The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-11
Wire Springs
MONEY LENDING AT THEBRIOGE
AN UNPROFITABLE BUSINESS
DONE BIZ POLICEMEN.
No Certain Way of Telling whether the Man
ar the Woman VINO BorrOws a Nickel to
Get Home with WIN Ever Repay You
MANY small Loans Make q Big sum.

Get Home with WIN Ever Repay You
MANY Small Dan Make \ Biz sum.
An attractively dressed young woman
approached one Of the policemen stationed
at the Manhattan end Of the Brooklyn Bridge
during the rush hour the other evening.
Officer" she said, Il find / haven't a
cent with me. when | thought | had quite a
little change. Will you lend me five cents
to get home with? l. live in Brooklyn
The bluecost handed the young woman
the requested nickel. She thanked him.
Will you be here tomorrow evening""
she asked somewhat eagerly. -because il
you will Ill pay you back without fail"
When the officer told her he would be
there the next night at that time she thanked
him again with a smile and disappeared in
the crowd.
The bluecoat looked after her doubt
fully.
1T has got so" he remarked to a Sun re-
porter. that I've given up all hope Of ever
being able to tell surely from a man or a
woman's appearance and manner whether
or not I'm ever going to get the money
back again. | just have to judge 'em the
best l can and then trust TO luck
do you often get a request for oarfare
like that?" the reporter asked.
I'VE certainly do was the reply. "Every
man stationed here on the bridge is asked
for small coin on an average four or five
times a day. 1t wouldn't matter If We
only got occasional requests. but when
you're tackled perhaps twenty-five or
thirty times during the week the small
change mounts up to quite a sum.
there's not a man here that wouldn't
give a nickel or a dime to any one who
really appeared to need it every time il he
felt he could afford 1t or IL he were reasonably
likely to get it back. But the trouble il
we're not. suppose in lots OF instances
the people to whom we've lent have just
forgotten about IL. But we can't know
that.
-The average patrolman isn't rich, either.
and the sum total Of his lendings here are
far from being O trife or a joke. There's
no rule OF the Police Department nor any
other rule that obliges him to go down in his
pockets and rand out q coin no matter how
evidently the person asking may need it.
Some people apparently do not realize
this. A young man came up to ms the
other day and said:
-'Give me a dime
Il looked hin over"
is that the way to ask for ftp I asked
him.
Sure he replied easily enough. you're
supposed to give it to me-
II had never been tackled exactly like
before. but when I got my breath back
1 informed him that what he thought was
an obligation upon me was only a favor
on nv part and he summoned himself
-. Il. -uhtl. Al. -otnr .vo
good.
But most of those who AJAX for a nickel
or a dime are courteous enough; In fact
the trouble is that those whom you'll never
see again are every bit rs polite a. those
who'll stop the next day and hand you
back the money.
And, mind you. unless the person who
borrows does return the loan the police
man will never get 1t back. The depart
ment hasn't any fund to make good his
loss, and as yet the Board Of Aldermen
hasn't voted an Appropriation for the pur-
pose.
Some OF the hard up ones are eager
to rive security for sven a nickel. But
that doesn't do very we'll. There's no
one who would take q gold watch worth
SIS a. security Tor s or 10 cents.
asked Tor.
zone man who borrowed a nickel one
day insisted on leaving with the officer who
it a little leather purse worth from
up again TO pay back the 5 cents
and the policeman who got the leather
nurse doesn't know what TO do with IL.
He hasn't any use for IL himself and he
doesn't are sell IL for the owner might
show up any time, since there's no time
limit nm tho IOan