Telegram-herald., 1891-04-13


chooses fd,eussss
l have watched these do nothinSs who
spend taeir time s<reking their bard aad
rssoaehieg t.sir tsli<t And crsxtcisinS IA
eastxieas pecSle, and pass their days and
Ilshts m earrzotas and eiab hoasez- tsuug-
isg aad szaoAiag and easwinz ana card
playing They are Rot only useless, bot
thsy are dangerous How hard n u Tor
them 70 while away the hoarsl Alas. fo<
them, II they do not know hos 10 While
away N hour. what will they do when
they have all eseraity on their hAntss
These men for while smoke the best CT
gars and wear the best clothes and move
In - Highest spheres. bat have noticed
thar very soon they come down 10 the
prison. tho almshouse. or stop At the gAi-
Iowa
TIE police stations Of this cluster Of
cities furnish annually between two and
three hundsod thousand lodgings. For the
most part these two and three hundred
thousand lodgings are furnished u able
bodssd men and women-pcople as able 70
work as Jon and l are. When they are re-
ceiyed no loaGer 1t one police station be-
cause they are ''repeat<rs" they 20 to
some other station. and so they keep NOV
ing around They get their food nc house
doors, stealing what they can lay their
hands on in the front basement while the
servant b spreading the bread ia the back
basement. They viii not work Time aud
again. 10 the country districts. they have
wanted huadreds and thousands OF labor
ers- These men will not 90. They do not
want 70 work have tried them. have
set them TO saving wood In my cellar to
see whether they wanted 70 work. Of
fercd to pay them we'll for it. have
heard the say going for about three min
utes, and then ! went down. and 10. the
wood. bat NO saw! They are the pest Of
society, and they stand in the way Of the
Lords poor who ought to be helped, aid
must be helped, and will be helped.
While there are thousands OF industrious
men who cannot get any work, these men
who do not want any work come In and
make that plea. l am in favor OF the res
| toration OF the old fashioned whipping post
| for Just this one class Of men who will not
work-sleeping at night at public expense
In the station house; during the day get
| ting their food at your doorstep. Impris-
| onment does not scare them. They would
like il. Blackwell's Island or Sing Sing
would be q comfortable home for them.
They would have no objection to the aims
house, for they like thin soup. il they can.
not get mock turtle.
propose this for them: On one side Of
them put some healthy work; on the other
side put fawhido, and let them take their
choice. like for that class of people the
| soant bill Of faro that Paul wrote out for
tho Thessalonian loafers. "If any work not,
neither should he eat" By what law Of
God or man IS it right that you and I
| should toll day in and day out. until our
| hands ace blistered and our arms ache and
! our brain gets numb, cnd then DO called
/ upon to support what in the United States
are about two million loafers. They are q
very dangerous clnss. Let the public au-
thoritics keep their eyes on them.
TIE ILL TREATED BECOME DESPERATE.
Again, among tho rprooting classes
place the oppressed poor. Poverty to q
certain extent Is Christening, but after that,
| when 1t drives man TO the wall, and ha
hears his children cry in vain for bread, it
sometimes makes him desperate. / think
that there are thousands of honest men
lacerated into vaSabondism. There are
men crushed under burdens for which they
are not half paid. While there is no ex-
cuse for criminality, even in oppression, /
state it as a simple fact that ssnuch Of tho
scoundrelism CT the community is consc-
| qucut upon i'll treatment. There are many
men and women battered and bruised and
stung until the hour of despair has come,
and they stand with the fcrocity of q wild
beast which, pursued until it can run no
longer, turns round, foaming and bleeding,
to fight the hounds.
There is n vast underground New York
and Brooklyn life that is appalling and
| shameful. It wallows and steams with
putrefaction. You 60 down the stairs,
which are wet aud dccayed with filth, and
Mt the bottom you find the poor victims on
the floor, cold, sick, three-fourths dead,
Sinking into n still darker corner under
the CLEAN OF the lantern OF the police.
There has not been breath Of fresh air in
that room for FIVE years, literally. The
broken sewer eu,pties its contents upon
them, and they lie at night in the swim
ming filth. There they are, men, women,
children; blacks, whises; Mary Maetialen
without her repentance, and Lazarus
without his God. These are the dives
into which the pickpockcts and the thieves
go, as well as a great many who would like
different life but cannot get il.
These places are the sores of the city,
which bleed perpetual corruption. They
are the underlying volcano that threatens
us with Caracas earthquake. 1t rolls
and roars and surges and heavcs and rocks
and bIasphemcs and dies, and there arc
only two outlets for 1.-THE police court
and the Potter's field. In other words
they must either go TO prison or to hell
Oh, you never saw IL, you say. You never
vii. see IL until on the day when thoss
| STAGGERING wrstches shall come mp in The
lig = Of the judgment throne, and while nj
hearts are being revealed, God will ash
yoa what you did to help them
There Is another layer OF poverty and
destitution not 20 squslid, but almost ~
helpless. Ton hear the inccsssnt waiting
for bread and clothes and fire. Their eyes
arc sunkeu Their check homes stand ont
Their hands are damp with slow cousump
ton. Their flesh 10 pulled up with drop
sizes Their breath IL like that OF the char
mel house. They hear the roar of ths
wheels OF fashion overhead aud the ga,
laughter OF men and maislens, and wonder
why God gavo to others so much and x
them so little. Some of them thrust Int,
an infidelity like that of the poor G>rmai
girl who, when told In the midst Of be-
wretchedneas that God was good, said
"No, no good God Just look At me. NJ
good God"
ouR 100000 MisEaApLY POOR
In this cluster Of cities whose cry o
want interpret there are said to be, ~ f.
"a l can figure it mp from the reports
about three hundred thousand boncs'
poor who are dependent upon ipdivid
nal. city and state charities. II all theii
voice, could come MP At once IL would