The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-21

\ Baer of Pennsylvanla, naVo uSSiUSo engage In a new sport. Ihey are so inc out hunting for the tramps and hurna over whose head pr. Ben heit- man has hung a halo, and they are go- Ing to make life so miserable TOT the rarred wayfarers that they'll feel like aWall Street after Great Northern slump.
 They are going to chase the dishev- eied tourists from their rights or way thev are roinz to wash them. shave them, make them go to work; they arc woinr to uplift them. They are gong fo make them like work better than Kitchen door pies. and they are gong 10 boost the price of nfghts ioosins and coffee in the morning rom Io to ao cents. They are going after the buns and hobos just as MT. Roose'ei' has been going after them.
 w1u Make Bum's Life Burden.
 The decision of the railroads to go on the warpath after the buns was an nouncedN at the fourth session oi .ns National Conference of Charities ana r,orrections today. The charity work are If inc United States have entered into a conspiracy with the railroad cbieya to make life burden for every bum that ever rode on the bumpers or a freight. ,s
 A national commission of vagrancy is formed ynsrphersllip is to be made up or raii roaa men and charity workers selected Trom the different sections of the coun- +rv5 The object of the committee IS 10 soIve inc vagrancy problem and driVe fhe tramp to the bath house, the barper shop, and to the work bench.
 The plan to bring about active co-op- eration between, the railroads and the charity workers of the country Tn tne soIution of the vagrancy problem was announced by Orlando F. Lewis of New work superintendent of the joint ap- ,,Iication bureau of the charity organ txatiop society and of the association for improving the condition or the poor. rx s
 Superintendent Lewis declared that the cost of the tramps to the railroads annually is S2,500,o00. He said that during the last year the tramps who fufest every trunk line have been re- sponsible for railroad wrecks, the burn ing of depots, great loss of life, num- ber1ess fires in box cars, and property losses mounting into the millions He declared that tramps, to take revenge on society, tempered with switches, in- terfered with signals. and even killed railroad employees.
 Superintendent Lewis addressed a special session of the conference which had been called for the purpose of dis cussing the vagrancy problem, which he declared was the most important problem facing the charity workers of inc country today. He read letters from Hill and McCrea and Hartman ana TruesdaIe. Delano of the Wabash. and President Murray of the Baltimore and Ohio, and half a hundred other railroad chiefs, in which they agreed that the vagrancy problem was one which had to be met at once and or fered to co-operate with the charity workers in any movement they might set in motion.
 !. J. Hin Points Out Menace.
 In his letter President Hill of the Great Northern declared that hundreds of idle men infest the empty cars Of the Great Northern during the summer months set them on fire, pilfer and steal
 "Tramps," he said, attempt to se- cret themselves on every train at any risk. considerable number of these are killed or injured each year. They get on or off trains while in motion, ana some suffer in life or limb. Others fall off the trains while asleep. It would be difficult to gather reliable statistics on this point, because large per centage of the tramps reported as killed on the railroads are really mur-
  vest fields with their wages are killed for their money by their more vicious and criminal fellows. the body is flung from the train while in motion and the reported death by railroad casualty Is actually case of homicide"
 President Hill concluded his letter by offering to cooperate with the charity workers in any crusade they may begin to drive tramps to work.
 vagrancy National Problem.
 yagrancy was uec4areu py MT. Lewis to be a national problem and one of It's causes are the 1U cent Logging houses, which often are established in the name of charity.
 "When a hobo can get a bed and a cup of coffee in the morning for 10 cents," he said, there is no incentive given him to work. He can easily beg 10 cents and get his bed and breakfast The first thing to be done is to increase the cost of a nights lodging in the big cities. Lodging houses such as they have in Chicago, which can be describ- ed by no other word than rotten, en- courage vagrancy.
 Such lodging houses as the one intained by Alderman Kenna In Chi caEo and many of the 10 cent lodging houses maintained by the Salvation Army encourage vagrancy. If the price of a nights lodging were in- creased to 20 or 25 cents tramps would find 1t necessary to work for their beds No sanitary, well ventilated lodging house can give lodgings for 10 cents and if this conference would work for the enactment of drastic laws in every State regulating the lodging houses, the 10 cent bed soon would cease to exist. The railroads always have been the cause of vagrancy, as they have not been active enough In preventing tramps from stealing rides. With the cooperation of the railroads promised we have reason to feel certain that we are at last in position to deal with the great vagrancy problem"
 Proposed Reforms Outlined.
 As a result of the decision of the railroad chiefs to cooperate with the charity workers in making life for tramps a burden. national commis- sion on vagrancy will be appointed by the conference. The commission will work for the following reforms:
 Strict enforcement of existing vag rancy laws.
 Passage of stringent vagrancy lava in States where no vagrancy laws now exist.
 The enactment of laws making vag- rancy punishable by Imprisonment at hard labor.
 Efficient policing of railroad yards to prevent tramps from boarding trains.
 Establishment of sanitary municipal lodging houses and abolishment of 10 cent insanitary bed houses.
 Greater cooperation between towns a~d in