The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-11-29
MODERN AMERICAN TRAMP.
Rev. Myron Reed Talks Also of the
Millionaire

-
azine: The millionaire is the romant-
| ic figure of the century. The heroes
/ who put to fight by their una1deo
| prOWess whole armies of enemies, have
| ceased to interest US. We give our
| admiration to the marvellous being,
| who from the retirement of his sane
tum controls the commerce of the
/ world and makes the clothing and food
of mankind cheap, or by preference
| dear
Here is another from William Nor
| ris, poet and socialist: Tt is right and
| necessary that all men should have
work to do which shall be worth doing,
| and be of itself pleasant to do, and
/ which shall be done under such condi-
| tiOns as would makefit neither over
wearisOme nor over anxious
Here is another from John Stuart
| Mill: 1t is questionable if all the i'm
/ prOvements in machinery have light
| And here is another from Matthew Ar
! mold: All men are loving by nature
when tOlerably well Off And Wendell
! Phillips gave me text, 'NlhiliSm IS
! the last weapon of victims chOked and
! manacled beyond all other resistance.
! And here is one from St. Paul:
| The husbandmen that labor must be
| first partakers of the fruits 1 have
| met true Gypsies in Europe and Amer
| lea. They are not trampS. Uniformly
| they have good horses, wagons and
| tents and good health. They are a race,
/ brotherhood of wanderers. They
| trade horses and tell fortunes. Their
! life on the road and in the open has
| agreed with them.
The Jolly beggar of Scotland 100
| years ago had in some way or other
| lost his grip on the land. So he went
around the countryside, picking up
| cold VitualS and at evening rendeZ-
! VOuSed at POOSie Nancy'S, warmed up
| the cold stuff and made a night of it.
"OId world people, disinterested tres
| passers on the face of the earth, in
| some mysterious way migrated to
America. Here there was room for a
man and his family to have a home
q permanent fOOthOld on land of their
own. And there is room. All of the
people of the United States, if they
were friends, could live in Texas. But
we have so bOtched the thing that men
think they must go to the Cherokee
strip or Alaska.
THAT a country like this should de-
velOp the modern American tramp is
shameful. Shameful to the heart and
shameful to the intellect of nation
great in numbers; not very great in
anything but quantity.
There are plenty of preachers in the
west. What one of them has a word
to say of the murder of Unarmed 1ndi-
ans by a lot Of armed white towards?
They prefer to think of the discovery of
a. page of the life of Jesus Christ! L
discovered the life of Jesus Christ in
several pages before was years old.
"One page of the life of Jesus Christ
put into action would much help the
world. I do not know that anyone
around here has any private wire from
Egypt to Denver. do not think that
the 10 cent magazines overlook any
modern discovery of ancient things.
AS it is we know vastly more of Jesus
Christ than we live up to.
"A live man is more interesting than
anv mummy The mummy will keep.
He is a well-preserVed man. When
we have made a living comfortable
then we can amuSe ourselves with a
dead and buried Egypt.
AT present we ought to be busy with
living things. There are people who
are chilly and hungry. If you are OBJ
servant while you are going home to
dinner you will meet them. The man
who has not the nest of a bird or the
den of fox in all this broad country
interests me. I have met him on the
street; 1 have met him in my home.
The man disinherited; no home except
the highway; on that he must move on
and be despatched by pair of bob
tailed horses which have had their
spines shortened
1.-The American tramp came in the
same day that the American million
aire was born. One of them will kill
the other unless an intelligent society
peaceabIy dispOses of both.
I am acquainted with the tramp.
The door bell rings, not the short per
emptOry ring of the letter carrier or
the dun; it is a feeble. dubious ring.
He does not know whether the people
within are Christian or heather. The
door opens and enters the tramp. His
coat is pinned together in the neck.
His shoes have given out at the side
and run down at the heel. He also has
a cold the cold has him. He says
he wants work. Perhaps he lies. 1
only know that I cannot prove it.
4 do not today know where there is
any work Wherever there is vacant
pulpit it is beseiged. Wherever there
is any shoveIing to be done there are
ShOVelerS in waiting. There is a steam
and iron shOVeler that is a great IA
VOrite with contractors.
If the present social system is right
then there is an Overproduction of
mankind
''As things are. there are too many
people. They are standing around
ready to snatch another mans job.
man who has a gift, and a gift i'm
proved so that he can do some one
thing better than anybody else, has a
handle horses and wind and steam
and electricity, but how few of us can
pass from one thing to another with
out starvation.
Under the present system of indus
try a boy or girl must have genius,
and genius trained. What is to be
come of people who have no genius
and no training?
4 do not know what to say to people
who ask me to direct them to work
Here is a thin slip of a man. He could
not work in a. mine. He has New Eng
land lungs. He would not last in
mine as long as he would last at foot
ball. 1 might tell him to go and write
poetry. As we are, the average man
has a poor show.
Easy it is for me to remember when
every village had shops where the
whole of a thing was made. One man
made a wagon, another an ak, and an
other made shoes. Now a man in
big shop in a roaring big city makes
the twentieth part of thing. A
friend of mine could temper a gun bar
rel. He is sick and comes to Denver.
VIII some one tell me what he can do
here?
without food a man will starve in
nine days Nine days is not time
enough in which to learn another trade.
In making the transition from one
trade to another a man has enough
time to become a tramp. Not every
man can saw wood; steam can saw ali
the wood.
Under this system if could invent
l. -