The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-05-22
WASTE At THE POSIOFFICB
Old Paper, WORKOUT Bags, and
Other Odds and Ends Sold.

| Thousands of Dollars n Year Turned
! Into the National Treasury by the
Department From This Source.
/ The work of the Contractor
! There is never any waste paper IN the
/ Postofffce Department. No paper goes to
waste there For all of it eventually a
use is found. and there is return to the
. United States Treasury for every en-
/ veIope that is thrown away. The return
/ IS small but when all the items are
counted the amount becomes a large one
Probably no department has 50 much old
paper to throw away as the PostoffiCe
/ Department, and. therefore. the saving
/ principle is more prominent than in any
other department Yet the principle is
/ applied in all branches Of the Government,
which has, in the aggregate, several thou
sands of dollars returned to it annually
from the saving OF what is called waste
Everything thrown away as useless. in
the Postoffice Department is sold. A con
tract is made. and for a stated price per
pound the refuse is taken by the con-
tractor from the doors of the Postoffice
! building. Every Wednesday. on the east
sidewalk by the building. can be seen a
pile of gunny sacks. fat and round, with
all sorts of queer things sticking out of
the holes in their sides. There are boxes,
! Of wood and Of cardboard, of the sizes
/ that usually so through the mails, there
are pamphlets and books. there aEe rags
and umbrella handles, bits Of old iron,
/ and, most prominent of all, crumpled bits
/ of manila wrapping paper The pile Of
! bags with all the coIOTed papers showing
! through their sides and protruding from
/ the holes, makes 4 strange spectacle It
usually contains about hundred gunny
/ sacks and is ten or twelve feet high This
/ is the result of a weeks cleaning of waste
baskets in tha Postof7ce. and it is waiting
! tor the contractor TO come with his wagon
to take it away
! The collection Of waste is made under
/ the direction Of the superintendent OF the
/ building, and is carried out BY the cap
tain of the watch. The work is done ac-
/ cording to system, in so large q build
! ing where such important business Is be
ing transacted, and such important doCu-
/ ments are being daily received, the pos
sibility of articles falling into the waste
basket and being lost Is great The waste
| baskets are emptied every morning by the
/ ChaTwomen, who go about the building
| and sweep or wash the floors. Each wo-
man turns out the baskets in her room
I into gunny sacks and puts them outside
/ the door IN the morning when the JAM
/ tors assistants begin work, they take the
| bags downstairs Before being removed
! from its place, however. each bag Is tick
eted with the time OF its removal, the
place from which il was removed. and the
name Of the man who removed it. When
it has been so labeled it is placed in the
basement.
This method Of ticketing makes it pos
sible to recover any important letter OF
any valuable thing that may have been
lost If anything has been put into the
wastebasket by mistake. and It Is wanted
the bag into which il was put can easily
be found 1t is not at all uncommon that
articles uuintentionaHy thrown away are
recovered IN that way Diamond rings
and jewels, supposed to have been lost,
have been delivered to their owners after a
search Of the waste bags from the room
IN which they were lost, and many a clerk
has reason to thank the system Of tag
sing, because it has assisted him in get
ting back an important letter which he
should not have thrown away The bags
/ do sometimes contain valuabies, and there
Is at least one case on record where a
poor clerk has had her Pocketbook and
her savings returned 10 her from the con
tractor who caTted away the bags
/ The waste paper IS used TO make paper
again Most of II comes from the Money
Order Department, where there are 50
many clerks employed, and there the big
! money order envelopes are thrown away.
Ten baskets Of waste are taken from that
part Of the building alone
/ The Dead Letter Office, also. has q large
amount of refuse and the remainder of
the waste Is gathered pretty equally
/ around Ihe building The largest part of
the stun collected is envelopes. uewspa-
I peTs and vast typewriter paper Letters
are rarely put into the baskets. as the law
! requires that everything in any way Off
cal snail be preserved and be put on file
( The figures Of the collection for Nav
;. representing the waste thrown away
Tor one week, are 11J bags gathered in
/ two lots, one ending Sunday including
g bags and one ending Wednesday in
( Guiding s. bags The total weight was
8-4l pounds The contract IS now in the
hands OF j. I. LeuhaTU. of PhMaadcIUhia
lie pays by the month, and during the
month of March received 6-g3I pounds of
/ waste for which he gave SIg3. In April
ne received 55-Z5J pounds, paying therefor
There is other refuse from the Postoffce
/ Department, which is sold. IL comes
from rom. the mail bag repair shop, and com
pIlSeS the material cut out when bags
are repaired and the odds and ends Of
/ metal from the locks. The old Iute from
[ the shop in April weighed 1855 pounds
ana the contractor paid SII-3S for IL The
clean canvas weighed I6 zS5 pounds and
brought IN S5S3-2I- Old string to the
amount rf 2s270 pounds was sold for 81 So
The old bags which have gotten beyond
{ patching are a good source Of revenue
They are sold, piecemeaI, the jute heads
with rings. the canvas and all other
parts separately The bOTiHgs and filings
( from the Iock-making shop are pToduc-
tive Of several dollars a week
Not a cent Of this money can be touch
I ed by the POstOfice Department. It has
/ to be turned into the United States
/ Treasury and is there AIDED to the general
postal revenue. So the local department
gets but little return from this elaborate
system Of selling waste.
Sometimes the department raises a few
dollars by selling old furniture Any sale
Of that kind, however, has to be approved
I first by Congress. and consequently is not
I Of frequent occurrence The City Post
/ Office sells its own waste. and the funds
! are kept separate from those Of the Post
! Office Department
Mr.. BUCK SAILS FOR JAPAN.