Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-04-23
The Prize Seed Packages Dis.
tributed to You By Your
Congressman.

nimbly hold open while the funnel,
rapidly descending, fills each in
turn.
These fingers hand each package
over to continuance which daubs
each flap with 4 drops of glue, kept
hot by a small Bunsen burner.
Then they are passed to a roller,
which seals the flaps snugly and
spreads the glue. The little scoops
which measure out the seed for each
envelope vary in size, holding from
a fraction of grain of pansy seed
to quarter of pound of beans.
A government inspector goes
about, from one machine to another,
draws out an envelope now and
then, and weighs it. If it be too
light, a regulator on each little
scoop is turned until it is enlarged
to give the required weight. An aut-
omatic counter upon each machine
is always ready to state the num-
Der of envelopes filed. In less than
a second each envelope is grasped
by the mechanical fingers, filled by
the descending funnel, 8 gummed,
sealed, pressed and shot down a
trough which conducts it to bin on
the floor below. All the machines
working together can fill Is bags
per second.
TASK OF THF CONGRESSMEN.
On the floor below are long rows
of bullying bins, filled with these
little envelopes. Each bin contains
one and only one variety of seed.
But instead of issuing these little
packages singly Uncle Sam places
of as many different varieties in
one large envelope, which contains
in the lower corner a list of the
flowers or vegetables which can be
grown from the seed inside. The
big envelopes go through the mails
directly.
Each bears the address of the
citizen who will receive it at his
home postofice. Every congress
men supplies his quota Of franks
little white slips of paper bearing a
fac smile of his signature in the
corner. These franks when attached
to mail matter enable it to go free,
and there is room on each for the
address of the honored constituent.
Senators and representatives. furnish
their franks addressed by their
clerks. If they desire they may
address al of their packages to one
constituent, instead of dividing
them among the 10, 500 provided
for.
Some even have their quotas sent,
wholly or in part, to themselves,
and state that they prefer to per-
sonally attend to the distribution
through the mails. Some have
been known to sell their seeds. In
fact, Mr.. Morton, secretary of agri-
culture under Mr.. Cleveland, dis
covered that several members of
Congress were selfshly making
money out of their quotas,
At big table girls receive
bundles of the addressed franks
selected for forthcoming orders and
paste them upon large yellow en-
velopes, which are to carry the
smaller ores through the mail.
Ten other girls at an adjacent table
look over the newly franked en-
velopes, separate them, if stuck to-
gether, and place them in drying
racks. A large stock of envelopes
to contain the same combination of
seeds is placed in basket for fill
ing.
Beneath the rows of bulg1ng bins,
constantly filled by the machines ON
the floor above, endless belts of
broad strapping continually move
over the bottoms of long troughs.
When a new series of large outer
envelopes is to be filled the varie-
ties of inside envelopes printed upon
the corner are noted and large red
cards are hung upon the 5 bins con-
tanning these varieties. Under each