Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-11-19
PROFESSIONAL POOR.
Ban Declared On London's Men.
dicants.

Ban Declared On london's Men,
dicants.
II the new plan which Is being work.
ed out by a number OF pIolic men in
London to put the administration Of
charity on a business footing succeeds,
the occupation Of the professional poor
man and woman who have made a
good living by drawing contributions
at the same time from half dozen
or more organizations for the relief
of distress will soon be gone.
From time to time one hears Of the
wealthy beggar who lives in compare
tive luxury in neat suburban house
and sends his children to good school
on the proceeds Of his industry"
This can only be done. Of course, by
drawing contributions from many
sources. A lot of money is spent in
charity every year in the greatest city
in the world, but even In London there
Is no one charity that will enable its
beneficiaries to live in better style
than most Of its contributors.
A few days ago a well-dressed and
we'll -groomed man of middle age was
charged at one Of the London police
courts with begging. An officer Of the
Mendicity society told an amazing
story. He said that the man had been
known to the society for years. but
until this time the officers had never
been able to get any evidence against
him. It turned out that the man lived
in a first-class villa in one Of the
London suburbs. His neighbors there
thought he was something In the
city" and he went up to town every
morning and returned every evening
in a first-class railway carriage.
He had an office in one Of. the great
buildings in the city, where he changed
every morning from his good clothes
into an outfit Of filthy rags, avoiding
detection by always entering and leay-
ing the building by different doors.
Thus attired, he went to the West End
shopping district and there piled his
trade as a beggar during the hours
when the streets were full Of women.
When the shops closed he went back
to the city, changed again and took
the train home, In addition to nis
receipts from street begging, he also
received half a dozen regular weekly
contributions from organized chari-
ties. He was on the books of one as
a hopeless paralytic, another had him
registered as consumptive and a
third contributed to his support on the
ground that he had received an incur
able injury in his spine in a railway
accident. OF course, the man was a
first-class actor and he followed his
strange trade with degree Of indus
try and application that would have
brought him a good income In almost
any other calling.
The officer who prosecuted him said
that the society had knowledge Of a
dozen other men and women who were
plying the same trade but had not yet
been able to get legal evidence which
would justify prosecution, and 1t had
no doubt that there were scores more
of whom it knew nothing.
It Is to deal with this evil Of over
tapping in charity that the new organ
ization has been formed. 1t Is to be
known as the Association Of Sub
scribers to Charities, and at the first
meeting were most Of the men al
women whose names figured for large
amounts on the subscription lists.
Some idea Of the enormous sums spent
in charity in London was given by AL
fred Mosely, whose name Is almost as
we'll known in America as in England.
He has reckoned up from the printed
reports of the organized charities
operating in the London area that
$50,000,000 a year Is spent by them,
and he estimates that another $685.
100000 is spent by individuals In pro-
miscuous giving. In addition to this
huge sum s25,0O0,OO0 is spen: from the
taxes on infirmaries and orher activi-
ties, which must be classed as chari-
table, making the enormous total Of
500, 100000 spent every year in Lon
don for the relief Of distress.
In spite Of all this there. Is con-
slant demand for more, and most of
the London hospitals are constantly
in difficulties for money. Some Of the
largest have been forced to close
wards, and one last year actually was
taken possession Of by the bailiffs to
satisfy a debt. The new association
does not propose. however, to dispense
any charity. 1t believes that with
proper organization and the illumina-
tion of fraud there is ample money to
relieve all the legitimate distress in
London, and what it proposes to do
is to supply the coordination needed.
Branches with voluntary workers
are to be established in each Of the
London boroughs, and a register Is to
be made as far as possible of all the
recipients of charity. The names will
be sent to a central office and tabu-
lated and compared, and 1t Is hoped
that in this way the persons who are
obtaining contributions from more than