The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-11
LITTLE GOES TO WASTE.
Uncle Sam Sells all the Bits of Paper
he Doesn't Use.

OnCA6 sam Sells iii tho Bus OF Paper
he Doesn't Use.
From the Chicago Times.
Washington, May 20-There is a whole
library of romance in the waste paper of
the government At the treasury trusted
women are employed to do nothing else
but go over the contents of the depart
ment scrap baskets. This task they per-
form chiefly for the purpose of picking
out the money which now and then finds
its way into such receptacles Quite often
considerable sums have been discovered
in this manner. On one occasion pack
age of signed warrants from the office of
the first controller, representing many
thousands of dollars, was come across
among the refuse. Where such enormous
quantities of cash In different shapes are
handled daily it is not surprising that
some of it should be lost and should
eventually reach the place of deposit for
all waits and strays.
Money is most frequently found in ex-
press wrappers which have contained
sums in paper notes and certificates sent
in for redemption by banks. The remit
ter is obliged in every such case to pay
the charges both ways Very often at
the last moment he will slip into the
parcel the amount in change required for
the return transportation. AS likely as
not the coins drop between the folds of
the stiff brown-papcr envelope and con-
ceal themselves, They are not dscov-
cred until the wrappers are carefully torn
to pieces in the waste ROOM In some
cases they are only discovered by tearing
off the seals, beneath which they have
hidden themselves away. The sealing
wax is all removed from the scraps and
burned to get rid of it. Love letters writ
ten by treasury clerks of both sexes to
one another and carelessly thrown away
not seldom afford amusement to the
sOrters.
FATE OF OFPICB-sEEKERs' LETTERS.
Large gum titles of what will eventu-
ally become waste paper are contributed
Just now by office-seekers From 200 to
1900 letters day are received by Presi-
dent Cleveland, and Private Secretary
Thurber gets about 300 per diem in adj
dition Col Crook, who has been attached
to the white house staff ever since Lin
coins time, says that the mail delivered
at the executive mansion has never be-
fore averaged one-half of its present vol
ume. kilograms come in at the rate of
300 every twenty-four hours, and Of these
three-f0urths are recommendations of
candidates for government places. All
of the letters are opened by Executive
Clerk O'Brien except those known to be
private, which are sent to Mr. Thur
ber's desk. The missives marked ''pri-
vate' and PERSONAL are nearly always
from total strangers who want some
thing, Such communications in the
ordinary run, are not referred to Mr..
Thurber, but are sent direct to the de-
partments.
Only the selected letters go to Private
Secretary Thurber He sorts them over,
picking out those which require Mr.
Cleveland's personal attention. These are
put in a special basket by themselves and
are called the presidents budget At
night, after all other work is finished
the budget is gone through by Mr. Cleve-
land and Mr.. Thurber together. Often it
is O'Clock a. m. before it is done with.
All of the communications received by
mail atthe white house are packed after
awhile in wooden boxes, and eventually
they are torn into pieces and burned.
This rule does not apply to missives which
are really important. They are kept on
file permanently. There is at the ex-
file,n on which all letters from palpable
cranks are put. Most of these contain
threats and warnings. This file has been
kept ever since the episode of Guiteau
who wrote many such notes before he shot
President Garfield An entirely sane
office-hUnter the other day sent lock of
his own fiery red hair with his applica-
tion for the place, saying that he under
stood that character could be OWNED by
a PERSONS capillary traits.
The department of state always has a
good many secrets to keep. To sell its
torn-up and waste bits of paper to the
junk dealer without discrimination would
not do at all. Scraps might be put to-
gether so as to reveal most esoteric points
in the policy of the administration Ac-
cordingly all writings of a private nature
that are to be destroyed are burned i'm tho
open fireplace in Secretary Gresham's
superintends the operation. The
material thus disposed of is
mostly notes and official memo
randa representing important diplomatic
and other documents in the pre-
liminary stages of their composition. All
other refuse scraps are put in the furnace
in the basement, because nobody has been
found to buy the stuff. The navy depart
ment has trouble to sell it's waste paper
at 37JI cents per 800 pounds The war de-
partment gets 63 cents per 100 pounds,
because much of its refuse paper is in the
shape of trimmings from the Office of
records. The cards" of heavy paper
used for inscTibing the records of soldiers
are of the finest linen substance The
sheets from which they are cut come
half an inch bigger each way than is
wanted, so that they may be trimmed
perfectly square for convenience in filing.
STATESMEN WASTE MUCH PAPER.
The two branches of the national leg
islature throw away an immense quantity
of paper. During a short session the
doorkeoper Of the House sells 5000 worth
of it, and the amount is doubled in the
long session. From this end of the
capitol LOG, 900 pounds of refuse bills and
laws are carted away to the Junk shops
during each congress. They fetch from
81 % to 81 40 per 100 pounds. All such
documents are kept for one year in the
document room, and are then disposed of
The Senate wastes about one-quarter as
many bills and laws, which are sold in
the same way by the sergeant-at-arms.
Until very recently the marketmen
in Washington used to utilize congress
ional bills exclusively for the purpose of
wrapping butter. They cost almost
nothing, the paper was smooth and good
and there was less objection to it than to
any other printed paper, the printing was
only on one side, and the lines were far
apart Besides, people were interested in
reading on their pats of butter at break
fast sometimes fragments of speeches
which had been made by able statesmen