The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-01-04
War Department Annually Re-
quires More Than Five Thou
sand Quarts of Writing Fluid.
MILLIONS OF PINS PURCHASED.
Task of Supplying Uncle Sam With
Stationery Sundries Keeps
Thousands of Men Busy
All the Year Round.

Washington, Jan. 3.-"There must be a
great flowing river Of ink annually spilled
in w,sh,,s.op p, ,, r,.h;,a ,ba Cor
est of cadar AND m;nss - ,a,S and sr,nr-
ito ,saa IN nan,,Is .na ~onr ,a,s q,
p liz many ,'"S u
horses hooIs ana OF gum arabic IN the car
iheu form OF mucliage. remarked tnquir-
ingiy a gentleman to 4 friend in the United
States capital the other day.
The gentleman addressed who happened
N h. , oontr.o,or for c,,arnuan, .nn,,;o,
-. a.. - S"pp"''
IePheo: II Wouio be comparatively easy
10 answer your question as regards one or
two departments, but to furnish a grand
aggregate total would stump n statistician
or expert Mathematician in any one of tho
b,,rsaps
bureaus.
HIhe Information your question suggests
is of local and general interest. but the In
formation b,s r.rar h.ar oor,;,.a a.. ~.
=, ia "e'ei oee .onip'eu' as 'ho
job Is incommensurate with the results.
However, / happen to have made your
query the subject of recent Investigation
and 7 can Give Won an answer which viii
~ y ~ y. NJ va
We approximately correct. Inc amount OIL
stationery used by the different depart
ments is enormous. so much so that If 1
make mae sn Ii,,le sfS Sinsr 1ne o"e'ai hsufes VIII
I'm the War Department there are used
annually about $500 gross of pens, or s6l. 4OS
pens, &c. $50 pencils, l.997 quarts of mucjlage
and 1854 quarts or black ink and 2. 1877 hot
ties of red ink.
When these figures are digested. the pub
TIC can draw a conclusion as 10 what is
doing in Washington in only five lines of
supplies for the Government
..Tho ro,m. ~ 49, - ,.s
NJ, .ns.eaa. y. pape, any .ne tnousaI'us
VI envelopes consumed can best be mag
ined. and It runs into the hundreds of thou
sands In a year. If not into the millions.
RUBBER BANDS
great gross and 1900 gross of rubber bands.
The Post Office Department uses 50 many
rubber bands that 1t buys by the thousan ds
of pounds in a bunch. and it consumes
elastic strips in a year.
ties Of pf suplie m 1 Tncie Sam ui has to- b Sua1 for
his postal branch. 300. oo0. 600 printed facing
slips for general use in the department and
This denartment orders paner by the thou.
sands az reams in a single snecification- II
uses 4 20 dozen Of indelibie pencils and
ahout a0 90 Dozen or eaO GG0 nf the ordinary
hack ard colored nenciis. in addition. an
mali, y" ~" peAN' -"
~, n,,ys ov.r "a a., erase NJ mems or close
IN ; 0oO G1 mems In q Gear and about 400. 06
NJ snhy~oyIJ;sar. pe Us, IN a ca 90 .,h;ch ;s sta n,ned
fSnnoiue.s, EAU 1he Vi nan,rtInapt /:
~ tIUpeity oi % M :. . ~ hiacE inL an.
~ I1es ao9uf M M ~ auarrs Oh ~ Sia Snail In i,ta
tninc ~ n.u IN ~ lie ppo,nd halls 49,
" 49, 20 a III ~ s1.ai araoarS : annually hid
orer '.oV s'eeI slaseiS = nostaI svsten,
OseL e,.,o,"w u,ask d.oun prftaa
are yearly useo' mostly IN the money oroer
iIn .ho-t tho sun,,;os ordered from
wash,neton for use ~ tbs Post ONCE De
~ aana nv ~ nners.
tti,yes h,,Sy j., IN Mn &c. tuaSas ,u The vaor
rn,.nd III n,.ar tha