Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-28

| WASHINGTON, March 2S.-Pro~
! fessional beggafs in Washington are
packing their grips and departing
! by the hundreds for more fertile
fields in which to ply their trade.
The white tickets of the Gospel
| Mission have worked the trick and
the National Capital is no longer the
heaven of the professional pan
handler.
| The tickets, tiny strips of card
| board good for a nights lodging and
three square meals at the mission 5
local office, have been distributed
in thousands to the business and
professional men of the city. APP
preached by a beggar with the usual
lplea for the price ''of a cup of cof-
fee, mister" or "a bed for the night,
| boss" the possessor of the tickets
| hands out one in lieu of the desired
coin. If the begsar is in serious need
OF either food or lodging he cashes
| the ticket at the mission and all is
we'll. If, on the other hand, he is a
member of the country's vast army
| of professional heggars, he throws
| the ticket in the gutter the second
| the donors back is turned and goes
away cursing the Gospel Mission and
| tai of his kind.
| The Gospel Mission has collected
| sta tistics proving that there are over
| q million professional beggars at
work east or the Mississippi, men
who make a livelihood by preyinS on
the sympathy Of the casual passer-
| by. Practically every touch" in
the parlance of the trade, is success
full The victim may doubt in his
own mind the sincerity of the plea
| but his natural sympathies and a
! fear that the request might, after ALL
| be genuine prevents his refusing the
| quarter on dime asked.
| "A professional panhandler' says
| the Rev. c. w. Cory, superintendent
of tho Washington branch of the
mission and author of the white
! ticket scheme, will bamboozle the
/ public out of from IS to $40 a day
without any trouble or particular CT
| fort. He may even make from three
| to four times that mucn. The money
/ is then spent on bad whiskey or
| dope and at the close of the day he
Turns to some charitable institution
for the necessary meal and bed
The white tickets were first used
| by MI. Cory in Wheeling, West Nir-
Einia, at the time of the coal strike
| Of 1921. With twenty thousand men
thrown out of work the professional
beggar, who had probably never
done a days real work in his life,
found the city particularly easy. Mr..
Cory, then in charge of the Wheel
ing branch OF the Gospel Mission,
devised the white ticket scheme as
a means OF keeping track of those
really in need and of clearing the
city of unworthy mendicants, The
lsystem according to the police OF
Wheeling who had been vainly strlv-
ing to settle the problem, worked
like a charm and in less than
Imonth the vast army of panhandlers
who had descended upon the city
like flies had silently departed
| Easy Picking Here
Washington since the days or the
war has been the favorltc hunting
ground for the professional beggars
give a man a worn army coat and
his career Is made. All the assets
he will then need to make com
Portable living In Washington with
out bothering to work Is a pitifu
tale OF injuries received "over there
and a hard hearted employer who
Ihsd given the old before-the-wsl
: lob to some 'dirty Stacker" or ever
LESS than that. ''Girnmie a Quarter
boss, for a cup of mocha and 2
, sandwich" generally brings the de-
sired results.
The Mission does not ask tina
such requests be refused but that th'
tickets be substituted foC the actua
money. When you give worthy
man a quarter. they argue, you hell
him but when you give him one o
; 1.-THE Missions white tickets you hell
him even more, for nowhere ,s'
can he get so much for his quartel
as at the Mission relief office, Ant
when the quarter goes TO the un
worthy beggar you not only contrib
ute toward his career of idleness
hut you actually take that much he'll
away from the one who may need It
The Mission, once the white ucke
lie turned in, is not content merel.
with providing the unfortunate witt
AIsomething to eat and place Il
, sleep If he wants work they have
an arrangement with local employ
4 nent agency whereby they can flint
him something to do.
The white tickets were first intro
taR0A IA HeeaiRgton pq KAnpax'
Z = -ass-sPt - Ai-ats