Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-06-20
THE RAG BUSINESS.
Five Glasses OF People Identified with
the Industry.

Five Glasses OF People Identified with
the Industry.
tions OF labor and handling in connec-
ton with rags and their utilization:
1. The ragpickers, nearly all
Italians, who gather the refuse of the
street and the shops.
z. The dealers in rags, papers and
old Junk. of whom there about 500 in
New YORK City. These are in the
main small dealers, and employ indI-
vidually but a few hands, the major
portion OF whom are girls and boys. 1t
Is difficult to ascertain the entire force,
but fair estimate will not exceed
$500.
3. The rag cleaners form the next
group. They are also small dealers, as
rule, who buy from the rag and junk
shops the rudely assorted rags and go
over them again, dividing 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
1000.
4. The wholesale or large buyers
and contractors form this group. These
houses employ from 80 to 200 hands, of
whom three-fifths are girls, many be-
ing of tender years. There are some
thirty large dealers in the city, about
ten being handlers only of wooden rags,
bought directly from tailors, clothiers,
wooden and dry goods houses, etc.
Probably there are 4 600 hands en-
ployed.
.. This group comprises the agents
of the paper shoddy mills and the I'M
porters of rags, OF which there are a
considerable number in the city The
business to them is a profitable one.
A sTIFLING ATMOSPHERIC.
On Pike street, little east side
thoroughfare near the river and down
town, which is probably not known to
the great majority of New Workers, is
dealer in wooden rags almost entirely.
He is busy dealer, keeping four large
trucks constantly moving and having a
working force of about 100, OF whom
forty-nIne are girls. The age of at
least one-half of these may be ques-
toned. They do not look, as a rule,
over II years old, though III reply to
questions they declared themselves to
be Is or more.
The premises are dirty in the eX-
treme. How can they help being so in
such business? The two houses are
occupied from basement to garret. The
floors are cold and cheerless; the air is
choking, full of dust and dirt or all
kinds; it is thick enough to cut with a
knife. Down there in the basement
ten dirty, slippery steps to it-there are
fourteen girls at work amid stiding
atmosphere. The floor is boarded, but
the walls are damp. Under the side,
walk 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, il
would seem, what is unavoidable IN
such a business. The wages paid are
For the women and girls 81. 80 to 50 UJ
per week. the larger portion receiving
from s. to $3.50. The hours of work
are ten a half hour is allowed for din
ner, which the girls generally get at
home, as they mostly live III the vicIn-
ity. The wages of the men average
81 per day, the tTuckmen and a few
others receiving 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 80
to 500 pounds each. The Pike street
mans dealings range from Brooklyn to
Newark. The men handle and empt V
the bags on large tables with heavy
frames and stout network of wire, hav-
ing oriGces of half an inch or so. Over
this network the rags are moved by
hand so that dirt, etc, falls to the floor
IN great clouds which Ill the eyes, ears,
mouth and lungs.
ON THE SORTING TABLES.
The rags are sorted on these tables
and divided into wooden, mixed and
cotton goods, each being placed in sep
arate barrels. The colOrs and quality
are also noted in sorting, and when
again bagged are arranged thereby.
The cotton and silk goods are sold for
paper stock and the wooden and mixed
to the wooden mills, chiefly IN New
England, where they are manufactured
into shoddy. Mixed wooden and cot
ton goods are not in demand, but when
used the cotton II burned out by some
process.
1t was not 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 being mostly
elderly-are generally Irish-A mericans
of the poorest type, with 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 control
lers of labOr-padrones In fact; or they
have got into the city swim and CON
tract to handle its refuse. But the
little ones at the Pike street warehouse,
begrimed, ragged, rough, hOllow-eyed,
pinched of feature, dirty of course, all
coughing more or less from the con-
stant irritation of lungs.
The cleansing shops are no more In
wiling 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
paced in great pans and washed by
stirring until the worst filth is re-
moved, when they are sorted and
divided roughly by material, colors
and quality, and when dried are again
disposed of to the wholesale dealers.
An Odd Bird.