The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-04-23

way, and they will send the money back
by the very next mail. There are the
"harbor thieves" the 'shoplifters, the
'tpick.pockets," famous all over the
cities. Hundreds of them with their
faces In the "Rogues gallery" vet doing
nothing for the last five or ten years but
detraud society to escape justice. When
these people 90 unarrested and unpun-
ished, it is putting high premium upon
vice, and saying to the young criminals
OF this country, "What safe thing it is
to be a great CRIMINAL" Let the law
swoop upon them. Let 1t be known in
this country that crime will have no
quarter. that the detectives are after it,
The the police club Is being brandished,
that the iron door Of the cell is beng
opened, that the judge is ready to call
on the case. Too great len:ency to
CRIMINALS is too great severity TO souic-
iy.
Again: In your effort TO arrest this
plague Of crime, you need to consider
tho idle population. Ofcourcc. do not
refer to people who arc getting old, or
to the sick, or to those who cam OF get
work; but tell you to look out for those
athletic men and women who will not
L
asked why he kept busy when he had so
large a property, he said, 81 keep on en-
craving so may not hang myself" L
40 not care who the man is. you cannot
afford to be idle. 1t is from the idle
classes that tho criminal classes are made
up. Character, like water. gets putrid
II 1t stands still too long. Who can won
der that in this world, where there is so
| t,N do Il oil hD Il.
and heaven and hell are plupging into
the conflict, and angels are flying, and
God is at work, and the universe Is
aquakc with tho marching and counter
marching, that God lets his indignation
tall upon man who chooses ldleness?
l have watched these do-nOthlngs who
spend their time stroking theit beard,
and rctouching their toilet, and critciz-
lng industrious people, and pass their
days and nights III barrooms and club
houses, lOungiDg and shocking and chew
ing and card-plaYing. They arc not
only useless, but they are dangerous.
How hard it is for them to while away
the hours! Alas for them! If thev do
not know how to while away an hour,
what will they do when they have ali
eternity on their hands? These mon for
awhile smoke the best cigars, and wear
tho best clothes, and move in the high
est spheres; but hive noticed that very
soon they come down to the prison, the
almShousc, or stop at the gallows.
The police stations of this cluster o
cities furnish annually between two anC
three hundred thousand lodgin IS. Fol
the most part these two and three hun
dred thousand lodgings are furnished tC
bodied men and wOmen-people as
'blc to work as you and | are. Whcl
they arc received no longer at one police
station, because they are "rcpcatcrs, ,
they go TO some other station, and sc
they keep moving around. They gct
Their food at house doors, stealing wha
they can lay their hands on in the front
basement while the servant is spreading
the bread in the back basement. They
Will not work. Time and again, in the
country districts, they have wanted hun
drcds and thousands Of laborcrs. These
men will not 80. They do not want tC
! work. | have tried them. | have Sc
them to saving wood in my cellar to see
J whether they wanted to work. | Offered
to pay them well for It, | have hear(
= the saw going for about three minutes
and then l went down, and o, the wood
but no saw! They are the pest of socic
tv, and they stand in the way of the
: Lords poor, who ought to be helped
and must be helped, aid will be helped
While there arc thousands of industrious
men who cannot get any work, these
men who do not want any work come in
and make that plea. | am in favor Of
the restoration Of the Old-las ashiOncG
whlpping-posL for just this one class O
men who Will not work; sleeping at night
at public expense in the station house;
during the day, getting their food at your
doorstep. Imprisonment does not
scare them. They would like it. Black.
wclPs Island or Sing Sing would be a
comfortable home for them. They
would have no ebicbtion to the aims
house, for they like thin soup, If they
cannot get mocktwtlc. | propose this
for them; on one side of them put some
healthy work; on the other side put a
rawhidc, and let them take their choice.
| like for that class of people the scant
bill OF fare that Paul wrote out for the
Thcssalonian loaters: "Ifany work not,
neither should he eat" BY what law
OF God or man is it right that you should
Toll day in and day out, until our hands
arc blistcrcd and our arms ache and our
brains get numb, and then be called
upon to support what in the United
States are about two million loatcrs!
They are very dangerous class. Let
the public authorities keep their eyes on
them.
Again: Among the uprooting classes
| place the oppressed poor. Poverty to
a certain extent is chastcning; put after
that, when it drives n man to the wall
and he hears his children cry iD vain for
bread, it some times makes him dcs 1cr-
ate. ! think that there are thousands of
honest men laccratcd into vagabondism.
There are men crushed under burdens
Tor which they arc not half paid. While
there is no excuse for crimlnality even
III oppression, | state it as a simple fact
that much OF the scOundIclism Of the
community is consequent upon ill-treat-
mcnt. There arc many men and women
battered and bruised and stung until the
hour OF despair has come, AMI they stand
with the icroclty OF a wild beast which,
pursued until it can run no longer, turns
| rnnn1 I,n MIN, H. A.,