Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-07-29
WASTE BASKET EXAMINERS.
Two Women In the Treasury Depart
mont Who Look For Stray Bonds.

nent Who Look For Stray Bonds.
"Official Examiner of the Waste Bas-
ket"-such is the title conferred on
two women at the treasury. Nor Is the
title a vain one. The women are class
ed as experts" and their duties are
reckoned important.
From 9 to 4 o'clock each day, except
Sunday, they may be found In the
basement Of the big and dirty gray
brown building wherein Uncle Sans
sinews of commerce and war, peace
and prosperity are kept. Hour by
hour they carefully go through the big
piles of waste paper dumped out for
their inspection from the capacious
maws Of the hundreds Of baskets,
which are supposed to catch the litter
Of officials and clerks from Secretary
Shaw down. 1t is the word "suppos-
ed" that gives these experts employ
ment Too often document or paper
Of value slips inadvertently into the
baskets, and were 1t not for the watch
full eyes Of these women would find Its
way into the fiery furnace OF destruc-
ton.
People who have been wont to joke
about the ridiculous titles that certain
government employees bear, and In
popular farce Of a few years ago there
was q character who styled himsel
the official cleaner Of government GUS
pidors." But there are, in fact, two
official examiners Of waste baskets IN
the treasury department.
The necessity of employees OF this
kind will be realized at once, when 1t IS
known that drafts, vouchers and bonds
worth anywhere from dollar up 10
$40, 900, and even more, are handed
about and sent from one room to an
other as though they were Of no more
value than so much cambria. Ere
quently the carelessness Of a messen-
ger permits one of these slips of paper,
representing many hundreds and even
thousands of dollars, to fall into a
waste basket. A sudden gust of wind
may carry bond from chiefs desk
and toss it into the same receptacle,
while a hurried official may tear In hai
a draft for large sum Of money and
throw the pieces into the basket. Un-
til the adoption Of the present system
of examining the contents OF these
baskets at the end Of each day all mis-
haps Of this sort were past immediate
correction. While they did not always
result in the actual loss Of the face
value of each paper, they invariably
caused a great deal Of trouble and an
yoyance. Banks that ordered ship
nlents Of notes failed to get their mon.
ey until weeks after the time 1t should
have been delivered. Then, again, the
disappearance Of an important draft or
voucher created more or less suspicion
as to the honesty Of employees and
kept the treasurer in constant hot wa
ter. Now most Of this trouble Is avoid
ed by the lynx-eyed examiners, who
examine every article that goes into
the baskets.
There Is a we'll regulated system for
handling this work. Every basket IN
the building is numbered, a tag telling
in what room and to what clerk 1t be-
longs. Each employee has two such
days. One set Is examined one day
and the other set is looked over the
following day. The baskets are
brought into the examiners room ex-
actly as they are left by the clerks.
The general orders throughout the
department are that no scrap Of paper
shall be thrown into a basket without
first being torn in halves. So the ex-
aminers are on the lookout for official
looking documents, and especially pa
pers that have not been torn. All pa
pers of this description are laid aside
after being labeled with the number of
the basket from which they were TAX
en-. 1t frequently happens that much
Of the stuff picked out in this way is
Of no value, but not long ago one Of the
women engaged on this work found
$4,000 United States bond.
1t is the duty Of the charwoman to
give a casual glance through waste
baskets before they are carried to the
room of the examiners. A few weeks
ago the chief clerk Of the department
threw into his basket a worthless cir
cular which was folded in the shape Of
All official document. He failed to dis
figure it, and the next morning he was
somewhat surprised to find the paper
on his desk again. He tossed it into
the basket second time, but the next
morning it was on his desk as usual.
A third time the process was repeated.
and the chief clerk finally learned that
the faithful charwoman was the person
who persistently rescued the document
that he was so anxious to get rid Of
Philadelphia Press.