The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-11-21
TRAMpING AND TRAMPs.

TRAMPlRG AND TRAMPS,
The evil known under the above
name was unknown practically before
the war But within the last few yeara
IL has grown to such wonderful propor
lions as TO form one Of the principle
problems ofdllliculteolutionwlh which
local aud general state governments
have 10 deal, Ia Pennsylvania these
unemployed wanderers have lormouths
and years been u terror TO the rural dis
lriois, and altogether too formidable for
the authorities, II would be simple
affair If these men were only the unom-
ployed Of II single district or Of season
Of slack work IN mine or forge, But
taken ms they are really, they con
stituto tho Grst signs of that society
disintegration which IL but tho logical
effect Of the extravaganza born OF the
war, and the wretchod policy pursued
by the government since
Much of this trouble Is due TO the
wretched, thrltloss character Of the
tramps themselves, and much moro is
due to the imprognation Of the popu'
lace with those dangerous communistic
theories which have been 30 industri
ously disseminated by the omssarios Of
the parent society in Paris, but II great
doal is due TO the stagnation of business
over production and the absence Of a
market for American manufactures
We know not how IL IL in other states
but in Texas there is no reason why q
stout able.bodied man should be idle
for day, or hu ngry for an hour, There
is work for all, and at prices that
twenty-five years ago would have been
considered munfcent.
Now, then, if this distress was actual
ly caused by n scarcity Of work, it would
be the province Of law, and of society
too TO bear and Iorbenr but whore il Is
plainly due to n veteran Discrimination
to work, or to the baleiul teachings Of
communism it is equally plainly the
duty Of the government to root it out,
to put in force stringent vagran law
and demand its enforcement against
this class with vigorous severity, 1t is
better to take reprossiye steps now than
to shed blood hereafter. The recent
labor troubles in the north developed
one tact clearly and that is The real
laborcrs OF the country, the men who
TO its work and drudgery, were not
among those who burned, pillAged and
robbed There is something ennobling
in true honest labor. At all events the
man 50 engaged, and who eats as the
result of such labor, has no time to cul-
tivate the degree OF hardened villainy
necessary to enable him to kill and
burn for tho mere sake of gain, The
largest riots and most disastrous acts
were had in those cities maintaining
the largest number of unemployed
men, yagabonds and roughs, Here is
the keynote of the solution, Deal with
these people in such way as to force
them to work or leave the country
Perhaps no state in the union has q
purer and moro uncontaminated popu,
lation, all things considered, than has
Texas. Lett be tho province Of our
state government and local authorities
to keep it so. Let us either force these
foreign tramps TO 50 to work, or drive
them out OF the state by stringent legis-
lotion rigidly and severely applied
This, if it were done, would settle the
evil, and would at the same time be but
an act of simple justice to other laborers
as well as employers.
1t cannot be denied but that if our
negro population becomes infected with
the dangerous theory Of communism
and nomadic habits of life the situation
here will take on many features of evil
portent unknown at the north. let lis
guard against the possibility