Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-20
VAGRANCF IN LONDON
1T Is REPORTED TO BE ON THE
INCREASE.
The Question Said t6S Be a National
one-The ch6f ydsuses Of It's
Growing Seriousness.

| Growing seriousness.
| From the London Times
| In looking at the fortnishtly returns Of
| admissions to the casual ward Of the union
of which have been guardian for nine
| teen years, I noticed some little time ago
| that, while there was q considerable de-
crease In the number Of the adult Migrants.
the number Of the child Migrants was In
creasing This led me to make a careful
search through our register Of Migrants
| for q period OF two years. The result was
| that found that. while at that time gen.
| eral vagrancy was decreasing Cat least In
| that particular untone. the number OF chill
dren who had been admitted to that one
| casual ward in the year had increased from
225 to $50 Some of these children were
! doubtless travelling with their parents to
take part in hop-picking and other irreg--
ular industrial empIoyments. These, Of
| course should not be ciassed- as Migrants
AS, however, the fortnightly average Of
children (although not of adults was fairly
| uniform throughout the year, / fear that
| the number Of those who had definite
| and legitimate object was not considerable
! The great majority were the children or
| companions Of professional Migrants.
A Large Percentage.
Several of them visited the casual ward
twice In the same year. few perhaps more
than twice Making every possible deduction
for those who were not really Migrants, and
| for names occurring more than once, there
could not have been less than 100 child va
grants who visited the casual ward Of one
small country union in a single year in
which the whole number Of Migrants OF all
ages was decidedly below the average.
| What the total number OF child Migrants
| in the whole kingdom may be 1t Is impos-
hon ha
large for to those who visit the casual
| wards must be added an unknown number
who frequent common lodging houses, or
| "sleep out" Every one will readily admit
that child Migrants cannot help themselves
and are deserving of the -sincerest pity. AS
the life of a vagrant is not an unhealthy
| one, large proportion of these children
| will grow up. Is 1t not obvious that the
| life which they have led from childhood
will make the vast majority of them NOR
| ally incapable of ever being anything bet
ter than Migrants? 1t 50, such moral inca.
| pacity Is certainly not. their own fault, and
| makes them even more deserving of pity as
| adults than while they are children.
1t has often been urged that there ought
! to be q uniform treatment Of Migrants in
| all casual wards. have no doubt that
| this would be an excellent plan. especially
| IL the details Of this treatment were ar
| ranged to fulfill the twofold object of MAX
| possible and the way out Of 1t as easy as
| possible. The enforcement by central
| authority of a scheme for such uniform
| treatment would not be, any interference
| with the legitimate work Of local self-gov-
| eminent. Vagrancy Is a national and not a
| local question. and even the most enlfght-
| ened board OF guardians Is powerless to do
anything for its suppression. But even the
| best possible scheme fof making the pro-
| fession of vagrancy unpleasant, and the
way out Of 1t easy, could have no effect
whatever on those who are either physical
ly morally incapable of anything else.
krxu l,,,,
thing must be done to prevent the growth
Of incapacity. or, In other words, we must
endeavor to cut of the source Of supply.
Problemof Rescue.
There is one sourte, IT supply that we
shall never be able to cut off, for there will
always be men and women who will throw
away their chancesi )andA make themselves
morally incapable through their own fault.
With the physically incapable 1t ought not
to be very difficult to. deal. Then one large
| source of supply Of moral incapables might
be cut off. The children might be rescued.
DR.. Bernardo's National Wait Society and
| the Church of England Waits and Strays
Society have proved that children, even Of
| the lowest class, may be transformed into
| respectable, honest and useful members Of
the community. 1t would, however, be
quite impossible for any private society to
| deal with the whole number Of vagrant
| children. 1t Is national work, which can
only De uOHe Dy the nation. Inc problem
| OF now to do 1t is. however, rather a COM
plicated one. AS professional Migrants find
| that their children are very useful to them
for begging purposes 1t might seem as If
the danger OF weakening parental RESPONSE
Dillty was purely imaginary one. Per-
| maps 1t might be so, II we had to take into
consideration none but the present race
| OF professional Migrants and their children.
AS we have also to consider the future,
the danger is a real one, If plan could
| be devised by which children found In the
company Of professional Migrants should
| Immediately be taken from them and pro-
sloeo tor by the state, parents who wished
Tor any reason to get rid OF their children
might DO so at once, either by handing
them to professional Migrants or by tempo
rarily becoming Migrants themselves. In
france, where parents are permitted by
| law to hand over their children to the Gus
tooy or the state, and by SO doing to free
themselves from ali legal responsibility, the
number OF children thus voluntarily aban-
| doned' rose from LOTS in 1884 to 110575
| In 1897. There Is the further difficulty that
| II warrants who apply for admission to
| casual wards could be compelled to hand
| over their children to the custody Of the
state, professional Migrants who wish to
| retain their children could do so II they
could beg or steal sufficient money to pay
| for accommodation for themselves in the
lowest class of common lodging houses.
i A Scheme Of Relief.
| 1t Is essential, therefore. that any law
| for the rescue OF child Migrants should ap-
ply to children who are in the company Of
Migrants on the road, as we'll as to those
| in casual wards. 1t is also important that
| the cost Of the administration OF the law
should be justly distributed. If each union
| had to pay the whole cost Of the rescue Of
the children found within Its borders,
rural union situated between two large
towns would have to bear the expense Of
all the vagrant children passing from ono
| town to the other, while the towns them
selves would get off almost scot free.
cannot claim the credit OF having discoy-
cred the solution of this complicated prob
lem. but MIR. r. F. Haslewood, clerk to the
pared the outline Of a scheme which ap-
pears to me to take cognIzance, at any rate,
| Of all the difficulties (Which Iehaye named
| l do not claim fot, the scheme that 1t Is
faultless, but that The definite proposals
which 1t contains anrord affair basis for dis
c cussaa AS far IS rths Children are con-
merely the extension of the principle of