Why might Malcolm respect the fact that Fewclothes was “not on anybody’s welfare”?

FewClothes had nothing but old stories yet he sat at the bar with dignity. He took no government charity despite having nothing and being crippled with arthritis.

I wish you could have seen him, pleasantly "high" with drinks, take his seat with dignity -- no begging, not on anybody's Welfare -- and open his napkin, and study the day's menu that I gave him, and place his order. I'd tell the cooks it was Fewclothes and he'd get the best in the house. I'd go back and serve it as though he were a millionaire.