davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

keener competitors. SO it Is as much o1
a business as selling wheat or doing
anything that requires business meta
DDS and training.
The rag-pickers come from all ranks
in life, but the prevailing nationality is
Italian. In fact, they have nearly a
monopoly of the business in Chicago.
And they are very jealous of any en-
croachments in the field from those OF
another nationality. Not long ago the
Italians are said to have gone SO far as to
have organized secret society to keep
all who did not belong to it out of the
rag-picking business. 1t has been
charged that the society was a sort of
Malta organization, and thatit would
not be we'll for an outsider to have the
"ban' placed upon him.
But despite these rumors there are
still some who are not Italians engaged
in picking rags. Among them is an
old colored man who makes Ms home
on the west side. Although OVER 70
years of age, he is straight as an arrow
except when bending beneath the bur-
den of his heavy sack. His skin is cop,
per colored and he has more the appear
ance of an Indian than a negro. No
one would surmise that he was as old
as he is, for the beard about his face
is just beginning to turn gray.
The other evening he came into a
junk shop on West Madison street and
deposited his well-flied sack on the
floor Then ne reached in the back
and commenced to draw forth his treas
ures. He had II bottles-pop, beer and
wine bottles predominating. He was
too old in the business to take bottles
used for hair oil and such things, for
he knew they would not sell. Then he
took out 20 pounds of rags. X N
The junk dealers wife looked over the
articles carefully and when she had
satisfied herself with the examination
she said:
Seventeen cents"
The rag-picker nodded acquiescence,
and as the pennies were counted out to
him remarked:
81 owed you three cents from the last
night for the money you advanced to
me-"
"Oh, that is all right, Mr.. Harris, :"
said the junk dealers wife with the
greatest politeness. "If you don want
to pay it now, let it 60"
mo, I'll keep it square, said the old
man, and turning, he said by way of
explanations: "You see, these people
let me have little money when need
it. Does rag picking pay? Well, it is
the only way L can make living. ]
have been doing it for 40 years now.
Forty years, sir. That's a good, long
time. When l started in there were no
others in the>business, but then, you
see, there wasn't quite so much to pick
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

discovery, which he considers the
crowning event of his wonderful
career, and which is embodied in
new article of commerce, known as
Red Cross Starch (Red Cross trade
mark.) He is planning to distribute
millions of packages of this starch to
the housewives of America, at a merely
nominal price to the consumer, in order
to make its merits known without de-
lay. Thus, for but cents two large
10c packages of Red Cross Starch may
be had, together with two magnificent
shakespearean views printed in 12
beautiful colors, or Twentieth Gem
tury Girl Calendar; or for only 20
cents 10 packages of the starch and
the entire series of eight Shakespearean
views and one Twentieth Century Girl
Calendar-views alone easily worth
$1.oo. Watch this paper for future
premium announcements, Of which
every lady will certainly want to take
advantage.
While Mr.. Hubinger will devote his
best energies to the manufacture of
this new and wonderful starch, he will
not retire from the various financial
enterprises in which he is interested
street railways, electric lighting plants
and the Mississippi Valley Telephone
Co., with 10000 telephone subscribers
in Minneapolis and St. Paul--nor will
his augmented activity interfere with
his social obligations and exercise of
the splendid hospitality which he dis
penses at his palatial Keokuk home.
Mr.. Hubinger's family. consisting of
himself, wife and four children, is the
pivot around which his activity re-
wolves, and while fond of promoting
great enterprises, he is still fonder of
his home circle, where he spends every
moment of time not taken up by busi-
ness or public cares.
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21
THE OLD HARTFORD.
Admiral Farragurs 1lagship Again
Placed in Commission.
To BE Used as n Training Ship forthe
New Navy - She Looks Old
Fashioned, But still Is q
Powerful Craft.
Especial Washington letter.

