The morning news., 1894-05-04
THE KING OF THE FAKIRS.
Head Of a Very Curious Industry Dis
covered in His Den.
Has Subjects in Many States-An
Army of Men are Employed in the
Sale of One iole-opportunity for
Inventive Genfns.

Inventive Gsnfus.
| From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
! The word sfakir'' is said to be of Hin
! doc origin, and in India means a necro-
mancer, juggler or magician. If the word
has not found a place, in our latest die
tionaries it is sure to do so, for it has
passed out Of the slang and taken its
place with many other new terms re-
Gently adopted that "fill long-fel want"
! We have not only the substantive 'fakir,"
but the adjective fake" as applied to
articles that are not all they seem to be,
and the verb Ito fake has taken its
! place in every newspaper Office in the
land
How the name fakir came to be ap-
| piled to street peddlers / do not know,
nor can the most careful investigation
| discover l have just had a most pleasant
interview with Mr. George Washington
Stivers, the head and acknowledged
king OF the fakirs, " and he is as igno-
rant Of the origin Of the term as applied
to himself and his associates as the rest
of the world. When a name, no matter
how Objectionable, sticks and cannot be
avoided it is the part of wisdom to ac-
cept it, and no matter its history or it's
| associations, TO have it honOred by max
! ing it respectable. At the beginning of
the war the name "rebel" stung our
! southern fellOw-cOuntryme to the quick
| and their papers and orators were in
| clined to resent it, but after a time they
not only yielded to the inevitable, but
proudly applied the name to themselves
and boasted that they We're rebels"
NOT SENSITIVE GLASS.
do not think the acquiescence of street
! peddlers has had exactly the same genesis
f1r l,-lf l,,rr
tive or foolishly chivalric class of men,
but certain it is that they have not only
| ceased to object TO the term, but they
have proudly adopted It, as the Dutch did
the eplthet "beggars, applied to them by
the Spaniards.
George Washington Stivers, king of
the faktrs, has his armory on the north
side of Ann street, near Nassau, in New
York city. He is manof medium hight,
blue-eyed, with blonde mustache, an ac-
| tive. erect form, a manner of speech that
is forceful and defiant of grammar, and
he says he is 40 years OF age though he
might easily pass for 30.
~ see that there's some others that has
been claiming that they're king of the
fakirs,o said Mr.. Stivers with the fine
contempt of a legitimate monarch who
scorns all weak pretenders to the throne,
''but tell yeu, sir, they amt no good and
they don't know the least little bit about
the biz
Having known of Mr. Stivers as the
undisputed monarch of the "streetmen'
that is the name they apply to them
selves on ceremoniOus occasions was
quite ready to indOrse his declaration,
and in recognition of my amity and lealty
he was equally ready to give me the Sc
crets of this widespread and important
calling
NUMEROUS IN NEW YORK.
Among the great mass of facts pre-
sented by his majesty are many of gen
eral interest and few that are applca-
BILE only to New York city Twenty
seven years ago, when MIR. Stivers, as a
boy of l3, entered the business all street
salesman" sold goods from a tray, push
carts and wagons being unknown to the
fraternity. Away back in 81, - said his
majesty, when took up the business, I
began by selling pocketknives from a
tray; that was down In front of the old
pOstOifice on Nassau street. | used al
ways to make 50 to IS q day by a few
hours work at noon, but them days is
gone and won't never come back" The
men who sell from push-carts in New
York city pay license of s. a year, or
rather they pay that for the first year,
and 81 for each succeeding year The
peddlers who sell from trays or baskets
pay 81 the first year and 80 cents
| thereafter. MI. oGlNeES DdS STORES Oh
men in his employ and he keeps them sup
piled with licenses as a protection
against the police, who have not little
to do with the happiness of the street
fakirs. There is an ordinance that no
street salesman shall remain in one place
more than ten minutes at time, but if
the seller stands in we'll with the Coop
on that beat be may remain for hours
without being disturbed. and it has been
whispered, though not by his majesty,
that the fakirs find it TO their advantage
to conciliate the blus-clad representatives
of the law by means that are not entirely
unknown in the New York board Of al
dermen and which it has been whispered
have been used in Albany and even in
Washington to facilitate legislation.
NECESSARY TO SUCCESS.
|. What follows as to the street sale of
| goods in New York will apply equally
well to our other large cities, for the
! methods and frequently the sources of
supply are identcally the same. In the
busy thoroughfares of New York, and
| particularly in the vicinity of the post
ONCE and city hall, the sidewalks are
! crowded with fakirs, whose push carts
| obstruct the streets, While the stentorian
voices of the statesmen drown out the
| roar of street cars and the rumble of
passing vehicles. Cheap novels selling
for less than the cost of the white paper
cheap toilet articles, cheap pocketknives,
handkerchiefs, vases, laques ware, soap,
backing. jewelry, music, magnifying
glasses and novelties in the shape Of toys,
| puzzles, portable hatracks, tack ham
mers nail pullers, pencil sharpeners and
so on excite the interest and open the
| pocketbOoks of the passersby.
D"The first requisite of an article for
| street sale" said his ma esty, is that it
shall be easily portable the second that
1t shall be cheap, and the third, that it
shall be useful or be Of a character to
induce the purchaser TO believe that
it isn
The stock articles in the way ofcutlery,
/ handkerchiefs and toilet articles sold by
the fakirs are, according to MIR. Stivers,
bought from the importers or wholesale
dealers who get large stock of certain
line of goods that it is necessary TO get
rid of and turn suddenly into cash. On
/ such occasions Mr.. Stiyers is sent for; he
examines the goods, and if they are of a
character that his men can handle in
their chosen field, he buys them and puts
them on the market; and while he does
not make an invariable hit il nine cases
| out of ten he makes by the-contract.
The king of the fakirs counts his sub
|
@E9G9G 10000