The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-03-01
PLUCK OF GREAT
ARMY OF JOBLESS
AMAzES MINTfRE
One of Idle Caravan Had
Two Cars and Fine
Homie 2 Years Ago.
By o. o. MCINTYRE.

NEW YORK, Feb. 2S-Manhat-
tan's jobless caravan has made its
pitch down along the waterfront
near South street giving to this
colorful section all the medley, Of n
gypsy camp. Street fires blaze to
cook the Muiligan stew and long
Into the night the unemployed sit
about the glowing embers. pulling
at pipes and brooding.
Many of them sleep under the
tent-shaped advertising signs they
carry during the day and Others
wrap themselves In newspapers and
huddie together like sheep in a
storm. Early In the p,orning they
trudse sieepiiy to the docks to
oreakiast on the rotting fruit cast
Quite few are the chronic har-
dened idlers-professional bohoes
who seek the big centers in winter
and the open road in summer-hnt
the vast majority earnestly hmm
work. Charity refugees are filled
and the waterfront army repre-
sents the overflow.
In the non-descript gathering are
several actors. small-part men
stranded in the provinces. who
came back to town to face the
theater job famine. In a shed near
steamship warehouse by lantern
light they offer impromptu per-
formances to the taterdemalion
audiences.
Two Wall Street brokers were
found in the aggregation the other
Notwithstanding financiers who
were caught in market slumps ana
made penniless with the tick of the
tape. OF course, the agitators are
there with their stock arguments
against the government, the idle
rich at Palm Beach, Fifth avenue
jewellers and greedy capitalism.
Yet in the main the jobless are
representative of a hopeful body of
men, who. caught in the fell clutch
OF circumstance, are accepting their
temporary plight with philosophic
cheerio. When they sing, the tunes
are mostly patriotic and religious
and the wilmer is not welcome.
Two years ago. one man told me.
he had two cars and home in
Pelham. His wife is in Europe with
two daughters. He was forced into
bankruptcy by quick turn in the
SILK market. They have letters of
credit to last them until May" he
said. "and by Shat time I expect to
be on my feet. Every day I sneak
up to big hotel and write them a
letter about how well I'm getting
along"
1t is announced that the parade
of New Workers who have never
beat their fare on the subway has
been called off. One IL sick and
the other does not want to walk
alone.
For years the famous Essex Mar
ket Police Court has had its tradi-
tional rush OF Monday morning
drunks. Mondays the court was
filled with bloated, leering. bury
faces of unkempt men. Yet last
Monday there was not a case on the
calendar. Prohibitionists point to
II as significant sign of better
ment and those who oppose the dry
law say that II is proof that the
poor cannot get liquor. but that the
rich drink themselves into mellow
happiness from one end of town to
the other. Sixteen midnight supper
clubs were raided the same week.
and highballs at $3.50 apiece were
plentifully in evidence.
Tom Willard. the Shanghai pub
Usher, appeared at his club the
other afternoon with a tan beaver
derby and as bright and merry as
it was, it did not dispel Millard's
gloom. He had picked it up in an
avenue hat shop and before paying
for it or inquiring the price he had
let his valet, who was anxious to
get away. go home with 1t. The
price was $40. Willard asked that
he be permitted to go to his bank
nearby, as he did not have quite
enough money. He returned and
paid for the hat in pennies.