Evening star., 1916-09-17
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

There were many homeless men In
Washington nifty years ago in conse-
quence Of the return
Center Market Of peace and the fall
ure Of occupation in
VaKapoAus. tho south, scores
turning to this city for shelter. Many
usual abiding place until the nuisance
became q serious ono. In The Star OF
September II. 1855. is tho following
telling of . raid made upon these un
fortunates:
About as great q nuisance As the
marketers who como to the city to sup
ply our citizens with fruit. vegetables
and poultry have to contend with is the
gang of white and negro vagabonds
who loiter in and about the markets at
night, pilfering whatever they can cas-
lily carry away. Center market has
been especially annoyed by them. It is
the only homo Of some, who sleep on
and under the benches in the daytime
and prowl about at night robbing wag-
ons and stalls or making raids upon the
barns. stables and poultry houses in the
the city. Yesterday Onicers Campbell
and Rath of the third ward made a de-
scent upon them and arrested eight,
ranging in age from twelve to thirty
years. who were locked up in the CEN
trail guardhouse. Justice Thompson
gave them their choice. to pay 81 fine
each or serve thirty days In the work
house The city councils have always
IN NJ
In our markets and they will no doubt
be glad to see that their law for that
purpose is strictly enforced by the po-
lice"
AFTER the civil war many enterprises Of
an alleged charitable nature were pro-
NOTED in tho name Of the
Gift Concert relief Of the veterans OF
c.l the war. A favorite form
9'aeneS' Of It was the gift con-
cert" The following in The Star Of Sep
tember IL. 1868. tells how THIS scheme was
regarded at that time:
"A correspondent calls attention to the
gift concert scheme announced to be for
the benefit Of the Soldiers and Sailors
National Orphans Home fund and insists
that the postponement Of the affair from
the I'd Of August to the 18th of October is
violation OF the contract and implies
that good faith will not be kept with those
who have invested their money in 1t. He
prizes are not worth more than 0.o00.
for which $500, 900 worth Of tickets are to
be sold. Out of the 100000 remaining,
$4,000 are promised to charitable objects
and $4,000 have been already paid. He
asks II the balance is to be used for cleo
fiOnQerfnp nd fho ov,to
sioner Of internal revenue had a right to
suspend the revenue laws in behalf of
such a purpose. Another correspondent
inquiries where the proceeds of the sale
of tickets are deposited and what guar
antee the purchasers have in their Sc
curity.
I'VE are not able to answer our corre-
spondents fully. We have no faith what
ever in these gift concert enterprises and
cannot see that the public have any guar
antee that the one under notice will result
more satisfactorily to the ticketholders
than similar enterprises have elsewhere.
1t Is true that the names Of the refer
ences' given are highly respectable, but
we presume they will hardly hold them
selves pecuniarily responsible in the mat
ter. The fact that the managers pro-
pose to sell the enormous number of
100000 tickets is sufficient to stamp the
scheme as tmpracticable. Estimating the
population of the country as 30,000.000 it
will be seen that ticket must be sold
to every hundred persons-man. woman,
child and baby-of the thirty millions in
order to carry out this grand scheme.
Very few thinking people will be inclined
to put faith in the possibility of effect
ing such an achievement. In considera-
ton Of the professed object of this en-
terprfse, we should be glad to use other
language in regard to its prospects,; but
the plain duty of the journalist to the
public Nfbids US from expressing a con-
fidence in its success that we certainly do
not feel. We have the same opinion to
express in regard to similar enterprise
in the gift concert line (upon a less pre-
tentious scale), started hereabouts.