The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-12-01
UNCLE SANS MAILBAGS.
When Worn Out. They just Begin to Be
Really of Service.

vWEu VUVe Auey Dust HekHu To AD3
Really Of Service.
To see the government economically
administered, go where they mend mail
bags. When a mailbag is worn out, il
is considered as just fit for service. 4
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 ant force its way and is nov
prepared TO do business successfully.
Like a human being, the mailbag has
had its experience. The most active
mailbags now in the service have scarce
ly a 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 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 Sc
rude that it seems like a travesty on the
gentle art of the needle. 1t is difficult t.
detect from one another the delicatel,
nurtured woman, the sturdy foreigner
and the negro. They al all there work.
ing in perfect amity.
Each woma sits on a low chair. She
has exchanged her street dress for her
working Clothes in the ~commodioua
dressing room. She receives every morn
ing a mailbag holding 10 bags. Five
of these are comparatively good; five
are more or less bad. II is a mild sori
of lottery. which these women expert
ence twice or three times a day, and the
element of chance is not the less excit-
ing though il lie in the depths of a dirt,
mailbag.
Bad or good the women are paid 8:
cents "a bag. For the woman who can
not earn at least Sl.o, ID day there is ne
place IN this room. They earn on an
average about $50 IA day. and some
women exceed this amount. Each wo-
man works with a darning needle ant
Irvine thread. Her first requirement i.
the sailors stitch. With this she ca,
patch, darn OF einbroider. When shc
has finished the bags. they are carried I.
a central table. Where On a bulletin
board her Maine Is scheduled. There her
work is examined by one Of three mel
and checked off accordingly.
Not all sew. Some string the bags AT
she neck and put on the tags and locks.
One of these Is IA blind negress. She has
not seen since a child. but she work.
rapidly and deity while she tells with
pride how she can elnhroider and sew
at home.
These women from such varied walks
in life work together in perfect accord.
When to the foreman the dusty air and
~unsightly work seem To have depressed
the workers. he suggests to some OH,
generally a colored woman, to start up
some music. Tie wave of sound gath
ers until the whole room has joined il.
1t is usually a hymn, for hymns come
most easily 10 women's lips.
The government Is a kind t~asknaster.
The room Is finely lighted and yenti-
lated. The washrooms are abundantly
and finely equipped with marble mount
ed stationary stands. At noon a tea and
coffee bureau Is opened. and the workers
nave all the tea and coffee they desire at
the expense of their country. Washing
ton working hours are easy. Vacations
of a month are given, and certain sick
leaves are provided for. The sweat
shops of the government, where the new
mailbags are made by contract, are in
this city.-New York Sun.