Middletown transcript., 1877-06-16
TIE ARMY TRAMP.

86HJl6men lIOLl Tic bIhuCo arc sAuA NJ
who, when times were good, used t
organize strikes and make comfort
able living by hoodwinking tbe fellow
who worked hard for living and join
ed unions in order to protect them
selves, and not to hamper or fight cap
ital. They saw an easy living in strikes
and strikes were always going on
The hard times have opened the eyes
Of mechanics, and it is not probable
that strikes will be so frequent in the
future. Mention has been made Of
an organization having been instituted
among tramps, with signs and pass.
words, and the organization is due
alone to the infusion of this effete
trades-union element into the ranks.
From what is known of this organiza-
tion it is plain that spirit Of trades
unionism is rampant among the tramps.
They have achieved the dream of the
members their millennium has ar
rived life is one g-and strike. Many
of the signs and passwords by tramps
now were once in vogue in New York
city among strikers, and with few
emendations made necessary by the
exigencies Of tramp life, the same code
may be said to govern.
THE TRADES UNION TRAMPs.
These banded outlaws hold conyen-
tions during the winter in the large
cities, and make arrangements and de
tails for summer work. They will, of
course, object to the word work, but
none other is handy to illustrate our
meaning. The tramp who goes about
the country in the summer time and
comes to town in winter, has been met
by the city loafer and instructed in the
mysteries of organizing. The city
loafer recognized that a great deal Of
strength was being wasted for want of
some band of unions, and has grouped
the tramps into an army. Two years
experience has shown them that in
union there is strength, and a growing
consciousness Of strength has made him
impudent and aggressive. They have
robbed where they got chance. They
have burned farm houses and barns.
They have poisoned cattle, and they
make no limit to their demands where
they think there is neither a man nor
a shotgun handy. What the result Of
the tramp organization may be no one |
knows, but it is quite certain that un-
less some strong effort is made to ex-
terminate tramps life and property be-
yond the city limits will be in danger
"a danger increasing every year.
NEW YORK A TRAMP WINTER QUAR-
TIERS.
In the winter time large number
Of tramps find lodgings in the police
station houses of New York, and the
Committee on Crime, appointed by the
Legislature in 1875, speaks on the sub
ject in the following terms:
Every station house in the city of
New York receives nightly large
number of dodgers of both sexes who
spend the nights within the station
house. No doubt some Of them are
deserving and suffering poor. Many
others are tramps Of the most worth
less character and the most vagabond 7
habits. The tramp nuisance is attract
ing a great deal Of attention through
out the country, and beyond all ques-
ton, large numbers of these vagrants
come to New York and "reYolve" from
one station house to another, living
during the day on beggary and petty
pilfering. But one way Of dealing
with this class Of the community has
been found effective, and it is to make
them work for their lodging. The
genuinotramp has an intense horror Of
work, and the very suggestion Of it I:
causes him to flee to other parts Of the
The honest poor will be per
6ectly willing to pay with their labor
for nights shelter; and, in addition,
the city might very properly provide !
those who labor and lodge with them a
meal. The work that they could do
would undoubtedly be the cleaning Of
the station houses, and, to some extent
the cleaning Of the streets. This sug-
yestion is enforced and recommended
by the testimony Of several of the
police justices and other experts.
A LEGISLATIVE EFFORT AT REPREs-
SION. !
This suggestion Of the Legislative
to have the tramps do work
induced police captain to make the
and the result was a re-
volt among the lazy scoundrels. Mr..
Hamilton Fish, Jr., who was in the
State Assembly when the report Of the
was presented, prepared
bill based on the recommendations .
in it. The bill provided that
pauper tramps should be housed and
fed by the poor commissioners Of the
several counties, and that they should
be made to work and compensate the :
State for lodging and board. The bill
vas amended and finally ordered to a !
,hird reading, but Governor Tilden re-
,urned it without his signature, refus-
ng to crowd honest labor ont Of the
market by resolving the State into a
oauper workship, After this veto the :
natter was never again brought up,
,hough efforts have been made from
ime to time during the recent session !
o procure some legislation against :
ramps. ?
TRAMPs AS VOTERS. /
Some idea of the power of tramps i
IS an organized body may be gained
rom the following facts published in a
he Herald of April 23d, and the fact C
nay explain why it was so difficult to v
,btain an enactment against vagrants.
4 Herald reporter was sent to inyesti-
,ate the Kings County Poor House (
md his report Of the investigation, i
which was subsequent to that of i
Vhite-washing commission, contains the a
ollowing paragraph: P