Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-03-17
bEGGARS FIND GOLD
NINE IN NEW YORK
Extract Thousands of Dollars
Nightly From Richest Field
In the World.


Professional beggary in New York.
particularly in the Times Square dis
trict. has. gradually increased during
the last several weeks until 1t Is car
ricd on today on greater scale than
ever before, according to reports to
the Joint Application Bureau In this
city and to the Federation or jewish
Charities.
Thousands OF dollars nightly. it is
estimated, are extracted by deft beg
ears from the Times Square crowds.
II is perfectly easy for an active beg
gar or "panhandler" to earn IS an
hour or more, whereas earnings up to
$50 an hour have been reported, ac-
cording to Roy +. Gates. the execu-
tive OF the Joint Application Bureau.
who is considered TO be the greatest
authority ON ''panhandling" in this
country.
In order to test begging conditions
and TO estimate the number of pro-
fcssionals at work. Mr.. Gates frequent
ly does a little "panhandling" himself.
AZ his last experiment several weeks
ago az Herald Square he collected
$3.50 I'm forty minutes. Conditions are
nearly the same in other big cities, &C
cording 10 Mr.. Gates. who on visit to
Boston last Saturday "panhandled
for an hour on a street corner and
picked up 1891. In these experiments
in New York City Mr.. Gates has won
the friendship of hundreds in the craft
and reports that not one in ten Is
honest In his hard luck story and that
Il is invariably n mistake for n ciu-
zen to assist any ''panhandler."
Il know one professional who has 8
good home in New York and COM
mutes daily" said Mr.. Gates. 81 dc
not believe that his business IS known
where he lives. After trying out many
occupations he found begging the
most profitable and stuck to It. I am
not sufficiently in his confidence &c
know Just what his methods are, but
j think he makes changes In his
clothes in the morning when he ar
rives here and before he returns Il
his country home, where he is ap.
parently regarded as solid and sub
stantial citizen.
II know a one-legged beggar whC
works the South Ferry district who ha.
one Of the best stocked liquor cellar.
in New York. There are hundreds o
others who have made fortunes at il
The average beggar, however, has no
the eense to save anc most Of then
get rid OF their money as fast as the,
obtain it,
Times Square now harbors the elit
Of the mendicants of the East VIII,
have applied modern publicity method
TO their professions. Most of then
Just got out of the hospital after be
ing in some disaster which has figures
largely in the news. Many limp o
have their arms in sings as result
Of the Washington theatre disaster
Hundreds OF others just recovered from
the pneumonia or the influenza. !
few date their bandages and crutche
20 the Wall street explosion. A new
disaster or epidemic changes = thou
sand stories.
Something like a gold fever ha
brought the beggars from many sec
tions to New York City, in the man
ner of the migration 10 Alaska afte
the Klondike strike. Times Squar
Is the greatest begging ground in IN
world for a variety of reasons.
the first place the theatre crowd q
night is the biggest and richest o
earth. In the second place, it IS s
thick that a beggar can conceal hin