Why do you think joe needs to know what is happening in his own neighborhood

Telling about the scarce of money with the federal debt because of the earthquake of San Francisco tells the readers about the idea that the story is of the 1900s time in New York.

Explanation:

The gift of the magi is one of the most famous stories written by O. Henry. O. Henry did not allude to the historical period in a direct way in this story and the reason for this is that the relation ship between many of the characters in the story is timeless.

But the readers get a hint about the time and the place of the story that it is in New York and of the time period in 1900s because that was the time when money was scare with the federal debt because of the San Francisco earthquake.