The men and women of the present
generation do not know the history
of the battleship Hartford. the f;l-
used as a flagship by Commodore
Farragut. the fighting ship of the
past generation upon whose decks
Farragut won the renown which made
him an admiral. and placed his name
in the highest niche of fame in naval
annals.
There is very little left of the Hart
fort, except her keel. She has been re-
built, but not remodeled; and, like the
famous Constitution, looks exactly as
she did in the days of her greatest
fame. The theory and impulse which
prompts men to revere historic things.
prompted the old naval officers to seek
the renewal of the Constitution and the
Hartford, and both of them are sailing
on their old keels, but all of their super
structures are new, although precisely
proportioned upon the original plans.
The congress appropriated the money
for their reconstruction, and the old
battleships will be kept in repair for
ever, as visible monuments of the
glories of the dauntless American navy.
The Constitution is already in Atlantic
waters, and the Hartford soon will be.
Information is received at the navy
department from the navy yard at Mare
Island. CAL, that the Hartford's repairs
are practically completed, and that she
win soon be launched and placed in
commission. It is not yet definitely an
nouneed whether the Hartford will sail
around the horn, as did the Oregon, or
whether she will follow the wake of
Dewey, and come through the Suez
canal, and the Mediterranean sea, and
across the Atlantic ocean. If the Hart
ford goes across the Pacific, she will
touch at Hawaii, the Philippines aud
the Asiatic ports which have been re-
Gently visited by Dewey. This itinerary
viii be particularly sentime1sal, the
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21
IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

One married couple in five in France
have no children.
Nearly ten per cent. of the recipients
of the Victoria cross are military doc
tors.
The extreme point of lands End, the
most westerly point Of England, has
been described as resembling the head
of an alligator descending into the sea.
a natural tunnel runs right through it,
and is about 60 feet high.
Port Patrick is the nearest place on
the coast of Scotland to that Of ireland,
the channel being only 81 miles across
about the same distance as that
which separates Dover from Calais. It
has the reputation of being the tradi-
tional point at which st. Patrick landed
from Ireland.
The first Australian newspaper, the
Sydney Gazette, was published March
5, 1903, Is years after the rise Of the
colony. The delay was caused through
there being no printers among the con-
yicts, Whorepresented every profession,
including the legal. The plant was
brought out in the first fleet, but it
could not be used until the authorities
caught a compositor.
The Cathedral of Cologne is naturally
the chief place of interest in that fa-
nous city. It took almost six centuries
and half to build. having been begun
in 1913 and finished in 1880. Its style
of architecture is Gothic, and it has
eight chapels, which contain the re-
mains of eight archbishops and the
skulls of "the three wise men of the
east" The Church Of St. Ursula is dec
GRATED inside with the bones of some OF
the 1900 virgins who, with ST. Ursula
herself, were murdered by the Huns.
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21
JOHN C. HUBINGER.
Western Capitalist, Manufact-
urer and dPhiIanthropist.
Among the leaders of the progressiy

Among the leaders of the progressive
element for which the midle west is
famous, Mr.. John C. Hubinger, of Keo
kuk, Ia, reigns without a peer. As
manufacturer, as an enterprising cap
italist and as philanthropist his fame
has spread over many states, and his
financial enterprises have developed
many obscure towns into progressive,
thrifty and wide-awake cities. Mr..
Hubinger, although but AZ years of
age, can look back upon scores of COM
mercial victories, each one of which has
benefited mankind, for his liberality is
as bountifuI as his business sagacity is
marvellous. He was born in New Or
leans, La, his parents being of French
and German origin. When he was four
years old, his family removed to Ken
tucky, in which state young Hubinger
received public school education. AL
most before reaching mans estate he
secured patents on a number of val
liable mechanical inventions, thereby
laying the foundation of his present
fortune.
bJ inSindtion anu lolce oI clicuiA-
stances his attention was early direct
ed to the manufacture of starch by i'm
proved processes, and in the course Of
time he became the head of concern
having an annual business of millions
of dollars. But genuine ambition
never quite satisfied with existing con-
ditions, works ever toward perfection,
and after years of painstaking study
and research Mr.. Hubinger has made
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

