New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-20
SIXTY THOUSAND TRAMPS.
JOHN GRAHAM BROOKS SAYS THEY ARE
NOT A TEMPORARY PHENOMENON


THE ONE GREAT CAUSE OF THEIR EXISTENCE
THE SECRET OF THEIR DIsCONTENT-AN
AUDIENCE ENTIRELY OF WOMEN
"The Tramp and the Unemployed" the sub
jec Of John Graham Brooks's lecture in the Berks-
ley Lyceum yesterday afternoon and the lecturer be-
gan by explaining that the two terms were not
linked together because he thought them synony-
NOUS but because the classes thereby denominated
produced for the part, by the same
causes. Social conditions have thrown vast num-
Der OF people out of employment, and the unem-
p.oyed tend almost inevitably to become tramps.
Mr. Brooks estimates the whole number OF tramps
In the country at between fifty and sixty thousand
and says that they temporary phenome-
non, that will disappear with the revival OF business
but are here to stay into any future that 1t Is worth
while for us TO consider. 1t would be impossible. he
said to give all the OF their existence but the
great cause could be briefly stated
''Twenty-four or twenty-five years ago" he said.
several great engineers predicted that when the
world had been bound together closely enough by
of steam and electricity there would be
revolution. That has happened to-day, and We have
among us the battle of the standards Great
with lower standards of living competing with
u.s. and are doing for the Western farmers precisely
what they did previously to the Eastern ones. crush
ing them out of existence Argentina. Southern
Russia and India supply us with wheat more
cheaply than We can raise 1t: and farming no longer
farming regions. and in their distress they catch at
straw, whether they be free silver or something
I'm connection with these circumstances we have
the press, with all its gaudy lying. making the city
OF heaven, and thus all large cities be-
come Of attraction to all outsiders VINO wish
to better their condition. Thousands pour into the
cities every year. and the vast majority the city
lie works as with the fingers of death. They drop
into the saloon at once because of the free lunch.
You have eJoljshed 1t here. and am curious to see
under what form 1t will be revived for Is necessary
in order sell rum, and therefore in some way 1t
will be restored.
as making scheme that has rcacncu Srcarer
dimensions than most OF us imagine, and these men,
being idle. go where the vast majority OF us "oulo
20 under the same circumstances In a few weeks
or months there more manhood left In them
It is in this condition that you see them. but they
were not always so. They have been spoiled as the
result of circumstances which they hal no con-
ro and through conditions fer which we are re-
sponsible. and when the work IS done We can them
After the organized vices have done all that they
thar by little hypocrisy they can obtain food and
lodging or that they can profit by the eagerneSs OF
find that people coming out of the theatre and par
tcuarly out of church. will readily part with rev
dOoTs at whch aSKF Worth "S 2o Apply
often with the nobest motives | know those who
are giving their lives to it. and can only wish
that they were not
The lecturer concluded by proposing remedy for
the evil, that had been approved, he said, by
men of great experience and the first step or which
had been thoroughly tested
The great difficulty" he said rs that the mass
with which have to work il wholly unweeded.
1t is composed Of good bad and Indifferent that
not be distinguished from each other, and conse-
quently do not know what we are doing. The
mass must be broken up. and this can be done by
a labor test We have tried II in Cambridge the
test being cleaning bricks and it has driven out all
the tramps. The same thing has also been done in
Ann Arbor $500
But this should only be the first step. The next
one will be have training schools and farm colo
MES where the principles OF trade can be taught
and individual abilities discovered. This must be
done at least till we wake out of our sleep and !
every boy is kept of the industrial world and
under disciplinary forces until he is sixteen
old
Those that cannot and will not work. although |
they may not have been responsible for the ruin OF
their character must be taken out of the market !
and placed where they will have 20 earn what they |
eat
I'VE cannot introduce such system all at once |
but we can make il work in some given locality |
and example will do the rest
The audience was a very large one. completely |
filling the theatre Of the Lyceum, and the lecture |
was listened with an intense interest that broke
occa sionally into applause.
Among those present were Mrs. John Plummer,
Mrs J Milton Cornell Mrs Hiram Sibley. of Roch-
ester: Mrs James Benedict. Mrs. lie Grand Lock-
wood of Stamford and Mrs. Wiston Lockwood.
Mr. Brooks gives the same lecture at to-day
in the Teachers College.