The herald., 1895-01-23
LETTER BAG.
tTKs HxRALp under this heading prints COM
muntcatfoHs, out does not assume resp oEsi-
hility for the sentiments expressed.
work Tor The a obos.

work for the n obos.
To THE Enron OF -TEE- HER Amin
this mornings Times noticed an srsi-
Gle in regard 60 tho establishment OF .
| workhonse in this city to care for the
hobo and petty criminals that come to
Southern California during the winter
TO enjoy the bsnnty of its climate and
| thu lenieney OF its police cours
| judges, and az I have had considersnie
experience with institutions of that
kind in buainsss way, and know what
the benefit of having one OF them Is to
city the size oil Los Angeles. take the
| liberty of addressing thaso few lines to
| your valuable paper.
For example we will give the city of
Chicago. They have workhouss in
that city--ths Bride ssll--wish accom-
modstions for 300 prisoners, And il 10
crowded sill the year egonnd, bat they
have some en- plovInet for them. They
have knitting factory where The in
mates are kept busy making SOCKS and
wooden underwear, and none OF che
prisoners have any idle time, and when
| their time expires they do mos care to
como back TO work fos living. bus will
seek some other sossn whera they have
not got the workhouse.
| In Detroit, Mich, she workhoBss and
| the house OF correction are run together
| with Recommendations for nearly 1900
prisoners, aud They employ them Ia q
cane chair factory.
In Minneapolis, Mimi, they have got
| O workhouse with 60 acres of farming
lana, whore they raise enough vege-
tables TO supply that institution and
also this city poor department and the
county hospital. Besidss that they have
got stone quarry, where they employ
about 80 men. They get out the good
stone to be used on public buildings,
curbing. ETC., and the poor rock 10
broken and used for macadamizing pur-
pcsss. Beaides that, they raise all the
flowers and plants for the city parks.
In St. Paul, Mimi, they employ the
prisoners in stocking factory, end they
cut the ice for the public Institutions.
Now, what is the reason that this
city cannot have an institution of that
kind? Some place where they can take
the '.hobo" and tha petty criminal and
keep him and st the same time make
him do something toward paving his
kecp2 1t is o well-known fact through
out the east that the regular tramp will
get TO California for the winter months
| if there is any possibility for his doing
go, and owing to tbs lenency OF the
| Judges and the poor facilities for taking
care of them they are left to do nearly
| as they please-to beg on the etrects, to
stand on the etreet corners in hall in-
| toxieated condition and insult the iadiss
| passing. and to plot up some scheme
| whereby they can raise some money to
| buy ''boozs" with.
Now surprising that the city Hhould
buy about 80 or 40 acres some where on
the outskirts of the CITY and build
workhouss to cost about 100000, have
| it in charge OF aoms man that UNDER
stood that kind OF wrok, and run it for
q year and then SEQ il the cost OF keep.
ing the ''trsmpe" would bs any more
than il is at present. and how often ia
it that the detectives arreat ynsn end
while they sre certain no il guilty of
some felony, yet they have noe the
evidence to hold him to the grand jury.
| If they had workhouss they coulc put
vag charge against him and send him
up for 10 or 20 days, or long enough to
| get sufficient evidence to hold him
and again, ii would be ths means OF
| bettering q great msny men who are
| not trampn of their own accord. and il
they got chance they would in all
probability become honest, indletrioue
men again.
In this mornings sper see whore
someone ia advocatin z the eatabligh-
ment Of workhonse where the men
can go aud work certain number OF
hours q day for their food and
lodgings. Now. snpposing that
workhouse of that kind were estab-
lished in this city, the men would work
certain number of hours every dsy
and get their food and then go down
town, ostensiblY to look for work, in all
probability they would beg until they
secured some money to buy whisky with
and then come back to the workhouse,
or perhaps they would get into some
trouble and get arrested, or they would
get together and plot how they could
raise some money 90 get out OF town
with. and the chances are that they
would hold someone up or burglarize
some atore or house, and again, how
long would it take before tbs work house
would be filthy. varmin-nfssted, sick
nese> breeding hole? While, If they ha d
workhouse like the ones in all the
principal cities OF the cast, the men
who were sentenced there were given a
clean shave, they are then given hot
W ater bath, they are then provided with
an entirely new outfit of clothing, the
clothes they have on at their arrival are