UNION OF WON’T WORKS

Hokitika Guardian, 12 September 1927, Page 1

UNION OF WON’T WORKS

BEGGING AS A CLOSE PROFESSION. Tli© strongest, trade union in the world has just been formed in China. From time immemorial the loathsome, leprosy beggars! who pursue the unwary White man in the native quarters have been credited with belonging to guilds. "When the numerous beggars of Shanghai lately held a conference they decided upon forming a trade union on approved 'Western lines. The Chinese beggar is an even more degraded outcast than the Indian fakir, who besided asking for alms makes some pretension of a kind of religious mysticism and practices oscetism. His Chinese brother profesional on the other hand was the original of the 1.W.W., or “I won’t work.” Ho is without any devotion to religion and is unwillingly supported by the mas of people. CASH OR As much a part of the social system as the unemployed in the West he and ■ his kind levy blackmail upon whole towns and villages. If the shopkeeper would be free of a beggar cowering at his doorstep he must daily throw him a few cash before lime will proceed to the next victim. Woe to those who refuse to .give them money, for a touch by the hand of a. beggar may mean leprosy for the passer-by. Those who become beggars in China must have some bodily infirmity, real or pretended.

MUST BE CRIPPLED. They undergo an infinite number of physical penances to attract attention and sympathy. Some bend a knee and may keep it in that position for a life-time, allowing the muscles to become fixed and withered, so that finally the leg cannot be straightened. Others will extend an arm in the air and are said to be able at will to .stop the circulation of the blood. Because business is not as good as it was formerly, Chinese clerks of St. Nicholas have formed the union to keep out “amateurs’’ and those guilty of “unprofessional” conduct, such as l>eriodically consenting to be rescued by some missionary or refusing to pay “squeeze” to the Beggar "King*.