The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-07
KANSAS COMMENT
THEY WHO STAND Idle.

| A4G4 Wf1O STAND IDLE.
That there is one able-bodied loaf
| and government and several other
| things; but the fact is that there are
| countless hosts of ablebodied loafers.
A couple of days ago a desperate
contractor OF Atchison needed labor
| ing men the worst way. He had more
work than he could do with the force
in his employ, and new contracts
| were turned down because he couldn' t
get help. So he went the length of
the main street of the town, and ac-
costed every idle man he could find
offering such wages as were never be-
fore heard of for unskilled labor. He
addressed forty or fifty men during
his excursion, and didn't find one who
was willing to work. Every man was
equipped with some sort of an excuse
The real reason for refusal was that
the work the contractor wanted done
was hard work which would make
the back ache.
A similar condition prevails in ev-
cry town. 1t is almost impossible to
secure men to work, and as a conse-
quence building operations and other
There are many other consequences
which always follow idleness. The
men who won't work for a living
must live somehow; some of them
will exist upon charity through the
winter, sponging upon those who are
industrious. Others probably will steal.
However they get their living, they
will be burden upon their respective
communities.
Sooner or later the vagrancy prop
osition will have to be taken up Sc
riously and disposed of with a due re-
gard to people who are industrious
and who deserve protection from the
loafing element. There are Vagrancy
laws in abundance, but, as they OPP
crate in small towns, they always
have the fatal defect that the pun
ishment prescribed Is more OF pun
ishment to the community than to the
loafers. If the police become dillgent
and arrest a few local buns or Vag-
rants these worthless usually are as
sessed fines that they can't pay, ana
they go to jail and live in comfort Tor
several days or weeks. their 1000 pc
ing provided by the town. or late
years a great deal has been done to
make town jails healthfu1 and con-
venient, and imprisoned vags nave all
the comforts of a good hotel, 1nclud-
ing a free library, and 1t is not sur
prising that they often go out OF tnelr
way to be arrested.
Some scheme Will have to be de-
vised to provide a punishment tnat
will make jail life less luxur1ousI
punishment involving work. which
is to the loafer the King OF Terrors:
The rock pile is out of date; but 1t
should be possible to put the prison.
ers at work at something useful and
weld a. decent return to the town
treasury.-Em Gazette
A HARTMAN ENTERPRISES
Most people will remember E. H.
Hartman as a cold, calculating imam
cier whose ability brought success set
to figures and dollar signs. Not SO
with IL, 900 or $4,000 boys in the con-
gested districts of New York city; to
them Hartman will always seem
and friend. They are the
members of a boys club which was
Mr.. Harriman's pet hobby. He gave
the club a $3.50, 900 club house. and made
numerous and frequent contributions |
to its support. Here the boys of the
tenements get a touch of better life |
they would not enjoy but for Hartman.
For one cent year each boy is given
a. card which entities him to the privt- |
leges of the club. which include gym
nasium, reading room, various lectures
and entertainments, etc. There is also
a cafe for club members, and billiards, !
pool and baths. These, however, re-
uuire an extra expenditure of one cent
for a bath, two cents a cue for billiards |
or pool, and strictly cost prices in the
restaurant. Once a year the club pro-
duces an opera and Mr.. Hartman
never missed one of these amateur per-
formances There is mourning in the
boys club, and, incidentally, 1t gives
the world a different view Of the great
financier and railroad king.-Atchison
Globe.