journey of The Hartford in Deway's
wake, because it was upon erold deck,
and III the fleets of which she was the
flagship, and under the commane of
Farragut, that George Dewey learned
his first lessons of actual warfare.
When the Hartford reaches Atlantic
ports she will, in her new sphere occu-
py the unique position of being the iirst
one of Uncle Sans fighting craft to be
used exclusively for the training Of
green landsmen into the ways oftypscal
man-o-wars- man. The mayor of Hart
ford has requested that the staunch
and sturdy old ship be sent to that CITY,
and the secretary Of the navy has is
sued the appropriate orders, SO that, as
soon as she arrives on our Atlantic
coast, she will sail to Hartford, where,
for the city of Hartford, the mayor will
present silver service as magnificent
as any that has yet been given to our
modern cruisers and battleships.
After that the Hartford will cruise
about the principal coast cities, visiting
those places where, almost 35 years
ago. the Hartford cruised with Admiral
Farragut on board, the hero of the ma
ton; just as the Olympia has just been
cruising about bearing proudly the hero
of Manila.
But not only the people of the coast
cities are to be interested in the re-
iuyenation of the famous Hartford, but
the people of the middle west and far
west are being given an opportunity to
infuse their vigorous blood into the en-
listed branch of the navy, and 300 able
bodied men of the sections named are
recruited for terms of four years, and
thew are to serve first on the Hartford,
studying practical seamanship. Sim
liar crews are to be enlisted and serve
ON the old Constitution. It is the the
ory of the older naval officers that en-
listed men of the new navy ought to
xnow how to sail any kind of a ship;
whereas it has recently been customary
to enlist men and set them instantly at
work on the steelclad cruisers and bat
fleships of the new navy. 1t is believed
that patriotism will be infused into the
young men by having them serve on the
Sid battleships, where they will learn
their history, and with it the history of
the glories and achievements of the
aavy. After that, with other yoilhg
men to take their places, they may be
,ent on board of the modern cruisers
md battleships.
They must learn how TO go aloft, TO
:un about the rigging, and be at home
with sure footing, in calm and storm.
They must learn all about the fore,
main and mizzen masts. their spars,
garnets and shrouds. They must learn
10 furl, unfurl and cleW garnets, just
is the American sailors did under John
Paul Jones, Ingraham, Farra gut, Foote
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

pretty poor pickings some days. ]
had to go into the business. I had a
good trade-but, [ don't know
couldn't keep up with the smarter&hen
and so I looked around for something
else and found rag-pieking. You see,
/ don't need much. All | care for is
my chops and a bed to sleep in-that
doesn't cost much, you know. Take it
when l work / can make three or four
dollars week. But / don't need much.
IL man has his Ee9 and his chops,
that's enough, isn't it ?''
But all the rag-pickers are not so
easy-going as this old colored 1nan.
Some of them have the everlasting
hustle" in them, but most of ali the
persistency and the saving qualities OF
the Italian race, the race that is driving
from the rag-picking field at least such
workers as this colored man, who stays
at home when it rains and picks rags
when the sun shines-or when he feels
like it. These tireless, sleepless Italians
are out when the first streak of dawn
appears, and they stay out till the dusk
has fallen. A junk dealer is responsible
for the assertion that some of the rag
pickers make from Is to 90 dollars
apiece each week, and some families
have been known to clear as much as
80 dollars.
The rag and old iron industry much
more extensive than many would be-
lieve. a 1t has been reduced to business
principles. Men and women have been
trained in it from childhood until they
have become experts. 1t is not an un
common sight to see children of five
and six years searching in the streets
and back alleys for the discarded things
that they have been taught to look upon
as valuable. With paper at 25 cents
hundred pounds, rags one-half to one
cent pound, beer bottles forr cents
a dozen, and wine bottles a penny
apiece, the cast-otf things in the car
bage box begin TO take on the look of
money.
And. after all, what is value? The
diamond that sparkIes on the fair hand
of the princess and the bit Of colored
glass in the strong fingers of the black
savage are equally priced. The old beer
bottles, the rags and the scraps of rusty
iron have their places in the markets OF
the werld.
FREDERICK BOYD STEVENSON.
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

