St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-24
THE TRAMP MALADY.


were compelled to be idle. The mis-
fortune of these was improved by
the vagrant class, and every tramp
in the country appealed to the SYM
pathy Of the people, as a discharged
laborer on the brink of starvation,
because he could find nothing to do.
This was the secret of the tolerance
with which brigades and armies of
tramps everywhere were regarded
by the authorities; and it gave a
great impetus to the enlistment,
among the permanently idle, of that
large number of men who hover on
the brink of the chasm that divides
honest independence from subsist-
ence upon public or private charity.
For the moment, people everywhere
came to regard the tramp as an I'M
fortunate being, whom a defective
industrial and social system had cut
off from all the resources by which
livelihood may be gained. For the
moment, it overlooked the well-es-
tablished fact, fact that several
centuries of legislative dealing with
vagrancy should have taught us, that
rowing mendicancy is recognized
disease.
1t is only occasionally, in periods
of great distress, like that which fol-
lowed the panic of 1893, and even
then to very limited extent, that
the laborer of this country takes to
the road. He is man having a
definite employment which ties him,
if he is honestly in search of work,
to a limited area. He is frequently,
if not mostly, man of some family,
and therefore cannot go wandering
about the country in search of work
without forfeiting his claim to man
hood In ninety-nine cases out a
hundred the Industrious and deserv-
ing man who loses his position and
is reduced to distress for want of
work stays right where he is, be-
cause he knows that his chances of
ultimately getting something to do
are a thousand times better there
than anywhere else. The instances
in which the workingman starts out
on tramp from one city to anoth-
er to look for work, sustaining life
on charity by the way, while they do
exist, are comparatively rare. A
careful study of the habits and mode
of life of the tramp, such as has been
made by Mr.. Flynt. for example,
and given to the public through the
Century and other magazines, shows
that he is well-defined type. Rare
ly, indeed, is he a man looking for
work. He belongs to a fraternity
whose business in life is to avoid
work. They have their rules and
regulations, their signs of con-
fraternity, and their organized sys-
tenn for working the community,
large or small, within which their
operations are carried on. There are
few more interesting studies than
that which Mr.. Flynt has given US
of tramping reduced to a science.
The records of almost any city for
the last two winters will show that
the unemployed workingman is not
to be confused with the tramp. Most
cities had to make some provision in
the winter of 1893 aId that of 1894
for their unemployed. These were
men known to the citizens, having
resided in the place for months or
years, able to give a definite resi-
dence, and of known character. They
required temporary assistance which
was extended to them in the shape
of public employment, or else they
were enabled to tide over their mis-
fortunes by individual benevolence.
The revival Of business has provided
places for most of these. They were
as distinct from the tramp element
as the reputable merchant is from
the crook. Meantime, the great body
of tramps maintain their existence
without much accession or diminu-
ton. The new opportunity for en-
| ployment which the improved con-
dition of the country affords has not
affected them any more than busi-
ness distress created them.
In the city of Philadelphia, for in
| stance, the number of applicants for
free beds during October this year
was 1921, as against 1886 for the
same month last year. Thus we
| have, in this case, an actual increase
in the number of applicants for mu-
nicipal charity in a year when the
opening for honorable labor was inn
mensely greater. The conclusion
from this is that any tenderness on
the side of either the people or the
! authorities toward the tramp, as an
| Individual or as class, is an ut
terly mistaken policy. The man who
has joined the tramp body is amena-
|
society. He is the victim of dis
ease. He has lost the sense of honor
and the desire for independence
which are the most vital qualities of
true manhood. They can be restored,
if at all, only by the wholesome cor
rective of hard work. Not the soup
kitchen, or the lodging house, or
even bed on the floor of the CEN
trail police station, but an infexible
| prescription of the hardest kind of
| labor will work a cure.
The man who seeks employment
without being able to find it should
command sympathy, respect and the
earnest assistance of his fellows. 1t