Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-13
PANHANDLING
PROFITABLE
IN THE CITIES
ny rREDERTC J. HAsK1N.

| perhaps the most lucrative thing
you can turn to Is panhandling
The stories of the incomes made by
1 peddlers of pencils. chewing gum
/ useless gewgaws generally, are ! ]
4 no means fables
Cities differ widely In the ways
of dealing with professional Grip
/ pies. In some cities they must OBJ
! tain licenses or suffer arrest. In
this way the police are given an
opportunity to investigate each
case and find out whether the
! cripple who applies for the privi-
/ lege of peddling on the streets
with his infirmity or deformity as
his main means of attracting
dimes, nickels and quarters, Is
really unable to make living In
some other way.
Just at this time the city OF
Washington is a haven for these
men. The police department has
tried to keep them ont of the
! downtown district, which. of
course, is the ground they prefer.
Unfortunately no law or police reg
ulation directly prohibits these
men from offering their wares for
! sale. Only a few days ago the
police We're directed to make some
arrests and see If the courts would
help to remedy the situation by inn
! posing fines or sentences in the
/ workhouse.
! The arrests were made and when
/ the cases came before the police
court, Judge Harrison decided that
! the men were not Migrants nor
beggars. The fact that they had
wares offered for sale, and that
they were able to show incomes
sufficient 70 lift them out of the
class of those having no visible
means Of support. IN the opinion of
the court, protected these pan
handlers from police interference.
The court decided that pencils Of
fered for sale, even though they
brought in ten or twenty-five times
their value, constituted legitimate
commerce.
Cure Now Being Sought.
A remedy for this situation In
Washington may come from draw
ing ND police regulations directly
prohibiting street selling in the
downtown section. 1t is believed
that the professional cripples,
rather than haunt the residence
district where the pedestrian traf-
fic is negligible compared with the
busy business part of the city,
would take their handsful of PEN
ellis and their woe-begone appear
ances to some more lenient city.
1t is understood that some such
regulation is in process Of drafting.
In the recent arrests made In
Washington Us test cases, one CT
the men had in his pocket be-
tween $50 and $50. another had
more than $65, and the third a con-
siderable sum of money. One man
arrested prior to this time for the
same offense had in his pocket
nearly $S5. In every case most OF
this money was in small change,
indicating to the police that 1t was
the income of not more than three
DAYS at the outside. and possibly
of only one day and evening. Cap
tain Brown, the police officer IN
charge of the downtown district,
conversing with one of these men,
said to him. "You probably make
q lot more money than ! dc" Inc
crippled panhandler. dressed IN the
rags of poverty, modestly ADMITTED
that this probably was true.
Here as elsewhere many OF these
men, since the war, have taken 10
wearing old, frayed uniforms OF
the United States army. usually,
however, taking great care that IN.
sigma of all sorts is removed. NO.
even the branch OF the supposed
searyice Is shown. once in q while
some strapptng, aDle-bodied tramp
dons a uniform and goes out TO
take n living away from the world
trying straight-out begging on the
plea that he is a former member
Of the A. Il. 4. who lost his jon
when he entered the army, has
been able to find nothing else to
do. and is reduced to his present
lowly state because OF these tac1s'
Few Real veterans Begged.
Some cities swarmed with these |
for months after the
armistice was signed. An invesu-
cation made by the war risk IN
bureau disclosed the fact
that there was scarcely a single
real ex-soldier among this army OF
beggars. A great many of them
were arrested, others were effee-
lively warned. and the practice has
about been abolished.
The crippled peddlar Of pencils
wearing a uniform makes a silent
appeal, as a rule, or IL he "hally-
hoos" his wares, does not mention
any former fancied state as q SOL
der OF the United States He Is
too clever to get into that trouble.
He counts upon the association or
the old uniform and the missing
leg in the minds of passers-by |
without directly proclaiming that |
he left the missing member IN
France or Cuba. AS 1t happens,
usually he is right.
The men of this kind, when
questioned by the local police, will |
confess to having lost the leg be-
cause OF a railroad accident or
some other way not in any way |
associated with war. This IS true |
Of nearly every one Of them.
Merchants object strongly to |
these men parking themselves on
the sidewalk in front of their |
places of business. but often are |
helpless. The same situation ex-
lists in regard to pushcart vendors
Of fruit and celery, and the side
walk dispenser of flowers. The
police tried and failed to force a
negro to give up selling flowers on
a busy corner in Washington, at |
the very doors of one Of the big
stores. The Judge be-
fore whom this man was hailed |
pointed out that he could not un-
der existing law find him guilty of
forbidden. This man
still occupies the same public
space, and does rushing business
TO return to the fake war vete-
rams, once in q while one of them
talks himself into trouble. This
q few months ago when
/ man wearing marine corps uni
form invaded restaurant. selling
bits of red, white and blue ribbon
Tor 25 cents each. He approached
everybody systematically, finally
hating for several minutes beside
! man In civilian clothes who
seemed deeply sympathetic. The