The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-06-04
BY MILLIONS.
WOrkingmen Long Out of Work
Turned Tramp.
Swarming in the Country East
of Chicago.
HELPLESS, HOPELESS
Men Who Are Becoming Des-
perate and May Make Trouble.
On a Single Train 1877 of Them
Are Counted.

Chicago, June 4-The Chronicle in
an article on the alarming increase of
tramps in the country east Of Chicago
says:
One of the significant and disquiet-
ing evidence of the long continued de-
preston in industry IS the large num-
ber of tramps reported in all sections
of the country This is particularly
true of the territory east of Chicago.
The movement appears to be toward
the older states. California and the
Rocky mountain states are no longer
favored by tramps. 1.-The coast is play
ed out and Colorado is no BETTER" is
the verdict of the travelling fraternity.
A railroad detective whose business
keeps him on the road between Chicago
and Cleveland a large part of the time
said yesterday that the number of
tramps exceeded anything in his recOl-
lection.
There are thousands of them,'' he
said, land it is not fair to call them
tramps, either. The majority of them
appear to be mechanics and laborers
one place to another in search of work,
and are reduced to the necessity of rid
ing in box ears and begging food The
percentage of genuine trampS is small,
though there are apparently large
numbers of dangerous men on the road.
AS an indication of the straits to which
these men are reduced, may tell you
that only last Wednesday four tramps
car filled with other tramps near But
Ter, Ind, and robbed them of what lit
tie money they had. No one ever
heard of such thing before
Il have occasion to deal with these
people every day and they all tell the
same story. They say that the coun-
try is fairly alive with tramps and
that the number is increasing every
day. Another ominous feature is that
the tramps are talking COXeyism in a
radical form. They declare that the
present condition of things can't last
long without an outbreak. No one
ever heard tramps talking like that be-
'.Fhe number of tramps in the coun-
try may be judged from the fact that
I counted 1877 Of them on one freight
train that left Grand Crossing last
Tuesday night. The average IS nearly
that high, and you can readily see that
freight conductors and brakemen are
not anxious to undertake the job OF
throwing them off The fact is, that
so long as they keep out of sight IN
box cars the trainmen let the traInpS
alone. They are afraid to do anything
else.
ION one road out of Chicago there is
a coke train each way every day. rms
is known to the tramps as the carry
all Coming west the 'carryalP is
loaded with coke. Going east the cars
are returned empty. The tramps ride
inside the loaded coke cars quite as
easily as in the empty ones, as Ohe
doors of the loaded cars are always
open, there being simply boards enough
on either side to prevent the coke from
falling out The doors are kept open
to Guard against spontaneous combus-
ton. ...,
in Chicago have nearly an equal NUM-
her of tramDs to contend with dally
with an allowance of three freight trains
in both directions on each road, the
daily exodus will average about 10000
and the influx is about the same NUM-
her"