Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-18

PARIS, Aprll !, l'o>
A is pretty we'll known in Ameri-
~ ca France and particularly
Paris. is the happy hunting
Il " ground of the vasabond ana the
mendicant. The beggars OF this
country have reduced the problem OF get
ting a living out of society. without WORK
ing for it. to fine art. They nave thelr
own organizations and rules and regula-
tons for the government of their mem
hers Their number * continually IN
creasing The need Of some compreheA-
sive measure 70 deal with such human
parasites has long been current. Al Ias'
there has come forward a man VINO, rec
ognizing the evil. is prepared 10 grapplc
with it, This is NJ. Georges Berry,
deputy for the ninth reimbursement VINO
has introduced into the French chanloeT
bill for the suppression Of vagabonda ge
and mendicity. His remedy, in a nut-
shell, is work colonies.
Beggars a Sham.
NJ Berry has devoted many years 10
careful and impair ial study OF a situation
which is admittedly one Of the curses OF
modern France. ard in the course of his
investigations he has gathered a remark
able mass OF facts and figures He de-
clares fer instance. that Gu; of every
hundred thieves brought TO justice eighty
at leas: come from the ranks OF the
tramp and the beggar He states further
tha: i'm tern years conscientious seeking
ne never once succeeded in finding a
poor blind heggar VINO was not IL
skam. that out of the 1?i so-called ''un-
employed =" whom he offered Well-.aid
Jobs. only eighteen accepted his offer
while. as the result OF another eXuert
ment. only or per cent continued
steadily 10 work and did not throw IN
their EMPLOYMENT after they had carmel.
a few francs He has followed the pro-
fessional beggar into the lowest lodging
houses. The Chateau Rouge, Pare
I.me:te'' and Mere Gay" sen how he
lives fathomed mis- recesses. appraised his
mentality. and now he comes forth and
asserts that idleneSs is the root of the
evil. and that ii We want 10 suppress pro-
fessional mendicily We must make the
beegars work
NJ. Berrys memory Is stored with amaz-
ing stories Of the ruses employed by beg
CARS and vagabondS to excite cCmpa sslon.
There the sham blind sham CripD!es.
sham deaf and dumb. sham eoilaotics
and those supposedly afflicted with s..
Vitus' dance. There are the sham I'M
employed sham old soldiers who have
fallen upon evil days and have not even
"A few francs wherewith to bury deCently
their latest deceased child
~ myself" said NJ. Berry to the writer.
and over again fer money to bury babies
that never have been born
Forgot He Was Blind.
Il could tell hundred stories of the
sham blind" continued VI. Berry. but
one will suffice. ! used /" notice on the
steps leading to Poictiers station tall
and powerful man, whose eyes were hid
den by blue soectacics. and who lmpor-
tuned with unwearying persistence al
who passed that way.
''One day he made use of an insulting
exDression because / would not give him
aims. and in my indignation | told him
that his blindness was mere sham. In Il
moment ne rushed at me with his stick
raised forgetting that he Cou q MOI see.
and | had TO beat a hasty retreat into
the station.
Not long afterward | came across the
same fellow in another part of the town:
he was in "A perambulator and was being
wheeled about by a lad who implored the
public not TO forget lis blind and help
less father.
Fortunately had a friend at the
prefecture. and | reported the affair To
him. The police were told to watch the
man and il was not long before they
chief of a gang of thieves who had COM
nitted an important burglary only II week
or two before The man arrested
with his accomplices. tried at the as
sizes and sentenced To five years soi-
tary confinement. II was proved at the
trial that he had committed no fewer
than thirty-three burglaries!
But not every sham beggar is so dan
gerous as the Poictieis man with the blue