Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-26
Beggary and Our Herded Charity

Beggsry and Our Herded Charity
TN A well-known essay, Charles Lamb COM
l. plains of the decay of beggars in the me-
tropolis of his time. Lamb could have raised
no such complaint today for never has beg
gary so flourlshed. never has it been so I'M
restrained, so unabashed and so resourceful.
From an amateurish avocation, allied to
tinkering and vagabondaEe, begotten of inn
providence or misfortune and decorated with
rags and pathos, beggary has risen to an
organized industry. more methodical and sue
cessful than It's nearest kin, highway rob-
berry, which 1t resembles in its brazen reso-
luton and the conscienceless proportions of
its levies, but more dangerous because, mask
ing under the disguise of altrulsm, the booty
can never be traced nor the freebooter
brought to deserved justice. When the arch
tempter in his reach after human souls
found that few were beguiled by his ugly
demons. his old hays. malevolent witches and
fends deformed, he bethought himself of the
hours and peris of his friend Mahomet
and of the marvelously enchanting sirens Of
the old, wicked world and, employing their
unhallowed aid. filed the Golfers of Hades
with lost souls. His modern reincarnation,
the cunning god of Begsary, has profited by
his art he waylays US not with masked
| braves in byways at midnight but with fair
maidens, c~harmlngly capped, becomingly uni
formed, enchantingly soft-spoken, who. be-
fore we know what has happened. relieve US
of our present belongings and mortgage us
as to our future. Thus Beggary de luxe
stalks among us and, wearing our antebel-
lum overcoats, our years-old hats and
thrice-patched shoes, we dine on a sustain
ing sense of our generosity and go proud
and supperless to bed.
VETHEN Charles Lamb thus deplored the
w decay Of besgary. he meant not the
wretchcd condition into which beggars had
fallen In his time by reason OF the neglect
of their sometime benefactors to administer
to their needs, but rather that the restraints
put upon public beEgary In the streets should
have reacted upon the hearts Of givers and
have deprived those who have Of a leglti-
mate function OF the generous heart, the OPP
portunity Of spontaneous giving. The oppor-
tunity Of spontaneous giving--here Is pre-
ciseIy the point. Our time is assuredly not
wanting in opportunities for charity. As
the Gownsman looks about him at the mo-
ment he can discern only two classes OF man
kind-those who subscribe, donate, present,
bestow, unpocket and disburse, and those
who eternally hold out the expectant palm.
The Gownsman labors under no deluslon as
10 his personal classification, While not yet
exactly a bankrupt, he is hopslessly in the
hands of the receiver. Independent yolition
in the matter OF disbursements has long since
passed from the average man. He Is in this
respect as in so many, the creature of So
cIety, or rather Of societies. The channels OF
his gratuities, his charities, his benevolences
are all predetermined for him., even to the
amount Of his giving, which is verify unto
the last denier. It Ii not, then, that our
OPPORTUNITIES TO give have been impover-
,shed. There seem to be few opportunities
IN do anything else and the mpoverishmen
"a elsewhere. 1t Is that spontaneity has
gone out OF giving, and Joy and independence
with II. g..
r EFT US take this matter OF the war anC
IL our contributions to 1t, II We dare tall
such a thing, Would our patriotism, which
10 uoouestloned, whether It take the form o.
.tandinR behind the President or OF gettinl
90 front OF ~hIm-would our patriotism hav,
given any less, financially. II It had been lesi
nrodded, pushed, pulled. hailed, badgered
hattsred and kicked into giving? Is thu
Gownsman consplcuously alone when he con
fessss that he has been lust a bit ruined a
times when, knowing that he had done nj
best although bis ehszs was not covered wiu