The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-06-04
RAGS AND RAG PICKERS.
How They Are Gathered, and by
Whom---Wages OF Pickers
and Sorters.

Ordinarily when we think of rags we
think of something that is utterly
worthless and contemplate, of some
thing that beggars are clothed in, or
perhaps that beggars have thrown
away. Hamlet could think of no more
contemptuous appellation of his uncle
than that of "a king of shreds and
patches"--a king made of rags-and
Lear says;
Plate sin with gold
And the strong lance of justice hurtles5
breaks;
Clothe it in rags, apigmy's straw doth pierce
But as Lord Palmerston defined dirt as
matter in the wrong place. so rags
are only rags when they are scattered
about Collected together, sorted out,
and baled, they become merchandise of
great and yearly increasing value. BY
the census of 1880 there were in the
United States 692 paper mills with an
aggregate capital of nearly $50, 600, 600.
They employ $4,000 hands, third of
whom are women, and pay in wages
nearly nine millions of dollars. They
use In the manufacture of the best
qualities of paper 100000 tons of cot
ton and linen rags, $4,000 tons of which
are imported, the remainder being
gathered in this country. The value
of these 100000 tons OF rags is over
twenty millions of dollars. The begin
nings of this vast wealth may be seen
by those who "brush the dew of the
early morn from the sidewalks OF
Chicago, in those proving women and
children who, with BAG and basket,
carefully search the streets and cutters
for the tlotsam and jetSam Of the pre-
ceding day. The next grade above
these are the itinerants in wagons, who
90 from house to house with the cry
rags to buy
Seeking information in the interest of
the Herald readers the reporter called
on one of the most extensive rag deal
ers in the city. There is fully a mill
ion dollars invested in the rae business
in this city There are seyenty-tive or
eighty places, large and small, where
rags are bought, sorted out and sold to
the paper makers or the wooden mills.
There are at least 1900 men, women
and children who search the streets or
20 from house to house for rags and
paper. We buy from them. paying
a cent a pound for paper and from II
to q cents pound for rags, We send
these rags to our sorting room, where
we employ women to sort out the diff.
ferent kinds and qualities. The liner
is the best quality, Then come every
kind Of white cottons, then the colored
Those that are mixed goods Of wooler
and silk with cotton are separated. Sill
is Of no use whatever One would sup
pose that would be the most valuable
but the reverse is the case. No means
has yet been discovered of working
silk over to any purpose. The wooleI
rags we sell to the wooden mills, where
they are ground up and made into
shoddy. The cotton and linen RAGS
and the paper we sell to the paper
mills. We pay our women for sorting
2! cent apound, and they earn from
81 to s. day. Ten dollars a week is 8
good average for them. The RAG pick,
ers and gathcrers make about dollar
day, but in such timas as these, wher
people are moving, a good deal more
This is harvest time Tor them, TO
people throw away vast quantities 0
paper and old rags.
THE rag pickers manage to save
good deal of money. Many of ther
bring in their collection every day
but draw no money until Saturday
then, If their account don't amount I
$40, they will bring money enoug
with them and get US to pay them S.
bill, giving US the difference. The
like to get hold of a ten or TWEEN.
dollar bill. They are very saving.
You will see, too, if you look at
right, that they are very valuab
members Of the community. The
produce wealth. Out Of mere rubbis
and refuse on the streets they pick o
very nearly if not quite $1,000 Of val
every day. That no small matter.
course they pick up other things besid
rags. Many is the silver coin that tn
find, and you may be sure that tn,
wouldn't pass pocketbook by, b
they gather iron, copper, glass, bone
old rubber shoes, and everything tn
is not in state of positive decay, all
which we buy of them except bon,
Those they sell to the fertilizing fac
ries.
THE people engaged in this way
mostly Poles, Bohemians, Italians, q
some Canadians, Altogether there
at least 10000 people in Chicago
pendent directly or indirectly for o
ing on the rag business. That is
say, that many people are support
and more than supported, by W
most people call rubbish, and which
generally thrown away. 1t might b
very good text for the preachers; it {
tainly is for the economist.
Then, too, you must remember t
this rag rubbish is transformed i
pure, white paper, and is made
means of disseminating and preserv
the wisdom Of man. think there
be no doubt, sir, that the rag pickle
valuable member of society. G,
day, sir.-Chicago Herald.