Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-07-31
HE DESTROYS SECRETS,
Queer Business of Man Who Reduces
Account Books to Pulp.

II have just paid few cents a
pound for old books and papers for
which some one in this town would
give thousands of dollars" said a
downtown paper manufacturer few
days ago to the New York Sun, and
he told the truth.
a large part Of his business consists
Of destroying confidential papers for
business houses, banks, brokers or any
one else who can furnish enough to
bother with.
The paper man pays for this valu-
able old paper only few cents a
pound. That is all it is worth to him
for reduction into pulp. His rates are
a bit lower, perhaps, than those of the
junkman, but with his purchase he
gives a guaranty that nothing he buys
shall ever be read or examined.
A list of his customers which he
gives for reference is pretty good proof
that he keeps his word and that the
secrets of the waste paper bags never
leak out The reference list SHOWS
that the manufacturer has destroyed
books, papers, etc. for about twenty
banks, half as many insurance COM
panies, dozen bankers and brokers,
several of the big wholesale dry goods
firms and a large number of retailers.
How do you destroy this valuable
paper and make sure that nobody gets
hold of it," the manufacturer was
asked.
ut isn't allowed to pass through
very many hands," was the answer.
land the men who do take care Of II
are ignorant. Some of them cannot
read, but they would not have a chance
to CLEAN much out of our waste If they
could.
when we get an order from a firm
to destroy its books and papers we
send man up with a lot of big bags.
The bindings are ripped Off the books,
their pages are torn apart and they
are stuffed into bags along with let
tiers and any other waste the firm may
have to offer.
THE bags are sealed and put aboard
freight car. Next day they arrive
at our factory in Connecticut. and the
seals are not broken until the bags are
dropped beside big vat filed with
strong chemicals.
THE papers are dumped into this,
which reduces them to a pulp. An
other process cleans the ink from the
IL nd fhnn ~ ipt
You see, there isn't very much chance
for any one to get hold Of any informa-
ton set down on our waste paper, and
I'm dead sure that our guarantee has
never been broken.
do we do big business in de-
stroying documents? Well, l should
say yes.
Before we took hold of that new
branch Of the paper business it was a
good deal Of problem for some firms
to know how to get rid Of their old
books and papers. 1t is harder to
burn book than it is to burn a log.
Papers are also easily carried up a
chimney by strong draught, and
burning didn't solve the problem.
Junk dealers would buy the stuff,
but they didn't give any guaranty as
to privacy, and were always on the
hunt for anything they could turn into
money.
II know Of case where q junk
man bought n lot of letters from a
dry goods firm, sorted them all out by
States and found that they gave the
key to the identity of the firms GUS
toners. A rival firm bought the let
tiers and paid pretty well for them.
"Then there are lots Of things on
the books Of almost any firm that a
competitor would like to see-price
lists, discounts, trade relations and all
that sort of thing. 1t wasn't safe TO
hand books containing that informa-
ton to junkmen and that's why we
started in the destruction business"