The Opelousas courier., 1886-01-02
WASTE OF A GREAT CITY.
Spectators Who Use What
People Throw Away.
Facts and Figures About the Rag
Piokers Of NeT, York City.

! Persons who have been in the
streets at daybreak have noticed the
Italian ~ragpiekers making their.
rounds, with hook in hand and large
bags on their shoulders. They start
out between 8 and 4 o'clock in the
morning, and return about the same.
time in the afternoon. They pick up
the sweepings from stores and poke
up the contents ofbarreis. All rags,
paper, bones, and bottles go into the
capacious bags. When their days
work is over they take their findings
TO shops also kept by Italians. and
sell them for one centa pound.
An average days work nets about
Is cents, although many make much
less. Dealers in rags say that there
are about 300 ragpickers working in
this city. They live in colonies in
Mott, Baxter. and Mulberry streets,
and in Harlem. Estimating their av-
erage earnings at rs cents a day, this
would show a daily sum of 5000 col
lected in rags on the streets. Dealers
say that these street rags form fully
one.llalf of the rags gathered for paper
stock in this city. This would also
include the rags gathered at the
dumps of the Department of Street
Cleaning. It does not include house
rags which are bought by junkmen in
their travels through the streets or
the clippings from large factories
The Italian shop men shake out the
rags, sort them roughly, andbale them.
They sell them TO Wholesale dealers
like Alderman A. ]. McQuade of 535
East Thirteenth street. who resort
the bales and sell to paper manufac-
turers. The manufacturers clean the
rags by putting them through a buster
and by boiling them, and they are
then ready to be ground up into pulp.
Only rags Of vegetable fibre can be
used in this way. Wooden rags are
ground up into shoddy.
Rags gathered in the streets are apt
TO be exceedingly filthy. and for this
reason many dealers will not handle
them. The ragpickers often take
them home. and keep them in their
living rooms-thus running the risk
Of contracting any disease with which
the rags may be infected. A dealers
in rags said that some of IT'D hospitals
sold their old ~bandages, and he
thought this a very dangerous prac-
tice. Often the Italians will gather
great masses Of rags in their houses,
and sort them there. They sleep in
The filth, and while they do not seem,
TO contract any disease themselves
they are liable TO convey them to 9TH
ers. Thomas Roach pays the Street
Cleaning Department a considerable
sum weekly for the privilege of strini-
ming the scowss into which the loads
Of street refuse, gathered from the gut
ters and garbage barrels, are dumped.
He sublets this privilege to an Italian,
eicorelli. mora commonly known as
"Chicky,. who finds his profits in the
rags aud other valuable articles CON
tanned in the refuse.
There are thirteen dumps and
aChieky'ss searchars hunt the stuff
over and gather all that seems Of any
use. Great piles of rags and bottles
can be- seen at the dumps on any fair
day. BY an ordinance of the Board Of
Health CicoreII is compelled to wash
and bale these rags before removing
them. A rigid enforcement Of the
rag-picking ordinance would inure
greatly TO C~icorelli's profit, as 1t would
turn the daily $500 worth of rags col
lected by the rag-pickers into the
dumps. where they would come into
his hands.
AS 4 class the ragspickers are .
peaceable set. and confine all their
anarrels totheir own set. Unlike Ital.
ian organ grinders they have no regus
lar district to work in. but wander
wherever fancy takes them, or an ash
barrel offers prospect of profit. Many
an Italian has purchased his hand-or-
gan by money saved in rag-picking,
but as d rule the trade is followed only
by old and infirm men and by women.
The rags gathered By junknen and
rag-pickers are entirely inadequate q
supply the demand. and this necessi.
tates the Importation Of immense
quantities of rags from alIayer thu
world. During the year ending june
so, 1885, l34,59I.262 pounds. repre-
~seneing 4 value Of s3.098,6Ns wereim
ported. Crude rags pay no daty. Al
was1epaper overlooked by goats il
picked up by the rag-pickers, but the,
are paid very little for ". Dealers II
that class of stock GET their supplies
from newspaper Offices and the Offices
ofIarge companies Last week an AM