The Washington herald., 1922-08-06
LONDON GREATEST !! ]
CITY FOR BECGARSl /
IN ENTIRE WORLD
Has 800 Times as Many
As Ply Trade in
New York.
IGNORED BY POLICE
''Spoofing" Reduced to Fine
Art-Maimed Ex-Soldiers
Seek Aims.

LONDON. Aug. g. - London has
often been called the City Of Beg
gars
There are more vagrsnts in Lon
4on than in any other capital city
In the world
For every one beggar in New
York. London has 500; for every
two in Paris, London can produce
100; and when IL comes down to
crippled malformed beggars who
display sores. lcers. bandaged
limbs. and sightless. staring eyes
in the hope of receiving money,
London has them by the hundred
score where New York has them
hardly at all.
Beggary il an industry in London.
There are besgars who would
rather beg than work 1t is easier
to beg than to work and in many
cases more lucrative.
Begging. from the legal point Of
view. Is against the law. A man
given In charge to a policeman for
begging Is liable to Imprisonment
But no man ever gave a beggar In
charge.
IL a policeman sees a beggar So
Letting aims. he is perfectly justi-
ned in taking him into custody.
But then a policeman never does
see a beggar begging-because he
locks the other way.
On most every sidewalk In the
great metropolis there are beggars.
Some of them are pavement artists,
mping on the stone paving. their
poor daubs of sunsets and ship
wrecks and scenes. from famous
battles depicting the Thin Red
Line" of bandaged. bleeding soldiers
In their scarlet tunics. Others are
crippled beings who sell matches
and pipe cleaners. Others who take
their seats with a monkey by their
side who performs tricks.
Beggars have been part of British
life ever since kings have been
crowned in Westminster Abbey.
When London was a little bit of a
market town with thatched rooted
houses and leper holes at the church
doors. she, was as famous for her
beggars<as she is today. -
Begging Is an art in London. Your
true London beggar knows to a
nicety who will respond to his sup
plications and who will not Con-
sequently. there are in London beg
gars who can be classified into
distinct types In all these types
there are genuine beggars. but a
large percentage are pure spool
| ers."
The speof Beggar..
Spool begars find London a happy
hunting ground. By spool is meant
that type of vagrant who adopts :.
part which he plays daily for his
living.
There Is in London. first of all.
be besgar with the Musings arm
At least it looks as II IL were nis.-
Ing, but underneath his coat IL Ia
tucked away marvellously out of
sight This type generally plays the
part of the war shattered soldier.
The much tattooed sailor" berear
limps on a heavy. malformed boot
The, shot 1T me in the foot. sir.
an I amt bin able to. do no work
BLIND bessars are mot so com:
mon, but London has more than
her fair chance of the worlds
quota. Recently a prominent Amer
lean gave a BLIND beggar in Lon
don q spurious half crown. The
blind" man cursed him.
All sorts of super contortiontsts
who could tif they were not too
lazy) make a good living on the
vaudeville stage. crawl and creep
Tor a living on the streets of Lon
don- You may see, some terrible
Individual. crooked. squirting, filtn-
lily dirty. with great apparent, la bor.
painfully drawing an apology for
plate Of fruit on the sidewalk-
watch him, when thef dark steals
down, rise and walk sharply away
into the might. hale and hearty.
The art Of taking sores and uI-
GERS comes as easily to the spuri-
Pus beggar Of London as knocking
shells on peanuts. A few daubs
OF green paint surmounted with
soft. greasy. yellow looking soap
viii serve him well for elbow ulcer
or neck sore--sure dollar pullers
IL ever there comes an old woman
with her: purse in her hand.
New Type After War.
Apart from fake beggars and
hoboes. London has developed a
new type OF seeker, after aims sine.
the war. This Is the -out of work
ex-soldier, who gains his bread by
forming a little band. with com
rades In similar stress as himself
seaho AZ street corners
and play tunes on secondhand
army band instruments-oIda army
marches and tunes. such as Zip
perary"-the marching song of the
British army in France.
On the sidewalk where these
bands play. the pals" of the bands
men walk up and down shaking
money boxes for your aims.
Flute players abound outside the
pubs" Many of them play the
old time tunes which the fifers OF
wellington and Nelson played-
Others hand out the old airs to
which the streets of Nell Gwyne's
time must have echoed.
Police do not include the flute
players. and the gentlemen win
kornets and barrel organs as beg
gars. They are licensed people a nd
pay due tax to the London County
Council.
statistics show that out of eyerv
hundred beggars in London, at least
6S per cent need not beg. being
healthy: 10 per cent can do MOTH
ing else for a living, and the re-
mainder are genuine wrecks of the
sluns,
HyattsUiue Library