Evening star., 1930-12-15
BY VINCENT TUTCHING.

| DI N1NS6NI IU1CHlNG.
If the street corners, apples and Gus.
toners only hold out, Washington
army of unemployed men before Ions
may be reduced to a struggling rem
nant of idle ones who don't want work
| anyway, or who have too much pride
to enter sidewalk trade or who haven't
yet heard the good news.
Two days OF successful plunging in
! the unemployed Apples market have
| impelled me to add my voice to the
growing throng of those who gleefully
| want to know how long this thing has
! been going on.
Statistics are not available at this
writing, but my experiences Friday and
Saturday as an alleged "unemployed'
| apple vender lead me to conclude that
II all the unemployed apples" so far
! sold have been effective in keeping their
respective doctors away, the medical
profession must be experiencing a bad
slump.
Offers 81 to Sc Daily.
1t is business which has no rent or
license fees or other overhead. beyond
| market basket and penciled card
board sign, but which offers profits OF
from 81 to $6 and more a day. And
that's more than some of the vendors
have been in the habit of making at
their previous pursuits.
From noon Friday, when, armed with
sign purporting to depict my plight
Cor that of the apples, for it read "Un-
employed Apples, 5 Cents''), made nv
unceremoniouS debut into the great
army of apple sellers, until 5 pm. Sat-
urday, when relieved myself of the
peggar attire 1 had adopted, more for
dlSgulSe than effect in this apple-vend-
ing job, / netted a sum in the neigh
borhood Of So. had sold out by $50
pm. Friday and returned to the Job
next morning at $780,
The apple seller makes his base of
operations wherever he chooses, in most
cases, out OF courtesy for his fellow
worker, selecting vacant corner. AS
70 racEeteerlng, failed to scent even
Semblance of it during my two davs
on the job No vending license was
necessary, and no proof of my unem-
ployed status was asked.
without eXaggeration, the average
newly graduated college man has noth-
ing on the man selling apples TODAY.
from a monetary viewpoint, and that the
profession" is attractive is evidence
by the fact that it draws not only un-
employed, but also some of the poorly
remunerated employed and large per-
centage OF what are known as "f1oaters, 4"
orlItlng Knights of the road, who stop
over to make expenses" before moving
along to the next town.
When I took up my first stand at
pennsylvania avenue and Ninth street a
lew minutes before noon Friday, must
CONFESS presented a paragon of shah
olness, and must have incited more syn-
pathy than appetite for apples in effect
ing my sales. Minus an overcoat and
WIN growth of beard on my coun-
tenance, was attired In a pair of black
trousers Two inches too long for me
and the light tan coat and slouch hat
certainly had seen their day.
Apples Cost s2.25 for 70.
The apples I displayed on my initial
venture l had procured at a cost Of
S225 Tor case of 72. They were of
the Roman beauty variety and, retaiIed
at 5 cents each, would bring $3.50, or a
proht OF $1.35 on the case. Within two
hCIrS OF the time purchased them I
had sold out all but 10 and returned to
Center Market to replenish my supply.
While do not believe established re-
tail fruit dealers of the city have risen
in organized opposition to the "unem-
ployed apple" vender, I am convinced
that there is at least one who is not
wholly sympathetic to their cause.
1t all happened when, peddling at
Ninth and e streets, lady placed an
order for five apples.
But l must have them in a bag"
said she. At the outset, I had failed
TO provide myself with paper bags, and
lack OF them, I asked her to wait
whilst I procured one. Glancing hur-
riedly abo 1t my gaze fell upon a deli
cateSsen store, and, without paying
much attention to the goods on sale
there, dashed inside and asked a man,
evidently the proprietor, if he would
let me have a paper bag. The bags
were hanging on a nail just inside the
door. and my hand was already on
them, only awaiting his assent.
why you want da bag? he asked.
why, just sold lady some apples,
and l want to put them in bag for
her." 1 blurted out
Perhaps it was the look in his eye, or
1t might have been the menacing grim
ace of his countenance that enabled me
to leave this particular store just little
bit ahead of an extended arm whose
fingers sought to clutch the collar of
my coat AS / ran out / caught
fieeting glance Of big red apples in a
display window.
My inquisitors we're many, mostly
joblesS chaps inquiring how well Jared
at the work, where I procured the
apples, and if I needed a permit, etc.
"Buddies" Advise OvercOat.
My questioners varied from "buddies"
in the apple selling field, who stopped
to ask about business and advise me
to get an overcoat, as it was getting
cold to sympathetic old ladies who
wanted to know just how the unem-
ployed apple helped the unemployed
A "big-shot, small-toWn tangerine
king" thumbs in armholes and putting
big fat cigar, outlined TO me the
great potentialities in the tangerine re-
failing business and tried to induce me
into working for him. He had six or
seven street sellers, he told me, who
were making $4 to 81 day selling tan
gerines, and he would pay me 20 cents
on the dollar for all sold.
The second case of apples I procured
cost me $3.50 and were of the Stayman
Winesap variety, 80 TO the case. They
filled almost to overfowing the two
difficulty that l proceeded up Pennysl-
vania avenue past the Post Office and
the District Building in the general
direction of the Treasury. I stopped
at Fourteenth street and Pennsylvania
avenue on the way for my first sale out
| Of the second case and continued up
TO a stand at Fourteenth and F streets.
| in front of the Willard Hotel Business
was poor on this corner, so / continued
along r street n Fifteenth, and thence
on to point on Pennsylvania avenue
and Madison place.
remained at this location until after
o'clock, when I moved up to the
| corner of Vermont avenue and H street,
| believing that the Government employees
at the Veterans Bureau leaving work at
4:30 might help my sales considerably.
l In this I was more or less disc rYoiatad