New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-27
The Rag Business.

1t is very curious to observe how, by the aid OF
commerce and for the purposes of manufacture,
Insignificant articles assume an importance which
does not belong to them. Old rags have always
been a synonym for that which is worthless and
vile, and yet they have become in modern times
one of the most important in their relation to
manufactures. The New York Journal of Com
meTce says:
The drGest of linen or cotton rags, if cleansed
or bleached, come out of the process of manutaC-
ture the purest of white writing paper. We are
this moment perhaps, writing on what was once
the covering OF some Wretched laZZaronl OF
Naples, for Italy furnishes large portion Of the
rags which enter into the paper stock of this and
other countries. Few persons are aware of the
quantity of rags which such country supplies.
One would suppose they must be entirely used up,
SO tenaeousy do their owners hold on to them;
but even after they have been finally cast Off they
are gathered together, and form no Insignificant
item in the commerce of that sunny laud.
During the ten years commencing with lS46 and
ending with 1856, the amount of rags imported
into the United States was EOS, us pounds, or
an annual average Of 20, 9sS 81 pounds, of which
about three quarters or an annual average of a.,
$50, O45 pounds, were from Italy. Other countries
on the Mediterranean furnish a large supply. The
expectation of rags has been prohibited in some
European countries, as in France and Belgium, on
account of the scarcity of material for making
paper. Nothing has yet been discovered which
will fully answer as a substitute for rags-espe-
cialy for linen, from which the finer and frmer
| qualities of paper are manufactured. The inge-
nnity ofman has been severely taxed, audit is yet
at work, to find some other material that will take
its place, but rags still occupy the throne, and the
discovery OF perfect substitute seems as far oil
| as ever.
| Wooden rags are becoming a more important
| article than formerly. Once they were chiefly
used for manure, for which purpose they are
| very valuable, a large demand existing for them
| among the, agriculturists of England but, since
wooden fabrics have advanced so much in price
they have been extensively worked over, and
during the war have given rise to term that will
not soon pass out of memory with the American
| people Shoddy.
| PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF MAxMILIAN.-A
| correspondent, writing from the City of Mexico,
says: .5aar#s
| The emperor, a man thirty-seyen years DID, is
one of the largest men in the city; TALL straight
and well proportional; an expert in all manly ex
4 ercises, especially as horseman and sWOrdsman,
| and possessed of immense physical strength which
| when he chooses to exercise it, has excited the
admiration of his staff and the French Zouaye
officers nearly all of whom have been raised from
| the ranks for signal acts of daring, in which
| bravery and personal endurance were required.
| His face is broad, refined in its expression, and
| beaming with good humor and, above ALL there
/ is look of genuine benevolence and kindness
which seldom fails to win those with whom he
| comes in contact The large blue eyes are full of
| intelligence while the high, expansive forehead
| indicates great brain and correct Judgment. He
is seldom mistaken in his estimates of men, whose
character lhe generally penetrates at the first
| interview. While governor of L0mbardy, several
years ago, much as the Italians detest the Aus
trian rule, their public disturbances could always
be quelled by the presence of Maximilan who
was looked upon as an exception to the House of
| Hapsburg.
MARRIAGE IN PRUssIA,-The winter evenings
find all servants together in the dining room the
| girls do sewing, knitting, ETC., of their own, in
| view OF q future household and the men smoke
! and carry on iirtations with the girls Many en-
| gagements are here formed, resulting after many
TO buy furniture, in marriage, when the landlord
let's them a cottage to live in, and enrolls them
| among his labOrers. They never crowd into their
parents dwellings. If there be no room in the
village they will go to neighboring one; young
/ famlhes belng generally welcome to landlords
Early marriages are not in favor and twenty-five
| years must be considered as an early average on
male and female side.
| Many young men after reaching twenty years
have to serve as soldiers for three years This
may be considered of doubtful benefit, but the
4 men certainly bring some improved manners and
/ spirit of order and cleanliness, which remain
with them and give good example to Others
The other young people engage as servants to the
1 parsons, schOOlmasters, to such tradesmen as
4 there are, to the neghbOring peasants, or go as
domestic servants into the towns; some Of the
| boys learn trade. Amongst all these you will
see the superior intelligence come into play; and
/ as education has put these laboring people gu q
par with the peasant and landowning cOttagerand
country pradesmen, some marry into these classes
( whilst, on the other hand, peasants and trades
peoples children, when poor come to be laborers.
fS0metmes, when they have some money, this step
Is only taken till they find an opportunity to bRy
small property or emierate to some new distrie5
Il9 be Broken pp, where land is cheap,