Beijing took some heat in the press for sweeping its streets of the homeless before the Olympic circus came to town, but China's government isn't the only one trying to banish the disadvantaged from places where visitors tread.

According to the main Atlanta newspaper, the Journal-Constitution, cops have been trawling the streets this month dressed as tourists, hoping to catch panhandlers in the act of rustling up money. As of last week, 44 beggars have been arrested.

One of the police commanders in town explains that the frequency and intimidating style of local begging has gotten so bad that it's annoying tourists and scaring them away. And because most tourists who feel accosted by beggars don't return to town to testify, the city had to resort to using officers posing as tourists so that there would be someone around to tell it to the judge. The decoys are even rigged with hidden cameras.

Atlanta, which passed an ordinance three years ago that banned verbal panhandling in a restricted downtown area near the Georgia Aquarium, is far from the only city to place limits on begging. In the Peachtree City, beggars can usually get by silently holding a sign that asks for cash. But ask "aggressively" -- the interpretation, like the one for obscenity, is fluid -- and it's a crime.

Riding the New York subway, one tends to become somewhat inured to human misery. On any given day, the average subway rider will be subjected to several loud requests for money, complaints about social services, veiled threats of violence, and tear-filled cries for mercy. While I am not a naturally hard-hearted man, I soon had to learn to put on my stone face when I dealt with beggars. To put it bluntly, even if I only gave each one a quarter, I would soon be bankrupt. Beyond that, I started getting a little irritated. After all, I was working for eight hours a day, so why couldn't they?

On the other hand, there is one group that I will always give money to: the buskers. Many days, my train ride is punctuated with Mariachi music, stand-up comedy, magic acts, feats of gymnastic skill, homeless doo-wop groups, and other entertainments that make the trip a lot shorter. My wife and I have developed a basic rule: if a beggar makes our ride home a little more enjoyable, he or she gets whatever we can spare. In the end, this seems like a fair trade.