The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1893-12-08
WHO ARE MIGRANTS.

Gov. LewellIns Lays Down the Law to
Boards of Police Commissioners.
TOPEKA, Kan, Dec 5.-Gov. Level
ling Yesterday gave out one of the most
remarkable circular letters ever issued
by state executive. The letter is ad-
dressed to all boards of police commits
sioners in the state and will probably
cause an endless amount of talk. The
letter is as follows:
EXECUTIVE LETTER
To all Boards of Police Commissioners:
In the reign of Elizabeth the highways were
filled with the throngs of the unemployed poor.
who were made to move or" and were some.
times brutally whipped, sometimes summary
hanged as sturdy yagrant" 'incorrigible
vagabonds =" In France, just previous to the
revolution, the punishment of being poor
and out of work was, for the first
ofYense a term of years in the gallevs: for the
second offense, the galleys for life In this
country, the monopoly OF laoor-saving ma
chiner and its devotion to selfish instead OF
social USE have rendered more and more human
beings super1uous. until we have standing
army of the unemployed numbering even in the
most prosperous times not less than l.O0',0J0
able. bodied men, yet. until recently 1t was the
prevailing notion, as it is yet the notion Of all
she work-people themselves and those of other
classes given to thinking. that whosoever, be-
ing able bodied and willing to wo can always
find work to do: and section 571 Of the general
statutes of 1889 is disgraceful reminder how
savage even in Kansas ha been our treatment
of the most unhappy of our human brothers.
The man out Of work and penniless is, by
this LEGISLATION classed with confidence men
Under this statute and city ordinances OF SINH
lar import thousands Of men, guilty OF no crime
but poverty, intent upon no crime but that OF
seeking employ ment, nave languished in the
city prisons of Kansas or performed unrequit-
ed toll on rock piles as municipal slaves, be-
cause ignorance OF economic conditions had
made US cruel The victims have been the
poor and humble, for whom police courts are
courts Of last resort-they cannot give bond
and appeal They have been unheeded and I'M
cared for by the bus world which wastes no
time visiting prisoners in Jail They have been
too poor to litigate with their oppressors, and
thus no voice from this underworld Of human
woe has ever reached the ear OF an appe late
court, because it was nobody's business to be
his brothers keeper.
But those who sit in the seats of power are
bound by the highest obligation to especially
regard the cause of the oppressed and helpless
poor. The first duty Of government, Is to the
weak Power becomes fiend ish if it be not the
protector and sure reliance of the friendless. to
whose complaints all other ears are dull 1t Is
my duty to see that the laws are faithfully
executed" and among those laws is the con-
stitutional provision that no instrumentality
of the state shall deny to any person within
as 1urlSQlctlOn the equal prOteCtion VI thc
laws" And who needs to be told that equal
protection of the laws does not prevail
where this inhuman vagrancy law is en-
for, ed? II separates men into two distinct
classes, differentiated as those who are penniless
and those who are not, and declares the former
criminals. Only the latter are entitled to the
liberty guaranteed by the constitution To be
found in city without visible means of sup
port, or some legitimate business" is the in
voluntary condition of some millions at this
moment, and under the law we proceed to pun
ish them for being victims to conditions
which we as people have forced upon them.
I have noticed in police court reports that
sleeping in box car is among the varieties
of this heinous crime OF being poor. Some po-
lice judges have usurped a sovereign power not
permitted the highest functionaries Of the state
or of the nation, and victims OF industrial con-
ditions have been peremptorily ordered to
leave town"
The right to go freely from place to place in
search Of employment, or even obedience to a
| mere within, is part of that personal liberty
guaranteed by the constitution OF the United
States to every human being on American
| soil. II q Diogenes prefer poverty if Co
| lumbus choose hunger and the discovery OF a
new race, rather than elk personal comfort
by engaging in some legitimate business, -
1 am aware Of no power in the Legislature or
| in city councils to deny him the right to seek
happiness in his own way, so long as he harms
no other person
| II men commit offenses let them be arrested
and punished, whether rich poor, but lei
| simple poverty cease to be crime
In some cities it is provided by ordinance thai
il police court fines are not paid or secured the
| culprit shall be compelled to work out the
| amount a municipal slave and rock piles and
| bull pens are provided for the enforcement OF
| these ordinances And so it appears that this
| slavery is not imposed as a punishment, but
| solely as means of collecting debt
| Such cit ordinances are in fragrant violation
| Of constitutional prohibitions The rock pile
| and bull pen would never have been used Let
these twin relics of the departed auction -blocl
| era cease to disgrace the cities OF Kansas. Ant
let the dawn Of Christmas day find the rock
| pile" the 'oull pen' and the crime of being
homeless and poor obsolete in all the cities O
Kansas governed by the metropolitan police
act
1t is confidently expected that their own re
gard for constitutional liberty and their human
| impulses will induce police commissioners t.
| carry out the spirit well as the letter OF tn
| toregoi-g suggestions
L. D. LEwELLING, Governor.