Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-14
THE RAG BUSINESS.
FIVE GLASSES OF PEOPLE IDENTIFIED
 WITH THE INDUSTRY.

Rag Pickers, Junk Dealers, Cleaners, Con- tractors and Importers-Scene in . Dealer . warehouse-young Girls Work ing in . stining Atmosphere. There are five groups of classifications of labor and handling in connection with rags and their utilization:
 1. The ragpickers, nearly all Italians who gather the refuse of the street and the shops. ?. The dealers in rags, papers and old junk. of whom there are about 500 in the city. These are in the main small dealers, and em- ploy individually but few hands. the major portion of whom are girls and boys. It is difficult to ascertain the entire force, but a fair estimate will not exceed 500.
 5. The rag cleaners form the next group They are also small dealers, as arule, who buy from the rag and junk shops the rudely assorted rags and go over them again, divid- ing them into woolen and cotton goods These dealers are self employers, have from two to four men in their employ and some younger hands. The entire force so used may be estimated at about 900.
 4. The wholesale or large buyers and con- tractors form this group. These houses em- ploy from 50 to 200 hands, of whom three fifths are girls, many being of tender years. There are some thirty large dealers in the city, about ten being handlers only of woolen rags, bought directly from tailors, clothiers, woolen and dry goods houses, etc. Probably there are 1, 900 hands employed.
 5 This group comprises the agents of the paper shoddy mills and the importers of rags, of which there are a considerable number in the city. The business to them is a profitable one.
 A SPELLING ATMOSPHERE.
 nY,P Pil-o ;la fare near the river and down town, which is probably not known to the great majority of New Workers, is a dealer in woolen rags almost entirely. He is a busy dealer, keep ing four large trucks constantly moving and having a working force of about 100, or whom forty-nine are girls. The age of at least one-haf of these may be questioned They do not look, as a rule, over 12 years old, though in reply to questions they de clared themselves to be Is or more.
 The premises are dirty in the extreme. How can they help being so in such busi- ness? The two houses are occupied from basement to garret. The floors are cold and cheerless; the ir is choking, full of dust and dirt of all kinds; it is thick enough to cut with a knife. Down there in the basement ten dirty, slippery steps lead to it-there are fourteen girls at work amid stifling atmos- phere. The floor is boarded, but the walls are damp. Under the sidewalk is a stove, and this is the source of all the heat in the shop. The upper floors are little better but the place is unwholesome and filthy beyond, 1t would seem, what is unavoidable in such a business. The wages paid are: For the women and girls from S2. 50 to s per week, the larger portion receiving from s to $350. The hours of work are ten; half hour is allowed for dinner, which the girls generally a< vicinity. The wages of the men average Sl -per day, the truckmen and a few others re- ceiving more.
 In this place, which is typical, the rags are received direct from workshops and stores of all kinds engaged in the manufacture Of clothing and handling of dress goods They come in bags packed closely and weighing from 300 to 500 pounds each. The Pike street mans dealings range from Brooklyn to Newark. The men handle and empty the bags on large tables with heavy frames and stout network of wire, having orifices of half an inch or so. Over this network the rags are moved by hand so that the dirt, etc, falls to the floor in great clouds which fill the eyes, ears, mouth and lungs.
 ON THE SORTING TABLES.
 The rags are sorted on these tables and divided into woolen, mixed and cotton goods,
 
 colors and quality are also noted in sorting and when again bagged are arranged there by. The cotton and silk goods are sold for paper stock and the woolen and mixed to the woolen mills, chiefly in New England, where they are manufactured into shoddy. Mixed woolen and cotton goods are not in demand, but when used the cotton is burned out by some process.
 It was not a pleasant place, this Pike street warehouse, with its squalor, dirt and dust. Even less inviting were the hands employed. The men naturally were rough, sturdy, ragged; the girls and women-the latter be- ing mostly elderly-are generally Irish Americans of the poorest type, with a few Jews among them. The Italians keep out Of the warehouses. They content themselves with the work of gathering and live while engaged in the open air. The dealers among them are controllers of labor-padrones in fact; or they have got into the city swim and contract to handle its refuse. But the little ones at the Pike street warehouse, be- grimed, ragged, rough, hollow eyed, pinched of feature, dirty of course, all coughing more or less from the constant irritation of the lungs.
 The cleansing shops are no more inviting to the eye or nostrils, but the dust is not as intolerable. The rags are bought from the junk and rag dealers, who buy direct from the Italians, or they are gathered direct from small shops and factories. The rags are placed in great pans and washed by stirring until the worst filth is removed, when they are sorted and divided roughly by material, colors and quality, and when dried are again disposed of to the wholesale dealers.-New York Graphic
 Tho Circus Riders Tune.
 'sWhy don't you change the tune in that organ ol., in a whilei I should think 'twould get frightfully monotonous.n Thus asked the casual visitor.