San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-08-23

temptous inquisitiveness.
The tramp is at our doors. This is
the great fact. He is not an individ-
ual, but an army. This army is more
terrible than the one whose approach
is heralded with the blare of trumpets
and the sound of drums, and over
which the starry folds of the nation
float in the pride of power. This
army is squalid, unkempt, ill-cOndi-
toned, poorly equipped for the march,
largely unarmed, that is as armies go.
But it is more terrible than any dis
ciplined force. 1t comes In the early
dusk of the purple morn, in the deep
ening shades of the soft evening light
in the thick darkness of the unlighted
hours. 1t comes secretly, silently, by
stealth and with the sole intention of
foraging upon the enemy. To this
army in the abstract industry is its
enemy and organized and well regu-
lated society it's foe. 1t carries no
baggage wagons, no Quartermaster
stores, no ammunition chest, no COM
miserat 1t gets all of these from the
country on the march.
1t is a terrible comment on the ex-
listing conditions of our so called
christian government that such an ar
my should be continually recruited in
our midst, until grown almost a mil
lion strong it assails the very stabili
ty of our institutions, threatens the
peace and security of the home and
the wages of labor. A terrible thing
that all the school. and churches
and societies and associations, all
the law and the courts and the legis-
latures are powerless to arrest the
progress of this mighty menace to all
our social and industrial order. Why
is it this land of the free, this home of
beautiful women and brave men, this
land of plenty and the fruits of
peace, this land of fertile valleys and
generous plains, why is it that such
an army grows and swells in volume
yearly until its members no man can
number?
This is the question which the So.
cial economist, the political economist,
the moralist and the pietigt have in
vain attempted to answer. The
Light preacher is not,ylser than they.
But the bald faat as it stands is the
great thing to consider The impor-
tant question is not from whence the
coming, but to whittier the going?
Where shall the end thereof be? What
mighty revolutions shall this army ac-
complish, and having accomplished it
by what power shall it be dispersed?
The present safety of the country
lies in its vast extent of territory.
Were this army of idlenesS and vi
ciousness and disregard for constitut-
ed society and enmity to law and or
der there are exceptions but this is
the army en- masse) We're this army
concentrated as a century ago in Par
is, what would the victory be? The
question is worth the bordering.
But aside from this is the question
of some great inequality in the con-
ditions, some radical defect in the
social framework, some unwisdom in
the legislation, some disregard of the
humanities, some deepseated and long
rooted injustices that are at the bot
tom of this army, by which it was at
first created and started on it's march,
by which it has been continually re-
cruited and increased in numbers and
dangerousness. 1t was ut first a
company of the idle, it grew into a
regiment of the idle and vicious, it
the idle, the vicious and the criminal
These men did not make themselves
thus. They were created. That
conditions, for the church and the
state are responsible, created them is
not to be successfully denied. What
conditions can be created that shall
disarm and disband this army?
While the ages wrestle more or
less successfully, or unsuccessfully,
upon this great problem the leayen of
unrest continues to work. Pity that
unrest. Feel for that dissatisfaction
Remember that the condition mere
than the individual is to blame. Con-
denim not out of harsh hard heart
the unfortunate victims of crcum-
stances. All who tramp are not
tramps willingly. All are not vi
cious. Your charity, your sympathy,
your word of kindness may hold them
back from vice and crime until hap
pier conditions shall intervene and
muster them ont To Won III is not