Chapter XLIV: Rags and Their Products in Relation to Health

_Rag-Sorting, Rag-Grinding, Shoddy, Mungo, Flocks,
Carbonising or Wool-Extracting_

Rags may be roughly divided into two distinct kinds: (1) cotton and linen rags; (2) woollen and partly woollen rags. The former are almost entirely used by the paper-maker, the latter by the cloth manufacturer. It is with the second section that I am here chiefly concerned. Rags, as a matter of fact, seem to cause little or no infectious disease to those who work among them, except in the case of cotton and linen rags used in papermaking, which have been a frequent source of smallpox infection. It may be stated that little or no infectious disease is introduced among the workers by woollen rags. Woollen rags are of two kinds: (1) soft rags, and (2) Mungo rags. Soft rags are largely drawn from Scotland. Such rags as stockings, white flannels, stuffs, carpets, etc., are included in the term “soft rags.” The “Mungo rag” is of two sorts, the “old and the new”: the old, derived from coats, vests, trousers, caps, etc., the “new” from clippings of army cloth, and tailors’ shreds, etc. The wide world is laid under contribution by the rag merchants. Walter White, in his _Month in Yorkshire_, says of Batley:--“Hither were brought tatters from pediculous Poland, from the gipsies of Hungary, from the peasants and scarecrows of Germany, from the frowsy peasants of Muscovy, to say nothing of snips and shreds of monks’ gowns and lawyers’ robes, from postillions’ jackets and soldiers’ uniforms, from maidens’ bodices and noblemen’s cloaks. A vast medley, truly, and all to be manufactured into broadcloth in Yorkshire.” Sir George Head, in his _Home Tour_, also alludes to Batley and the shoddy trade. This quotation gives one a good idea of where rags come from. Rags are collected by travelling tinkers, etc., and by marine store dealers, and by them transmitted to rag merchants, who sort them out into different lots according as they are (1) soft, and (2) Mungo rags. All linings and seams are removed by the sorters. All rags are sorted over what is called a riddle, through which the dust falls, at least a part of it. Rag sorters only sit down when seaming.

_Effects of Rag-Sorting on Health._--People who sort rags are occasionally bronchitic and asthmatic from the dust which rises from them, but I have seldom met with this condition in rag sorters, although I have known individuals who had to wear respirators when sorting. In the case of very dirty rags derived from dust heaps, rags which have been exposed to rain in many cases, it is probable that after drying, the dust would be of a septic character, and might induce sore throat. Rags from surgical hospitals are decidedly dangerous. Most persons who work as sorters are infested with fleas, which simply swarm among the rags, especially the Mungo variety. Sorters are mostly females, and they have sometimes to help to crane up bales of rags into warehouses. This frequently produces prolapse of the womb and other uterine displacements. It is certainly not suitable work for women. If infection ever breaks out among rag-sorters, it generally attacks them when a bale is first opened. It is a desideratum that all rags, whether of foreign or home origin, should be subjected to disinfection by heat before being opened, and this can be effectually accomplished, even in the tightly packed bales from abroad. This would have the virtue of destroying fleas, while disinfecting the bales.

_Rag-Grinding._--This process is accomplished by means of a swift which is really a drum, studded with sharp teeth, which are set very close for grinding cloth, and more openly for the transformation of soft rags, such as stockings, flannels, etc. These swifts perform six or seven hundred revolutions per minute, and the rags are metamorphosed into a soft, fluffy, woolly mass. Oil is largely used in this process. This prevents dust.

The dust which rises from rag machines consists of particles of wool and also of filth adherent to the various kinds of rags. It is highly irritating to all the respiratory passages, especially in those who are novices at the trade, but older hands become inured to it, and tolerate it well. A train of symptoms is developed, called “shoddy fever.” It is accompanied by high fever, with nasal catarrh and frontal headache, and a certain amount of bronchial catarrh. It is ushered in by shivering, malaise, and general muscular pain. It is almost indistinguishable from epidemic influenza, and if treated on similar lines, recovery is soon secured. The only difference is, that the catarrhal symptoms are the result of local irritation, and, consequently, when that is removed, the febrile condition soon subsides. Shoddy fever is easily induced in persons who have been out of the mill for a few weeks and return to work, in persons suffering from general catarrh, or in habitual drunkards.

What is known as shoddy is produced from soft rags, and Mungo from cloth rags. Flocks of the commoner kind are manufactured from a variety of raw material, the refuse of the shoddy trade, while the superior qualities are manufactured from a better raw material. For the former, the seams of woollen cloth rags, and heavy linsey (mixed wool and cotton), such as old dresses, and a variety of other materials, are used. The lowest class of flocks are made from old carpets with a backing of hemp or other vegetable fibre. Flocks are used for stuffing beds and articles of furniture. The raw material is separated in a similar manner as in the manufacture of shoddy and Mungo, only in flock-making the teeth are shorter and not so sharp. When a shoddy machine is worn out, it is sometimes used for flock-making.

_Carbonising._--This process is applied to rags which have a certain amount of cotton in them. The cotton is carbonised by means of either sulphuric or hydrochloric acid. The former acid is used in a wet process, the rags being steeped in a somewhat diluted sulphuric acid, at a temperature of 160° to 190° F., then rinsed in water, and dried in a stove. In the second or dry process, the rags are heated for some hours in an atmosphere of hydrochloric acid gas. By these means the cotton fibre is destroyed, and when the rags are beaten it flies off as a powdery dust, probably glucose, which is very inflammable, and often causes explosions. The above process is also styled “extracting,” _i.e._ extracting the wool from fabrics composed of cotton warp, and worsted or woollen weft.

Are these various processes inimical to health? Shoddy fever has been already considered. Flock fever is also a condition of the flock manufacture. Upholsterers, working with flocks, are occasionally sufferers from the dust. A few of the workers in shoddy mills suffer from bronchitis and emphysema of the lungs, but those who do so are the older men who began to work before so much oil was used with the rags. The dust is also apt to combine with the wax in the ears and plug them, as is the case in any dusty occupation. Granular inflammation of the eyelids is also occasionally seen among rag grinders. Acne is common through plugging of the sebaceous ducts. Carbonising occasionally causes bronchitis and emphysema. Workers in carbonising mills state that it is quite the exception for men to be off ill. In one mill which I visited, no worker had been off work for more than two days, and the mills had been in existence upwards of five years. The glucose product from carbonised rags subjected to the “shaking” process is highly inflammable, and severe burns are occasioned by the explosion of it in the air. These are generally due to carelessness.

_Recommendations._--Dr Parsons, in the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board (Dr George Buchanan) for 1885, recommends: (1) vaccination and re-vaccination of rag workers; (2) ventilation, cleanliness, and avoidance of dust in rag factories; (3) disinfection or purification of rags, preferably in the bale. Disinfection of rags is at present not very satisfactory, as the steam used for disinfection in the bale condenses and ruins the stock. Many men in the trade say that no disinfection is necessary, as infection seldom or never comes from woollen rags.

JOHN A. E. STUART.