The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-04-13
WASTeBAsKeT oLeANINoS.


They Bs~s . Considerable Commercial
vsIee, Taken In Their Entirety.
Down In a cellar at II City Hall place,
almost within stones throw Of the bridge
entrance, one may see six or seven Italians,
men and women, sitting cross legged on
the floor picking away at immense piles Of
paper In front Of them, throwing a
piece here and handful there, not saying
much, but just pick pick, picking all day
long. Big bales of paper are stacked up
against the walls all around them, and the
only light that reaches tho place comes
through the dirty panes OF glass in the
door and from flickering gaslight in the
rear of the place.
The writer In moment of curiosity
went down the rickety stairs into the place
the other day. The man sitting on the
floor near to the door looked as il he might
be tho boss.
"What are you doing heref" asked the
visitor.
"Waste pape," was the laconic response.
This was encouraging, but still rather
indefinite.
''.Oh, you buy and sell waste paper9''
ventured the inquirer.
''Yes, replied tho italian, who by this
time was gaining assurance, seeing that
the visitor wore no brass buttons or health
department badge.
"Well, where do you get all this stuff"
"Bigga build all around" replied the
merchant, with sweep of his hand.
A glance at the piles OF scrap paper on
the floor supplemented this explanation to
wonderful extent. There were letter.
heads of well known law firms, crumpled
and torn legal documents and circulars
and pamphlets without number. A few
miles OF ticker tape tangled up with the
rest made up the mess which this thrifty
merchant had collected from the "bigga
build all around" and was now engaged
in sorting with his several assistants.
The big piles have to be gone over al.
most piece by piece before they are salable.
The white letter paper is put In this basket,
the brown paper In that one. Here is a
pile of trimmings from book bindery
and over there is the resting place Of part
Of the circulation Of every Newspaper In
town. This last named pile Is almost
worthless, for since the manufacture of
news paper from wood pulp has been per-
fected old newspapers have little or no
value.
Some idea of the size of this waste paper
business may be gathered from the fact
that one of the down town Office buildings,
which has no newspaper Office in it to swell
its output, has from 400 to 500 pounds of
these scraps to dispose of each week. The
dealer in City Hall place has no monopoly
of the trade, but does perhaps a little more
than his share. The janitors and agents
Of buildings are only too glad to dispose of
their waste paper in this businesslike and
systematic way.
1t can hardly be said that the sale of
waste paper is "a source Of revenue suffi
cient to cause slecplessness among the own
ers Of the big buildings, yet it makes a
small addition to the earnings of the jan
itOr which is very acceptable. The insur-
ance companies, moreover, have clauses In
their policies forbidding the accumulation
of waste paper, and are very strict as to
their enforcement.
1t is seldom that anything of value is
found in the waste paper One might sup
pose that pens, knives, or possibly money
and checks, might be picked out Of the
contents of hundreds of business mems
waste basekts, but such is not the case
New York Tribune.