Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-10

IALAlh among your Intimate
HElfSNE ,Ea acquaintance and so
~ :. :; !: !:
VlMEIVfSA you know very little
IN IIN'fSf about them. 1t Is
IA - EaN.sN, more than likely, too,
that You don't know
where they are nor
even what they are
for.
The junk shop Is where the rag man
brings his wares and his collection of aged
and infirm articles of various sorts. not
Tor last resting place nor for a comfort
able abode In which to live out their years.
but to be sorted and sent away for another
use IL You imagine that your broken stove
Ids or your old rags which YOU swan to
the rag man for few stray coppers have
ended their work and will peacefully re-
solve themselves into ashes you are mis-
taken Not by a Icing ways. They have
only begun new life. commenced another
cycle in their revolution as II were and
although you may not know 1t, your old
ron may again return unto your fold after
month or SO or exciting experiences in
the Kettle which is boiling merrily on your
sove. and the dirty. torn and Uttered rag
may turn up once more in the clean, snowy
sheet OF note paper before you.
inside "a Junk shop.
JUNK shops are not on the most fash
ionable boulevards. and do not always pre-
sent very striking appearance from the
OUTSIDE The interior. however, is one of the
most picturesque places Imaginable. 1t con-
tains everything everywhere You see some
thing new at every glance and the longer
you look the more things you see. Piles,
heaps rows, bins. shelves and barrels OF
ancient articles are there. Pieces of de-
crepit stoves, bent and rusty horseshoes in
suHicient Quantities to bring good luck to
lne whole city. pieces of worn out ma
sill yrhi oN,
bade good bye to the household, old boil
ers. chains festooning the walls and CELL
lhgs Ike co5webs, scraps of tin, zinc, BRASS
copper, steel, lead and what not surround
you. Rags in front of you. old bones be-
hind You. beer bottles to the right of You,
WHISKY nasks to the left OF you, odors on
all sides of you are confusing. II you were
asked on first glance to describe a Junk
snop. you would say chaos. Things are
not as chaotic as You think, however, and
the junk man viii tell you smilingly that
all Is in good order. 1t reminds you, per-
haps. OF the order In which a housewife
hnds her kitchen after her husband has
been keeping house by himself for a week
or So but still the junk mans word ought
to go at par. for he has to keep track of
all this as 1t comes and goes and ought to
know whereof he speaks.
There is a good deal to learn about the
junk business. prosaic as it may seem to
you. and there Is a certain interest in roll
lowing the history of the old and cast
aside articles from the time they are gath
cred up around the back alleys by the rag
man. as they pass through the junk shop
from thence into the furnaces or the mills
until finally they come back into the stores
once more as something brand new.
The junk shop Is the gateway through
which everything which is gathered up
around the streets must pass and be in
speeted before II goes any farther on its
way, and the junk man casts aside all Use
less material just as the gate keeper turns
down those who haven't got pull enough to
get pass for the grand stand. 1t is
IN INT 49,
Of this well meaning but sadly slandered
Institution.
What They Buy.
All junk shops do not buy exactly the
same articles. some Of them being special
lists in their way. but generally speaking
the articles which they buy are iron and
all other kinds Of metals. cotton wooden
and linen rags. bottles, bones and paper.
Iron is divided up into three classes The
first and least valuable OF these is burnt
iron such as comes from old stoves This
together with scrap tin Is sold to the local
HON 1oundIieS and made up largely into
sash weights for windows. The next grade
Is made up OF iron pipes. iron hoops and
the like. which are converted at the pud-
ding furnaces into blooms for commercial
purposes From these iron steps for houses
and other buildings are made The last and
pest grade consists Of horseshoes from the
car stables. which are gathered up and ship
ped to the rolling mills further north, there
and afterward utilized for iron utensils and
machines of all kinds. Horseshoes are no
small item In the trade Of a Junk shop IL
oeing estimated that as many as fifty thou
sahd tons OF them are bought from the COM
panies or this city every year. The Junk
dealers pay nve cents a hundred for burnt
ana sheet iron, fifteen cents a hundred for
cast iron, and twenty-five cents a hundred
Tor wrought Iron.
What looks to be small thing yet is a
considerable items is the lead which comes
b.
CHINA and Japan This Is first-class lead
and though one would hardly believe IL. as
much as $1,000 pounds of this is taken in
year to Baltimore. New York. Philadelnhis
and other places of the east.
The Trade i'm Rags.
But. after all, the article in the trade
which plays the biggest part is rags. lust
common rags. For these junk dealers pay
from one-quarter of cent to two cents a
pound. according to the quality after sort
Eg- They are divided into several grades.
Al 'ne way from new shirt cuttings. clean
ana white. to dark and dirty calico rags
Inc hnest are the wooden rags in pure
white and red hannels, the next grade
consisting IN aI-wool cuttings from the
merchant tailors, both of which are made
up into paper in the northern cities Linen
snlrt cuttings and muslin make the very
best kind OF linen ledger paper. The ordi-
nary grade of wooden and cotton raes 10
largely used in the composition OF shoddv
materials for clothing. People common1y
think that they should receive a higher
price for their silk rags than for the Others
As matter Of fact, however silk rag
are worth very little. nor are dressmakers,
rags Of much value.
Old newspapers and the like are bought
up at the rate of IL cents a hundred and
shipped mostly to Philadelphia, from
whence, after passing through the mills
tney may again return TO you as the new
wall paper in your home. 1t does not look.
perhaps. as II this could pay. but you may
De sure that junk men are not in the pur
sui ior the pure unadulterated pleasure
there IS In IL. and are not losing money ON
anything they do. Bones are shipped prin
eipaliy TO Baltimore, where they are ground
w INTO bone meal or made in to some of the
more or less fragrant fertilizers which.
s1ahoinS In barrels. line the streets of the
lower portion of that city, imparting a pc
Suhar perfume. which has given Baltimore
AS great reputation as a health resort
AAe bottle trade is IN the way OF an ex-
Sanse- Old pop. whisky. beer and other
Sotues are bought up and sent back to the
.ecto1es' Where they are again used in
senuhs IoFtn soda water or liquids Of a
more merry disposition. The rag men will
pay you cents cir,