Year: 1879




porter's nose, that the business is now al
most entirely monopolizcd by the Italians,
who can olive on nothing day and get
rich Oh it," Paddy complained that the
Italians start out too early in the morning,
and to find anything good he has to follow
suit, or have the labor of travelling round
the city only to find that all the coal, iron
scraps, rags, ETC., have all disappeared, and
everything that a cent could be made on
has been gathered from the ash barrels by
the one who was ahead Of him. After gain
ing good deal Of information from Paddy.
the reporter left him and went on his way.
puzzled at the idea that men and women
can content themselves with leading such n
life. Ragpickcrs do not confinc themselves
entirely to gathering rags. They collect old
hats, paper, boots, bottles, cut glass, iron,
brass and Il quantity of other goods, which,
to majority of people, in spite of old John
Smiths adage, "Evcrything is useful" an
pear utterly worthless. The work of col
lection is not small portion of the rag
pickcr's labor. When he arrives at his
haunt all these articles are assorted, the
bottles and rags arc washed, the white and
colorcd rags and paper separated, and each
kind of material arranged, ready for sale at
The nearest junk. Very often the rugpicker
finds more valuable articles than those he
starts in search of, and he often profits by
the servants carclessncss, which frequently
causes the ashes te yield silver spoon,
some garment that only requires cleaning
to be made saleabe, or articles of glassware
or crockcry with neither break nor blemish
upon them. In addition to these bonncs
bouchcs of the business, his quick eve de-
tects the coin or bit of jcwelry which has
been lost the evening previous, and the find
cr seldom troubles himself as to the owner
ship of these goods, but disposcs OF them at
the nearest pawnbroltcr's as quickly as pos
siblc. The ragpickcrs could not live by
their occupation only for the junk stores,
ana the latter would do little business with
out the ragpickers. The junk stores serve
the same purpose to the ragpicker that the
stock exchange does to the broker, with the
advantage in favor of the junk store that no
fec for membership is required Here, dur
ing the afternoon, the ragpickcrs assemble
to dispose Of the goods collected during the
orcnoon, to discuss the probabilities of
rise i'll their particular line of goods, to
gather the latest scandal that may be circu-
lating relative to some of their number, or
to settle disputes which may have arisen in
the morning OH the street, but which could
not be settled there owing to the presence
OF their natural enemy, the policeman. The
junk stores in the low haunts of the city at
such times form most interesting study,
and they rank among the sights of the me-
tropolls. Men, women, and in some cases
children, gather the cast loft wealth Of the
metropolis, and here daily they may he seen
at their best and worst. The proprietor of
the mart for old rags, iron, brass, rope, bot
ties, etc., is one of the busiest of men about
this time, for none of his Gust Omcrs are over
honest, and hc woit knows from past eX-
perience that they will increase the weight
of the articles sold, even If they have to
add to them some Of the articles which he
has just bought and paid for. Then the
labor OF paying for the merchandise is no
small task, more especially if the customers
have failed to cheat the buyer during the
weighing process. Quarrcls often arise,
and among the Italians cent is sometimes
OF sufficient value in their eyes to outweigh
mans life, and when once their murder
ous-looking knives are drawn u place of
safety is most desirable. The ragplckcrs,
IN some instances, cke out a, good living
Some have retired rich from their findings,
other have opened junk stores and given up
the hook and bag for more profitable and
less uncertain business. The average earn
ings of ragpicker are for an adult two
dollars day, and often this sum is material
ly increased by finding money or other
valuablcs. On this amount they not only
live, but save money. The Italian rag
pickcrs spend little money on food or
clothes, and live on the cheapest and COM
moncst goods the market affords. All
nationalities help to make up the army of
ragpiclers, but the Italians make the most
money, and many save money enough to
return to their homes in Italy. The dwell
ings of some of the Italian ragpickers well
repay one for visit, even if the disagree
able and disgusting scenes witnessed arc
taken into consideration