Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-02
PROFESSIONAL STREET BEeaARs.
Eight Cases in One London Court.
1.-THE Queen.

The Queen.
The evils fostered by the practices of
street almsgiving and promiscuous charity
were prominently displayed at the late
meeting of the Surrey sessions, where Mr..
Hartman and full bench of magistrates
had to dispose of no less than eight cases
of professional street beggars, who we're
indicted as incorrigible rogues and yaga-
bonds. The evidence in the first case
showed that man, whose age was only
thirty-one, had been convicted no less than
twenty three times, so that great part of
his life since his childhood must have been
passed in imprisonment. Another, who
had moved in respectable position,
had taken to drink and followed beggary
as the readiest means of procuring
intoxicating liquors. The third, vio-
lent rufian, who had been previously con-
yicted no less than nine times-who was
sentenced to twelve months imprisonment
and twenty-four strokes with birch rod
received an intimation that on his next
appearance at that court he would, if again
convicted, be welcomed with cato nine
tails. Another violent character, who had
no less than twenty-three convictions
against him was sentenced to q similar
punishment, and one who was not violent,
but had been convicted thirty times during
his thirty six years of life, was allotted
similar term of Imprisonment without the
corporal punishment. The remaining prison
ers, a man and his wife, were sentenced to
six months at hard labor. If the inquiry
is made as to the cause of this
state of things, and the source to
which we may trace the founda-
ton and perpetuation of professional beg
gary, there can be but one answer. The
vice, with all its hideous accomplishments,
is dependent on the mistaken charity of
silly, sentimental people, men and women
alike, who crafty their own unreasoning
impulses by giving away money on the
streets. To relieve really necessitous
person is an action which gratifies certain
moral insticts which are inherent in every
human being; it gives sense of personal
satisfaction; there is feeling in the breast
of the donor that a good deed has been
done, and satisfactory self comp'acency
pervades the mind at,having performed it.
procured at any time by the expendi-
d
excelsis for sixpence, it is not sur
prising that people whose moral sentiments
are stronger than their intellectual pow
ers, should pursue this pleasant mental re-
creation-the evil they do is altogether be-
yond their knowledge; they crafty their
own feelings with the idea that they may
have relieved distress,and indulge in much
SNUG self-sufficiency in congratulating
themselves on the good they have done.
These promiscuous alms-givers would not
hesitate to denource the drunkard who, to
crafty his desires, beggars himself and
starves his wife and family, nor the idler,
who prefers Incidence and poverty to in
dustry and competence. But they do not
refrain from doing evil for the grati6ca-
ton of their own feelings, and this under
the false pretense that they are doing good.
All persons who have the troub-
le to make the slight
est inquiry into the subject know that the
necessitous poor never beg; that the whole
of the beggars of the metropolis and
tramps of the country districts belong to
distinct class-in great part an heredi-
tary caste-which is supported by the
mandlin sentimentality of those who en-
courage this vicious mode of life. By SO
doing they tend to perpetrate one of the
most serious of the social evils which af-
ficts the nation. They foster and encour-
age the idle and dissolute class of Migrants
who, infest the country, and disseminate
vice, disease, and moral as well as
physical degradation amongst the
population. BY these beggars SER
wants are often tempted to become
pilferers of their employers prop
erty; and the knowledge and practice of
petty vice and practical dishonesty is car
ried into places where they were formerly
unknown. If persons wish to crafty their
charitable feelings, and they are really de-
sirous of doing good and not evil, let
them seek out the deserving poor; there is
no lack of them to be found when sought.
Or, should they be too much occupied with
town life, and live too remote from the
dwellings of the humber classes, they can
give their aims to the poor boxes of the
police magistrates, in the full confidence
that they will be bestowed only on the most
worthy objects. But let them abstain from
pleasing themselves by giving money to
sturdy beggars in the streets, which de-
moralizing practice is none the less inju-
rious from being performed with the idea
of dong good.