The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-06-02
THE IMPORTANT BUSINESS
OF GATHERING SALVAGE
Man Whose Occupation Is Running Across the Continent to Fires
Explains the Science of Realizing ON Goods
That Have Been Partly Burned.

get rid Of the smoke. We unwrap eve-D
Inch Of the stun. from brocades worth dol.
lars a yard to tape worth a copper a dozen
skeins- Every foot Of tine stun Is unrolIed
and put through a treatment. To trim,
sponge. fumigate. air. press and roll again.
Smell that" and With the Injunction the
man who runs to fires all over the Middle
West pushed a box Of writing paper
toward the Sunday Republic mans coun-
tenance to give him a whiff that was any,
thing but pleasant. Then calling an attend.
ant. he sent the box out with orders to
bring IL back when through" 1t came
back smelling as though IL had Just left
the mills.
Il could get $1,000 for answering that
question" was the sasacious reply.
How Is II done?"
In the st. Louis wallpaper deal there will
De almost a complete salvage. as wall paper
Will not burn. and is almost impervtous to
water. However. every roll will be stripped
OF Its outer cover. which may mean tearing
OF six to twelve inches. and the butts may
have To be cut away.
But it is In dry goods that the hns work
OF the salvage man comes In.
W have to save without wasting and
waste without regard to saving 10 the
paradoxical way Mr.. Wollman puts IL. IF,
for instance. a piece Of silk Is rs inches wide
and IL Is burned In ten inches on either
edge of the bolt. and when unrolied shows q
yoSktu uue, u pays 10 CUT OUT an Uni0fef~
rupted "trip s inches long rather than clip
ping IL Into pieces. some 8 inches wide and
some 2 feet wide. Calico 70 inches wide lays
to trim down to stun a foot wide: IL will
always sell for something. Five years ago
We threw that on the dump. Now II II
treated chemically and made into surgeons
bandagss or something else II pays to IN
best days WAS only worth q cent. and put
TWO or three spools together to sell for half
a cent Dolls eyes would sell II We got
them. The world buys everything.
Look at that lot Of rubbish. Il 10 .
fright"
Mr.. wolIlman was directing attention to
part Of a train load of groceries which was
being hauled past to one Of the salvage
warehouses. Most Of the stun on the wag-
on was canned goods.
.'Th tins look dented. and that viii hurt
the sale. no doubt" was said
1t will"
And. incidentally. the labels are ssaksa
of. How do you know what to relabsl Tie
stufr'
Il dent know how they do it. but ths M0
find out. When a loft falls and p4ec1pl-
tates canned goods to the cellar the Gases
containing them smash into splinters
the rams become mixed. The hremen do the
rest by soaking OF the labels. Then we
have to nnd out what the contents are. But
that rs easy for the sorters. Let me SHOW
you. oh, james," Mr.. Wollman called.
end in came a sortef. ae
"what's that In the cornerT' asked Mr..
wollman. pointing to q can which might
have been salmon or raspberries. 20 far a.
outward appearances went.
1T II beans" replied the man. after .
shake.
That's how they do It," said Mr.. Woi-
man. They shake the can and sometimes
listen to the rattle. IN bet q hat to .
burnt match the can contains beans"
And 50 1t transpired Il did.
I'VE can tell almost everything. although
We sell nothing on . guarantee. II . m9n
buys q gross Of he thinks 10 canned
apples and he gets hair oil. thas b not my
fault. However. that never happene.
though II does happen that We sell black
berries for gooseherrieA Even that slight
mistake seldom happens. 80 well trained ere
the boys. They raine themselves. Don't
ask me how they did n. because I do not
know. The nearest I can get to II b to a.
tinguish sardines from lobster. ! know the
difference the minute I ZEE the can"