The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-01-01

it can. be transmitted to its proper
destination. If all attempts to find the
correct address fail, then the foreign
matter is promptly returned to the
country Of origin at the expiration Of
a period not exceeding six months. A
record is kept Of the addresses of all
such articles and valuable parcels, ana
the number Of pieces so returned.
At the expiration of the period for
which undelivered matter is held, a
committee of two men and two women
begin to arrange the multitudious ar.
ray for disposal at public sale. Pro-
posals for selling the stock are sent
to various auctioneers, and, while the
lowest figure is always to be desired,
considerable attention, nevertheless, is
paid by the department to the facili-
ties offered by the bidders for accom-
modating the tremendous crowds which
regularly attend this annual event.
Sometimes it happens that the store
room Of the lowest bidder is too small;
again, he may be without means or
heating the room, and no~twithstand-
ing the fact that the excitement of the
bidders sometimes reaches consider
able warmth, external heat Is not To
be despised; and again the bidder sub
hitting the lowest figures may not be
able to light his repository at night.
Articles Sold are Various.
Some faint idea of the work Of this
committee of four may be gained from
the statement that the sale for the
past year consisted Of STA packages
OF miscellaneous articles, embracing
mems and women's wearing apparei
with handkerchiefs and neckties in tn.
lead; telescopes, hair switches. razors.
damaged bronze busts, cigars, fancy
work and embroidery, phonograph rec
oros, steam valves, hardware, cheap
watches, and manicure sets. The aver
age value Of each of these bundles was
IN the neighborhood of $3.50. The con-
tents of the bundles are certainly
heterogeneous. In one were found
seVenty-two sewing-machine needles.
three yards of damaged madras, six
women cheap collars, I'VE cheap la
oots' hve cheap hair combs, two Hnk
purses, w damask linen table nan
hlhs and remnants Of ribbons. The
OF another bundle was re-
Warded with a pair Of women's weak
ankle shoes, beaded moccasins. child,s
cheap mittens, hair ribbon. brass but
ton oox, four pairs cheap scissors. and
a pincushion. Another indiyidual YVES
happy by the acquisition Of four
pocketknives, penknife, jackknife. dam
aged razor, necktie, two furnished fool
nandies six plated teaspoons, infants
petIlcoat woman's wash belt. hand.
k~erchief, n a hair brush. And stip
another congratulated himself upon
securing an assortment consisting Of 4
crocheted silk necktie, two mems silk
handkerchiefs, memorandum book sr-
ger bit, fishing tackle, box pen points
TWO typewrtting ribbons, twelve safety
razor blades, and six hacksaw blades
Added to this collection of question
able value were 1892 packages 81 books
among them being found volumes n
Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French Ger.
man, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian. Ia.
panese, Latin, Norwegian, Polish. Por.
tuguese Russian, Spanish. Swedish
turkish, and a Book of Ssalms in Choc-
taw. The books in Hungarian and
Japanese We're principals upon devo-
tlonal subjects; in fact, a large part ~
the collections consisted of Bibles nd
DOCKS upon religious topics. But tha
nos important part of the work of the
committee that year was devote f.
the disposal Of 455 packages Of jewelrv
OF every description.