Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-06-21

u"y' VII ShChoiio iNCL thCiC NiC siA
small camps (of which Dan Gillis has
the largest, with one engine and horse
team) with total output on the
river of 10000 feet per day.
The price Of fir. spruce and cedar is
$3.50; some small lots are sold for
$4.25, but are an inferior class of logs.
REPAIRING THE MAIL BAGS.
Great Industrial Establishment
mt the Nations Capital.
Every one knows that Uncle Sam
is engaged in various phases OF busi-
ness in order to carry out his main
purpose, which is the proper conduct
OF the government OF over sixty mil
lions of people. Perhaps the average
citizen does not realize. even those
who are more or less familiar with
Washington, that at the Nations
capital there is large establishment
controlled entirely by Uncle Sam,
which is devoted to purely industrial
purposes. 1t is the shop where the
mail bags used in the postal service
are repaired. Some idea of the mag
nitude of this business can be gathered
from the fact that the building occu-
pied for this purpose is large tive-
story structure where there are over
two hundred and thirty persons EN-.
ployed.
The annual expenditure is about
one hundred thousand dollars, and
while this may seem to be o large
amount to be used simply in the re-
pair of mail bags, yet it is said by the
postoffice department officials. that if
this shop was not in existence, that
the government would spend two
or three times as much as it does at
present in the purchase of mail bags.
AS every one knows, these bags are
made OF convas or jute, and are sub
jected to considerable hard usage.
Even an expert baggage smasher does
not handle the luggage OF the travel
ing public with more recklessness than
the mail bags are treated in their long
journeys.
Time is q prime requisite in the
dispatch of mails, and the bags are
loaded into wagons, and from thence
into cars, or the process is reversed,
and the main consideration is the saw
ing OF time. When the bags become
worn or torn or damaged in any way,
they are gathered together and for
warded to the great repair shop in
this city. There is small repair shop
in Chicago, where, however, only
minor injuries are made good. At the
shop in this city. some 100000 mail
bags are received. overhauled, and sent
to different parts of the country every
thirty days. Some ofthe mail pouches
are made of leather, and experts are
needed to make the necessary repairs.
There is in addition mail lock shop,
where fifteen skilled mechanics are
employed, and about thirty other men
and boys,
The pay of those who repair the
mail bags is not large, but the labor
is unskilled, as it consists mainly in
sewing and patching the canvass sacks.
1t is singular thing, but occasionally
mail matter is found in the sacks
which are sent to the repair shops.
This is mostly newspapers and circu-
lars, but once in while q letter is
found. For this reason the bags are
carefully inspected before they are
placed in the hands of the work peo.
pie.
Some time ago patent attorney in
this city forwarded book of patent
coupons to q client TO be used in se-
curing copies of patents. His client
received the letter, but it did not con-
tain the coupons. A long while after
wards Postoffice Inspector called on
the attorney and asked him if he had
not sent book of coupons through
the mails which had not reached their
destination. He said that he had,
and the Inspector produced the lost
coupons, which it seems had been
found in q mail sack, which had been
forwarded to the repair shop.
1t was evident that the letter had
been rified by some one who supposed
that the coupons had an available
money value. A list is kept of the
purchasers OF the coupons and in this
way the Postoffice Inspector was able
to trace the owner OF the lost book.
A year or 40 ago one OF the curious
features of the mail bag repair shop
was a woman employed as one of the
repairers who had been totally blind
for years. Her special duty was to
examine the msil bags which had de-
fective cords, and. either to repair
them or to supply new ones. She
did this work with wonderful quick.
ness, and was regarded as one OF the
most efficient workers in the shop.