The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-23
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC }. HAsKN. Director.
washington. D. @.
THE HOME OF SIMPLE SOULS.

/ New York City, Feb. 20. = New
I York, contrary to its reputation for
: cold bleeded sagacity, is. one of the
/ simplest, meekest and most gullible
| of towns. For all it's bland airs of
sophistication, it is as easily i'm
j pressed by display as any savage chief
i tain, and it is constantly failing" for
all sorts of hokus-pokus that would
| scarcely deceive child.
| It is estimated that 40 per cent of
all the questionable stock floated in
I this country during the past five years
has been purchased by New Workers.
| It is we'll known that they contribute
more every year to fake charities than
| the citizens of any other metropolis;
/ that they support the most extensive
army of frauds and beggars, and that
they pay the highest prices for the
most abominable service.
| The New Yorker likes to boast
about his city's superior cultural adj
! disparaging features. Thus, he fails
/ to tell you how he rides back and
forth to work like a packed sardine
/ in order to help the transit companies
| economic on trains; or how his chill
dren are getting only three hours
schooling daily because there is not
sufficient space in the schools to ac-
commodate them for full time He
makes no mention of the battered
condition of the pavements or of the
! large black rivers that flow down the
cutters in inclement weather and rem
i der the street crossings uncrossable,
even with the condescending permits
sion of a policeman. Presumably, he
pays taxes for and has vote concern
/ ing the upkeep of these things. but he
does not seem to mind if they are
neglected.
New York needs a Declaration of
! Independence" said an indignant
=. property owner recently, but it never
will be declared. It's too good ma
! tured. And to think that in~the mid
| die west where I came from they call
/ this a hard town! They ought to live
in it for awhile. Why, it's the easiest
town on earth. 1t will submit to every
imposition that's foisted upon it, and
/ smile encouragingly at its oppressors."
Bucket shops and Boobs.
| 1t is here in this wise and worldly
| borough of Manhattan that the bucket
| shop. fIourishes, annually robbing the
public of millions 1t is here that the
! fake promoter receives the most cor
/ dial welcome. During the war TINS
| was especially marked, and a great re-
p, vival of stock flotations occurred. in
which, according to one financial ex-
pert, gopher holes in the west were
capitalized as oil wells and a name
I
results of these gorgeous but fictitious
wartime enterprises are now, begin
ming to appear in the wholesale col
] lapse of bucket shops in Wall street
| and in the great flood of complaints
! that is sweeping into the New York
district attorneys office.
/ The New Yorker likes to pretend
! that while plenty of wolves may exist
/ in New York, the sheep upon which
they prey all dwell west of the Hud-
! son and south of the Battery. But
| the police records show that the larg-
est sheepfold is. right here within the
| city's boundaries and contains many
persons who are themselves supposed
to possess unusual business ability.
| "Only the other day." declared
police official, I'VE had the case of
I prosp erous business man who bought
! the Grand Central Terminal from a
| clever promoter. Honesti The guy
( owns three restaurants here, and he's
/ lived in New York for over ten years.
| but that didn't help him. He paid
/ S1,340 for the Terminal"
Paradise of PanhandIers.
While beggars have always reaped
a rich harvest here, it took the war
and the war drive to accustom New
Workers to solicitations for funds on
every street corner. During the whole
| length of the war, New York never
had any difficulty in going over the
/ top with it's contributions, whether the
campaign happened to be legitimate
one or not. Undoubtedly. the ma
/ iority of them were, but they brought
in their wake the inevitable host of
swindlers. For awhile anybody with
| a fictitious business card, a guarded
! Nhoney-boX and a pathetic plea for the
starving PatagonianS or Perslans
could raise enough money to keep
| himself in luxury for a couple OF
years. Even today, these unofficial
lappeals are often successful.
The other night, for example, a tall,
| broad-shouldered figure in amazing
1 feminine garb appeared in an elevated
waiting room. with small phono-
| graph, and placed it on the floor. In
a few minutes the waiting passengers
were listening to a jazz record and at
| the same time to an appeal for starry
| ing babies. The solicitor was dressed
in Spanish regalia. including a some
what tattered shawl and a cheap
Spanish comb which set off a. guam
tity of neatly dressed black hair. This
exotic appearance pleased the public,
and they gave generously to save the
/ babies, so that the contribution box
contained very nearly $40 when po
! liceman came along and gazed at the
photograph and the Spanish vision in
some establishment. Then he drew
nearer and gave a playful yank to the
neatly-dressed black hair. It came
off
Hello, John" said the policeman
calmly. IT thought that was you. Got
a new. game, 1 see. Last time I ran
| you in you were playin' lame down on
/ Forty-second street. How long have
/ you been here-20 minutes? Gosh,
s9.45 in 20 minutes! How the public
! does love a fraudi'
I Another beggar, recently arrested,
has been in the habit of earning a
very good living by throwing fits. His
| technique is something like this:
Choosing a Well-populated corner
! somewhere in the Bronx, he flops
carefully down on the pavement, emit
/ ting a loud groan. This act i'm
mediately draws a crowd, because,
contrary to popular opinion, New
1 Y ork pedestrians do not pass coldly
and indifferently on their way when
! something unusual happens. They
stop still in their tracks and eagerly
investigate it, just as people do in
smaller and presumably less sophisti-
Gated towns