The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-10-24
Rags.

The range of modern economlc
science coupled with the spirit OF keen
commercial enterprise characteristic Of
our day has brought within the domain
of pro table labor the conversion of
many things formerly esteemed as
worthless into articles of use and alue.
Even the despised castaway vegetable
cans are now gathered up and .peta-
morphosed into articles that Yield a
fair profit. There are men who make q
bus ness of collecting all the old boot
tops, rubbers and cast-olf hats thay can
find and working them over into mer-
charitable GODS, others derive profit
from picking up bones and horns,
which are returned upon the market il
the shape of combs, knfe-hand es anc
fertilizers, and nothing is more conn
mon in any CITY than the sight of Elen,
women and children collecting bis oil
paper and CHER kinds of refuse from
ash-boxes. for the purpose Of ekuing
out living from their sale. Com
panies exist in several large cites
which make contracts for all tho
sweepings of the streets, which they
sift over with machinery, finding
enough that is valuable in them to LAY
amply for their trouble. Even s.lch
things as iron-filings, sawdust snd
shavings, find a place in the channels Of
trade.
"hags," word that is not unfre.
quently used as synonym for ute,
worthlessness, are really factor oil
considerable importance in commerce,
domestic and foreign. This is evident
from the commotiOn caused by the or.
der of the Secretary of the treasury,
prohibiting all importations of rags for
three months a ter the ii st of Septem-
Der, on account of the danger of chol
era infection. The importers of paper
stock protest against a general infOroe
ment of this rule as seriously affecting
those who have cargoes of rags atloai
from foreign ports. 1t is asserted thai
there are cargoes now bound for this
country worth over half q 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,UO0,6O0
pounds, worth about Sj,000,000 About
10000 go pounds, or $4,000 tons. OF
rags are used in this country yearly.
They come principally from Egypt and
India and are used principally in tie
manufacture of paper, those of coarse
tbre being made into common wrap.
ping. the finer quality into white paper
of di erent sorts. Strange as it may
seem. the best and cleanest rags come
from those parts 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 u
fl teen per cent. Dirt. while rags
from other countries average twenty
or thirty per cent. and q great
many are al dirt and grease. The
Egyptian rags contain no grease, only
sand and dust, which are easily washed
out The reason of this is, the fgyi'-
tians eat very little or no meat, conse.
quentIy their clothes contain no greasy
impurities. The rags from Germany
and England are the most filthy, and
contain by far the greatest per cent. Of
impurities. Besides, the Arabs art
more clearly in their habits than they
are represented 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 disease which
it is feared the foreign rags may intro.
duce. and the action of the Secretary
under the circumstances may be wise
measure-M T. N-
Serccr.