The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-07-25
TO UP[|FT THE HOBO
'RAILhoAD CHIEFS JOIN IN THE
SCHEME OF REDEMPTION.
Mssnstss Would Suppress Tramp Evil
With ssthtubs and Labor--KItohen
Door Pies on the Blacklist.


Minneapolis, Minn.--James ]. Hill
and Hartman and McCea, and all
the other men who own locomotives
and trains, including Mr.. Baer, of
PENNSYLVANIA, have decided to engage
In new. sport. They are going out
hunting for the tramps and buns over
whose head DR.. Ben Reitman has
hung a halo. and they are going to
make life SO miserable for the ragged
wayfarers that they'll feel like wall
street after a Great Northern slump.
They are going to chase the dis.
htveled tourists from their rights of
way; they are going to wash them,
shave them, make them go to work.
they are going to uplift them. They
are going to make them like work
httter than Kitchen door pies, and
they are going to boost the price Of
a nights lodging and coffee in the
morning from 10 to 20 cents. They
are going after the buns and hobos
Just as Mr.. Roosevelt has been going
after them.
The decision of the railroads to go
on the .warpath after the buns was
announced at the fourth session of the
National Conference OF Charities and
Correction The charity workers of
the United States have entered into
a conspiracy with the railroad chiefs
to make life burden for every bum
that ever rode on the bumpers of
freight.
a NJ nj too al - xyan att
10 TO be formed by the conference
and its membership is to be made up
Of railroad men and charity workers
selected from the different sections
OF the country. The object Of the com.
nittee is to solve the vagrancy prob.
lem and drive the tramp to the bath.
house, the barber chop and the work
bench.
The plan to bring about active CO
operation between the railroads and
the charity workers of the country
in the solution Of the vagrancy prob.
lem was announced by Orlando F.
Lewis, Of New York. superintendent Of
the Joint application bureau of the
charity organization society and Of the
association for improving the condi-
tion Of the poor
Superintendent lewis declared that
the cost of the tramps to the railroads
annually Is $2,500,000. He said that
during the last year the tramps who
infest every trunk line have been re.
sponsible for railroad wrecks, the
burning OF depots, great loss OF life,
numberless fires In box cars. and
property losses amounting into the
millions. He declared that tramps. to
take revenge on society tampered
with switches, interfered with signals,
and even killed railroad employees.
Superintendent Lewis addressed
special session Of the conference.
which had been called for the purpose
Of discussing the vagrancy problem,
which he declared was the most i'm
portant problem facing the charity
workers OF the country to-day. He
read letters from Hill and McCrea
and Hartman and Truesdale, Delano,
OF the Wabash, and President Murray,
Of the Baltimore 4 Ohio, and half
hundred other railroad chiefs. In which
they agreed that the vagrancy prob
lem was one which had to be met at
once and offered to cooperate with the
charity workers in any movement they
might set In motion.
The municipal lodging house was
declared responsible for many of the
results of tramp life. The commits
sion to cure this will work for the en-.
forcement of existing vagrancy laws,
the establishment of sanitary lodging
houses. and the enforcement OF rail-
road trespass laws. Literature will
albo be distributed urging housewives
to refuse to distribute aims at the
kitchen door.
oEEo NArInA nE~IDInro