overcame this handicap by their intelli-
gence and zeal, and they rapidly be-
came familiar with their duties in the
strictest sense. Besides, they were
hardy and endured climatic conditions
which would have prostrated less hardy
men"
He further said: 1T is unfortunate
that the United States lacks big mer-
chant marine, such as European ma
tions have, upon which to draw for their
Warships in time of hostilities. Great
Britain greatly outstrips us in this
particular for the present. In my
opinion, the merchant marine Of our
country will develop with wonderful
rapidity during the coming ten years.
In the meantime we can find, and have
found, in the middle and far west a
sufficient number of sturdy young
Amerie ans, born on our soil, with pa
triotism bred in their bones and sfnews.
Such men we need for the Hartford,
and for our entire navy. Heretofore we
have had in our navy too many men Of
foreign birth, and without naturaliza-
tion. We must have strictly American
navy, and the Hartford is beginning to
form nucleus of such a navy.
'tYou see, we are not going to take
landsmen directly on board of the ships
of the new navy. We are going to take
them on the Hartford, and teach them
to shoot straight and often, and keep
up our well-earned reputation for
American gunnery. Then, when they
go aboard the big modern vessels, they
will be ready for the most efficient sery-
ice. We want the nations of the world
to know that in all times and under all
circumstances our American iackies
will shoot as well and as effectively as
they did in Manila. bay, and on the
south coast of Cuba, while they manned
their guns under the Inspiration of the
floating signal: Remember the Maine
The new men will serve from six to
twelve months on the Hartford, and
win then be portioned off among the
ships of the new navy
So the old Hartford has not outlived
her usefulness. In her old age she will
furnish the sineWs of strength for the
navy and win give TO all of our fleets
men of intelHgeEee and skill, who viii
be the peers of all modern artillerists.
and probably the superiors Of those in
other navies; men who have been given
ample opportunassss to prove what they
can do to targets a thousand or laGre
yards distant
IT Admiral Farragut is to-day where
he can view the American navy, and If
there be tears of JOY in the heaven OF
the heroes, his eyes must be moist with
pride in his old flagship, the Hartford;
the ship once so dear to him, the ship
which never knew defeat.
SMITH D. FRY.
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

existence. A nest of pop bottles is a
treasure troye and the remnants of a
time-worn stove are a Klondike gold
mine. ,sss
Yet, no matter how high or how low
the scale, the members of the human
family are much the same. The stock
broker watches the rise or the fall of
the railway shares, and the speculator
in the wheat-pit notes the price of
cereals. So the rag-picker will squint
his shrewd eyes if you offer him an
eighth of a cent less for his rags than
the market warrants and shake his
head with the decision of a millionaire
trader. They all have the same thing
in sight-the dollar.
The lines are as finely drawn among
the rag-pickers of Chicago as they are
in any class of society. The aristocrat-
ic rag-picker owns his own horse and
wagon. 1t may be rickety wagon,
but it is wagon; and it may be very
bony horse, but it is horse. 1t gives
him rank, and he looks down with con-
tempt on the more unfortunate folk
who are poking around on foot. The
one with horse has an assistant-gen-
orally his wife-who gathers up the
odds and ends. The others go around
with baskets and bags and do the best
they can.
Thessecret of a rag-picker's success is
persistency. The remuneration is small
for the work, and it requires an enor-
nous amount of rags, bottles, paper
and iron to make a small showing in
money. But there are men who have
risen from this great army of groyel-
ing plodders until they own establish
ments of their own and buy from the
men with whom they formerly worked
side by side in the alleys. It is the old
story of the six men left on a desert
island with an equal amount of money
and one having it all within a year told
over again. The thrifty one saves pen
ny by penny and finally makes a profit
on the work of his fellows.
"You see, it's just like this" said one
of the, rag sellers, who is running
secondhand store in connection with
his junk shop; ''it's just like. this: Ny
wife and began ten years ago picking
up things in the alleys. We got bags
full of paper and rags, and old iron and
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

cast-off bottles and the like. We kept
right at it and we saved every cent we
could. Pretty soon / had enough to buy
q horse and wagon. Then it came lit
tie easier. Then l got another rig and
hired a man to work for me. In that
way. you see, | made money off of what
he made. Soon after that started a
little junk shop of my own, and bought
stuff from the rag-piekers and sold itat
q profit. Finally | saw there was de-
mand for secondhand furniture aud
household goods and went into that
There are something like 900 junk
shops in Chicago where the rag-pickers
may sell their wares. A schedule of
prices is arranged and is closely ad-
hered to. If junk shop dealer does not
keep posted in the prices he will soon
find himself out of business. If he does
not pay as high price as he ought TO
the ragpiekers will not sell to him, and
If be pays too much they will crowd in
on him till he is loaded up and forced
Go tho wall by his lower-priced and
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21

