The Holbrook news., 1910-12-16
SOME CURIOUS JOBS
Uncle Sam Employs People il
 Many Queer Occupations.
Among Them Are Wastebasket In- speetors, Man Who Destroys $1,- 5oo,ooo Day and One Who
 Plays With Toy Ships.

Plays With Toy Ships. - Washington.-In the various depart ments run in Uncle Sam's service r necessarily there are many odd jobs some of which, though obscure, are ' very important. There is the work , of inspecting the contents of the l waste baskets in the treasury depart ment. for instance. The two women who perform this service occupy a
 room in the basement of the great granite building and they spend the
 entire day mulling 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 quality, and all bits of twine and rubber band are thrown to one side.
 The chief purpose of this examina- tion is to guard against the loss of money and valuable papers. It would be an easy thing for a bundle of bank notes or treasury notes to slip into a waste basket. The women have caught more than one valuable pack age of this kind. Also, they have Q keen eye open for official letters. re- ports and other documents which have come to their baskets through care lessness. These women are paid $48O a year each. Last year $1,6OO was se- cured from the sales of waste paper sorted by them.
 On the top floor of the same build ing is chemist who tolls all day long amid samples of oleomargarine, near-butter and fake whiskies. The samples are sent to him by suspicious government agents who think the but ter manufacturers and distillers are evading the law against adulteration. In addition to being a high-class chemist this man is an expert wit ness.
 A Sinecure.
 The man who watches over the plates and dies from which the gov ernment paper money and bonds are printed receives $3.000 a year for his sinecure. The law makes the Secre- tary of the Treasury personally re- sponsible for this valuable property. uG OSCISld4J III LQlA lulIuSlS IL lO man in whom he has complete con fidence and who is responsible to the Secretary and to no one else. At the close of each day this man gathers up the dies and plates. puts them in the safe. and the next morning hands them out again.
 Then there is the man who does nothing but write his signature frem morning till night. When Secretary MacVeagh took up his duties at the Treasury Department he was appalled, by a 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 nIm- self from the irksome requirement.. His name. save for the final letter z, was written on all routine documents by clerk. Mir Manning supplied the missing letter and the comptroller said it was all right.
 Secretary MacVeagh improved this scheme by inducing Congress at the late session to pass law authoriz- AA6 O NiCA n lO QO AAo oA6nlu6. 4NOW John Riley attends to this job, affix- ing his name flor Franklin Mac veagh." Riley. can sign from 500 to l 1.5O0 documents day.
 At the Department of Agriculture for the past two years three scient- fists have been engaged in examining the contents of the stomachs of birds. l They are trying to find out whether certain birds are the friends or enc mics of farmers. Special agents in | the field slay the birds by the hun dred and ship their stomachs to Washington in alcohol Some of the | results have been surprising It has been discovered that hawks and owls | are not the wicked birds of prey the farmers thought them to be. and in- stead of shooting these supposed the intelligent agricultur- ist protects them. He realizes that nltFough they may occasionally kill a they perform valuable serv- ice in hunting the voracious rodents which destroy alike grain products. young trees and eggs of birds.
 Three women who have recently cOIDe lO luc lTOul III lu6 government l service by reason of exceptional abil- lty or the performance of unusual duties are Miss Anna H. Shortridge of the State Department, Miss Mar garet Kelley of the Treasury Depart rnent and Mrs. Mabel P. Leroy of the Interior Department Miss Shortridge Is the highest paid woman in the gov arnment service. her salary being s2. 300 year. She is a lawyer and m authority on international legal points She was formerly employed n the Department of Justice, where Ter remarkable talents attracted the attention of Mir Knox when ne was the Attorney General He 'recuently detailed her to prepare briefs in important cases. When Mir. Knox entered the State the first thing he did was Q ask for the transfer of Miss Short -idge from the Department of Justice.
 Takes Mans Place.
 Miss Margaret Kelley was recently appointed 'adjuster of accounts" for f