The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-12-30

l
by the Wells Fargo Express company
is on duty during office hours whose
entire time is consumed in receiving
these important letters from the vari-
Gus departments of the building, max
ing the necessary way bill for its ship
ment and delivering it to the delivery
| wagon which makes regular calls ano
which delivers it at the station at the
| depot that it might be properly for
warded, put on the trains and taken
/ to the destination intended Incoming
/ express is not received at this office
but the express received from stations
along the line is received from the
trains and delivered to the various Off
GERS to whom it is intended by the
| drivers of the wagon
These two departments are con-
Quoted in the same manner as Offices
of the same character which are To-
Gated in other places.
The collection of mail and letters
containing correspondence which are
intended to be shipped to its destina-
ton by express are collected from a
large box on this floor. A mail chute,
attached outside the elevator shaft,
extends from the top to this floor The
mailing clerks of the various depart
ments drop the mail in the chute and
it descends to the box where it is
collected and conveyed to the Office to
be sent out.
Nothing but railroad correspondence
is handled through this office. The
mail which is received and sent out.
which must pass through the govern
ment postoffice department, is taken
to the pOStoffice to be sent out and
that which is received is delivered by
one of the regular carriers in the en-
ploy of the government
Waste Paper.
One can hardly conceive the amount
of waste paper that is collected in an
establishment of this character or
even the value of such. The janitors
of the building, who are under the
direction of J. NJ. Hayes, the custo-
dian, collect the waste paper from
the desk of every person employed in
the general offices and take it to the
used and the paper, which to the
casual observer. has served its pur-
pose, is pressed into a compact bale
as hay or straw is seen on the mar
ket and shipped to the various paper
mills of the country where it is mixed
with pulp, reconverted and made into
new paper of the various qualities and
again thrown out to the world to be
total of $4,000 pounds of waste paper
is collected at this building each
month.
Filing Records.
Records of all kind and of the va
rious departments are stored away for
a number of years before being de-
stroyed. 1t is necessary that they be
stored in a place where they can be
referred to readily and without long |
search by those who wish to use them. |
After these records are kept in this |
place for a time they eventually pass
out of use and are moved to a more |
secluded place for a longer period of |
storage but it is often found necessary |
to refer back through some of them |
for several years and it is necessary |
that they be retained for this use.
One not familiar with work of this
II
value of keeping these records on file |
or imagine the number of times it is |
necessary to refer to them.
On account of this, the uppermost |
floor of the new building and the base |
ment is being retained as a record or |
file room. These two places will be di- |
vided in divisions for restoring records |
IF the respective departments until |
they have passed out of use when |
they will be removed to a more remote |
location.
In addition to these two places that
will be maintained, the basement of
the old building is being used for the
same purpose. Other rooms in the old |
building are also being used and one |
Fan hardly venture in the rooms of the |
giant office combination but that they I
will be confronted by vaults or large |
rooms which contained numerous re-
cords of every conceivable character
which pertains to the business of the
greatest railroad system in the west If
not in the entire country.
A part Of the local freight station,
located on Fourth and Adams streets
also is used for storing these records
and practically all of the freight sta
ion, which was the first general Office
building of the system and which is
low located in the company's lumber
ard between Fourth and Sixth streets
and extending east from the tracks to
Branner street, is used for this pur-
pose. A large number of these records
ire destroyed every year but those
which are destroyed are of work of
ong ago for which no further use can
De found.
These records are not dumped out
n the street or in a furnace and
burned but are shipped to one of the
numerous paper mills of the country
where it is shredded, mixed with wood
,ulp and reconverted into commercial
PAPER and again put on the market.
The company finds a ready sale for
his waste paper because of the short
.ge of wood pulp and usually receives
handsome price for the waste mate
ial from the paper factories who de- .
ire it to mix with the pulp and turn
ack on the consumers for additional
se.
Pneumatic Tubes.
Pneumatic tubes extend from every
apartment to the telegraph Office.
1essages for transmission or those
Which have been received to be de-
vered to the various departments, are
laced in leather tubes which are put
I the pneumatic tube and conveyed to
s proper destination. A pump pro-
elled by a motor is maintained in the
asement of the old building which
auses a vacuum in the pneumatic
Ibe- After placing the message in the
sather tube the latter is placed in the
acuum tube and delivered almost in
unanimously to its destination. This
maintained tor conveying MESA ges
ON the telegraph Office to the various (