The Morning herald., 1877-07-23

pulsory employment. Of the wanderer and and,
recommends. : special session ofslhe Leyv
Court Court of euri coun,Yto considersihe whole
|ms'ter. ThisR akin to many of ,he bold.
and crude suggestions aof that jour'aals
The levy Co,rt~has popower to meddie
with the matter. 1t might order a bIg
s'one-breskiug establishment to be erected,
and waste our monev; but the tramp 1t
could NOT lay a. finger on. There il
provision in the constitution of Delaware
which forbids the Imprisonment ofa"y one,
rich or poor, editor or tramp, unless ar
rested for crime, tried'by jury, and sen-
tenced by court; hence, II is hard to see
80 long az haheas corpus is writ OF r'shl
how the tramp could be imprisoned At
hard labor without due process o! law.
Like many other things this tramp scare
is exaggerated, at least within our expert
ence. We lived for seven years on the
great highway between Philadelphia ard
this city, and never knew or heard OF a
tramp doing injury TO our place, or steals
ing from it cents worth OF anything.
We could not say as much OF the piiier-
erers who reside in the %. jgirbo'hood, aid
v rose th.fts show a knowledge Uf Lhe las
enirg, If the out-bu,Idngs and aeqnalnl-
suce will the dogs. We believe that the
Idle aud lazy OF the vicinity do most Il
the stealing, and then help the hue and
cry against The tramp to cover their own
crimes. 1t is idle to talk of curing the
the social disease we refer to by arresiing
and imprisouiug poor wanderers in search
of occupation or food. The tramp is
merely Il manifestation Of The disease
Deep down in the laws of this and other
S!ates---in the bowels Of our economic amd
Industrial system-the causes of rambling
mendic,y must be sought, and there treated.
II is absurd to attempt cure Of the evil
by the arres! of the poor wanderer. II he
i.powerIess, he is made so by the opera
ton of laws not of his making.
The disorganiza'ion of labor, resulting
from the introduction Of machinery, which
produce. temporary iGleness, until The dis
employed find new employ meut, or die in
poverty, is one of the main causes Of ihle-
ness. 1t must be observed that slowly. bu,
with Irresistible force, the capitalists,
whether corporations Or individuals, are
acquiring al! he real estate oi the coun-
try. Every Sheriff's sale, with some ex.
cep'ious, transfers the properly sold to the
mortgage, and there is one freeho!lcr
less. Lower down in the socia! scale, the
movable property Of the poor is being sold
to satisfy their debts, or buy food, ard
hour by hour the great army Of the home
| less is thus recruited. Within a year
there has been many humble homes hrOli.
en- up in his city, some by alrocous laws
ahich gives 70 landlords the right to take
widows bed for rent, and seld her cut
upon the world tramp Were it not !or
the humane, and kind-hearted men wl!o
fiji the Office of Constab|ts in our own city
many a narrowing tale would reach tie
pubic ear of landlord cruelty, aod uary
4 one would ne driven into the army Of ,he
wanderers.
That there are idle and vagahondly in-
cined men and women, who fylIow tramp
ing, from choice no one can we'll derry, tut
If they do no wrong but merely rove about
in Gypsy style, ard that kind hearted peo.
lp'e give them fold, we spe no reason for
it.er arrest or Imprisonment The MAJ
hews OF London have studied this melter
more closely and methudica!iy than any
wing men, and they despair of any rene
dy for rsmpng, AS it is result Of ev, r,
sniill'g causes. One CONCLUSION they have
Preached, hard times and scant employ
'nent Increases .propo!tjonale:y the nua.
Der Of lramps; fnsh times and plenty Of
money decreases the army Of tranps, aud
increases in The same Iatio drunkenness
1t must be manifest that sione-breaklns
won't cure the evil, ard that al extra ses-
sion of the Levy Court is not neeutd.