Nothing is free. Back in the not-so-olden days they would throw you in prison for not paying your debts. In fact, the last addition to Moyamensing prison - where Bukowski was held for 14 days - was a "Debtor's Apartment." People in the U.S. and UK were always being thrown into debtor's prison 100 years ago. Whether they still did that in the 1950's is unlikely (though into the 1960's my mother would say things like, "You're going to run us into the poor house!" to my step father...but that's another story).So not even the Charity Ward is for free!