The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-01-31
ROBBERY AS PRACTIcED
IN SUNNY LOS ANGELES
Tourists Have to Dig Down Every
Minute If They Want to Stay
In California


beng banded out to the visitor TO
California by the legalized highway
robbers vino conduct the va ious and
different establ shments catering to
the more or less material wants of the
stranger within our gates
1T is with a chuckle of ghouiish
glee ] see that long-haircd, long-whis-
kered pirate from Iowa soaked" four
dollars a day for room in my modest
hotel, VIII lie | am allowed to inhabtt
one exactly ! Ike it for 80 per week or
cou sc tn does not give me back my
$3.50 per 100 this porch climber took
away from me for the last batch OF
corn l bought; but 1t helps wonder
fully in feelings and according to the
Christian Science doctrine that's all
there Is to It anyway.
Also and likewise is it sat 'sfactton
TO notice the anguished look on the
face OF the eYegg'' who smilingly took
$50 OF my hard.earned coin for the
last pair of shoes j bought as he re-
luctantly 6 yes up $3.50 for rather
indiffe ent steak.
And that tailor-who by good rights
ought to be serving a sentence OF 10
years in jail for what he did to me
during the negotiations for my last
suit--well you should have heard the
"holler he put up when he was charg-
I'd ond whole dollar for moving his
trunk a few blocks from the railroad
station TO this before mentioned mod
az hal,ftofinn ne r,tr1 ra-
jo'ceth my soul to see the EXPIRE ssion
of mental angu sh ON the face of that
sho t-change artist who d.spenses
groceries and SIGH" back East, when
he Is assessed IS cents for a hair
cut This latter for of "diss patton"
however. does not seem TO be very
popula- style OF indoor sport, to Judge
by apprenticeship among the
visitors from the middle West
All in all, am hay ng the tine Of
my sweet young life, watching this
'holp up game out here and while |
may occasionally get slightly nicked"
myself by some of these bandits.
am for them"--strong. and hope they
continue to do things to all and
sundry OF these profItee who are
now invading this state on their Ill
gotten gains.
Never IN the history OF California
has there been anyth ng known to
equal the rush Of tourists this win
ter and everyone here who has any
thing TO sell or rent is gong after them
4 m NOBLE ambition to retire to
'iM llionaires how" when the season
ends.
Hotels. boarding houses and Dom
ng houses, all are crowded
to the roof Restaurants, cafe
terias and lunch rooms packed
street cars, auto stages, railroad ira ns
damned TO suffoc ation--and still
they come. All transcontinental
trains are run in tn ee or four sec.
tions-every section filled TO the linn t.
The so-called Middle West Iowa,
Kansas. Nebraska and VI ssouri-must
look Ike a deserted mining camp, to
Judge by the number OF their inhab-
itants one sees here. Each section
he's its own fayorite Ca iforn corner
and unon arrival in Los Angeles at
once makes for that spot. Iowa, for
instance, has claimed Long Beach for
Is own Il is a safe bet 10 walk up
70 almost anyone of the thousands OF
long haired, long-whlske ed ind. viduals
one runs into al every turn at Long
Beach and ask: "How's tn ngs in Ma
son City, His reply comes instant
81: Great, had the biggest crop OF
corn ever tn s year" The next one
greet with How'd you leave tn ngs
in Ames?' and he counters, wall
things has been darned quiet there
since Jimm Watson left the Univer-
sity but crops was mighty good
with us."
They are all out here, they all have
money, but Ye Gods-how they hate
TO part W tn 1t. ! was in restau ant
last week and seated at the next table
was one Of this bewhiskered tribe who
had hair enough On h face to build
fine mattress and hair enough If.
over to re-upholster the Tin Lizzie"
When he finished and got his check he
put up q roar that could have been
heard n San Diego, and the perfectly
ladylike" prcprietress responded to
his k ok with-"Why don't you 60 back
10 your corn fields, you long-haired
tube? You came out here W IN one
shirt on your back and 81 in your jeans
and you haven't changed either one
since YOU have been here.
Hndreds--yes thousands--are dong
exactly as this woman suggested, go
ing back home hack where they Can
dig down nto the family salt pork bar.
rel or unlock a home cured ham,
bring up dish OF "spuds, rustic a
hatfull of eggs and once more enjoy
sG@1re meal without feslng as though
they we e shedding their life's blood
when asked to settle.
After hay ng slowed away what
would have cost them the price of
two bushels OF corn hero they will
lay their angu shed soul to rest on a
perfectly good husk mattress and pro
coed to think up some plausible lie to
account for the cutting short of what
was to have been a three-months' stay
not beng willing to admit the real
cause was the near mortal wounds
they were daily reee wing in that most
vital part of their anatomy-their
pocketbook.
# ederick NJ Scott of Brandon. in
lotter to Rutland Herald.
49,. ga Ass, rJ..A,es;ar.