The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-11-16
WOMAN STAMP EXPERT
WON ACCURACY RECORD
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYE HAND.
LED TWELVE BILLION WITH
OUT MAKING ERROR.
IS CONSIDERED PHENOMENAL
Miss Kerfoot Superintends Shipping
Of Twenty-Five Million Stamps a
Day to Sixty-Four Thousand Post
Offices in United States.

Of Twenty-Five Million Stamps a
Day to Sixty-Four thousand Post
Offices in United States.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-Twelve bill
lion stamps! That is the size OF last
years stamp business handled by the
bureau of engraving and printing. 1t
was the largest ever.
Yet perhaps still more amazing IS
this The entire work of drawing
the stamps, balancing the separate
orders and shipping them was carried
on under the supervision of Wo-
man, and, thanks to her efficiency,
without single discrepancy.
Miss Margaret Kerfoo, chief of the
division which fills and ships orders
to the $4,000 postoffices throughout
this country, has been working in the
bureau for thirty-two years, and her
record for lack of error is a matter
of pride not only to herself but also
to Director Ralph.
In large shipping room, full OF
workers and with warehouse at
mosphere, Miss KerfoOt told OF
great shipment of stamps, numbering
1O1,0OO,000, for San Francisco,
where the fair crowds are swelling
the mails with postcards and letters
to the folks at home.
Our latest order said Miss Ker-
foot, lis worth $1,S39,4O5 1t will
be distributed among $50 postottices,
Daily Average 25,OOO,OOO.
Orders come to us every day and
we pack a daily average of 20, OOO,-
900 stamps, though we have been
known to pack as many as 2O5, OOO,-
600 in a single day. These numbers
include coil stamps for the slot ma
chimes, books of stamps, as we'll as
the regular sheets of different denom-
nations.
eve attend simply to that end Of
the system which has charge OF tlll-
ing orders for postage stamps and
sending them to the pOstott1ce to be
delivered over the country
"The orders themselves come to
the office of the third assistant post
master general, where they are as
sembled and sent down to me. Then
| go over the entire order, subdivide
it into states and individual postot-
offices and draw from the deposit
vault the stamps required.
zone of my expert counters then
counts enough stamps from those
| have drawn to fill each separate or
der. An expert veriier Verifies the
count. In this way, after all of the
individual orders are filled, | have
one way of knowing that my accounts
are correct, for if the supply is accu-
rately drawn each order Will be ex-
actly filed and no extra stamps will
be left over.
I'm order to guard against theft
while the stamps are en- route TO tnell
| destinations we take precautions IN
packing them which make it impos-
sible to modest a single stamp with
out detection. We stitch the sheets
together and staple them on the edge
so that no sheet may be torn away
without leaving a perforated border
of damaging evidence Dehlnd IT, MS
is a safeguard for the bureau, be-
cause the evidence would show that
the theft had been made after the or
der left our department.
Shipping the Stamps.
These stitched sheets are bound
together and tied into packages,
which are wrapped and stamped on
the outside with the address they eve
being sent to- Packages vary in size.
The largest that may be sent sepa-
rately contains 100000 stamps. All
above this number in any individual
order are sent in additional pack
ages.
'Then the packages are put in
trucks and sent to the city postoffice,
where they are registered. All the
stamps are delivered as REGISTERED
mail, and pouched for shipment di-
rectly to the individual postmasters.
MY own responsibility, besides be-
ing chief of the department, with
twenty-five counters, verifiers and
packers under me, consists OF draw
ing the stamps from the vaults and
balancing the orders. | am also re-
sponsible for the accuracy OF every
order"
SINGING AT BELLFLOWER