New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-11
STREETS PAVED WITH GOLD
SOME PEOPLE SEE IT AND SOME DON'T.
NEGLECTED BoSASZAs THAT ITALIAN NM
GRANTS HAVE FOUND IL NETWORK

GRANTS HAVE FOUND IL NETWORK.
This is the season of the year 10 which men WI.
pay the city thousands OF dollars moLth for the p1v
lcge Of trimming look to get their money bach
scow. trimming IL the cuphemlsm for very din,
Job at of akIng and picking over the garbage Of ts
city as IT is dumped by the load upon the scor,
that bear II ont 10 sea- The rubbish has TO be shovos
about Of course, in order 10 load the scow evenly ard
thoroughly and the who first undertook 10 per.
form this work for the privilege Of keeping anything
valuable they found I'm the garbage got good deal q
sympathy from the public for being forced by went
work at 80 disgusting Job for such poor pay. Thee
men we're Italians, who did the work with their own
hands.
By degrees the profitable nature Of the undertaking
dawned npon the city politician and he bid for he
contract himself and. needless TO say. secured IT, sub
letting the job to the Italians. who still did the actual
work Tear by year tho price has risen, I'll at prs
cnt the one contractor who has secured these PRIV
Ieces at all the garbage dumps In the city pays about
"a 900 a month into the public treasury. When It's
considered that he employs about 300 Italian laboer
AZ daily wages averaging 81 EACH his annual cat
put must exceed q quarter o. million dollars. This
and much more he gets back from the rubbish
As one thinks of the big sum- he naturally wondcn
how New Workers can be 50 careless es TO lose %
many coins, bits Of jewelry and valuable articles
generally as all this amounts TO, and he imagne The
the fousmelnng garbage ever and anon pounding With
eager claw upon some Offering watch, golden orns
ment shining pin or missing coin, and adding II 10
the pile which goes 20 enrich the contractor. BE not
deceived: these windfalls are few and far between.
II You were to look at the piles OF things the trim
mersD save from the scow, you would probably
wonder why they did not let them go with the oth1
dirt.
Bottles make one pile These are sold TO the botti
xrbn daal I'm DING
old shoes form another II there is any wear at al
left in them they are sold 10 cobbers on the East
Side, who patch them up and sell them cheap a.
second hand II they past cobbhng. the leather
itself can be maceraed and worked up into leather
etten or leather paper used for decorative purposes
aud also for purposes OF deception upon those who
cannot tell 1t from real leather Rags, no matte'hv
dirty compose another pile. These are taken 10 ceas
in the italian quarter and there carefully picked over
by women and children, who sort them according
the material Of which they are made. These are sod
to papermakers. Scraps OF paper go to the same
place and are made into pulp, and again presented
the public In the clean, white sheets.
Another particularly foulsmelling heap Is composd
Of bones Think OF all the bones that are thrown daily
into the ash-barrels of such city as New-fork
uhere meat is cheap, wages high and the people a.
customed TO good living Not one OF them Is wasted
They are burned and pulverized, and are used f0
refining sugar or enrching the soil OF market gardens
and so come back to NEWCOMERS In the shape
early cucumbers or crisp celery.
At this season Of the year, when New-forker aTe
returning in shoals from the country, great deal
housecleaning goes on, and the quantity OF material
which the householder regards as no good and so throw"
away increases largely, to the great delight OF me
"scow-trimmers." Spring time is even more pr0htao'e
and the dullest season OF course is midsummer The
itneIant rag pickers, who wander about the streets
raking the ashbarrels on their own account, aO
deplete the contractors profits, but take 1t all The
year through and the ashbarrels OF TINS Dig CITY arc
steadily paying gold mine.
This is not the only bonanza that has been dis
covered going to waste and unworked right under
the eyes Of the slIrewd Yankee by the simple Italian
immigrant. Look at the bootblaekng and frult-stand
business OF this city. Not many years ago most OF
the oot-ponshing done in the streets fell TO- the
hands of little boys who, with little boxes on their
shoulders invited the to stand uncomforaby
on one leg in the crowded streets while they did this
work. Then the Italians took hold Of It, Comfortable
arm chairs under shady awnings or big umbrellas IN
vted the customer 10 sit at and read his paper
while a muscular man put a dazzling polish on his
shoes In half the time that the small boy requlieu ieD
the Italian who first saved enough money TO buy Two
chairs hired another TO do the polishing at one OF
them, until In many instances one man owned lew
the city, and possibly the man who sits you with
gterng diamonds and stylish clothes at some Uptown
restaurant and orders ampssne we you nave bS
profession, though he looks as II he never polished
shoe in his life, not his own.
No doubt you have often listened with more or ess
patience to the band that played white Wings VI
Comrades Ever on the boat you went down 10
Coney Island, ROckaway. Long Branch, sandy HOOK,
Glen Islend, South Beach or other popular summer
resorts, and when the hat passed around you felt
compelled TO give something 10 the poor fellows WHO
had such precarious Income as this TO support life
on. If you knew how many hundreds Of dollars are
paid to the steamboat companies for the exclusive
right TO put musicians on these boats, who play for
fixed salary and turn In their collections 10 the con-
tractor, who probably is spending his summer At
Newport, you would not contribute unless You really
liked the music and willing, you should be, 10
pay for your entertainment.