Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-08-13
PARADISE FOR PANHANDLEUS
All Varieties Thrive and Wax Fat in
New York.
METHODS OF WORKING CROWD
Oonsummate Artists In the Business,
hanging from the "Flopper" 20
the POuncer on Bogus
Crusts.

word for trade or craft) he can easily
earn" IS or s. a day. II he is "sloughed"
-arrested-for begging he Is merely trans
ported TO a pretty, greenswarded island,
swept by harbor breezes. where he sleeps
in Father Knickerbocker's bed for five or
ten nights and lives like a fighting cock on
three good meals a day. Thence he emerges
refreshed and resumes his graft. Easy?
Too easy. It's really a shame to take the
money. The work is play; the sort OF
theatric play we all instinctively love; to
twist the face into a tragic mask. to enact
the part Of a long-suffering victim Of i'll
luck. to start the victims heart-strings
all a-flutter with sympathy-and then to
accept tho victims money with the air OF
a proud and patient martyr, It's rare
sport indeed.
Not one word OF this writing is about the
deserving Door God forbid. But ones does
not find the deserving poor posing in tho
streets for aims They hide their want and
sorrow; they starve in secret: their tragedy
becomes known only when the coroner re-
ports-unless by rare chance some tlreless
seeker has discovered the case through
search in a poor neghborhood. Indeed
the curious thing is that OF the army Of
1900 or 5000 street beggars who pick up
$4,000 or $4,000 a day in the metropolis.
the vast majority have drifted in from dis
tsnt states. The estimate Of the numbers
OF these panhandlers is by James Forbes,
secretary of the National Association for
the Prevention OF Mendicancy He knows
He has studied these beggars for years,
not with the cold curiosity of the scientist
but with n lively human sympathy and
UNDERSTANDING And here's a miracle-he
has actually persuaded some Of the gentry
to go to work for a living; real work. at
which they can earn far less than they
could make at the graft. So much can
wisdom and kindness do in arousinE the
sense OF self-respect long dormant, or per.
haps never before felt these people of the
pavement But the few who have turned
to genuine labor are but corporars squad
as compared with the grand army still
grating.
Flopper is IN Artist.
II 1t is art to conceal art. then the flop
per- is tho most consummate artist in
mendlcancy. His finished product appears
TO be fortuitous. As a matter Of fact IL is
all studied out with scrupulous care
Neither Booth nor Irving ever devoted
more palms. or insight. or Imagination, TO
the portrayal OF Hamlet than good
Hopper" bestows upon the proper presen-
tation OF his tragedy. In the first place
course. is not art but the result Of a con-
flict with natures crude forces It is a
curious fact that out OF some 5000 flop
pers' histories investigated by Mr. Forbes
more than 30 per cent OF the men lost their
legs In accidents on trains upon which they
were riding as tramps. Before losing legs
then. the beggar has been accustomed to
shun work and TO get his bread by whin-
Ing. After the accident the hobo, II he Is
an artist, turns "flopper"-that is one
who flops down upon the pavement. a spec
tacle Of mute helplessness. with empty and
receptive hat at his side. Note the hat
IL always empty. for the sight or Jingle of
coins might scare off intending contribu-
tors.
Mr.. Forbes and the photographer and I
went out panhandler hunting the other day
and in the course OF a few hours obtained
more specimens than the most enthusiastic
faunal naturalist would have cared TO
gather. Nearly all Of them were Flop
pers. for the use-to-house and the bet
ter days birds are rarer and have to be
waited for. We went hunting in the region
In which the artists OF the pavement are
thickest-the shopping district There lovely
woman abounds. soft of heart and easy of
pocketbook and there the "flopper' plies
his artistic graft.
best Place to Work.
Inc stage must be we'll set Perhaps II
Is mansion Of the frightfully rich, with
It's most rare and luxurious hedge Of privet
Tor back-drop. that serves as the scene
OF our beggar's silent appeal Dives SO
gorged with wealth and he so poor-auickl
out with quarter. or at the very least a
nickel Does any one doubt the genuine
ness OF the caseP There is the testimony
or the much worn crutch yes. and the
stump OF the lost leg itself. The artist is
always newly shaven and YOU may often
see on his fresh blue chin the BARRIERS
magnesia powder or whatever II Is that
they put on he-belles. His sad eyes droop.
too. for he is by way OF being ashamed 10
take the kind ladys money. His whole
race Is picture of woe hardly
eye or the matinee girl still more
endurable. and meantime to place the
his hair Is plastered in a low wave
over his noble, suffering brow and
curied' II possible, back upon his high dome
or thought. tawny mustache hawk
wing or dragon pattern, coaxes nickels
In nocks. And sometimes, IL II gets too
hot and glarey In front of the rich mans
house. our Hopper" will sit with his back
against big bank building, so that those
VINO 80 to deposit or to draw may leave
DIT OF wealth with him, poor fellow, so
penniless In the presence Of untold gold.
Or he Will rest his sad back against the
wall OF church, and there lie in wait for
the pious. He doesn't like the new shop
A'ns district around Thirty fourth street
30 we'll as the old one farther downtown.
Yes; even In Hopping" one signs for the
times that have passed-as, for example
the brave old days when Fourteenth stree,
was the shopping center and one Topped
under the tree. Under the treaf Quite 30;
resort known to all good panhandlers
from Seattle TO ColOn-the big tree in ths
grounds OF the ancient Van Buren, mansion
in the block west OF Fifth avenue, which
sim casts a grateful shade upon the side.
walk.
"A nice game" says Mr. Forbes "Au
the Hopper has TO do Is to sit stin and
take the money out OF the hat. No talk,
no work; mo trouble. When the weather
is to hot In town he goes TO the cOuntr,
and hops on paydays near factories. or
Il he b very Industrious. he hops around
on his crutch and distributes his begins
verse You'n notice that his card Away,
bears tho union label. % that be win b.
SURE OF the sympathy OF the workers. ana
there Is often in the verse a curious theat
enins OF disaster 20 those who refuse I,