Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-06
RAG-PICKING.
How and By Whom This Indus
try is Carried On in Cities.

try is Carried On in Cities.
In no class or place of human ex-
iStencc does the maxim that necessity
is the mother of invention appear as
Il more striking truth than among the
poor of great cities. To them intel
1%cctual, OF social or political problems
are as nothing; there is an intcnser
problem always confronting them
How to get bread" Their problem
is Il much harder one, being practical,
and TO be worked over and over again,
and solved anew, every weary day OF
their lives. The motley professions of
the poor arc an interesting object of
study. and if the poor are not them
selves philosophers, they are excellent
subjects for phi losophicai dissection.
How characteristic OF each city, too.
are the little trades peculiar to each!
There are many trades common to all.
and many only to be found IN one. In
Paris. to supply the gourmands with
bread crumbs for their hams and cut
lets, the bread-pickers e i'll wait near
the schools, and whccdle the bread out
OF the boys Which they have brought
for their noon lunch. Carts go round
to the back doors every morning and
gather the debris of the Partisan feasts,
carry it home. separate the conglomcr-
ated mixtures, pick out the bread,
roast and grind it up and the diners
at the fashionable restaurants have it
nee and brown, upon the meats so
d~aintily set before them.
New YORK has its share of the desti-
hute and t~hcdesperate. Thcmctropolis
inhcrAs the scourge OF the older APP
itals: and though there are many
marked differences to be found be-
tween the lowest cases in the Ameri-
can and N the European cities. the
;san4e broad fact of extremes and too
otten criminal poverty displays itself in
both The most noticeable and in
%structvo difference between the New
York poor and the Partisan Door is the
pccul az v%ariegated torm OF it. Another
difference is that tie poor of New York
are not spread over so large a surface,
but are more concentrated i'll part cular
quarters. The dangerous classes do
not tend 10 become fixed as in many
European cites. The constant hustle
aud change of American lie. the met
amorphoses in individual as in the ag-
giegate If. the rap;dity and ease with
winch one passes from II phase to
aGoth / of existence. the coming on
top OF 700" people and The descending
netherward OF tile rich. have Il t n
deney TO disturb the status and to alter
the conditions OF ali classes continu-
ally: r2achi 9 down in Their elects to
the lowest. and not leaving the highest
exempt from the vicissitudes of which
ahis bubbltng and whirlpool are the
cause. The poor are ,hus not e~ternally
poor; one generation grovels in the
dust, TIE next mounts to fortune and
enlightenment; the father is sot, beg
gar, rag-H!cl1cr-maybe thief and burg
lar Tie son is booa-keeper, merchant,
lawyer, perhaps clergyman. The same
family DO not remain long in the
same houses or the same quar-
tiers. The husband leaves the
wife, the wife the husband; the children
abandon the disamreeablc home, or are
caught up and trained by the various
charitable and educational associat ons;
some member of the family is continue
ally rising to opHlencc and respectable
ity. The families of the paupers and
beggars and criminals are constantly
be NC broken up.
The rag-p ckcr requires little capital,
sc his name is legion. A basket and
stick With Il thin end are his nipple
mants, the whole vast CITY his field of
opcrat ons; liberty + o work his licenses:
the wastefuln"ss of humanity his op-
poGtun ty; the ingenuity of man (con-
vcGring almost all things seemingly
use ess and so rejected. into tair art
clcs of certain and valued use) his mar
ket: Tread and independence his re-
ward. Humble and grovcling as it is.
1t is by no means the worst of trades.
The rag-p3ckers are divislble, as is
the case With almost every trade, great
and small, into groups. Many contine
themselves to the mere gathering of
refuse, selling it to some one else in its
conglomerated state. Others prefer to
&c through the whole operat on. from
gathering the rubbish to selling ii in
separate parcels of each kind to the
manufacturers who need it in this par
sticular business. To the latter. the
mere collection and selling OF rags is
but a part of his %avocation. Rags, in
deed. are but incidental, but one of
many branches. Beside them the rag
picker keeps a sharp lookout for all
kinds and bits of bone, every piece OF
broken glass or old iron, every old boot
or shoe or strip of leather, and every
atom Of coal, coaldust. charcoal, or
wood which may serve to burn as
fuel. The rag-picker begins his
work in winter, as well as summer,
very early in the morning; some
=. even begin in the middle of the night.
The sooner the better, for the Door
are a multitude, and the rivalry for
dear life is bitter sharp, indeed. The
~tashionables going to the parties or
balls at ten o'clock may. if they will.
see the rag-pickers already at q work
VIII CHI is to last all night, and return
ing homeward at three or four in the
morning may, if the eyes be not too
heavy, observe new battalions of the