Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-17
TRAGIC PLIGHT Of
PARIS RAGP|CKERS
Municipality Proposes to Take
Over the City's
DuStbinS.
From the London News.


the 5000 ragpickers of Paris have been
able TO regard life with confidence and
equanimity. \ sound. steady business.
neither strikes. ministerial crises, finan-
cial panics. not even wars or revolutions
could adversely affect it. Whatever might
happen, refuse would remain. dustbins
survive; and as the chiffonier deals
solely and exclusively in other people $
waste, he and his family were assured
tolerable livelihood.
Pleasanter 'callngs. no doubtful none
easier or more fertile in exhilarating sur
prises. With a crooked stick you poke
about in the dustbins that have been
placed on the curbstone by the concierges
of Paris; one dustbin after another
nothing but dustbins-and all Of them
sloriously full. And you take just what
YOU like And. as human beings are
VIGOROUSLY careless. you may alight upon
something more precious than cinders,
bottles, sardine tins-heavens, ring;
mercy. watch chain hurrah and allel-
utah, a bank note.
However. while poking and raging
about among the refuse, you raise clouds
OF dust and disseminate microbes. Hence
after hundred years-the proposal OF
The Paris municipal council that the dust
BINS OF today shall be officially con-
trol'ed. Away with the .D.GOO chiffonierS.
and UP with a brand-new fleet of mu-
nlclpal motor vans. The council will
sort and dispose of the refuse; the cOun-
eli VIII take charge of the treasures.
ana the raSpickerS. what of them? Their
livelihood gone. Since. too, rag-picling
runs IN families is an hereditary affair;
the cnifoniers arc tit for no other duties.
mus. twenty thousand men, women and
children without means of subsistence
unless the municipal council can be per-
suaded to abandon its cruel, greedy de-
sign of capturing the dustbins.
VI. lie Bourgeois.
For. as J write. the council has yet
to make up its mind 1t hesitates. IL
oscillates. it probably holds its hand
to its head and tragically cxclaims
"Ah. nom dun nom. what a problem!
On the one side. hygiene and increased
revenue: on the other. ruin Of an entire
race that has been left undisturbed for
a whole century. And then--more i'm
portant still--therc's popular opinion
to consider. And the Parisians, for the
most part, are loyal to the rag
pickers.
They are tradition-and traditions
must be respected states M. lie BOur-
geOis. They dealt with the dustbins
of my father. of my grandfather: and
ever since ] grew to manhood and had
dustbin of my own they have looked
after it. AS for the microbes they are
alleged to disseminate, they haven't
attacked me. I am still alive. Even
If l were dead | shouldn't accuse the
chiffoniers of numbering me-"
If you were dead. you wouldn't be IN
a position to accuse anybody of any
thing--vou would be dead, ct viola
tout replies N. lie Bourgeois No. z
Myself. I am neither for nor agains,
the chiffoniers They are welcome to
my dustbin. II by lifting my little
finger / could deprive them Of my dust
bin. I wouldn't lift il. In other words
/ am neutral.
"But nobody must be neutral. cries
the first bourgeois. Neutrality is weak
ness and cowardicc. If every one Were
neutral nothing would happen. One
must saw Yes or say MOI One must
agitate: nom de Dieu. One must strus-
gle. one must fight, if necessary one
must die and
I'm not going to fight and die for the
ragpiclsers." interrupts his friends
There's my dustbin. let them have It.
but the municipal council wants to
take il away from them shouts the
first bourgeois, with blow of his MS!
on the cafe table. Yes, the council
wants your dustbin. and my dustbin-
eyerybody's dustbin. And when 1t has
got all the dustbins in Paris 1t will
want something else. And SO 1T VIII go
on and on, always wanting and taxing
somethirg-urtil we. the rasGpay erS
nothing. And then. where shall we
be-"
well we'll: l will send a word to my
councillor, telling him that l am against
the NATURALIZATION of dustbins. con-
cedes M lie Bourgeois No. :. But don't
tell my wife She once lost a brooch,
and thinks the chiffoniers got it-and
detests them
Mere Pognon.
Inevitably the affair of the dustbins
has been brought to the notice of the
chamber of deputies: and there-per-
haps on account OF the long-standfnS
feud between councillors and deputies
there the ragpickers possess any num-
Der Of sympathiZers. Indeed, promi-
ncnt deputy has presided over meet
ing Of 10000 chiffoniers. held in the
vast Velodrome d'Hiver-at which an
order of the day demanding freedom
for dustbins was voted amid scenes OF
delirious enthusiasm. An ovation for
the ragpicking orator who vowed that
treasures were as rare as white black
BIRDS And yells of delighted assent
when he Indignantly continued. IF
the municipal council took the dust
bins and found valuable, what would
they do" They would do nothing-they
would say nothing : they would
keep it,
The press. TOO, is sympathetic. 1t goes
about interviewing and photographic
the chiffoniers-but tries hard to get
out Of them disclosures of sensational
nnds. There's been something about
diamond necklace in a dustbin'-
but the legend was promptly contra
dicted There's been a lot about old
Mother Pognon, aged ninety three. the
doyenne of the lady ragpickers, to the
effect that her bed of rags conceals
veritable parcels of bank notes But
old Mere Pognon. on being shown the
report by a rival journalist. invited him
then and there to ransack the bed
ana also. IT may be recorded. expressed
a desire to get at the throat" Of the
nrSt. Journalist. This. OF course, the
second journalist ioyfuIy racordad