Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1894 — THE SCAVENGER. [ARTICLE]

THE SCAVENGER.

How the Rair-Plcktnff Tribe Utilise Their Dusty "Findings. f "No one has ever spoken df the calL ing of rag-picking and dust-bunting al a very noble one, said William C. Peabody, of New York, who was at the Southern Hotel, to a St. Louis GlobjDemocrat reporter. "At the same time the scavenger performs a most important duty for mankind, and it is to be regretted that he is now becoming very conspicuously absent. Twenty, and even ten years ago the waste paper and rubbish from large stores and factories was exceedingly valuable, and it was a common thing to sell the right to this treasure-trove by tender. Thousands of dollars were paid for these privileges,'seme-of the figures quoted being apparentlv out of all reason. In order to make money on these contracts it was necessary to sort the rubbish carefully and to'remove every fragment. "The paper and the old cardboard boxes were of great value for papermaking purposes and old rags and fragments of cloth were similarly utilized. Now, however, the old copybook maxim that paper is made of rags is a reminiscence only, for wood pulp, certain varieties of grasses, and other substances are much cheaper and more easily obtained. For those and other reasons there is no longer any money in dust, and it is either dumped in heaps on vacant lots to annoy innocent passers-by and spread germs and bacilli in every direction, or else it is burned b,’ the store or factory owners and a great Increase in the amount of smoke emitted thereby caused. lam inclined to think that we underrated the value of the ragpicker and scavenger in his day, and have now to pay the penalty for tlio Injustice.”