New-York tribune., 1899-03-26
THE PARIS RIGPICKER.
INTERESTS OF THE PROFESSION THREAT
ENED BY PROPOSED REGULATIONS.

Paris cnrrespondence Of The London Globe
The Paris ragpicker. that interesting charac-
ter Of the French capital, who mas Deen 'n'
subject of so many plays and noVeIS' - asdln
on the tapis. 1t may be remembered lnat no.
many years ago the ancient order OF "Elfllhs,
as the ragpckers prefer to call themselves WY
| cannot say-wls on the point OF disappearing
altogether. Up to that moment the rubbish Of
the town was thrown in heaps into the cutters.
Ii was from these heaps that the ragplcker got
his daily bread before the dustcart came round.
Such was the situation when one morning the
sanitary authorities, having nothlng petler "
do decided to change it. IL was NJ. POuDelie'
the then Prefect of Police. who undertook the
task, which. naturally. made him very unpOp-
ular with the "Bfins." The system which ne
proposed. and which was adopted. was to place
the rubbish in metal box inside the mousse IN
stead Of in the gutter. and throw II INTO the
dustcart it passed by. 1t was argued tnat
the public health would be a gamer by the
change but the "Biffins' could not see this, and
they protested against being deprived ot the
means Of earning their livelihood Ultimately,
however it was arranged that the boxes might
be placed on the curbstone. so that the rag
picker would be able to explore them.
Another change which has aroused the BIZ
fms to arms is now being discussed. so far
they have not broken the public peace, ana nave
remained calm and digniied VINO knows II
DiOgenes whose portrait has been Transmitted
to us in the act of searching the paNementS OF
Athens with his lantern. not a ragplcker
before being a philosopher. or perhaps both OF
them at the same time, like our modern BIZ
is a stir i'm the world of the hottie and the
crochet" and one Of the dignitarles OF the cor
pOration has done me the honor or informing
me that from the Butte-auX- Cables to the
Grandes- -Carrieres, from Grenelle to Clichy. pro-
tests are being drawn up and meetings organ
lied to discuss the interests of the profession.
which are in serious danger The emotion or
these honest people is quite natural NJ lie
Breton, a Municipal Councillor, is the autnor OF
"A project which. if it be adopted. will be the
death Of the ragpicker According to his sys-
tom fhp hiSh IL
hermetcally closed to the factories, where it
will be crushed by steam. This service is to
be placed in the hands OF one or seVerai con-
tractors.
Progress in the name of science pretends that
the dust of :he rubbish Is dangerous to the
public health. and capable OF propagating the
germs Of all kinds of maladies. 1t must also
not be forgotten that in the scheme now under
consideration the intermediate ragpickers will
be replaced by capitalists. who will pay a royal
ty to the town for the removal of the waste
Tn, Municipal Council will thus find itself be-
tween a desire to manage the municipal finances
with economy and the serious responsibility OF
throwing out of employment forty thousand
honest workmen for the profit of few con-
tractors. on one side there is the question OF
good administration, and on the other an cleo
tOral question, for forty thousand ragpickers
are not to De neglected and the voting bulletins
in their hottie" will be felt when the municipal
elections take place.
The ragpicker is one of the spoiled children of
the Parsians He is the poor devil the type
of honesty who is to be found in life such as
he is represented in the melodrama. He is the
friend Of the "bObonne," with whom she likes
to chatter. Supposng we accept the project of
NJ lie Breton, and that all the waste is thrown
pellmell into the closed wagon of the admins
traton, how could the employe. even the most
honest who has the sorting of the rubbish, know
what comes from any particular house. since
everything will. to speak, have been thrown
into the "fosse commune? Every step in sci
encc seems determined to deprive us of one OF
the picturesque features of the gay city" The
Municipal Council will certainly reflect before
suppressing the "Biffin." the guardian of our
nights. who pa -tdes his lantern over the sleep
ing capital in search of his daily food meet
ing Of all concerned in the matter has been
organized for tomorrow.