Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-06-19
RAGS AND RAG pickle
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 ga king made of rags-and
Lear says:
Plate sin with gold
And the strong lance Of justice hurtless
breaks;
| Clothe it III rags apigmy's straw doth pierce
it.
But rs 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, 900, 600.
They employ %, 900 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 200,000 tons of cot
ton and linen rags, Is, 900 tons of which
are imported, the remainder being
| gathered in this county. 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 or
| children who, with bag and basket,
f1Jll re-
for the flotsam 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 inform alton 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 mill
! ion dollars invested in the rag business
| in this city. There are seVenty-fve 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
90 from house to house for rags and
paper. We buy from them, paying
4 cent q pound for paper and from u
to p 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 linen
is the best quality. Then come every
kind of white cottons, then the cOlored.
Those that are mixed goods of wooden
and silk with cotton are separated. Silk
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 wooden
rags we sell to the WOODEN mills, where
tlSy 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
| D cent d pound, and they earn from
81 to 81 day. Ten dollars week is q
good average for them. The rag pick
ers and gatherers make about q dollar
a day, but III such timas rs these, when
! people are moving, y good deal more.
This is q harvest time for them, for
people throw away vast quantities of
| paper and old rags.
The rag pickers manage to save a
good deal of money. Many of them
bring in their collection every day,
| but draw no money until Saturday,
then, if their account don't amount to
$40, they viii bring money enough
with them and get US to pay them $40
bill, giving us the difference. They
like to get hold of a ten or twenty
dollar bill. They are very saving.
You will see, too, if you look at it
right, that they are very valuable
members Of the community. They
| produce wealth. Out of mere rubbish
and refuse on the streets they pick out
very nearly if not quite 81, 900 of value
every day. That no small matter. OF
course they pick up other things besides
rags. Many is the silver coin that they
find, and you may be sure that they
wouldn't pass q pocketbook by. But
they gather iron, copper, glass, bones,
old rubber shoes, and everything that
is not in state of positive decay, all of
which we buy of them except bones.
Those they sell to the fertilizing facto-
ries.
THE people engaged in this way are
mostly Poles, Bohemians, Italians, and
some Canadians. Altogether there are
at least 10000 people in Chicago de-
pendent directly or indirectly for liy-
ing on the rag business. That is to
say, that many people are supported,
and more than supported, by what
most people call rubbish, and which is
generally thrown away. 1t might be q
very good text for the preachers; it GER
tainIy is for the economist.
Then, too, you must remember that
this rag rubbish is transformed into
pure, white paper, and is made the
means of disseminating and preserving
the wisdom of man. | think there can
be no doubt, sir, that the rag picker is
4 valuable member of society. Good
day, sir Chicago Herald.