Year: 1877

formed for a coalition in support of the
Vatican policy. One of the possible parties
to such coalition was Austria. Austria
also came into England's scheme for inter-
ference. But the necessity that Germany
is under to guard against any coalition OF
Powers with regard to the clerical issue
compelled her to assume positive attitude
toward Austria, and that course ut once made
hopeless all projects that implied the sep
aration Of Austria from an ostensible SYM
pathy with the Russian and German policy.
There is, therefore, nothing left for the
Ottoman Power but the fortune of war, and
in that there is exceedingly little promise.
Even barbaric courage has ceased to be
Of value. and that adroit cunning that has
hitherto played upon the divisions Of Tur-
keys foes at last fails to serve her.


City people, as rule, know very little
about the tramp. To them he is the un-
pleasant person who in the winter time
crowds the police stations at night, begs





the early summer weeks takes possession of
the seats in the squares and parks. to the
disgust of mothers, nurses, lovers and chill
dren. They read sometimes in the news
papers about his lawless and desperate ex-
ploits-a murder here, woman outraged
there, and, not however as often as could be
desired, they are told Of his death as
he was about to perpetrate some horrible
crime. The tramp is, comparatively speak
ing, o law-abiding citizen in the large GEN.
tres of population. He breads police
mans club and he has horror Of . term in
the Penitentiary. He will steal when he
gets good chance, but he rarely goes
higher than petit larceny. The tramp pre-
sents an altogether different side of his na-
ture in the country. He is the terror
of women and children, roam
ing vagabond, ready to commit any
crime if time and opportunity serve
his purpose. To the lonely dwellers
on scattered farms he is always thief and
possibly murderer. To men he is meek,
humble, submissive. With women he is
bold, insolent, and, if he knows they are
unprotected, brutal. How to escape him,
what to do with him, is the great problem
in the country districts.


An article in other columns this morning
gives some interesting information on the
subject, which, if closely studied, will fur
method Of dealing with this pest of society.
Before an evil, large or small, can be effec-
lively eradicated it must be first under
stood. In dealing, therefore, with the
tramp question it is all important to know
that these strolling outlaws and vagabonds
are banded together in an organized body
whose primary object is to prey upon
society. They have their seasons of coming
and going, of appearance and disappearance.
They have districted the States and sec
tions Of country in which they travel as
accurately as the Internal Revenue Bureau
or the collectors Of taxes. They have signs
and signals, which are SO much Hebrew
to those not belonging to their guild,
but perfectly Ineligible to one an
other. Mysterious chalk and charcoal
marks on fences, doorposts and CROSS
roads tell whom and what to avoid, where
the shotgun gives warm reception or some
soft-hearted dupes may be found. In fact,
the brotherhood of tramps is an established
fact, and must be dealt with as such if we
desire to be rid Of it. The evil. SO far from
decreasing, is increasing and calls for the
sternest measures of repression. Different
State Legislatures have already enacted
laws on the subject, different towns have
taken it in hand, and, in q measure,
saved themselves from the annual summer
incursions of these unwelcome visitors. But
what is needed is concert of action. The
only effective way that has been discovered
OF dealing with the tramp is to make him
work for what is given him. No work no
pay soon drives him from q house or
locality. The unlucky pioneer leaves behind
him the warming to his fellows Some Of the
smaller towns in New Jersey have tried this
plan with abundant success. The tramps
were fed and lodged, but next day made to
give an equivalent in SO much work, and in
o short time they disappeared. A week in
the county Jail is looked upon by some Of
them as rather joke than punishment.
It gives them needed rest and insures them
something to eat. The true policy is to put
them to work. That is the solution of the
tramp question.


An Important Fan ancial Change.


The Rowerv SAVINGS Bank one Of the old :