The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-12-04
UNCLE SANS hiAiLSAGS.
when Worn Out, They just Begin to BE
Really of Service.

Really of Service.
To see the government economically
administered. &C where they mend mail.
bags. When a mailbag is worn out, it
is considered as Just fit for service. A
new mailbag is stiff, unyieldinS. When
it has knocked about the world, had the
starch taken Il of it and its weak
places discovered. it grows pliable. gives
when it can't force its way and is now
prepared TO do business successfully.
Like a human being, the mailbag has
had its experience. The most active
naiibags now in the service have scarce
" = hands breadth of theo riginal fabric.
The ordinary jute mailbag is mended
by ome This is one of the now few
branches of the public service outside of
the civil service rules. The women who
mend mailbags are appointed by con
gressmen or public officers in the old
way. A more democratic gathering can
not be found in Washington. 1t is dirty
if not difficult work. In the numbers Of
women clad in their worst clothes, their
heads hidden in paper fools caps with
long curtains. their hands guarded by
leather bands and at work on sewing so
rude that it seems like a trayesty on the
gentle art of the needle. it is difficult to
detect from one another the delicately
nurtured woman, the sturdy foreigner
and the negro. They are I'll there work
ing in perfect amlty.
Each woman sits on a .ow chair. She
has exchanged her street dress for her
working clothes in the ~commodious
dressing room. She receives every MORN
ing a mailbag holding 10 bags. Five
of these are comparatively good: five
are more or less bad. 1t is a mild sort
of lottery, which these women expert
ence twice or three times d day, and the
element of chance is not the less excit-
ing though it lie III the depths of a dirty
mailbag.
Bad or good tie women are paid ~
cents a bag. For the woman who an
not earn at least $40. u day there is nc
place in this room. They earn on an
average about $3.50 d day, and some
women exceed this mount. Each We
man works with a d~arning needle an@
irvine thread. Her first requirement i,
the sailors stitch. With this she eau
patch, darn or elnhroiaer. When she
has finished the bags. they are carried to
a central table. where on a bulletin
board her name is scheduled. There her
work is examined by one Of three inen
and checked off accordingly.
Not all sew. Some string the bags at
the neck and put on the tags and locks.
One of these is a blind negress. She mas
not seen since II child, but she works
rapidly and deity while she tells with
pride how she can embroider and sew
at home.
These women from such varied walks
in life work together III perfect accord.
When to tine foreman the dusty air ana
unsightly work seem to have depressed
the workers. he suggests to some Oh,
generally a colored woman. to start up
some music. The wave of sound gath
ers until the whole room has joined il,
1t is usually a hymn, for hymns coine
most easily to women's lips.
The government Is a kind taskmaster,
The room is finely lighted and yenti-
lated. The Mushrooms are abundantly
and finely equipped with marble mount
ed stationary stands. At noon a tea and
coffee bureau Is opened. and the workers
nave ali the tea and coffee they desire at
the expense of their country. Washing.
ton working hours are easy, Vacations
of d month are given, and certain sick
leaves are provided for. The sweat
shops Of the government, where the new
maiibags are made by contract. are il
this city.-New York sun.