Connecticut western news., 1878-08-15
YAGABOND PHILOSOPHY.
HOW MEN BECOME TRAMPs-THE AUToBI- oaRAPHY OF wELL-DREssED oUToAsr HIS OBSERVATIONS UPON THE CAUSES WHICH MAKE MEN TRAMPs.

WHICH MAKE MEN TRAMPs.
 For several nights hale, hearty man, dressed in good business suit, with clean linen and the appearance of scfu= pulous aeatness as to hair and beard, seemingly gentleman in looks as we'll as manners and betraylng culture in his conversation, has been seen 1ounging in New York City Hall Park by day and sleeping there by night. His appear ance offered such contrast to that of the hundreds of other beings who surround ed him that the attention of Tribune reporter was directed to him, and in the conversation which followed some inter- esting facts were disclosed. Comment was incidentally made at the start on the fact that the man did not appear to be- long to the class surrounding him.
 "No better perhaps than many in this crowd, though I hope supenor to the majority. It won't do to suppose that all these tramps are lazy and criminal. "
 'No work to be had ?"
 ''That misfortune among others makes great many tramps, but there are other causes which make tramps of edu- cated, decent, industrious and temperate men,"
 "What, for instance ?"
 "Wel, take my own case in illustra- tion. I have been we'll educated, am a good accountant, write clear, round hand suitable for bookkeeping, am 8 fair business man, and of good family. I came here six months ago with little money had saved. I had not rela- tive left 1n my own State, and no in- ducements to remain where there was no business to do. have applied in every place and way for anything to do of which I was capable; and where any hope was held out to me of obtaining work, I was disappointed by not being able to furnish local references. I lived for months at lodging-house where I was charged only $1.75 week for lodg- ing, and my meals cost little more, yet l have run through all my money, have
  suit-my best one-and th1s brush, comb and tooth brush (displaying them from pockeD, and here I have been for week, wandering around this great city by uay and sleeping in sitting pos ture in the parks at night.
 "And eating ?"
 "Well, have begged for something to eat.
 "And saved the money which you got by begging for drink ?"
 '' suppose that suspicion IS natural however uncharitable. But 1 don't drink liquor. Meantime 1 have failed to get work of any sort. That is my case in brief, but it can convey to you no idea of the mental tortures l have endured, the loneliness of stranger in great city, the uncertainty of the flu ture, the indignation at the cruel rebuffs I have encountered. There are doubt less other cases like mine" "
 "Do you know of any?"
 "We1l, yes. Twas told in one instance by man talked with that he had been colonel in the army, was a practical engineer, had since the war been em- ployed at his profession in South Amer. ica; and for some reason which he did not explain failed to get his pay. He came back with 8 wife and child, ran | through what means he had, and failed to get into any kind of business. His wife and child lived on charity in neigh boring city, while he was here, sleeping in the parks and trying daily to get em ployment. I was told another instance
 by man of respectable appearance, al Englishman I think, who said he came here from Australia, and showed me pa
 pers, from which it appeared that ht had held some kind of position under the municipal government of Melbourne it He had when he started $1, 800, and ha6
 arrived here about month before, b,
 way of San Francisco, with about $500
 He stayed, I think, at the Washington
 hotel His wife was the custodian O
 the money. She left him soon after ar
 irving here, and, he supposes, went t'
 Canada, she being a Canadian. Frou
 the mans manner and appearance, be l1eved him; he seemed worried in mind
 and I think he was in condition to com
 init suicide-being without means, ant deserted among strangers by his wife I have had many conversations witt } others, with which I did not tax m. memory, and some I knew to be untruth when told me, and thought no more o them" {" What is your theory of the genera cause of so much Restitution ?" Then the respectable tramp settle back in his park chair and dropped mt philosophy. He was evidently nor , fond of philosophising as to the caus of his troubles than of narrating them and this was his theory:
 "It is well known that it is only sine
 the war that this clement of society ha existed, at least in such apparently ol ganized and dangerous proportions. ] , is also we'll known that war demoralize communities, and is apt to teach dishon esty in dealings among men, extravs
 gancesin living, for money gained in dishonest way is very apt to be spen extravagantly. Some men fabulousl ? rich in time of war, while some lose a. ! and become poor, the latter, as a body . being generally the more honest; an
 many who were financially ruined by tn
 late rebellion have found it difficult t
 recuperate. Driven to seek new occr @ pations and new homes, from want ( . 1 r,,ooorr and snmetines a diseased min