Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1915-07-24
WHAT SHALL WE DO
WITH THE UNDESIRABLES7


CHIEF OF POLICE HILLHOUSE
is doing good work in driving unde-
sirables from the city. Reno wants
none Of this element and will stand
back of the chief in his efforts to &C.
complish this end"
The foregoing from the Reno Ga.
zette reflects a condition prevalent in
almost every city in the land. No
town a the undesirables.
The chief of police is doing good
work in driving the undesirables from
Ren0.~ Doubtless all Reno approves.
But where is he driving these unde-
sirablcs to?
Is he sending them over to Elko?
The other day twenty-six Of these I'M
desirables dropped OFF the blind bag
gage from one train. They came from
the west and 1t may be that part of
them were some that Chief Hillhouse
had driven ou of Reno.
At the same time these miserables
stopped over in Elko others were pull
ing out for the west, doubtless to So
journ for a while in Reno until they
are again driven out. How does it
help matters to keep these unfortu-
mates ever on the move?
II these derelicts are bad for Re-
no they are bad for every town on
the coast. 1t does not solve the prob
lem to keep flashing them from one
place to another. Yet that is the COM
mon verdict everywhere that they
should be driven out.
1t does not help matters any to
keep stirring a muddy pool. 1t only
rifles the mud all the more TO agi-
tate the water. The way to get rid
OF a disease breeding cess pool is to
obliterate it from the landscape not
dump the refuse on your ~neighbor.
And so 1t is with this human fot-
sam. Each city should take care of
Its own undesirables. This puts the
responsibility back upon the state and
upon the United States where it be-
longs. Our national government
should eradicate this evil OF the I'M
d"esirables just as ii helps stamp out
yellow fever and the foot and mouth
disease.
These undesirables are the products
OF our slums. They are an economic
waste. They are a menace to the
health and to the welfare Of the com.
muni:y. They spread disease and
crima. They should be stamped out
just as the United States would sup
press an Indian uprising.
The solution is a matter of arousing
the public conscience. We would
look with horror upon i'll treating the
insane or the idiots. Yet these I'M
d~esiratles are as much to be pitied as
as arc other victims of disease and
misfortune.
II is said these tramps could find
work If they wanted 1t. Others a
they wont work II they have a chance.
The fact Is they are not fitted for
work. Their bodies are i'll nourished
and diseased. They haven't the
strength to do hard work. They must
be reclaimed by a gradual process.
They must first be nour,shed and re-
stored to health. 1t would be far bet.
ter to put them in prison or q deten-
ton lamp than TO let them be driven
first from n town and then another.
Hardly a day passes that soire of
this class do not impose Upon this Of.
fee. Every other business house has
the same complaint to make. Then
these pests wind up In police court
and ere sentenced to Jail as v~agraDts.
And daily We witness the sad spec.
tacle OF seeing them chained together
on the streets after the days OF sIav.
cry.
Th9 United States mus face this
problem %squarelv sooner or later. Eu.
rope is spending some fifteen billion
dollars a year on war. This Is q stu.
pendOus sum but ever tho United
Slater could carry that burden with
no Great Inconvenience. ", have in
this country two hundred bilious OF
wealth.
We have no val 10 oppic55 us like
Europe. Yet we Jerhaps have more
beggars than has Europe. II is a dis.
grace to u civilizaiic1 and wholly
unnecessary. One per cent Of our
wealth would be twJ billion dollars
and this capital would put every idle
man IN the land TO work. Even one.
tenth of this sum would be- sufficient
to rid the country OF all these unde-
sirabies that Reno is applauding when
they are driven beyond their borders
These vagabonds move FROM one
state to another. 1t is a national aues.
ton. Congress should take the matter
up and solve the problem q would
be economy In ever, way t. cure the
evil. Moreover, to put these a d.
rants in homes or hospitals wou'l II.
feet a great saving in our criminal
records.