Rich in folklore, controversy and profits, the scrap industry is an unglamorous giant that has been spoofed, needled and assailed by writers from Charles Dickens to Garson (Born Yesterday) Kanin. The public insists on calling its chief product junk, but this affront has not prevented scrapmen from making millions by marketing the oddments that other people throw away. To the steelmakers they sell rust-worn barbed wire from the farms, torn-up tracks from the railbeds and used appliances tossed out by housewives. They move mountains of junked cars into grasping incinerators that burn off paint, cushions and fixtures, then through...
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