Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-17
THE REMEDY FOR THE TRAMP NUS
ANCE.
The Los Angeles Erpress saws i.

Inc Los angeles Express says
The SACRAMENTO RECORD UNION suggests that
work should be furnished by law for tramps-
upon the public streets and roads-at wages
barely sufficient to provide coarse clothing
plain food and bed of straw then, by the CO.
operation OF the people, who could refer beg
CARS 10 the authorities instead of providing
them with food, the tramp nuisance would-in
the opinion of the RECORD Z NIoN-be effectually
broken up. IL has often been remarked, half in
Joke, that poverty is q crime - but this is the
inst time that a respectable paper has proposed
in earnest not only to consider poverty Grim
lnal, but to punish the poor who search for
WORK SUCH would in fact be the effect of a law
aimed at tramps the main sufferers from such a
system being those who from misfortune be-
come reduced to state of restitution. Would
1t not be better 10 do something towards remoy-
ing the cause OF the tramp nuisance?
To this the Red Bluff .Seatiad replies
that 80 per cent. of tramps are guzzlers of
strong drink, and intimates that they will
work only long enough to give them means
to get liquor, and, in lieu of work, will beg
or steal for the same purpose. The Stock
ton Mail, referring to the same subject,
says:
There is already a law aimed at tramps If a
tramp who is on the verge of starvation asks for
piece of bread, he may be arrested and con-
signed to the chain-gang. That has bsen done
in Los Angeles. What is this but offering a pre-
MUM on theft? For if a man steal the where
with to keep him from furnishing, his crime
may not be discovered; but if he beg and is con
signed to the chain-gang he is ruined.
Our contemporary, the Express, quite
evidently did not take pains to understand
us. The article in question, if read with
ordinary care, would not permit of any
faisconception. The bed of straw" ref
erence, by the way, is pure invention on
the part of the Express. The statements
we made were not original, only the appli-
cation was ours, for the principles enunci-
ated are as old as time and as undeniable
as the laws of nature. We merely stated
axioms that are established in human ex-
perience. Let us restate them, and then
let our contemporary point out the moral
error, or the want of human sympathy in
them:
First-Aiding the needy to help them
selves is the best form of charity A labor
test is therefore a wise one--a necessity.
1t is better than the chain-gang.
Second-To furnish work TO the mendi-
eant-to make artificial work for him-at
the full wage of the resident laborer is to
do injustice to the latter, and encourage
the paupers of the outside world to flock
into the State
Third-Assistanee given without de-
mand for return of compensation in labor.
where there is ability to perform it, is not
true charity, and encourages idleness and
thriftlessness.
Fourth-The employment given to the
beggar should be a. disagreeable; (2) it
should be at such low rate that there will
be, for these two reasons, ne encourage
ment TO remain in it.
These are we say, long established prin-
ciples, that have stood the test of all hui
man experience, and are laid down as be-
yond controversy by every reputable writer
and historian who has treated the subject
of charitable assistance since the time
when such questions were first debated
If in any OF these propositions our contem-
poraries think they can pick flaw or
point an error in moral or political philos-
ophy, we challenge them to the task
1t is simply question, whether it is
better to feed the tramp at our doorsteps
support him in idleness lat the expense Of
taxpayers) in Jail and in poor-house, clothe
him from our closets, and encourage him
to continue in shiftless ways and to fill
chain-gangs, or to furnish him opportunity
to earn his bread and shelter, and thus
test his quality, and give him the oppor.
tunity to prove himself worthy of remlner.
alive employment by those who have nc
confidence in him so long as he is a tramp
The system would have tendency to wear
the tramp from the shiftless habit, TO teach
him that he can earn a living, and that
idleness is his worst enemy.
The idea thrown out by the Express thai
the plan We set forth is a sheer a,
poverty, is not only ungenerous = i
is absurd. We apprehend that the
majority of newspaper men have in theil
time known what hard work, privation anc