The Washington herald., 1908-09-06
Ways of Getting Rid Of the
Tramp Evil.
WORRY RAILROAD OFFICIALS
HObOes Do n Great Deal of Damage
10 Property and TerrOrize section
Hands,. J. Hill Recommends the
stone Pue-What 1t Cost to sup
port One Tramp Army.

mons Of New York. Short or suspended
! sentences are given in our courts TO men
I without homes. without employment.
without any intention Of working In the
Z large majority Of instances tramps and
/ Migrants are either sentenced 20 a short
period in jail. for are given a suspended
sentence, with the aduonition 10 leave
town.
,ew York City is not alone in this prac-
I tice- Throughout the United States this
way Of dealing with tramps and vagrants
+ prevails Nothing IN the end IS more
conducive 10 perpetuating the tramp a
writer in the Atlantic Monthly for June.
T in making an exhaustive study OF the
1 American tramp. and eliminating the SEN
I timeutality or romance often told OF pub
I lished about him. has this 20 saw
Minimum sentences or suspended sen
tences are common. first because the
{ potential criminality Of the vagrant Is
not sufficiently appreciated. and secondly.
because perhaps II seems more just that
ninety-nine guilty should escape than that
one innocent person should suffer. More
over. il costs money TO keep tramps in
Jail, the good money Of the taxpayers
Why should the town pay the JTamp's
bills2 They do not belong 10 the town
I The railroads give. therefore let the rail
roads take away
Would Make TramPS Work.
James J. Hin, president OF the Greas
Northern Railroad. writes that ne De
Eeves the passing on OF vagrants or
their Imprisonment under short sentences
20 be wrong. He says The only pen
atty that can wipe out or considerably
reduce vaErancy IS enforced labor. The
stone heap and work on the public high
way are the best remedies against rowing
Migrants
This has been a year of many tramps
George T SIade- general manager Of the
Northern Pacific Railway Company.
writes under date Of June IS % the author
Of the Atlantic Monthly article
The camps OF vaEranrs are % De seen
az brid1eS and water tanks all along our
main line. and vagr 9uts are seen ri5irE on
our passenger and freight fines in every
conceivable place where they can catch
on and be- for time unGetected by the
trainmen- In many cases there are so
many vagraEts on : train that IL is haz-
ardous for the trainmen 20 attempt 20 put
them on These Vagrants pilfer cars. set
ires along the right OF way. occupy emp
u equipment set out on passing tracks.
often building fires inside Of the cars
which cause ccufiaEra-igus- use the t-.vl-
pary'S material for the construction Of
7aaA.AAA " A--.al are NLEria l-Lell
rorize the occupants % Section-housss u
Isolated localities and commit the various
usual deTredations known % this type
4 town does not get nd Of vaerauts be-
cause Il warns some OF them ous Of town.
OtLe- towns are doing the same thing
and. as James J. HiI says. when al
neighborh0ods are doing the same thing
the community receives exactly as much
refuse as IL gets rid Of Yet when tramus
4ar
idle or are required 20 do little work
in many . county rhe peniteutiary IS wei
known as a winter vacation resort.
In one town in Kansas The Associated
Charities reports that the sequence OF
events Is % arrest. % fne- C5l sentenced 7
20 work on rock piles in leu Of fine. ~
no guard placed over prisoners. 90 va
grants run away: 90 which is what was
intended
some striking facts have been shown
by the recently published special census
on prisoners and juvenile deIinCueuts.
based on figures gathered in le14 Va
Erancy stands second in the number Of I
commitments 10 penal Institutions Va
grancy- drunkenness. and diSorderIy con-
duct total Up more than half Of all com I
mitmrnts iu the United States in 1904 Of
all the committed prisoners. O. per cent /
were sent 20 county jaiis and warehouses /
% the vagrants committed. about three
dfths were committed for less than thirty
days another fifth for one month an +
other dfth for three months In other /
words. over half the Migrants were com
mitted for one month OF less
Cost of VaErancy High
If We can once realize that vagrancy Is I
a serious and costly problem in our cogn- /
Try. We shall begin 20 take sterner meas 1
ures for its repression Some persons /
may not be too friendly toward the rail- /
roads. and Yet all agree that if. as one /
prominent railroad man recently said. F.
tramps and vagrants cost the railroads OF I
the United States Sz5.00o.e0o a year va
gralcy Is a question too important 20
neglect longer What Vagrancy costs in I
public and private charity. in almshouses. I
workhOuses- and jails. on the road. in /
communicated diseases and Fl bad ex- I
amples and strong temptations TO the 4
young no one can compute. Yet the ag- I
E1egaJe cost in money and in life must 4
be very great
Day after day appear reports Of the ar
raignment Of boy traups before ma Eis- !
trates in many Of OUT American cities I
What can we dO2 Several things are
simple and effective. We can refuse food I
at the door We can make work a re-
QUirement for ? subsequent meal We I
can urge that vagrants receive reason +
ably long sentences when arraigned be I
fore magistrates. Il they are evidently .
habitual vaErants. So far as possible CO.
operation ought TO be maintained be-
tween railroad police and city police. /
Unless tramp trespassers upon the rail- /
ways are convicted when arraigned in .
court, the railroads have little power 20 f.
reduce railway trespass. City police +
should not tolerate evident vagrants upon {
the streets OF the city. We should en-
deavOr to obtain. when possible. more /
vagrancy legislation The main I
tenance OF committed vagrants should be ,
a state charge
Most important Of all among measures /
that can be at once adopted. is the ne I
cessity Of accompanying a sentence for (
vagrancy with hard labor Wherever Z
hard labor Is required there. too. vagrants I
become suddenly less in number
In connection with work. the labor col /
ony bill to be introduced into the New 4
York legislature next winter seems a I
most interesting attempt 10 reduce va
tion for a labor colony 20 which habituaI
vagrants shah be committed. their terms 4
TO be indefinite Good care. good food. a 1
reasonable amount Of work, reforma1ory
influences, a parole system. and a chance {
70 learn a trade are among its principal 4
features
WASHINGTON CATTLE MARKET.
The Harkst continues frn1 on choice grades. under