The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1878-04-18
For the Brookhaven Ledger.
I'ralnps.

I'ramps.
For the last year or two our countr,
has been oyer-run by an army Of idl
tramps to the great annoyance of house
keepers. the depletion Of their larder
and utter disgust of local officials ant
men of business; and viewed by til,
people generally MS n nuisance thai
ought to be ahated. Bnt one accns-
toned to look beyond the surface o
things, and calmly reason from effect Il
cause, will at least mingle pity witt
contempt. and probably find something
in their condition to evoke profonnt
sympathy.
L have g g many newspaper notices
of those people, none, however. assign
ing any reason for their condition be
yond the control of their own S4swltl
a single exceptions a Brooklyn
Divine has lately discovered that thu
cause of the present deluge OF idl'
tramps was the employment of so man.
women in masculine avocations, ant
that owing to the woman monopoly 81
many of the lords of creation were de,
prived of ever the meager benefits O
the Divine Malediction denounced
against the father of our race, for yield
ing to the solicitation of HIS bette
half.
There are causes, however, beyont
the control of the will of the tramps
the present civil authorities or even thu
woman monopoly; some of which reacl
back beyond our civil war, some in
duced by the necessities of the domi-
nant party during the war, and other:
by the Generalization of the war, ant
the thieving principles upon which the
war and Radical legislation was con
ducted after the war, which elevated
thousands of hungry thieves to thu
dignity of millionaires, and reduced
tens of thousands of independent, self
sustaining laborers to beggery and vag
Alcoholism.
The first clear and logically palpabl'
reason, or cause of the present evil, ma.
be traced to the widespread Railroad
epidemic which prevailed Throughout
the country for many years previous t.
the war, employing tens of thousands O
laborers at remuneratlve wages. Al
Eulope seemed to be insufficient to sun
ply the demand. China, HiSdostin ant
the Pacific Islands were called upon t.
pour ont their surphrs thousands OF
our western border to tunnel mountains
bridge, rivers and open highway
through arid deserts. But by q strange
coincidence the Railroad frenzy begar
to abate, just rs the war cloud began
to darken the horizon. Many of thu
great works were finished, and the Ia
borers discharged. Others were sus-
pended in consequence of the rebellion
leaving no alternative to the multitude
thus thrown cut of employment but t.
enter the Federal army. The democrat
izing Influence of an army where thief
and plumber were not only tolerated, but
encouraged by the ruling powers, con-
sequently and naturally s~uperinduced q
sense of moral degradation, and prepar
ed them for this present vocation.
The close of the wal found the South
so impoverished by a most ubiquitous
act of d~espotism as to be utterly unable
to offer them employment, and the
North so surfeited with Southern plum
der as to need no enterprise requiring
the labor of the men who gave them
wealth and power.
The only other cause necessary to be
noticed may be traced to the errors and
iniquitiss of Radical legislation. Three
billions of dollars which would now be
employed in improvements, and indus
trial enterprise, are absorbed by a few
Northern and Eastern bond-holders-
exempt from taxation themselves, but
wringing the profits of their invest
ment from the labor and property of
others, which, if forced into circulation
as it would be but for the bard iniquity,
would give full employment to the sur
plus idlers of which We complain.
My thoughts were directed to the
subject a few days ago, by an interview
with a tramp, who said he was out of
money and wanted something to eat.
The expression of his countenance was
benevolent; he spoke with a kind, quiet.
Intelligence which at once won my re.
spect and excited my sympathy. He
said he had been a soldier in the Con.
federate army, was made prisoner at
Vicksburg and finally surrendered at
the close of the war;. Now to deny such
a request respectfully made by such a
man, seems inconsistent with Christian
civilization-a hospitality recognized
and practiced by the wild savage of the
far west; and yet, when We consider the
swarms of applicants that infest the
country, the difficulty of distinguishing
between the wilful and unfortunate and
the impoverished condition of the PEG.
pie, the necessity of the case may be
pleaded in extenuation for many who
withhold from a sense Of duty to their
own household, what their heartfelt
sympathies are clamerous to give.
r. B. r.
Filming H1mse elf
We take the following notice from
the Natchez Democrat, and publish it
for its rarity:
Drr;po tho co,oIop of tho Cl,onit