The sea coast echo., 1894-06-23
aAsa m OLD BOTTLES.
-. n Collections From the Family
FORUM Refuse Boxes.

q. roilections From the Family
fortune Refuse Boxes.
,,rbe story OF the secondhand bottle
,.rv Is interesting" said the POM
inua,~ ,sronrietor Of one OF these estab-
8 PPnts Poas .sThe fact is two Chicago
llsuI nave already made one hundred
~ sn,saud % dollars apiece in this bust
'nVa and there is man in New York
ne "a 10 have made half million.
feps p.;re 4 man making a fortune in
In's .sars out OF discarded old bottles,
~ this is fact.
IVES it is comparatively new busi-
Ten years ago 1t did not exist
ssa minor feature Of the junk
.;ness But some enterprising i'm
s~;dpal finally ventured to start an
u.laanendent secondhand bottle estab-
n"hment Fortune smiled on the VEN
- ,..o and the result is that such firms
s.rs sprung up like mushrooms all
.ssr tbe country. There are at least
twenty-five such es'a oiisii'i'enOs IN |hi-
csgo
"a the proprietor in answer to the
S,ss,ion as to how and where his stock
!, hottie valua bles was gathered.
SThese men visit the hotels, saloons,
r.staurants and private residents of
chicago. and collect into big wagons
bossles Of all kinds In this way from
,hree hundred. to five hundred dozen
ia bottles are collected daily. The
bottles are examined carefully, so that
none are bought that have been used
II hold poison, kerosene or any iniuri-
nus liquid But we buy old beer bot
,les whisky bottles, catsup bottles,
ammonia bottles, in fact, bottles OF al
most every description We pay from
one.haf to three cents apiece for them.
depending on the kind and size. In
turn these bottles are sold to brewers,
catsup men, druggists and other firms,
At price that makes us from twenty
Eve to forty per cent profit"
'What is done with the bottles af-
fer they are brought to headquarters"
"Follow me and I'll show you And
suiting the action to the word tiny
beprimmed lamp, with feeble flame,
was snatched up and the way was led
into the cellar.
"This, for instance" said he, fond
ling clear, shapely wine bottle, 'is
an imported bottle that brings us big
profit You see there is duty of sew
euty-Rye to eighty-five per cent on i'm.
ported bottles, and makers of fine
wines in this country are only too glad
to pay us a big price for them. 1t is
to get a seamless bottle of
this beautiful clear color made in this
So big firms buy these bot
ties, have new lables printed precisely
like the old ones, and fill the bottles
with inferior wine. OF course, they
nre sold at a high price and the people
imagine they are buying the real ar
ticle. But you must not say anything
about that-the wine merchants would
object il this secret were given away.
Sometimes in one wagon load of old
bottles there are sixty or seventy diff
ferent kinds of bottles" continued the
"These arc Immediately
classified and stored away either here
IN the cellar or on one of the floors
above. Then we are quite ready for
customers, as most of the firms buy the
bottles unwashed. However, If they
are ordered cleaned they are thorough
Iy washed in great vats, the corks and
labels are removed, and the rich man
nfacturer has placed at his disposal
these recent friends of the garbage
box
Then you have no idea how extern
siye our trade is. These old bottles
are shipped by the car load to Boston,
New York. San Francisco, to cities in
Canada, in fact, all over the country,
but mainly in the east Our goods are
sold regularly to prominent firms" -
Chicago Herald.