Evening star., 1901-12-21
TREASURE IN REFUSE.
Various Ways I'm which ProAt is Made
Out OF Paris Dustbins.

From the London Globe.
News comes from Paris that the dustbins
are doomed. A municipal system of rub
hish clearing Is to be inagurated, which
viii do away with the old plan, and conse-
Quently throw no fewer than 1900 people
out OF work.
X Who are these mysterious 10000 and
whysis 1t that they are raising such pro-
tests against obvious sanitary improve
ments? They are the chiffoniers, that In
teresting section of the French community
round whose strange and somewhat repul-
sive trade so many romantic tales have
gathered. "Rag-picker" is our only word
for chifonier; yet 1t is hardly a suitable
translation, inasmuch as the Partisan rag
PICKER devotes but small portion OF his
energies to picking rags. His interest CEN
{ tiers far more round old sardine 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 cemeuts them come
the myriad miniature soldiers which de-
light the heart Of the children.
Old tins, then, are his staple commodity.
But the chiffonier seeks other treasures In
the dustbin-treasures which the house,
holder little wots Of Broken china would
seem peculiarly valueless. yet under GER
tain conditions II forms a miniature gold
mine. Pieces of crockery with gold lines,
flowers and other ornamentations upon the
surface are carefully put on one side. When
sufficient quantity has been collected,
the whole mass Is taken to a company
which deals solely in this article OF COM
merce. Here the film of gold leaf of which
the ornamentation is made is melted 1ff
and collected. Quite an appreciabie amount
of the precious metal is gained annually In
this odd manner, and the enterpriSing COM
pany pays well.
Waste paper is of considerable value 1t
Is cleaned and then compressed into pulp.
or papier mache. All kinds of useful arti-
ol orQ do frry mir nhn
buttons, among other things, are stamped
out by machinery in enormous quantities.
To the uneducated eye they seem TO he
made Of some excessively hard substance.
and 1t is difficult to believe that they were
once pieces If paper. Toys of all kinds 1re
cut by machinery in the same way from
paper pulp. Wisps of hair--a common OBJ
ject of the dustbin-are eagerly collected.
They make UP into wigs. Coarse hair is
used for pillow stuffing. Skins go to make
imitation fur. Bits Of cloth are sent to
the paper mills. Cabbage stalks and SINH
lar odds and ends of food form excellent
nourishment for the live stock which is to
be found in every chiffoniers household.
When luck has been bad. the said cab
ge 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
stories Is the truly wonderful honesty of
the finders. Objects of value are rarely
lost if thrown into Partisan dustbin. They
turn up again a day or two later at the
prefecture of police, where they have been
deposited by some ragged but upright ''chif-
fcnier." Louis Paulian, who is the great
est authority in France on prison matters,
has said that the only people unrepresented
among criminals are the "chiffoniers-' III
this be true, it Is pity that their means
of livelihood should cease. Law keeping
is too rare a quality among the low class
Parisians to be regarded lightly.