p. 13 | A Time to Save by Mrs. I. H. E.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 18, 1916

A Time to Save

By Mrs. I. H. E.

To many of us the “ragman,” with his covered wagon of musical, jingling, shining tinware, has a niche in memory’s “hall of fame.” What delight to carry the neat bundles of rags to the gate, what suspense to watch them weighed, what joy to choose among those bright dippers and pans and tins, and perhaps have enough left over for a crinkled cooky cutter that visioned future toothsome dainties! But with the coming of wood pulp, the visits of the ragman ceased; or he combined old bottles and overshoes with the rag business, leaving only a few shabby coppers for the savings of months. It no longer “paid” to save rags or to collect them.

But times have changed. At present there is a serious shortage in all the materials which enter into the manufacture of paper, including rags and old papers. The Department of Commerce of Washington, D. C., recently sent an appeal to the superintendents and principals of its public schools, urging them to encourage the students to save all materials that might be used again in the manufacture of paper.

“Something like fifteen thousand tons of different kinds of paper and paperboard

are manufactured every day in the United States, and a large proportion of this, after it has served its purpose, could be used over again in some class of paper,” says this appeal. “A large part of it, however, is either burned or otherwise wasted. This, of course, has to be replaced by new materials. In the early history of the paper industry, publicity was given to the importance of saving rags. It is of scarcely less importance now. A little attention to the saving of rags and old papers will mean genuine relief to our paper industry, and diminishing drain upon our sources of supply for new materials.”

The Housekeepers’ Alliance of Washington, in connection with its antiwaste campaign, distributed cards to be hung in kitchens in homes, containing the following suggestions:—

“All kinds of rags should be saved. Hang three bags in the cellar. In one place used rags, such as old dust cloths and scrub cloths; in another place all colored rags; in the third place all clean white rags.

“Beware of fire. Do not let paper accumulate near oil cans, the furnace, or under a gas jet, where matches may be dropped. Do not save oily rags—there is danger of fire.

“The price paid for old rags and waste paper was never so high. Save rags, and turn them into money.”

The saving of these materials, which we do not need and cannot use, and turning them into mites for the Lord’s treasury, at the expense only of a little care and forethought, is one way in which we can encourage the children to take thought for missions, and help a little in raising the money to support them.

Commercial organizations in the principal cities of the United States supply lists of local firms that assemble rags and paper and sell them to manufacturers.

MRS. I. H. E.