The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-07-13
Machine Breaking.


MANY allegations have been brought |
against the tramp, but we think none OF
them is so full of encouragement to the |
friend of humanity as that relating to the |
breaking of agricultural machinery in parts |
of southern Ohio That man is too lazy
to work for living; that he will sleep 10
hay-stacks; that be steals a farmers
chickens or robs a hens nest; that he digs
up young potatoes and roasts green corn
without the excuse of any proprietary in
terest in soil or tillage-aIl this is bad
enough but not hopeless. These things are
the weaknesses and crimes of the individ-
ual, and he who is guilty of them is con
scious OF his own meanness and thor
oughly ashamed of it. The commission of
these Petty knaveries involved some degree
OF intelligence, and the attempt to conceal
them involves some sort of acknowledge
ment of the rights of property. Nobody
knows better than the cynical tramp who
subsists like AutOlycuS as "a snapper up of
unconsidered trihes," that he can justify his
conduct by no fine spun theory and gather
about him no band of enthusiasts. He
and his associates do not quarrel with the
world as il is-they do not regard property
as robbery, but look with kindly interest
on the accumulations of the farmers and
bless the operations of labor-saving ma
chimes which bring it to pass that the
world can do without their own labor and
vet heap up a surplus fund to be stolen
from. They would laugh at the idea of a
declaration that all men have equal rights
to each others hens. The nearest thing
to an abstract statement of faith at which
they could arrive would be: The world
owes us living" Beyond that they are
doubtless scoffers, materialsts, careless of
the condition of general humanity, provided
they can get a good meal or a comfortable
shelter Such fellows are nuisances, to be
| hunted down and put to work, but they are
not dangerous The appearance OF the
machine breaking tramp is different mat
ter. Here we have, instead of the shar-
per, the man who believes himself a vic
tim: instead of tho fellow who knows that
he is a cheating the world, the fellow who
supposes that the world is cheating him;
| instead of the creature who loves idieness
and blesses whatsoever interference of ami
mate or inanimate nature takes a task out
of his hands, the creature who loves work
and will fight with negro, Cinnamon, steam
plough or moving machine for the chance
to labor instead Of the natural outcome
of our age and its evils, the misguided
operative whose true place and era
were an English manufacturing district in
frame breaking times; instead of the man
who is tramp from want of principle
the man who is tramp from principle;
instead of the criminal who hides his mis-
deeds, the criminal vino procIaims them.
The former is easy to deal with because he
makes little pretense to be other than be is
"a worthless vagabond; the latter is diff
cult to deal with because he is an unsrcup-
ulouS fanatic whose convictions spring
from misconception of the fundamental
laws touching the advancement of the la
horing classes. He is incapable of read
iug the lesson Of history that the condition
Concluded on next page.)