The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-09-29

are at once known and treated, as they
deserve, with considera ton and kind
ness; next, the Inherent tinkers, who
only send part of their company, the
women and children, into the house
and camp out themselves. All these
people work, their hands show it, but
the other class do not, and it is to dis
courage them that the guardians have
determined to alter their method Of
dealing With them.
Hitherto in almost all prisons the
professional tramps must do certain
piece of work before breakfast. say
breaking half ton of stones, which
would take an ordinary road-man
about two and half hours to accom-
plish. But in some places the product
of this labor is proftless. The cost of
carting in stones outweighs the sum
received for the material when broken.
Again, since the tramps are mostly eX-
pert breakers the work is familiar and
easy TO them, and ceases to be task
to be dreaded, On the other hand,
tiber-teaslng is labor that has never
become even endura BILE. Prison COVER
nors concur in this assertion. Compared
changeless, ceaseless and veXatious toll
tips only into action, the process of
breaking stones is positive recrea-
ton. The light, continuous exercise of
tone-brealling is exhilarating, and re-
gular followers of it have been known
to say that there is an interest to be
found in the work, and none inexperi-
enced With it can conceive that the
ring Of the hammer is as music to their
ears. The next argument in favor of
fiber-teasing is that the product of the
mems labor is a remarkable one, and
therefore profitable. 1t is estimated
that the money value of the tramps'
breaking of half a ton of stone is six
pence, from which must be deducted
the cost of the original material and
his board. Minus these the profit van
ishes and leaves a small debit. With
fiber picking or teasing it is calculated
that each man will do what will yield
one shilling gross profit and sixpence
net, which is an obvious reason for
adopting it. When teased it can be
used for making mattresses that are
always in demand in warehouses, and
the Portumna guardians who are try
ing the experiment, expect to be their
own best customers in this respect. as
they can use all that the casuals pre-
pare in the next year or so.
The new work 1t may be said con-
Verts the work house into Jail, but
the difference between oakum picking
and that of cocoa fiber answers the
objection. 1t is thought in Portumna,
w t,,a,1 &c i,, 10
form, that even if the method now be-
ing adopted reduced the task work to
the level of a prison in its severity, it
would be justified under the circum-
stances. 1t is only the able bodied male
professional tramps who will be re-
CURED to perform it, all females and
delicate, aged or young males, being
exempt. The men on whom the dis
tasteful labor will fall are frequently
described as a menace to the roads they
travel There was not ore of the 80 odd
healthy strong fellows who last week
slept in the Portumna casual ward but
who could have earned up to IS day
and a good meal without walking half
mile from the work-houe. The ques-
ton was before the board there on last
Saturday when the chairman Gau-
rece Taylor, who is known as one Of
the kindest-hearted and most generous
men in the union in the course of his
speech crystalized the opinions of his
colleagues during the discussion in
these words:
''These tramps are the greatest curse
of the country. They are not only
proWling idly about from place to place
but they are in he habit of intimidatinG
poor people on their line of march, and
levying blackmail at every house they
call at, if there is no one in it to make
them afraid
1t is we'll known that the audacity
of the tramps has increased since the
enforcement of the muzzline order.
They now rush in where they formerly
feared to tread. Ap1npos of this Mr..
Taylor told the following amusing story
on Saturday to his fellows guardians;
"a lady friend of mine told me that
a few days ago seven or eight of these
fellows (tramps) invaded her grounds
and house. She was in the garden, and.
running to where an old toothless collie
dog lay, grasped it with an apparently
great effort to restrain it. The tramps
made their customary demand, and
were about to enter the house, when
she cried out, viii you for Gods sake
go away They decamped in a jiffy.
Now, that young lady happened at the
time to be alone in the house in lone
ly district, all the servants being out
but her device succeeded in frightening
off the marauders. Dublin Times.
STANDING UP FOR A PRINCIPLE.
GLOW much does it cost to send a let
ter from here to San Francisco?" asked
a tall, angular woman with a mascu-
line voice and a somewhat hairy chin
as she stepped up to one Of the stamp
windows at the postoffice.
1.-Two cents, ma am"
''And how much to send letter to
Bethany, Mo-"
1.-TWO cents"
81 won't pay it,
Every well, ma am"
81 didn't suppose you'd throw off
anything on account of the shorter dis
lance, but thought I'd ask you, any
how. When you carry a letter to San
Francisco for two cents you ought to
carry four TO Bethany for one cent. It's
shame. l don't have to send my let
ter through this postoffice, and | won't.