Evening star., 1896-11-14

man why he does not take these sturdy
Vagabonds away who walk the streets, he
says: 1T is no use. l have already ar
rested that man seven Tins Yet it ap-
pears that nobody is in the wrong al
though the courts. the police and the As
sistance Publique mutually accuse each
other All are the victims of q situation.
They are powerless against the profess
sfonal beggar, just they are poweriess
to relieve the honest poor.
A beggar is arrested and sent to the de-
pot, where he remains twenty-four hours
IN the gfande sale. smoking, conyersing
and playing games. Then he is called I'D
before sous-ohef de bureau, whom il
depends TO set him free or not. During the
delay the affair has been INSTRUCTED"
The magistrate has under his eyes the
dossler of the prisoner, his easier judi
clare, the report of the policeman and
the report of the detectives Of the Sureta
He IS an old offender, and is given the max
lrnun,three months of prison at the Sante
and three months of penitence at the So
called reformatory Of Nanterre.
\ Municipal Corporations.
But suppose it is another kind of begcar-
a woman She admits her guilt 1T is not
the first time she has appeared before the
juge d'instruction. 1t is the fourth or fifth.
but she explains her position. She has
three children, is widow and without
work She has never had a conGemna ton
Must she throw herself into the Seine?
The natural solution is that this woman
Publique, that rich and powerful municipal
corporation that levies. on the theaters OF
Paris alone a full ii per cent of all their
gross receipts each night. But the Assist
ance PuDlique, burdened with expensive
salaries and a horde of civil service func-
ncnar:es, Is obliged to lay down rules of
age. nationality and domicile. Its investi-
cations require time, it's lists are already
Cloggtd.
An" cries the magistrate and the VIC
man with him. IF there were only a mu-
hlclpai house OF Work.receiving,a at no matter
what hour no matter whom. men. women
chlldren-French or foreigners-young or
Old Then the chef de bureau could say,
Go there They will make YOU work hard;
but IN exchange they will give you a sim
lie lodging, modest food and the means of
cleaning and repairing your clothes. You
Will always be free to quit the place when
ever you have found remunerative work"
The chef de bureau VIII obtain for the
woman a SecourS d'urgence and OE,itr her
release. In TWO days her ,:loncy Will be
spent. and she will appear before him
again d beggar. She may be released
again and again, bat the day will come
when she Is found i'll prison for mendicity.
What Is Begeing.
All this is in spite of the solemn pro-
ncuncemrHts of French jurists upon the
constitutional question involved. THE
penal law res gns itself painfully to toler-
at that the invalided by poverty or lack
oi work shall still preserve the humblest
o. ali the rights of man, that of holding
OIt The hand 10 the pity of those who
p.SS-' So spoke the advocate general in
Il discourse recently pronounced at the
SC eIln audience of reopeIing of the court
OF appeals of Toulouse. On the other hand,
u article 2I4 of the penal code proclaims:
- very person found begging in place for
ich there exists organized establish
-n,nt for the obviating of mendicity shall
D, punished with from three to six months
OF Imprisonment
renCh reformerS concerning them
YES with this law. What is begging
Tie article does not say. And found beg
gi,g in a Place for which is said to con-
sttute veritable monstrosity. Does
pace mean ward. division. township,
comfy or the village itself in country dis
tr.;ts? The text is still mute.
1. must not be forgotten that the Anglo
Saxon poor house system does not exist in
France. The Assistance Publique is differ
emily organized and leans rather toward
home help and pensions. in which it is aD-
surdiy lavish to its favorites. AS for the
rest "One might say with justice that in
France 1t is easier to get ones self decorat-
ed with the ribbon of the Legion OF Honor
thtl to obtain the entrance of poor man
into one of the depois de mendicite.'
4 Legal Absurdity.
The law as reformed will punish every
pelscn found begging in a commune (town
or township in which there exists an es-
tablishment open to beggars." In all the
communcs of the Indre-et-Loire, for In
stance the for which of the present law
becomes a pure derision. beggar is
starving on the streets Of Tours. He Is ar
rested. You are begging In a place for