The Washington times., 1901-11-24
TREASURE IN REFUSE.
Curious Way in Which Profit Is OBJ.
tnined From Dust.

News comes from Paris that the dust
bins are doomed. A municipal system of
rubbish cleaning is to be inaugurated.
which Will do away with the old plan. and
| consequently throw no fewer than 4O, ,O00
people out of work.
Who are these mysterious 10000. and
why is it that they are raising such pro-
tests against obvious sanitary improve
I ments? They are the chlffoniers. that in
| teresting section of the French commun-
! ity round whose strange and somewhat
requlsive trade so many romantic tales
have gathered. "Ragpicker" is our only
! word for chinonier, yet 1t is hardly a
suitable translation, inasmuch as the Pa
risian ragpicker devotes but a small por-
ticn of his energies to picking rags. His
| interest centres far more round old sar-
dine tins than rags. For out of these tins
he makes the clever little metal toys
! which are sold for a couple of sous on
| the bOulevards, and from the solder which
cements them cone the myriad miniature
soldiers which delight the hearts of the
children.
Old tins. then. are his staple commodi-
ty. But the chiffOnier seeks other treas
ures in the dustbin-treasures which the
householder little wCts of. Broken china
would seem peculiarly valueless, yet uu-
der certain conditions il forms a minia-
ture gold mine. Pieces of crockery with
gold lines, flowers, and other Ornamental
tions upon the surface are carefully put
on one side. When 4 sufficient quantity
Ilds been collected. the whole mass .s
taken to a company which deals solely III
this article of commerce. Here the film
of gold leaf of which the oruamentatfon is
made is melted off and collie cted. Quite
an appreciable amount of the precious
metal is gained annually in this odd
manner and the enterprising company
pays well.
Waste paper is of considerable value.
1t is cleaned and then compressed into
pulp, or papier mache. All kinds OF use
ful articles are made from papier mache.
Boot buttons. among other things are
stamped out by machinery in enormous
quantities. To the uneducated eye they
seem to be made of some excessively
hard substance; and 1t is difficult to be-
lieye chat they were once pieces of paper
Toys of all kinds are cut by machinery
in the same way from paper pulp. Wisps
of hair-a common object of the DUST
bin-are collected. They make up into
wigs. Coarse hair is used for pillow stuff
fing. Skins go to make imitation fur.
Bits of cloth are sent to the paper mills.
Cabbage stalks and similar odds and ends
OF food form excellent nourishmeat for
the live stock which is to be found in
every chiffoniers household. When luck
has been bad, the said cabbage stalks not
infrequently serve to feed the chiffonier
himself.
1t is hardly necessary to say that all
kinds of wonderful stories are told of real
ly valuable finds" made by dustbin
searchers. The striking part of these sto-
ries is the truly wonderful honesty of the
finders. Objects of value are rarely lost II
thrown into Partisan dustbin. They turn
up again day or two later at the perfec-
ture of police, where they have been de-
posted by some ragged but upright "chif-
fonier." Louis Paulian, who is the great
est authority in France on prison matters,
has said that the clly people unrepre-
sented among criminals are the Chiffon
iers. If this be true, it is a pity that
their means Of livelihood should cease
Law-keeping is too rare a quality among
the low-class Parisians to be regarded
ligthly.-London Mail