Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-03-04
HOW THE POOR GREENS
Seavengers of San Francisco Who Feed
Families For Nothing.

Seavengers of San Francisco Who Feed
Families For Nothing.
How many poor people manage to
exist in a great city like San Fran.
cisco is a puzzling query which re-
mains unanswered for many people,
but how a great many OF them do
manage to subsist is very easily as
certained if a person chooses to
spend a little time upon the water
front and along the streets where
the numerous commission houses
handle the country products. In
this locality there is to be found an
actual demonstration of the way
some hundreds of families live with.
out the expenditure of a single cel.l
for their food. Most of the produc-
ton of the market gardens, vine.
yards and orchards destined for this
market is brought by the low draft,
stern wheeled steamers that ply the
bayous and upper waters of the Sac
ramento and San Joaquin rivers,
and these unload their cargoes
mostly at Washington and jackson
streets piers. At times these i'm
mems structures are piled high with
packages from the farm, and in
handling them, which is donei in the
greatest haste possible, some portion
of their contents is sure to be emp.
tied upon Ike ground, the f1otsam
and jetsam of the produce trade:
But it is rarely that any portion
of this scattering vegetable mer-
chandise is wasted. There are al
ways some women or men with
baskets who I permitted, upon the
supposition of their extreme power
ty, to gather up the estray vegeta-
bles, and very rare it is that they
leave the wharf until their baskets
are filled to the top.
Most of these gatherers are Of for
eign birth, and a very large MAORI
ty of them + Italians. This thrifty
race, by enforced experiencein their
own land, have reduced the economy
Of living to its finest point. They
emigrate to this country ignorant
of its language or its laws, but with
habits of industry and thrift which
strike the average American with
amazement. Their chief ambition
is to own their own homes. The
rule of large families prevails, and
each one is employed in some in
dustry that will either produce
money or else in an avocation that
will save expenditure. The rapid
accumulations Of the Italians are
thus accounted for. But the wharfs
are not the only places where
the stray fruit and vegetables
are gathered in. A hundred boys
perambulate the streets where the
commission men abound with a
sack W. their shoulders, who, with
trained eye, perceive in the road
way the object of their search. No
matter what it may be, tomato or
squash, in it goes into the mouth Of
the receptacle, to be sorted later
when the days work is done. The
amount thus lost to the producer e
great, many thousands of dollars a
month, but it is not wasted and re.
appears at some humble table as a
delightful salad covered with plenty
Of olive oil and washed down by
fresh pressed claret.
These boy scavengers are a nota-
BILE class. They ire wonderfully
sharp and have been known to fill
their sacks at the expense of the un-
watchful merchant, but they are
tolerated as a necessary evil and as
an interesting feature of life in a
great city.-San Francisco Call.
The Most VoluoIJo SDot. p, rfo,tt,