The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-06-19
RAGS AND RAG PICKERS.
How They Are Gathered, and by
Whom---Wages of Pickers
and SOnters.

-
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 hurtless
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, 900. 000
They employ 25. 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, 600 tons of cot
ton and linen rags. 1000 tons of which
are imported, the remainder being
gathered in this country. The value
OF these 200, 600 tons of rags is over
twenty millions of dollars. The begin
nings of this vast wealth may be seen
by those who '3brush the dew of the
early morn" from the sidewalks OF
Chicago, in those prowling women and
children who, with bag and basket,
carefully search the streets and cutters
for the tiotsam and jetsam of the pre-
ceding day. The next grade above
these are the itinerants in wagons, who
60 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 a mill
ion dollars invested in the rag business
in this city. There are seventy-five 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
go from house to house for rags and
paper. We buy from them, paying
cent pound for paper and from II
to Il 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 woOlen 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
q cent a pound, and they earn from
81 to 81 a day. Ten dollars week is a
good average for them. The rag pick
ers and gatherers make about a dollar
day, but in such timas as these, when
people are moving, q good deal more
This is harvest time for them, for
people throw away vast quantities of
paper and old rags.
'tThe 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 will bring money enough
with them and get us to pay them $40
bill, giving US the difference. They
like to get hold of ten or a 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 liv-
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
very good text for the preachers; it GER
tainly 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
valuable member of society. Good
day. sir. Chicago Herald.