The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-16
TRAMP NUISANCE REvIvING.

OF old the robin and the blue bird
were regarded as the best harbinger of
spring, but now civilization has de-
veloped a surer one than either the
robin or the blue bird: it is the tramp.
Already tramps have begun to arrive
in our city. The police say the town
is infested with them. They are doubt
less being drawn here by the fact that
there is an abundance of meal tickets
for distribution among them after
their arrival. Then when they leave
they pass the joyful news along that
the streets of Zion are flowing with
milk and honey. The indiscriminate
bestowal of meal tickets is not wise
thing. 1t encourages the shiftless and
the idle and it has a bad effect upon
those who are having a hard struggle
for existence. They see those who are
making no effort to aid themselves
faring as well, if not better, than
they.
This same question Of free soup
kitchens that term covering all Civ
ing of the kind here spoken of, has
been investigated in New York City,
the investigation having been made
by President Roosevelt, of the police
board, who has just rendered a report
on the subject, in which he says:
The undoubted frequency of cases of
distress show that the work of the
Charities organization and of the char
itably inclined generally should be eX
tended at this time. But where help
is not intelligently given it is worse
than useless. / do not attempt here
to discuss the problem offered by pow
erty and hard times. But certainly the
"free-soup kitchen" shares with the
tramp lodging house the doubtful honor
of being the very worst possible solu
ton of that problem. Indeed, it sim
ply aggravates il, unless it is made
purely temporary, to meet some great
and momentary emergency. 1t surely
tends to encourage mendicancy and to
produce in our country the conditions
which existed in Naples twenty-five
years ago, and which made Bavaria
famous for beggars prior to the re-
forms OF Count Rumford. 1t puts a
premium upon the career of the tramp,
and indeed Of every man who is con-
tent to be idle if he can get enough |
food to keep body and soul together !
1t lessons the self respect of the bene- |
ficiaries and constantly tends to turn |
into idlers the large class of people |
who only work because they have TO, |
and who are entirely willing that some
body else should support them. Any |
man who has ever had experience with |
he Indian reservations knows that per-
haps the greatest obstacle in elevat-
ing the Indians is the custom so gen
orally followed of giving him free ra-
tons and clothing by the government.
The Indian, as a rule, if he can get
food and clothing and remain idle will
not work. and this popularity is very
frequently observed in people whose
skins are white. AS rule the work
ngman who labors hard is the man
most harmed by this type of soup
and indeed by this type of
charitable enterprise generally, COR he
will not take such charity himself, and
t produces paupers who can underbid
lin. Where charity is given to the
worthy and unworthy alike it has an
effect upon the moral
ibre of the whole community, and it
ends to produce a class Of shiftless
pauperized in body and in
mind. Moreover, this species of char
~, if carried out on a large enough