The Indianapolis journal., 1903-07-01
TRAMPS' WAYS STUDIED.
BY a Fellow of the University of Penn
sylyania.

Brooklyn Eagle.
Philadelphia is at present the abiding
place of one very disgruntled young man,
who is on the lookout for nice dark cor
ner that he can crawl into and drag in after
him His name is Benjamin c. Marsh and
he has been rather widely advertised as the
holder of the first and only tramp fellow
ship" in existence. established. so the story
goes. about year ago by the University
of Pennsylvania. One cannot greatly blame
the agile minded reporter who invented the
term tramp fellowship. 1t is at once pic
turesque and expressive. But Mr.. Marsh
and the University of Pennsylvania both
deprecate the expression. Mr.. Marsh Is
special student of the university, to whom
IL granted a junior fellowship, carrying
stipend of $500 year for study along spe-
cial sociological lines.
He has found that there exists in Phila-
delphia. and presumably in every other
big city, a regular beggars lodging house
or club, where, when new man comes to
town he is given lists Of names and ad-
dresses of the charitably minded-the soft
marks'-and what particular spot in the
makeup of each is the softest. He says:
'On entering the place L informed the
clerk that 1 was broke and asked him
whether he could not direct me TO some one
to give me some money. He referred me TO
man sitting in the room who could fur
they called him, was partially drunk ana
reticent at first, but soon referred me 10
rector near by, who would give me tickets
TO the Samaritan Shelter and probably %
cents besides if would tell him belonged
TO Dr. Walpole Warren's church, st.
James's on Madison avenue, New York, as
he had given Frank the same before. The
rector was absent, so i returned to my
mentor In the course of the evening he
grew communicative and told me that most
of the ministers here in Philadelphia were
Hnnd hlAlrn ora1 M
up any kind of a front and talk decently
straight gait he could get money. He cited
several of his successful raids on the cred
ulity and sympathy of prominent clergymen
and business men, and promised TO give me
a more complete list the next morning.
"One of his chums told me that Frank
had lived here in Philadelphia on what he
had grated, and had been drunk a good
part of the time. He is a good type of the
intelligent beggar. He has Travelled ex-
tensively and knows g. good many cities in
New England, where also had been within
a few months, and found that he had i'm
posed on several of my acquaintances
Mr.. Marsh tells how on another occasion
In the guise OF disabled mechanic he COL
lected at the rate of s1150 a day. He put
on a rough cap and rough, worn, but per-
fectly respectable clothes, suspended one
friends wife to write out the following let
ter, that it might be in a woman's hand:
MY Dear Son-I am glad to hear that
you are out of the hospital am sorry you
suffered so much paine Since you are not
yet able 10 go back to work / wish that
you would try to come to Mahonoy city
over Sunday. 1 am anxyus to see you.
Please come home and spend Sunday with
me- Your mother, JANE s.
He went into wealthy part of town and
| rang front door bells. He explained, in a
low, troubled voice, to the maids or buffers
the predicament he in, offering the
letter in confederation and asking them
TO see If the master or the mistress would
not give him a quarter to help pay his fare
home to his old mother. In every instance
but one the quarter was forthcoming, the
one being at house where the master and
mistress were out and a sympathetic butler
gave him a dime. In one or two instances
he was put through a mild examination,
but SO mild that any beggar worthy of the
name could have come through 1t with fly
1t is little wonder that, in view of such
experiences, Mr.. Marsh has decided that any
beggar can pass comfortable existence In
any large city without doing a stroke of
work, and that the publics ignorance of the
very ample provision already made for men
who are willing to work is mainly RESPONSE
Bile for this state of affairs Were 1t not
for this general ignorance Mr.. Marsh be-
lieves that the begging tramp would soon
cease to exist.
Tramps in general Mr. Marsh divides into
three classes-the healthy and reasonably
upright tramp, who is a victim of wander
| lust; the drunken tramp, who is the victim
of a passion for strong drink: the swindling.
| lying, begging tramp, who is not victim,
but who victimizes humanity at large. The
| first class ii is easy to understand. His de-
| sire to see the world. to have adventures.
| to walk white roads between green fields,
| to live in the sunlight, are very human de-
| sires, with which 1T is easy to sympathize.
And ii is a phase of youth which frequently
| passes with youth. The men find that in the
| long run it doesn't pay, and with a little
| help just at the right time-the time when
| this conviction Is forced home-are easily
reformed.
The second class it is easy to be sorry
| for, but pitifully hard to be reasonably
| hopeful for. The tramps whom alcohol has
wrecked, like their fellows in every walk
| of life, are hard 10 reform. And they have
| not the incentive of self-respect, family
pride and loving friends. Still the institu-
| for them.
| But the third class, the lying, begging,
| swindling tramp, who is most common in
| the big cities, is well nigh hopeless propo-
| sition. The authorities cannot be too hard
| on this class He has become a tramp
| through sheer laziness and viciousness. jail
| Is his place. His theory in life appears to
be ''if you don't want to work, and you
don't have to work, why should you work? pa
| Why, indeed, since the dear public is an
easy mark?
| Mr.. Marsh hopes during the summer to
learn in Europe as much about the tramp
| over there as he has during the winter OF
| the tramp over here. He proposes, as he
| has studied the one, to study the other
| his methods and his treatment Whether
| or not Europe has solved the tramp uues-
| ton any more satisfactory than Uncle Sam
| is one of the things that he hopes to find
out before he gets back.