The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1908-07-22

| building and see
! big red flag with the usual white letter!
sewed on: Auction To-day" He
wonders II the government is resort
! Ing to desperate means OF raising the
| wind
But your Uncle Sam is not IN the
auction business from necessity. The
agriculture sales are explained in this
way. Whenever an invoice or any ar
ticle OF food arrives from abroad a
certain number OF packages are taken
by the government for examination to
see whether the article complies with
our food laws,
For instance olive oil. Maraschino
cherries, wine. sardiues. mushrooms,
French peas. preserves and jams in
fact all imported food articles-come
under this regulation But though
the government requires hiatt 4 dozen
packages to be turned over To 1t for in
spection-in order to avoid the chance
If single one being fixed up and
slipped of upon them-the analysis
rarely goes beyond The contents Of
JRe specimen out of six
So that Of each consignment Of six
ans of olive OIL sis bottles of cher
ries or OF champagne OF six cans Of
sardines five remain untouched II
graft We're really as prevalent as the
muck Fakers would have US believe
The entire six packages would prob
tbly be opened and a nip taken iron.
Zach one while all the rest of the con
tents would be appropriated as a lie
climate perquisite Of office (by the
heads OF the Department.
Inste ad of tha. five ont of six of the
articles received for analysis under
the law are sold at these auctions be
hind the department building The
receipts 80 into the exchequer Of the
bureau
Any one can attend these sales anC
buy. or at least bid on, the goods OF
fered But most OF the patrons are the
clerks and employees of the depart |
ment The auctions are held at noon |
so as to accommodate these people.
They take advantage OF their lunch |
hour to lay in some household sup |
plies. They admit that sometimes |
things bring the usual soaring auction (
prices.
Next to foodstuffs, Uncle Sans
auctions run chiefly to carpets. THAI |
is. they do in Washington OF course |
in New York the biggest auction sales /
OF the government are OF goods seized /
at the custom house These involve |
thousands of dollars worth OF goods
OF every conceivable class, and are too
well known to need description
1t is the regular second-h hand sales
which surprise the stranger in Wash.
ington. These do not occur very oft
en-, and yet every year there are sew
eral. They include carpets. curtains
utensils and fittings Of all
kinds
Every visitor to the White House
the cheerful red carpet
With which the long east corridor is
laid. A new carpet goes down every
other year, and the old one is cut into
lengths. which are rolled up and auc
TONED off, as the children say. sight
unseen"
This seems TO be a rather shrewd
on the part of Uncle
Sam. 1t is related by those who know
hat more than one woman has went
'opi0usly when she got her White
House carpet home and uluuIl-d IT,
The unceasing tramp Of a Two years
sTist Of tourists wears a carpet TIL 10
axes good guesser 10 decide What
rs color and pattern We're OF whether
t ever had any az all
The carpets of the senate aud the
house Of representatives are auctioned
Jf at the close OF each congress- and
ire said to bring all they are worth
md more too. Like the White House
carpets they are divided into quaint
les more adapted to private needs |
han the hundreds of yards required
or the two chambers at the capitol.
There is another annual sale con
iucted by the government. The &C
.umulated packages which find repose ,
It the dead letter office 20 under the ,
hammer once a year to clear the way
or the incoming tide of the next Il .
months. At these sales every thinz is
carefully catalogued and all broken J
'T defective articles are SO declared 7
even then purchaser is always forth
coming