The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-12-15
ing for severe repression where they,
the "hooligans," are concerned.


Before going any further it may be
as we'll to explain the origin of the
word "hooligan," which has now be-
came as familiar to the ears of the
Londoner as the word 'hoodlum" is
to the people of San Francisco, and
"larrikin" to the inhabitants of the
that some time ago the magistrate Of
the Westminster police court. in max
ing inquiries concerning some young
toughs in the prisoners dock before
him, charged with an outrage that.
commencing with the rough horse
play, had eliminated in the victim
being carried Off to the hospital badly
injured. received a reply from the
Irish policeman to whom the question
had been addressed.
"Sure, your Worship. the prisoners
are all 'Hooley's gang"
"Hooligans?" exclaimed the magis-
trate. who had misunderstood the po-
liceman, what are they?"
Bands of young blackguards, who
are a terror to all decent people, re-
piled the policeman.
The magistrate asked no more ques-
tons and sentenced the prisoners to six
months with hard labor. The re-
porters present fell into the same
error as the judge and "hoolgan" in
stead of "Hooley's gang" appeared in
all the newspapers that evening and
on the following morning, and ever
since these bands of young ruffians,
who invariably travel in gangs, have
been known by the somewhat catch
ing name of ''hooligans."
The "hooligan" differs from the
American tough or hoodlum in that he
is as a general rule without vestige
of education and that he is a stranger
to every civilizing influence, besides
being permanently unemployed aud
dependent for his living on petty pill
fering or the terrorism which he excr-
cises upon small traders, and likewise
to a certain extent upon mendacity.
Americans can form with difficulty
any idea Of his condition of absolute
barbarism. For it is rare indeed if the
American born hoodlum cannot read
or write, thus indicating that he has
at one stage or another of his career
enjoyed the advantages Of education,
which. no matter how elementary, IN
variably leaves softening and civiliz-
ing influence. An American "hood-
lllm' will in nine cases out of ten
know enough to be able to read
newspaper and to be thus in touch
with a more elevated intellectual
sphere than the English "hooligan"
can ever hope to attain, and it is prob
ably due to this that there is in the
American tough, so far as my expert
ence goes, a certain latent sentiment
of chivalry and dccency, to which ap-
peal can sometimes be made with
most gratifying success. and which
places him UNNECESSARILY above the
level of the English "hooligan."
There are in London and in certain
of the manufacturing districts of Eng
land, especially in what is known rs
the Black Country, vast districts in
habitcd, not merely by tens of thou
sands, but by hundreds of thousands
of people who, in spite of all the cdu-
cational laws, can neither read lOr
write, who are without any knowledge
whatsoever of Christianity, and Who
lower even than African savages, are
ignorant of such institutions as mar
riage, living together in promiscuity
HAT partallcs far more of the brute
beast than of the human being Born
among surroundings such as these,
surroundings the existence of which
will certainly be confirmed by the
leaders of the Salvation Army in Eng
land. which is the only organization
that has made any effort to deal with
this degraded element of the English
population, it is not astonishing that
| "hooligans," once relieved of their for
mer dread of the police, should with
their innate tendency to crime become
serious menace to the British metro
polls, which, with a population of
near 100000 has police force of not
more than about $4,000 men all told.
One Of the most unpleasant features
Of the more recent phases Of ''hoolig-
anism" in London has been the refusal
in a number OF instances either to
prosecute or to give evidence by real
son of the dread Of revenge on the pnrt
Of members of the gang still at liberty,
and it is this as much as anything else
that is causing the English press to
call for an immediate attack upon
what one London journal justly de-
scribcs as "a grave and ignominious
evil"
All sorts of remedies are being s,lg
gested, doses of the "cat" being til.
most widely recommended specific
But it may be questioned whether
the more effective and certainly the
most humane, way is not that adopted
with such signal success by the Aus
tralian government of Victoria il
stamping out "larrikinism" from Mel