The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-03-30
THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.
its Bearing Upon Tramp Life Stin .
Open Question.

| It's Bearing Upon Tramp Life StiM an
Open Question.
Just what to do with the tramp has
| peen and doubtless will continue to be
| question of vital Importance. Many
| solutions of the tramp problem have
been offered. but almost all of them
have been rejected as utterly impracti-
cable The jail has no terrors for him,
for there he is housed. fed and warmed
without the ne cessity for labor. And
as to avoid labor is his one great object
in life, neither the officers warrant nor
the possibilities of incarceration hold
out anything but a welcome for him.
The road, the few accessible empty
buildings and the farmers hay-stacks
as winter lodging-houses, and the
rather cold charity of the farmers
kitchen-door as commissary of sub.
sistence, are not specially enticing to
the aesthetic and fastidious taste of the
average tramp. even when the fnan-
cial situation of the country is at high
tide, and the good folk are comforta.
bly, liberal and char ita bly, disposed.
How much worse is it, then, when
times are hard-woefully hard-and
even the moderately well-off people
are forced to look well to their re.
sources lest they, too. come to want.
In years like the present the tramp
is badly off indeed This state OF
things has enlisted the attention of
thoughtful persons in various locali.
ties, and there have been many plans
devised for elevating the tramp and
improving his condition or, perchance,
reforming him altogether. The consta-
BILE and the bulldog have heretofore
been among the most active and ag-
gressive of these methods. But it is
sad comment on the theory and prac-
tice of philanthropy that, up to date.
these two inStrumentalities have not
been so brilliantly successful as tramp
suppressors as to command the admira-
tion of the world. Hot water is useful
only at short range, and the broom.
stick is open to the same objection
The steel-trap. spring-gun and like pro-
tective appliances are open to serious
objection as menaces to the life and
limb of the ubiquitous youngster, and
were long since abandoned as unman.
ageabl and extra hazardous.
1t has remained for the great west
that territory that Horace Greeley ever
held in high esteem-to produce town
that has evolved the most perfect
ramp-suppressing or, more properly
speaking, tramp-dispersing device thus
far made known to the public. With
wisdom that deserves the thanks of
grateful nation, the fathers of that
city and the guardians of its peace
have built cell and provided it with
numerous pipes directly bearing on all
parts of the interior. After catching
the tramp, they remove as many of his
rags as possible, soap him thoroughly.
then shut him in the cell and turn on
the water.
If there is one thing above another
that fills the soul of the tramp with
horror, it is water. Soap is bad enough.
but water is, metaphorically, the last
straw. The tramp howls, dances,
shrieks and beats against his prison
bars and the walls of his cage. But
water comes on, and heated with eXer.
else and rage, it is only question OF
time when the victim becomes at last
approximately clean.
And when his liberty is restored to
him, he makes bee-line for some less
painstaling locality, and chalks on the
palings, as he passes, a warning to his
fellows that they and he may go there
no more.-N. Y. Ledger.