Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-04-11
Local Matters.
But LITTLE IS WASTED.
More and More Of the Secondhand Stuff
Being Ssvai.

"But very little is wasted now, SAID
one of the Augusta junk storekeepers,
the other day as he sorted over a pile of
rags in his back shop. I'VE are saving
more and more every year."
What, for instance?" was asked.
"Old rubber used to be thrown away.
AT present it is remelted and revul
canized. The macintosh which you
wear may be made of old rubber shoes.
Your overshoes may be made of old
rubber coats, so you may be wearing
rubber shoes on your back and rubber
coats on your feet.
1.-THE rags and tatters of the town
are turned into handsome products. \
man gets a note on superfine paper OF
beautiful tint, with a monogram on it.
1t may have been a beggar's shirt,
metamorphosed into billet-douX. The
elegant stationery on which the fas-
tidious bachelor writes his letter may
have been an old woman's nightgoWh.
The edition de luxe, with its fine linen
paper, is made of the rags of a thou
sand alleys. 1t is the cheap paper on
which the newspapers are printed that
has an irreproachable ancestry. IL
comes from the white fibre OF the
forest trees. But the fine grades OF
paper are the tattered raiment OF
tramps and wanderers, changed by the
magic of chemistry. and machinery into
beautiful product
The basement shop of the dealer Is
piled high with old commercial ledgers
over which bOokkeepers wore out their
eyes. and with old newspapers which
discuss the politics and new sensations
of a decade ago. Its walls shine with
old copper teapOts, old brass saucepans
and battered britannia ice pitchers. In
one corner is a heap:of old copper that
glitters like Klondike gold. Here and
there rise mountains Of old magazines.
The copper teapots and brass sauce
pans RETAIN in their fallen circum-
stances, an air of cheerfulness. But
the situation of the old Century and
Harper's magazines that stand on the
shop stairs in huge piles at cents
copy, is almost pathetic. Though
printed eight or ten years ago, many
of them are not second hand, but new.
for their leaves are still uncut.
Compare their prices with that Of old
copper and old pewter, which bring
fifteen cents a pound. An old teapot
or an antiquated ice pitcher brings
thirty times as much, ounce for ounce.
DIS 40 llltSt literary treasures.
THE business of preventing old cop
per pots and old pewter spoons Old
magazines and old newspapers from
going to waste" said the dealer, has
grown to great proportions. Twenty
years ago only ten or fifteen firms in
the large cities We're engaged in ii.
Now it keeps busy a hundred firms.
Then the volume of business in these
seeming trifes was a few hundred
thousand dollars a year Now it is
about 100000 600.
Some Of these firms which occupy
dark little Easements. have capital Of
from $4,000 to 800 900 They handle
ten or more tons IF OLD metal and
paper Il day Sometimes 20 tons Of old
paper 20 out Of a place in p hours. |
have received in one day 30 bales Of
old commercial ledgers, weighing 1000
pounds t0 the bale. That is - tons Of
old accounts. The entire trade handles
thousands Of tons of old metals and old
paper every year"
What are old metals Worth?"
New sheet copper brings from 40 to
80 cents pound; ingot copper, Il
cents; old copper l. cents. You see
old copper brings almost as much as
britannia ware also. 1t is made of tin
and lead, with about per cent. copper
and l per cent. silver. 1t is durable
and will last a hundred years.
Britannia is about the same metal as
pewter. for which We likewise pay l.
cents a pound. Pewter lasts well. AMI
we often get quaint English pewter
pitchers that are fifty years old. old
lead is cents a pound: old tea lead.
from china, 3l4 cents; old type, ; cents:
old zinc, 312 cents: old tinflil. cents;
old electrotypes ana old stereotypes
are from to cents. All these old
metals are melted down and used over
again.
odd account books, diaries and com
merCial ledgers bring a cent 4 pound
and are made over into writing paper.
''Old newspapers bring 81 ton. or
one-quarter of a cent a pound. They
are turned into pulp, made into paper
and go through the press to be born
again as newspapers. Perhaps the
newspaper which originally was Demo
cratic becomes at its second birth Re
publican.
when people move. about the first
of May, we get many curious articles
of metal ware from them, as well as
many old books. pamphlets and news
papers. Most of our metals come from
factories; most of our magazines from
dealers.
The secondhand book dealers call
now and then and explore our stock
They carry away any rare old book or
curious old pamphlet which they
chance to find. They get them for
song. just as we got them by the
pound. and sell them for what they
will bring"
The attention of contractors is called
to the notice Of the new gymnasium
and drill hall which is to be built by