The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-24
A TALK ABOUT "TRAMPS." :"
Given at Central Y. M. c. A. Monday
 Night by A. F. Irvine.

Given at Central Y. M. c. A. Monday
 Night by A. F. Irvine.
 Alexander F. Irvine Monday evening gave a most int resting talk at the Y
 N. c. A. on tn, ,opic 'eTramps,' ihls being one of the course of Monday night lectures being given at the Y. M. q Trvine's address was in substance as follows:
 The word tramp" is very comprehen- sive. The honest "out-of-works,' who
 poorly clad, traverse the country roads
 and city streets in search of work are catalogued with the oily crowd of petty
 criminals who seek not labor, but the
 fruit of the labor of others. According to the laws of some states, "A man who cannot give a good account of nlmselt
 is a tramp. In others stamp IS
 man who sleeps in the open or who IS
 caught asking for food. The definition offers according to the criminal hlsto-
 " of the different states. The dlc- tonaries say he is "a vagrant, bagsar,
 worthless fellow"
 Many magazine articles have ap- peared lately telling of the life and hao- it's of the tramp. Tramp life, according to these articles, is very highly organ ized affair. We are told they have signs and passwords, rules and regula- tions. We are told also that they have
 an international order all Of which l believe to be trash and humbug. A Hartford professor has compiled tramp census of the world. It IS very interesting, and for his painstak- ing effort and enthusiastic interest de- serves much credit. His census is based on information supplied by appli- cants at police stations for food and shelter There is great difficulty in using statistics compiled on the yerac- | ty of such men. An essential element
 in the makeup of the genuine tramps | is lying. He lies without stint, motive | or compunction. How much credence l then shall we give to information based on the stories of the tramp. In my ex- 1 perience of years in their midst as mis- sionary I found that when one of them i desired to reform he would give ver- | sion of his life, the truth of which was | in proportion to the genuineness of his | reformation. I made a study of one l cheap lodging house. It covered a pe- riod of six months That is it took me
 six months to get at the real facts tab l ulated. It gives an ideal of the crowd. | The house was called "The Bismarck. " l It was the toughest of sixty mine lcdg- | ing houses on the Bowery and vicinity. It was one of the cheapest, too. A Ecwery batchelor could be accommoda- | ted for seven cents.
 | Engineer, l; watchman, 1; waiter, l;
 laborers, IT; 'longshoreman, [; junk men, 3; thieves, IS; mechanics, 8; coal | beavers, IS; street pedlars, 4; beer l helpers, 2; knife grinders 4; tailors, 4;
 cooks, 7; upholsterers, 1; cigarmakers,
 1; painter, 1; shoemakers, 6; butcher, 1;
 gardeners, 3; glider, 1; jeweler. 1; oys- terman, l; brozer, 1; truckman, 1; i lastmakers, 3; farmer, 1.
 Nationality is as follows: Germans, | 52; Americans, 19; Irish, 23; English, 4;
 Swedish. 2; Austrians, 2; Scotch, 2; | Welsh, l; French, 2; Greek, 1; Cuban, 1. 1 The average age was forty-une
 years. The trades given are the
 trades which the men considered their
 principal means of livelihood, though
 they worked at them more or less syas- medically. To look into the faces Of that crowd daily for three years was an experience never to be forgotten; faces