The Washington herald., 1919-04-21


Conference has developed a new type
of panhandler. From observation OF
many specimens OF this creature. L
am able to present data concerning his
methods. which have caused heavy III
roads in the treasures of small and
great powers represented here, and
correspondingly enriched that already
replete profiteer. the Paris restaurant
proprietor.
The political panhandler. when sue
cessful. is usually an American. His
objective. as a rule, is merely food
and drink. with the emphasis on the
drink. His prey is the prOpagandist.
and to him it matters little whether
the nationality of the victim is Italian
or Jugo Slav. Czecho Slovak or Pole.
Rumanian or Ruthenian. Russian or
Wend or Dedecannese.
All foreign propagandists regard
Americans here as their legitimate
meat. They demand Americans.
upon whom to exercise their arts.
And as where there is an economic
demand supply of the desired COM
modify is generally forthcoming. the
political panhandler has arisen to
supply the demand for Americans
who will listen. 1t is Americans
whom the prOpagandists lie in wait
for. not only because of the great
influence of Wilson over the delib-
erations. but because all Americans
to the propagandist are honest,
straightforward people. He does not
try to prOpagand other Europeans.
because he does not trust them. and
besides if he did he would probably
find himself being propaganded in
turn. Than which there is nothing
a propagandist hates more.
He's n Good Listener.
Americans in any way connected
with the Peace Conference. and to a
lesser extent American newspapermen,
are too busy to allow themselves to
be led away by the common or gar
den avariety propagandist. who infests
every hotel and cafe. hoping to catch
Americans and fill them with good
food, excellent wine, but stale and
musty arguments fortified by cooked
statistics. Not so the panhandler. He
is willing to listen to anything, and to
nod his head sympathetically at in
tervals. provided his host furnishes
pate de fois gras and Neuvc Cliquot
1906, which things. reader. are so ex-
pensive in Paris that only prOpagan-
dists feel justified in buying them. and
] often wonder how the national eN-
cheQuers of Montenegro and the King
of the Hedjaz stand the strain.
Panhandlers at home seek to look
ragged and woebegone. to excite
compassion. They sidle up, they
place themselves in your way. un-
obtrusively but unmistakably. Far
different are the methods of the
political panhandler. He dresses
well. He does not sidle up to any
body. but retreats into far corners
and looks mysterious. When he
sees a propagandist in the offing he
looks more mysterious still. Upon
his ability to look mysterious. to
convey without speaking the i'm
preston that he has just been made
the recipient of unutterable conf
dences by Col. House, depends his
success as a panhandler. Not every
American can do it. l have seen it
tried. seriously and in fun. by
Americans who look so innocent of
knowledge or guile that no prOpa-
gandist would look at them twice.
will now describe, from OBJ
servation. the method by which the
successful panhandler obtains his
dinner He sees the prOpagandist
and looks more mysterious. The
propagandlst approaches him with
all the vile and circumpection en-
ployed by a college boy who pro-
poses to pick up a pretty girl in a
lobby The propagandist, with
wealth of deprecatory gesture, begs
a match, or ventures upon re-
mark concerning the weather. The
propagandist. be il observed, speaks
always in English of varying de-
grees of excellence; Americans in
Paris fortunately for most of them,
are always assumed ignorant Of
any language save their own.
By the sir with which he replies,
Yes. very wet" the panhandler
Conveys to his awed interlocutor
the impression that at the very
least he has influence with the sec
retary of somebody in the Hotel
Crillon.
Other kinds of panhandlers have
hard luck stories ready on their
lips. but the political panhandler
may be as truthful as George
Washington. He never tells q lie,
for no prapagandist would be so
tactless as to ask an American what
he might be doing in this town. The
propagandist infers, from the man.
ner of the panhandler. that he is,
or may be. a person with influence
himself. or a person who knows
somebody with influence. The pam
handler says nothing to disabuse
the propagandist OF this conception.
When the dinner invitation comes