The Globe-republican., 1894-03-23
BASEMENT SECRETS
Strange Things to Be- Seen in the
United States Treasury.
It Contains Many Novel Features, Such ~
Carpenters', jewellers and Plumbers
Shops-Where the Rats Hold
High Carnival.
Especial washington Letter |

Especial washington Letter
How the rats penetrate a stone wall
two feet thick no man l1noweth. They
do not burrow under the foundation
stones. for that would require digging
qualifications superior even to those
possessed by the Minnesota gophers.
But. somehow, the rodents have solved
the problem. have entered the treasury
department building, and are obeylng
the law of nature. to increase and null
tiply. by this time. they are like unto
those possessors of Scriptural mad
man. for their name is legion. l went
down in the basement the other day
with one of the guides. and saw things
wonderful even to an old timer. Every
evening after the clerks have left the
building, the charwomen take posses
sion and clean the rooms. About one
thousand of the clerks bring lunches
with them every day, and throw the
remnants in their baskets with waste
paper and other refuse of the office.
The charwomen carry all of the con-
tents of those baskets down to the
basement and the aggregate from the
waste baskets fills an immense bin.
There, all night, the rats hold high
carnival, for the bin is their banquet
ing hall. Inasmuch as the leavings in
the papers do not satisfy their thou
sands of little and big hungers, they
assail the woodwork in the files, clos
cts, chairs, desks and other furniture.
They cat valuable papers sometimes, or
used to. Lately all of the files for
storing valuable papers have been
made of iron, and thereby the little
rapacious fellows are barred.
The hundreds OF pounds of waste
paper ought not to be called absolute
" wasted; for every day there are deft
hands at work separating the finer. pa
Der from the coarser and pressing the
whole into bags for shipment to the
factories where new and clean paper
is made and again sold to the govern
ment There is a paper maker who
has a contract with the secretary OF
the treasury, and he pays for the
waste paper so that the government
does not lose it entirely. All of the
thick. heavy brown paper and paste
board which comes wrapped around
express packages from all parts of the
country is separated from the finer
qualities, and they say that this ma
terial makes the finest kind of paste
board for boxes. The women who
handle this waste paper are experts
and can tell at glance or a touch the
quality of the paper and what to dc
with each little piece.
In the southwest corner of the base
ment is cabinet shop which is valu
able to the government. They do moi
make presidential cabinets down here
under the ground and away from the
noise and hustle of Pennsylvania ave
nue., but they make all sorts of furni
.ture. This cabinet shop is probably
the best equipped one in Washington
and probably less than hundred PEG
pie in this city know of its existence
Hero are all of the choicest and lates
bits of machinery for woodwork, ant
there are lathes, betting. mortices, il
fact all that first-class workman
could desire or expect to have in
well ordered shop. The varnisher wa
at work on a very handsome desk il
the vanishing room which adjoins tn
cabinet shop.
He said: .'See that little round plu.
near the corner of the desk. That wa
made by a rat when Daniel Mannin.
was secretary. This was the secre
tary's desk, and he occasionally lef
pieces of lunch in that drawer. A
night the old rat discovered the lac