Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-12-05
NO. 27
Rags.

The range of modern economic
science cou pled with the spirit of keea
commercial enterprise characteristic of
our day has brought within the domain
OF pro table labor the conVers on OF
many things formerly esteemed as
worthless into articles of Use and value.
Even the d spised castaway vegetable
cans are now gathe ed up and meta
morphosad into articles that yield s
fair profit. here are mon who make a
bus hess of cole ting all the old boot
( TOPS, rubhers, and st-oI hats hev can
lind and working them over into mer-
chantat lie oCd,; others derive - profit
rom pick ng up bones AID horn
which are returned upon the n arket in
the shape of combs, KIN .fe hand es and
fertilizers, and nothing is more COM
mon in any CITY than the sight of men,
women ami children collecting bits of
paper and o her kinds os refuse ron
ash-boxes. for the purpose of ckeing
out living from their sale lom-
panies exist In several large cities
which make contracts for all the
sweepings. of the streets, which they
sift over with machinery, finding
enough that is valuable in them to aY
amply Tor their trouble. Even such
tn ngs rs iron-iilinrs, sawdu,t and
shattings, find apla e in the channels of
trade.
"-agS," word that is not unsre-
quently used as n synonym for utter
worthlessness, are really a factor of
considerable Importance in commerce,
domestic and foreign. This is evident
from the commotion taused by the or
der of the Secretary of the treasury,
prohibiting all importations of rags for
three months n ter the ii st of Septem-
Ter, on account of the danger of chol-
era infection. The importers of paper
stock protest against general inforce-
m MT OF this III e as seriously affecting
those who have carSces of rags afioat
from foreign ports. 1t is asserted that
there arc carSoes now bound for this
country worth over half million dol
lars, and to prohibit their landing
would be disastrous to the owners.
The total importation of rags last
year amounted to over 100, COO, 900
pounds. worth about 8. 100000. About
10000 ,0U0 pounds, or 35O, ,O1O tons of
rags are used in this country yearly.
! hey come principally from Egypt and
Ind and are used prncira ally in the
manufacture of paper, thosa of coarse
t bre being made into common wrap4
ping. the finer quality into white paper
of al erent sorts. Strange rs it NAV
seem, the best and cleanest rags come
from those paris of the earth where the
people are poorest and most degraded.
A rag importer says the Egyptian rags
are the cleanest of all those brought
over. They contain about ten or
Fl teen per cent d rt, while rags
from o her countries average twenty
or thirty per cent. and a great
many are al dirt and grease. The
Egyptian rags contain no grease. oniy
sand and dust, which are easily washed
out Tde reason of this is, the Igyp-
tians cat very little or no meat, conse.
Guentiy their clothes contain no greasy
impurities. he rags from Germany
and England are the most filthy, and
contain by far the greatest per cent. of
impurities. Besides, the Ara are
more cleanly in their habits than tney
are ep' esented TO be
One OF the most serious effects of the
embargo on rags will be rise in the
price of common paper. But this is far
preferable to the dread diseas, which
it is feared the foreign rags may INTRO
duce, and the action of the Secretary
under the circumstances may be a w.se
precautionary measure Y o.
&c Ter.