Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-29

dians, when listening to them At their
hans-outs" a newcomer arrives for in
stance and though he has but a minute
70 spare ere his train Is due he contributes
something 10 the days budget OF news. be
~ only In regard to a house where he has
been well ted. n 1t Is a popular camp 20
many travellers stop in during the day that
oy night one who has remained at the camp
since morning has learned practically every
thing OF real Importance that has taken
place In the tramp world during twenty
tour hours | once remained an entire day
al favorite camp in Illinois to see Just how
much l could pick up in the way OF news,
and by night | had heard OF interesting
happenings that had taken place only
few days before as far away as San Fran
cisco, and they were OF such a nature that
news OF them could not possibly have
reached me through other channels Some
tramp had started from Frisco with the
news, and had passed 1t on to others going
further east than he had intended TO go.
and in due course 1t reached Il .mps
| In question.
As "depots" It is easy to see how i'm
portant the railroad hang out" ls. II Is
usually situated near a watering tank or
steep grade, where freight trains go slow
| and the trespassers can board them. There
are few vasabonds In the United States
who take to the public turnpikes on their
travels, but the great army OF them ride in
what they cali "side-door Pullmans" (box
cars). and their camps are the places where
| they wait for trains
Worst Class of sIums.
The life that goes on at these camps Is
what justihes me in describing them as
| slums and much OF II is 90 revolving that II
| cannot be referred TO here There is no city
slum, however, where have seen or heard
| OF anything worse than may be seen and
heard at the tramps' railroad hang outs"
| and know Of no slum more deserving Of
the poiceman's vigilance and the reform
| ers attention. From morning till night It
| is one continuous coming and going OF
| an outlawed class OF people and they are
| transported free OF charge by the railroad
| companies wherever they desire to 60.
Every spring the cities disgorge them upon
the country at large and they remake atresh
| their miniature sums from Maine TO Cali
fornia. There is not a state in the union
| which is not liable to a visitation from
them and in all the states they have no.
| torious gathering places. In other words,
even the country in the United States
Is not free from the vile influence of a
class of people ordinarily supposed to be
|
other reason the public Is justified in ask
ing that the railroad companies drive this
class off their properties. Every provincial
town and not a few villages have little
| Whitechapels at their back doors in the
shape of tramp camps, and there may be
seen at these camps all the revolving things
| which make the congested quarters OF the
large cities the Stunned places that they
are
This deplorabe state OF affairs is already
answerable for not a little harm done to
our civilization. 1t has familiarized the
boys of the country with a criminal en-
vronment for one thing and I doubt
whether there is another country in the
world where provincial youngsters have the
intimate knowledge OF tramps and CROOKS
that American lads can, and often do,
boast Of Between New York and Chi
cago, merely to take this section OF the
country there is hardly a town on anv OF
the railroads connecting these two cities
where the majority of the young men and
boys have not at least an amateurish ac-
quaintance with tramp life. and where not
a few OF the young people talk as glibly
about the tramps business, and know how
y to travel after his methods, almost as we'll
| as the ull-fledged roadster. Indeed 1t was
recently said to me bv a man who has
department Of one Of the railroads. that out
OF every five youngsters who gather around
the tramps at their camps. three are sure,
sooner or later, to run away from home
and try tramping on their own hook and one
is almost certain never to return to his
home. .... Ha
Where They FIOurish.
These are facts which the public ought
to seriously consider, and until they do and
take action accordingly the railroad slums
will continue to increase. At present they
are worst in Pennsylvania. New York. Ohio
Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts,. New Jer-
sey, Iowa, Wisconsin,. Colorado, Texas
Louisiana and Mississippi but as I have
said, they are to be found all over the
country. There Is one railroad system on
which they are no longer allowed either to
travel or collect with impunity and the
, same property was once one of the most
| tramp-ridden lines in the United States
. refer to the Pennsylvania lines west OF
Pittsburg, which includes the two roads
known as the Fort Wayne" and
Pan Handle" These lines thanks to
the determination Of the general manager
to have them so. have at last been CLEANED
up" as the tramp says. and they are nc
longer avenues Of crime or highways OF tres
passers The reform has been achieved
| through wen OTSdHlIeu anu carefully Su-
perintended police force which the general
manager OF the property has secured. The
roads which he manages are today recog-
nized by vagabonds the hardest in the
United States for "deadhead" to get over
and they have been practically deserted by
, | professional roadsters.
What one railroad company can do others
can do also. and have taken special no.
, tice of the railroad referred to so that II q
community should deem it worth while to
ask a railroad corporation to take up the
matter it will be able to point to a property
on which the "cleaning-up" process proved
| heneficial to the railroad AZ we'll as tn the