The southern sentinel., 1903-09-18
EXAMINE WASTE BASKETS.
Two Women Experts I'm the
Department Who Look ior
Stray Bonds.

"OAiciai examiner of the vase bas-
ket"-such is the title conferred On two
women at the treasury. Nor is tue Title
a vain one. The women are claEsed as
"experts" and their duties are reckoneo
important, says Washington rel ort.
From nine to four o'clock each day.
except Sunday, they may be found IN
the basement of the big and dirty gray
brown building wherein Uncle sam
sinews of commerce and war, peace anu
prosperity are kept Hour by hour tney
carefully go through the big piles OF
waste paper dumped out for their cril-
ical inspection from the capacious ma"s
of the hundreds Of baskets, wnlcn are
supposed 10 catch the litter OF orhclais
and clerks, from Secretary Shaw Gown.
1t is the word supposed that gives
these experts employment. Too oIten
a document or paper OF value slips mad
vertently into the baskets, and were It
not for the watchful eyes OF these wom-
en- would find its way into the fiery fur''
mace of destruction.
People have been wont to joke about
the ridiculous titles that certain gov
ernment employees bear. and in popu-
lar farce of 2 few years ago there was
character who styled himself the Official
cleaner Of government cuspidors- But
there are, in fact, two official examiners
of waste baskets in the treasury depart
ment
The necessity of employees of this kind
will be realized at once, when 1t IS
known that drafts, vouchers and bonds
worth anywhere from 81 up to $1O,OOO.
and even more, are handed about and
sent from one room to another as
though they were of no more value than
SO much cambria. Frequently the care
lessness of a messenger permits one OF
these slips of paper. representing many
hundreds, and even thousands, OF dol
lars, to fall into waste basket. A sud-
den gust of wind may carry bond from
a chiefs desk and toss it into the same
receptacle, while hurried official may
tear in half draft for a large sum OF
money and throw the pieces into the
basket. Until the adoption of the pres
ent system of examining the contents OF
these baskets at the end of each day all
mishaps of this sort were past immedi-
ate correction. While they did not al
ways result in the actual loss of the
face value of each paper. they invariably
caused great deal OF trouble and an
noyance Banks that ordered ship
ments of notes failed to get the money
until weeks after the time it 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 water.
Now most Of the trouble is avoided
through the skill Of the lynx-eyed ex-
aminers. who examine every article
that goes into the baskets.
There is well regulated system of
handling this work. Every basket in
the building is numbered, tag telling
In what room and to what clerk it be-
longs. Each employe has two such bas-
kets, which are used on alternate 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 exactly as they are
left by the clerks.
The general orders throughout the
department are that no scrap of paper
shall be thrown into basket without
being first torn in halves. So the ex-
aminers are on the lookout for official
looking documents. and especially for
papers that have not been torn. All
papers Of this description are laid aside
after being labeled with the number Of
the basket from which they were taken.
1t frequently happens that much of the
stuff picked out in this way is of NO
value, but not long ago one of the wom-
en- engaged on this work found $10,-
0O0 United States bond.
It Is the duty Of the charwomen to
give casual glance through waste
baskets before they are carried to the
rooms 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
an official document. He failed to dis
figure 1t. and the next morning he was
somewhat mystified to fird the pa-
per on his desk again. He tossed it
into the basket a 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 res
cued the document that he was anxious
to get rid Of
Queens and Fashion,.