RAG TRADE, This trade, even within the limits of a generation, has undergone extraordinary changes. Woolen rags, which some 30 years ago were all allowed to rot on the dunghill, save the very small quantity required for flock papers and stuffing saddlery, are now consumed. under the name of "shoddy," to a vast extent in the manu facture of the cheaper woolen cloths, more than 30,000 tons having been imported in 1872; and in the same year, probably a like quantity was obtained in Great Britaid Linen and cotton rags are, as is well known, nearly all consumed in the manufacture of paper; but of late years the demand for paper has increased at so great a rate, especially fir the American and colonial markets, that rags can no longer be looked upon as the principal raw material from which it is made. It was stated by Mr. Rout ledge, to whom the country is mainly indebted for the successful introduction of esparto fiber, at a meeting of the London society of arts, in Dec., 1871, that rags were now used alone only for the paper of bank-notes, ledgers, and such-like special purposes, esparto fiber being even preferred as a material for printing-paper. Wood pulp is also largely used on the continent, as well as in America, to mix with rags for all kinds of papers, often forming as much as 70 per cent of their weight. For some, time past the amount of cotton and linen rags annually imported into Great Britain has been below 20,000 tons; while the imports of esparto and other vegetable fiber reached, in 1S76, the amount of 130,911 tons. Moreover, no less a quantity than 22,925 tons of rags and other paper material, but chiefly rags, were exported from British parts, nearly the whole of which went to the United States.
Unfortunately, there seems but too much reason to fear that the regular supply of esparto, as the staple material for paper,•cannot be depended upon; and even though it could, rags will always be of great value for the better kinds. Mr. William Arnot, in a
lecture delivered before the society of arts, London, in Dec... 1877, estimated the quantity of paper annually consumed in different countries as follows: In Russia, 1 lb. per heed of the population; Spain. 1 lb.; Mexico and Central America, 2 lb.; Italy and Austria, 5 lbs.; France, 7 lbs.; Germany, 8 lbs.; United States, 10f lbs.; and Britain. 11f lbs. Britain had 385 mills, producing annually 360,000 tons of paper, valued at £20.000,000. When the continent had More rags than it required, England • and America had to import rags to keep their mills going. The state of matters is still the same as regards the continent; but, in the mean time, the increased use of esparto appears to admit of England sending away as many rags as she imports. Most of the imported linen rags come from Germany and France. Cotton, flax, and jute waste from spinning-mills are all used for paper-making.
It is believed that the home supply of linen and cotton rags might be largely increased by greater care in housekeeping economy. Mr. Herring, partner in a tirm of paper-merchants, and author of several articles on this branch of industry, published in 1860 a "letter," addressed to clergymen and others, suggesting an organized plan for the attainment of this object. "There are," he remarks, "more rags wasted, burned, • or left to rot than would make our paper-manufactu•ers independent of all assistance from abroad." Whatever may have been the case in 1860, it is plain that, however care fully collected, all the rags produced in Great Britain would now be far short of meet ing the demands of our paper-mills if no other material were used.
The managers of the ragged schools in London organized a brigade in 1862 for the systematic collection of the rags of the metropolis.