Panhandlers

The article (“Middle-Class Backlash Hits at Panhandlers,” Part A, March 5) by David Treadwell is a good one.

If ever you consider assigning a follow-up, I suggest a reporter consult people who have spent time in Calcutta, Madras or Bombay. I’ve called at those places a dozen times in 30-some years, and I’ve been to American cities.

Homelessness and beggary have been as pervasive in India for centuries as they’ve come to be in the U.S. in the last decade. Indian policemen are a scroungy, indifferent lot, but though I’ve walked and walked in Indian cities I can’t remember being cursed, threatened or touched.

Perhaps another decade of kindness/gentleness will make American panhandlers properly listless.

LEO TRIANO

Oceanside