Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-02
PUSH CART PEDDLER
FACTS CONCERNING CURBSToNE
MERCHANTS IN NEW YORK.
Their Ways, Troubles and Earnings
Organization With Member
ship of 5000 Men.

Archibald A. HILL Secretary of the Commission
Appointed to Investigate the Pushcart Prob
lem, in the Independent.
The casual observer has seen the carts in
Broad Fulton or Hester streets, but unless
his progress was impeded, he has thought of
them merely as giving a touch of pictur-
esqueness to the sombre streets And they
are picturesque Many of the carts are filled
! with bright colored fruit, and are so beau
tifully arranged that they attract and hold
the attention At the dismal corner of Allen
and Rivington streets a cart was recently
seen which had over 1t a canopy of luscious
grapes arranged in huge bunches-red,
green and purple-with cool green leaves
interspersed with the fruit. AS it was near
| the Jewish feast when booths are erected
in the yards and on the housetops. in COM
| memoration Of the sojourn in the wilder
ness, one could not but think that this had
been in the mind of the peddler in arrang
ing his cart. Alright, too the carts give
gay effect to the streets. for the peddler's
work does not stop at dusk. When the CEN
sus was taken 1t was found that there We're
only Seventy-one more carts on the lower
East Side streets between the hours of ii
am and pm. than there were a 10 pm.
The lights that hang on the carts make Es
Sex, Orchard and Norfolk streets look as If
carnival were in progress.
On the other hand, this picturesqueness
exists at the expense of traffic facilities.
One realizes that the "push-cart problem
is acute when he learns that in one year,
1904, 5,124 peddlers We're arrested. The
causes for the arrest run all the way from
obstructins sidewalks and streets to having
peanut cart with whistle on 1t that dis
turbed the worshipers in certain church.
One Of the most frequent causes of arrest
Is for standing more than thirty minutes in
| one place. The ordinance requiring this
would be more honored if it were possible
to enforce it, but it is uncommon sight to
See the peddlers solemnly, yet hastily push
their carts around a short circle the Of
ficer appears, and then settle back in almost
the same location as he passes on. 1t is
said that well-known clergyman, who no.
ticed the number of arrests for this cause
and wished to reduce them, purchased two
hundred alarm clocks and gave them to
that many peddlers. The alarm was so set
that it would sound every half hour. When
the alarm sounded the peddlers in line
moved up ten feet, for this met the laws
requirements, and stopped to remain until
1t sounded again. 1t is sad to relate that
apparently, after few days, the clocks
got on the peddler's nerves, and they pre-
ferred the occasional alarm of the coming
policeman to the constant alarm of the
clock. Such an unenforceable ordinance as
this gives the policeman a heavy club over
the peddler and the more conscientious the
peddler, the heavier the club. AS one man,
an American, said to the commission: 1T
amt gettin' my head broke that mind. 1t
don't cut no ice nohow. It's the constant
Iaggin' of the officer
But there are other evils than the imped-
ing of traffic. While the commission was in
vestigating the problem it received a COM
mun1cation from the storekeepers of an
East Side street. complaining that the num-
Der of peddlers in that street had greatly
reduced the profits, land this, your honors,
is hard on man with a aforementioned
family" This communication when receiv-
ed was fastened together with baby blue
ribbon! Though quantity worded, the letter
hrf1 tha~ nIa
for the peddler who pays no rent can I'M
dersell the storekeeper whose rent runs
from $50 to s75 per month.
Question of Health.
On the other hand, the menace to health
Is not so serious as had generally been sup
posed. In Manhattan and also in Brooklyn
food was sold on SO per cent of all the carts
found on the streets. When the inspectors
from the board Of health examined this
food in Manhattan they found that only for
ty-four carts, or 81 per cent of the number
they examined, contained bad food. But the
amount Of such bad food was only u of 1
per cent. of the total amount on the forty
four carts. This was in marked contrast to
the little stores examined. where it was
found that 20 per cent contained some
food unfit for human consumption. The rea-
son for this difference between the two
stocks of goods Is probably that the push
cart peddler has to buy in small quantities.
same reason he must sell quickly hence his
goods are always fresh.
About $500 carts are. on the lower East
Side; that is, east of the Bowery and south
of 14th street! approximately LOCO in the
corresponding district on the West Side and
about 700 above 14th street. In BROOKLYN
only about 700 carts were found and these
mostly in the Jewish sections of Browns
Vile and the 10Th ward and in the Italian
district Of the 9th ward. In Queens, the
Bronx and Richmond they are SO few that
they may practically be diregarded.
The idea prevails that the peddlers are all
newly landed immigrants who do not know
enough to do anything else In fact it was
told to the commission that 75 per cent. Of
all the immigrants who land at this port
Immediately go to peddling. The man who
made this assertion evidently got his sta
tistics from ''his own inner consciousness.
for 1t must be remembered that about one
million immigrants land here in a year. I'm
ner consciousness" Is not safe place to
obtain figures, for in Manhattan 81 per
cent. of the men had been here over ten
years. u per cent. over five years, while
less. 1t must be remembered that the pres
ent law requires man to have been resi-
dent of New York one year before receiving
his license to peddle. The police got all the
personal details of a mans history and then
asked to see his license. Alas for the frailty
of human nature, it was sometimes found
that Nicolo Stragenza, only landed three
weeks ago, was peddling on a license issued
nine months before to Stephen Margolowski
Many men in New York have been peddlers
Tor twenty years or more, and this is es-
pecfally true of the more successful.
The largest number of the peddIers are
Jews. Italians and Greeks, In the order
named These three natonalites in Man
haitian make up 81 per cent. of the total.
Ten other nationalities were found the
largest percentage among them being the
American, who number about one and two
thirds per cent of the total.
1t is most frequently stated that these
men are desperately poor, yet the president
Of their organization testified that he had
been in the business twenty years and was
sure that the average earnings were SIS or
more per week. Recently peddler was ar
rested and fined 81. He claimed that
he was too poor to pay the fine.
but when searched $3.50 in cash
was found in his pockets. besides jewelry
valued at $40. 1t Is true. however that
some Of the peddlers make much less than
this. A number of Italians volunteered the
Information that they earned under $40 per
week.
Peddlers' Organization.
The peddlers are we'll organized. having
about 5000 in the United Citizens Ped
dIerS' Association. Their nresjdeot ,ooba