Love gives itself, and is not bought.
-Longfellow.
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21
and Porter. Upon the decks OF these

historic old terrors of the seex- me
sailors of the rising generation must
learn all that is to be known of our
navy; and, practically, they will thus
Be taught TO feel that they have grown
up with the navy from its incipiency.
They will love their calling better, and
love their country better for the ex-
perience.
With this idea in view, Lieut.. Alex
ander Sharp. Jr., has been on a tour
of the western and far western states,
selecting the 500 recruits who are to
man the Hartford. He has also been
designated to be executive officer of
the ship, when she IS in commission,
again carrying the flag to foreign ports
on her way back to the waters inWhieh
she won fame and everlasting glory.
1t is well indeed that the old battle-
ship is to have such man for execu-
tive officer. He is one of our naval
heroes, and deserves greater celebrity
than has been given to him. His name
has been oyershadowed by the names
of Schley, Evans, Philip, Clarke and
others OF higher rank who participated
in the battle of Santiago on July 5,
1898, when Spanish Admiral Cervera's
fleet was destroyed. But he was an
active participant in that battle, as the
commander of the converted yacht
Vixen, little vessel which was in the
battle from start to finish, and which
rendered particularly valient service.
Although well-directed shot from any
one of the Spanish ships might have
destroyed the Vixen, Lieut.. Sharp kept
her well to the fore all the time, and
she sent death-dealing missiles through
the Spanish torpedo boat destroyers.
The navy department did well in SEE
lecting such a man for the special re-
cruiting service for the Hartford; and
also in designating him to be the execu-
tive officer, or first lutf," as the sailors
call that officer.
Commander Hawley, who also par
ticipated in the great naval engage
ment, has been designated to command
the Hartford, and he has diligently at
tended to the work of supervising en-
istments. He says: ssTae desirability
of having western men for jackies was
demonstrated during our late war with
SPAIN We had number of recruits
from the west, particularly from Iili-
nois, who performed splendid service
during those trying months, and they
may well be proud of the records they
made. Although they lacked the orig
inal training of sailor men, they soon
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21
WEALTH IN GARBAGE
The Rag Pickers of Chicago and
Their Peculiar Trade.
They Make Living Out of what 9th
ers Throw AVay-Some Even
Manage to Accumulate Com
siderable Property. @s +
Especial Chicago letter.

Twenty thousand people make liv-
ing in Chicago by gathering old bot
Ties, rags and iron. At almost every
hour in the day one can hear the
cry: Rags, old iron; rags, old
ironl'' Del"ing in the garbage boxes,
peering beneath the sidewalks, reach
ing into the roadways with their sharp
hooks, seeking, ever seeking, the bits
of rags, the scraps of paper, the pieces
of old iron orsthe stray bottles, men,
women and children may be seen day by
day. Among the cast-off things, among
the things that their brethren higher
up in the sale of civilization have de-
creed useless they are fighting for an
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21
ONLY WAY fn Do IL

Il am writing an article, he said, ION
The Way TO Manage Woman.
4 suppose It will be long one" she
replied, in a Slightly scornful tone.
No." he answered; sit will be quite
short. In fact., it viii consist of only
tvs words Don't try:."
Then she knew him to be a man OF
sense and experience, in spite of his APP
parent youth.-C Chicago Post.
St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-10-21
New Idea In Huft0ns.

There will be found this fall a world
of distinctly new ideas in buttons, pas
sementeries, fringes and bodice garni-
lures, these having been selected pur-
posely with a view to the materials OF
the coming season, with which they are
to be combined. = Dry Goods Econo-
m;sL.