The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-09-19
QUEER OFFICES IN
UNCLE SANS SERVICE
Huue Business Which He Con-
ducts Requires Employees With
Unusual Occupations.


rotary MacVeagh was going over the
payroll of the treasury department a
few days ago, says writer in local
paper. He was looking for places to
economic. His eye caught the names
of two women listed as "waste basket
examiners.
What S that?' demanded the sec
rotary,
| ..Thev are the women who inspect
/ the contents of the waste baskets, - was
the reply They are paid $3.50 year
| each. and as we received last year $1,000
, from the sales of the waste paper which
passed through their hands there would
| be no economy in dropping them
/ Secretary MacVeagh was interested.
| He learned that the two women occupy
! a room in the basement of the great
granite building and that they spend
the entire day pulling over the scraps
Of paper. red tape and other articles
that find their way into the depart
mental waste baskets. They are ex-
perts in this humble calling The paper
| is sorted according to its quality, and
all bits of Irvine and rubber bands are
| thrown to one side. 1t takes the two
women the greater part of the day to
| scrutinize the output of the baskets for
the day previous.
| The chief purpose of this examination
is to guard against the loss of money
| and valuable papers. 1t would be an
easy thing for a bundle of bank notes
! or treasury notes to slip into waste
| basket The women have caught more
/ than one valuable package of this kind.
also they have keen eye open for offl-
cial letters, reports and other documents
| which light have come to their baskets
| through the carelessness of clerks and
messengers.
On the top floor of the same building
is chemist who tolls all day long amid
samples of oleomargarine, near butter
| and fake WHISTLES. The samples are
sent to him by suspicious government
| agents, who think the butter manufac-
turers and distlllers are evading the
law against adulteration. In addition
to being high-class chemist, this man
| is an expert witness. His skill in both
lines recently won the governments
suit against certain packing company,
in which the latter was fined $4,000
| for selling oleomargarine colored to imi-
| tate butter.
Another man enjoys a sinecure in the
| bureau of engraving and printing. He
| is paid $1,000 year simply to watch
| over the plates and dies from which the
government paper money and bonds
Fare printed. The law makes the secre
| tary of the treasury personally reson-
81 hla For this ua1rah la Tho
| secretary in turn intrusts it to a man
in whom he has complete confidence and
who is responsible to the secretary and
to no one else. At the close of each
| day the man gathers up the dies and
plates, puts them in the safe, and the
| next morning hands them out again.
| John Kiley has a unique job in the
| treasury department. He writes his
signature from morning till night. Sec
| rotary MaeVeagh was appalled, by the
| mass of treasury warrants, vouchers
| and other routine papers which the law
required that he should sign. Other
| secretaries had been the slave of the
| same custom. Secretary Manning came
nearest to freeing hl1lsolf from the irk-
some requirement. His name, save for
| the final letter g, was written on all
routine documents by a clerk Mr. Man
| ming supplied the missing letter and
the controller said it was all right.
Secretary MacVeagh improved this
! scheme by inducing congress at the re-
| cent session to pass a law authorizing
clerk to do his signing. Now John
Kiley attends TO this job, affixing his
| name for Franklin MacVeagh.' Kiley
VIII sign from 500 to 1900 documents a
day. He has just finished six weeks
task of putting his signature on 10000
treasury warrants to members of the
! Cherokee Indian tribe, the money beng
| in payment for a sale of lands belong
ing to the Indians.
Down at the department of agricuI-
ture three scientists are engaged in the
| interesting occupation of examining the
| contents of the stomachs of birds. They
have done nothing else for the last two
years. They are trying to find out
whether certain birds are the friends
OF enemies of farmers. Special agents
| Ill the field slay the birds by the hun
dreds and ship their stomachs to Wash
| ington in alcohol. These are micro
scopically examined by three scientists
who tabulate everything they find.
The results have been surprising By
this method ii has been discovered that
hawks and owls are not the wicked
birds of prey the farmers thought them
10 be. In the old days the farmer took
| keen satisfaction in shooting these SUD
posed maraudsrs Now the intelligent
agriculturlst protects these birds. He
realizes that, although they may occa-
sionallv Kill a chicken, they perform
valuable services in hunting the vora-
cious rodents which destroy alike grain
products, young trees and eggs of birds.
Three women have recently come to
/ the front III the government service by
! reason of exceptional ability or the
performance of unusual duties. They
are Miss Anna H. Shortridge. of the
state departments; Miss Margaret Kel-
! ley, Of the treasury department. and
Mrs. Mabel z. Leroy, of the interior
department.
Miss Shortridge is said to be the
highest paid woman in the government
service, her salary being $4,000 a wear.
She is a lawyer and an authority on
International legal points. She was
formerly employed in the department
of justice, where her remarkable talents
attracted the personal attention of Mr.