The Iola register., 1884-05-30
Rags and Rag.Pickers.

Rags and Rag.Pickers.
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 cast away.
Hamlet could think of no more con-
temptuous appellation for his uncle
than that of ''a king of shreds and
patches "a king made of rags-and
Lear says: %.
Rs.. .l,. Plate sin with gold
And the strong lance Of justice hurties,
Arm it in rags. pismy's straw. doth pierce
But as Lord Palmerston defined dirt "a
'.matter in the wrong place." so rags
are only rags while they are sea tered
about. Collected together, sorted out.
and baled, they become merchandise of
great and yearly increasing value. By
the census of 1850 there was in the
tnited States 692 paper mills with an
aggregate capital of nearly 500, ,0O0,OOO.
They employ $4,000 hands. third of
whom a g women, and pay in wages
the manufacture of the best qualities of
paper 2OO,OD0 tons of cotton and linen
rags, 5000 tons of which are imported,
the remainder being gathered in this
country. The value of these 200,000
tons OF rags is over twenty millions of
dollars. The beginnings of this vast
W, alth may be seen by those who '.brush
the dew off early morn" from Chicago
dewalks, in those prowling women
and children who. with tag and basket,
carefully search t e streets and cutters
TO the Hotsam and jetsam of the pre-
teding day. The next grade above
IT, ese are the itinerants in wagons, who
60 from house to house with the cry of
..ragS to buy ..... d
eek ng Information IL the interest
of the Hera d readers, 'he reporter
called on one of the most extensive
rag deal is in the city. ''Tbere isfnlly
a million dollars invested n the rag
business in this city. There are seventy
fl e or eighty places. large aad small,
where rags are bought, sorted nrt and
S Id TO the paper makers or wooden
m lis. There are at least ], on m n,
women and ch ldren wIo search the
streets or 60 from house to house Tor
rags and paper. We NY from them.
paying a cent pound for pa er snd
fro one aid one-half to two and one
ha cepts for lags. We send these
Tags to our sorting room, here We en-
ploy WON n to sort out he different
kinds a d q alitles.,, The linen is the
b It qua ity hen come every kind of
" hit lotions. t en- the colo ed. Tho. O.
that are m xed goods of WOODEN and
silk with cotton are separated. Silk ID
Df n use whatever One would SUD
ose that would be the most valuable,
but the reverse is the case. No means
ha, yot been discovered of working silk
W + for any purpose. The woolen ragI
e'seil to the wooden mills, where they
are ground up aud made into shoddy.
i he cotton and linen rags and the paper
We II t, the paper mills. We pay our !
" men for sorting two and one-hat
,ents apo nd, and they earn from 81
10 { aslay. Ten dollars a week is a
god average Tor them. 1 iherag pick rs
ind gatherers make alb 81 day,
put in 1t h times as these, when people
IRE moving, q good deal more. This is
. harvest time for them. for people
nrow away vast quantities of papers
md old rags.
, d" I he az pickers manage to save a
,ood deal money. Many of them
ring in their collect ons every day, but
Iraw no money til Saturday, then, if
heir account don't amount to $40, they
viii br ng mohey enough with them and
ret u, to pay them ten dollar III,
nv ng US the difference. They Ike to
,et h0id OF ten or a twenty dollar bill.
Ihese they never break except from the
Ii est necess ty. Then they 90 on till
hey get hundred do lar bill. They
re very saving. E
=. ou will see, too, if You look at il
light, that they are very valuable men,
ers Of the community. They produce
' alt Out of mere rubbish and re-
use on the streets they pix out very
lea ly j. not quite 500 of value
very day. That's no snail matter.
If course they p.ck up other things be-
ides rags. Many is the silver coin they
nd, and you NAV be quite sure they
7ouidn't pass q pocketbook by. but
hey gather iron, copper, glass, bones,
Id rubber shoe< anil in fact every
hing that is not in positive state Of "a
ecay, sill Of which we buy from them
K ept bones. These they sell to the
srt.liziRg factories. T - a.
"The people engaged in this way are
,ostly oles. Bohemlans, Italians, and
ON, anadians Altogether there
ne a. least i0.Do0 people in Chi,ago
ependent directly or indirectly for
wing upon tie ag business. That is
, say, that many people are supported,
nd m re than su ported, by what
,ost people consider rubbish and
-hich is generally thrown away. II
lignt be very good text for the
reachers; it certainly iseIor the econ r
IN ST. !.
hen, too, you must remember thai
lis rag rubbish is transformed into
ure white paper. and i. made tho
leans OF dissem mating and preserving
le wisdom OF man. think there car
3 no doubt, sir. that the ras- ieker is
val able member of society. Good,
by. sir "-Chieago Herald. '7''-
"A Spanish woman ''broke up" tho