The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-12-16
Uncle Sans Nailbags.
From the New York sun.

To see the government economically
administered, 90 where they mend mail
bags When mailbag is worn out, it
is considered as just fit for service. A
new mailbag is stiff, unyielding. When
it has Knocked about the world, had the
starch taken out 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 human
being, the mailbag has had its experience
The most active mailbags now in the SER
vice have scarcely hands breadth of the
original fabric.
The ordinary jute mailbag is mended
by women 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 congress
men or public officers in the old way. A
more democratic gathering cannot 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
travesty on the gentle art of the needle,
it is difficult to detect from one another the
delicately nmtured woman, the sturdy for
eigner and the negro They are all there
working in perfect amity,
Each woman sits on low chair. She
has exchanged her street dress for her
working clothes in the c0mmodious dress
ing room. She receives every morning 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 experience twice or
three times day, and the element of
chance is not the less exciting though it
lie in the depths of a dirty mailbag.
Bad or good the women are paid B!
cents bag. For the woman who cannot
earn at least s107 day there is no place
in this room. They earn on an average
about $3.50 day, and some women ex-
coed this amount. Each woman works
with darning needle and Irvine thread
Her first requirement is the sailors stitch
With this she can patch, darn or embroider
When she has finished the bags, they are
carried to a central table, where on bull
letiu board her name is scheduled There
her work is examined by one of three mer
and checked off accordingly.
Not all sew. Some string the bags al
the neck and put on the tags and locks
One of these is blind negress. She ha,
not seen since child, but she works rap
idly 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 in perfect accord
When to the foreman the dusty air ant
unsightly work seem to have depressed tho
workers, he suggests to some one, gener
ally colored woman, to start up som'
music. The wave of sound gathers unit
the whole room has joined in. 1t is us
ually hymn, for hymns come most easily
to womens lips.
The government is kind taskmaster
The room is finely lighted and ventilated
The washrooms are abundantly and finel,
equipped with marble mounted stationary
stands At noon a tea and coffee bureau il
opened, and the workers have all tea the anC
coffee they desire at the expense of thei
country. Washington working hours arr
easy. Vacations of month are given
and certain sick leaves are provided for
The sweat-shops of the government, wher'
the new mailbags are made by contract, ar
in this city.