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Show A Beggar's Philosophy A New York policeman the other day arrested a decrepit, seedy-looking beggar who sat on a stoop asking passers-by for money. Searching the man's pockets, the policeman found .$170; indignant, he culled him a "Bowery bum." When the beggar was arraigned in court he protested the eP''et- a hum he said heatedly. "I've got $20,000 in the bank, and that's more money than this policeman ever saw in his life. He insulted me and I demand an apology'.' The court, it appears, lifted its eyebrows at this and sentenced sen-tenced the beggar to six months in jail. Furthermore, he did not get his apology. In this age, when the possession of money serves to gloss over, in the public mind, whatever defects a man's character may'have, we probably ought not to be too hnrd on this man. But the little story is interesting, jllustn.li ng the lengths to which some men are willing to go to n.;.ke money. Self-respuct Self-respuct can hardly live in a man who t,ots evi.ry ivn! he has by whining for it on the street corners, acwvlint' rebuffs and insults by the dozen. And self-respjct, I'.jV tlu: average person, is the one thing without which life is unendurable. Yet this ragged beggar's scale of values was so topsy-turvy, apparently, that he not only was able to dispense with his self- respect; he was able to invent a new one, whereby th worlds "Bowery bum" from a policeman became a bitter insult. His viewpoint, unfortunately, isn't exactly unique. Beggar, worthless panhandler, unashamed cadger though he was, he was fortified always by the thought that he had $20,000 in the bank. No man with that much money could be wrong. The possession of bank' books was an unfailing salve to wounded self-esteem. When called a bum he could remonstrate, remon-strate, "But I can't be a bum I have $20,000." Haven't you heard that sort of philosophy before? Oh, surely. Has a certain rich oil magnate who concealed wrongdoing wrong-doing by public servants and lied to a senate committee been dropped by any of his clubs or lost caste with his associates? Not he. He is very rich. We're pretty familiar with that viewpoint. The idea that practically any course of action can be justified if it brings in the cash is widely held. It's easy enough for us to see the absurdity of it when the central figure is a panhandler. We're more apt to miss the point, though, if it's a multi-millionaire. Money does talk. Sometimes we let it drown out everything every-thing else. |