. But there II another room in which the
leather mail pouches are .mendsd, twenty
two vorkmen being employed for the pur-
pose. This system has grown up within
the last four years. So short = time ago
only eight women and three leather work
ers were employed to do the work. But it
was believed that a great economy would
result from devoting attention to the mend
ing of old Sacks, and this has proved 80 far
true that many thousand fewer bags are
made annually now than we're required in
1887. although the postofice business has
increased one-quai ter since then. The
are manufactured in New York state.
1t ia inspected by . man who is the only
person in the United States with whom the
decision lies as to when a mail sack ia worn
out and shall be used no longer. Con-
ones are all used in one fashion or
another. The best parts of them are used
for the bottoms of sacks that have to be
Tepai' ed. while other portions serve for
patches, the ragged bits being slashed off
with sharp knives. Such rags 20 to the
junk shop. After each has been repaired it
10 taken to q room whore . piece of rope for
drawing the mouth together il strung
through it by a blind woman. Another
room is devoted to the making of coin
sacks, in which postmasters send money.