The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-03-19
TALES OF THE TRAMP
CLASSES, HABITS AND DolNes OF
THESE TRAVELLERS.


Opinions nvestigationo Of Professor Nc
Cook-No Reference to the Temporarily
! Unemployed.
Whether the word tramp" originated
IN England or America is not known 1t
J. freely used Ia England in common con
| ,rrsation. hut has no place in the statutes
/ rf Great Britain or Canada 1t made its
appearance in the New Jersey statutes in
/ 1876, and by 1892 ! other states had adopt
cd II. The tramp himself repudiates the
name and hahitually substitutes for 1t the
word bum and fastidiously divides his
guild into "tr.in. buns who travel on
railroad trains; pike buns who travel
on foot "shovel buns ," who affect city
life, and religious buns who frequent
the gospel missions The train buns are
regarded as the aristocracy of the fraterni-
ty and rejoice in the additional appellatiou
OF "hohos ~
The travels OF II tramp take much
wider range than most people would sup
| pose. Several of them have been found
who claim TO have visited nearly every
state and territory in the Union, and their
exact knowledge of the geography and Of
the railroad lines bore out the assertion
One reason Of this Is that the ranks Of the
tramps are often recruited from the rail
road brakemen, and this is proved by the
| tender regard which the brakeman always
exhibits for the tramp I'm not only permit
/ ting him to stow himself away on the
trains, but frequently in feeding him also
Massachusetts, which is the only state
that has undertaken 20 collect the stats
tics Of its tramps cutertains 529 Of them
and IL they are found in other states in the
same proportion to the population then mum
her In the United States is 45, s4j, which
is 10, 900 below the current guess estimates
Among these is limited number Of fe-
male tramps, whom their brother tramps
call "pettcoat buns, - "magpies' and
bags"
Careful Investigations lead to the con-
clusion that ~ per cent Of the American
tramps have trades or professions, I per
cent are unskilled laborcrs, 3. @ per cent are
weavers, one in 20 of them is under 90
years old three out Of five under 35 years
old, 15 out Of 100 under 40 years old. Only
So per cent Of them in the winter Of the
grip claimed TO be in i'll health, SO. D per
cent claimed specifically 10 enjoy good
health. In answer to the question, "Nhy
did you take to the roads' So : per cent
complained Of a want of employment, some
were "tired Of work ~ some wanted to
"see the country some charged It to
drink, aud . per cent declared their inten-
[ ton never to work again.
OF American tramps Sc per cent are Of
American nativity, and then follow Ire
land, England, Germany, Canada, Nor
way, Sweden and Scotland. More than 90
per cent are unmarried, and less than 10
/ per cent are unable TO read and write. The
fact is that in intelligence and education
the average tramp Is not appreciably diff
ferent from the general population. In the
, winter 32 per cent of them manage TO get
sick and to live in hospitals. Others are
migratory and walk down south in Octo-
/ Der and return north regularly in April, rs
| the railroad men can testify. OF those
questioned 90 per cent say they beg their
food, per cent that they beg and work
and per cent that they beg and steal. IL
Is estimated that IL costs 5000 vet r 20
support tramp and SO, 900. 900 to srIp-
port all of the tramps in the country for
| one year.
! Only per cent of tramps confess that
they have been convicted Of crime, though
80 per cent freely admit that they have
! been convicted of drunkenness. They re-
| gard things to wear and things to eat ms
common property. But felony is confined
I to the few, assault being the felony com
monest among them. 1t Il rare thing
.
| of them complain of the criminal tenden-
cies of others, whom they characterize as
"mean enough for anything " They claim
that it is the train buns that disgrace the
whole calling 10y their crimes
circular relative to tramps that was
mailed to 80 chiefs of police elected some
interesting information about them and
about the way the tramp nuisance was or
should be treated Twenty replies said that
they furnished lodging 10 tramps without
any condition Of cleanliness and 22 that no
| conditions of work were prescribed. six
| teen said that the same tramps returned
frequently, 3, occasionally: 10, that the
same tramps did not return. Twenty-sey
en- said that the applicants were always re-
ceived, u that they were liable To be arrest
! ed and that they were imprisoned II they
returned too often. Twenty-Five put the
able bodied tramps at from 30 10 100 per
cent, and only 3 put it as low rs 30 per
cent. Sixteen thought it advantageous to
lodge tramps, and Is were OF the opposite
opinion. OF the 10 who thought il advan-
tageous favored it ON humanitarian
grounds, because n small per cent Were
deserving, 9 on grounds Of public policy, q
for the protection of property and for the
protection of the person.
As TO the treatment of the evil, II of
these chiefs recommended compulsory
work, confinement, > corporal punish
ment, the shotgun, | severer laws the
enforcement of existing laws, furnishing
employment, believed in the workhouse,
l thought encouragement ought 10 be re-
fused. Not one advocated moral measures,
not apparently because they attached no
importance to moral measures, buzz because
they regarded the tramp as impermeable
to them. On the other hand, moral meas
ures, when tried, have generally been un-
successful. Nagabondism grows out Of
idleness intemperauce and uncleanness,
and moral means are usually pow
erful remedy for such habits. But forcible
, restraint appears to be necessary In the
first instance Yet as long rs tramps are
left to roam at will, restrained only 10y au
occasional and spasmodic enforcement OF
the vagrant laws, It would be an immense
advantage If soft hearted people would re
frain from giving them money, for. al
most without exception, 1t goes for drink
or worse. The person who will give any
beggar coin just because 1t seems too hard
to refuse him ought on similar grounds tc
] yiN mud 4 q, nd ,,l,f