Year: 1878

and a decade of bitter struggle-the
fruition has already begun.


Once More the Tramp.


seribner's Magazine.


1t is very strange that no more
vigorous measures are taken for the
abatement of what is very properly
called Hthe tramp nuisance 1t is
strange, because the nuisance is as
great in the country as it is in the
city, and there is no section and no
interest that would not be served by
sweeping measure of suppression.
A feeling has undoubtedly existed
that much of the tramping is at
tributablo to the bad times that
men are wandering in honest search
Unemployment. This feeling should
be corrected by this time. If any,
thing is notorious now, it is that
ninety-nine tramps in a hundred
an overwhelming proportion at any
rate-Would not work at any wages
if they could. The experiment tried
in Massachusetts by detectives ex-
poses the utter hOllOwneSS of the
pretenSe that these fellows desire
work. They scOrn work and scout
the idea of engaging in it. They
coOlly propose to live upon the COM
munity, and to Seat their bread in
the sweat of other mems faces" and
to do this IN perpetuo.


In the city, where these parasites
~, Il A.a 10. = se, -
so very hard to get along with
them. They are an offensive, dirty,
disgraceful set to have around, it is
true. One shrinks from contact
with hthem-shivering in their abom-
Unable rags and dirt-and feeds them
with cold victual at his basement
door, but he is not afraid of them.
In the country, during the summer,
and near the great lines of travel,
the tramp is different being.
Whatever of enterprise there may
be in him is exhibited during that
season. Then he can steal eggs, rob
hen-roosts, bully women and chill
dren who find themselves unprO-
tected at home, while the men are
in the fields, set forests on fire, and
commit burglaries and murders
whenever it may be desirable and
convenient. They rove in bands.
We have seen them in forests dur
ing the past winter near inland
cities-a dozen of them smoking and
lounging beside a fire made of stolen
wood. They are to be counted by
tens of thousands, and they stand
ready to go into any mischief into
which the demag0gue with money
in his pocket may see fit to lead
them. They are the very lowest
layer of the proletariat-a class
whose existence In America has
been declared again and again, and
in no case more distinctly and de-
plOrably than in the labor riots of
last year. No difficulty can rise be-
tween labor and capital at which
these fellows will not be ready to
'1assist." They stand waiting, a
great multitude, to join in any mob
that will give them the slightest
apology for pillage, and the safety
in robbery that comes of numbers.


We cannot do what the French
Government once did under similar
circumstances s-banish fifty thOus-
and of them to colonial servitude;
and it is great pity that we cannot.
If we could gather the whole dis
gushing multitude, wash them, put
new clothes upon them, and under
military surveillance and direction
set them to quarrying stone, or rails
ing corn and cotton for ten years,
we might save some of them to de
cency and respectability, and relieve
the honest people of the country of
their presence and their support. If
we cannot do this, however, there
are things that we can do. Every
State in the Union can gather these
men, wherever found, into work.
houses where they can be restrained
from soaring and preying upon the
community, and made to earn the
bread they eat and the clothes they
wear. 1t is necessary, of course, to
throw away all sentimentality in
connection with them. The tramp
is a man who can be approached by
no motive but pain-the pain of
a thrashing or the pain of hunger.
He hates work; he has no self
respect and no shame; and, by
counting himself permanently out
of the productive and self-suppOrting
forces of society, he counts himself
out of his rights. He has no rights
but those which society may see fit
of its grace to bestow upon him.
He has no more rights than the SOW
that wallows in the gutter, or the
lost dogs that hover around the city
squares. He is no more to be con-
suited, in his wishes or his will, in
the settlement of the question as to
what is to be done with him than
if he were bullock in a corral.


Legislation concerning this evil
seems to have been initiated in va
rious States, but at this writing we
cannot learn thatanything effective
has been done. 1t would be well if
the States could work in concert in
this matter, but one great State like
New York, or Pennsylvania, or
Ohio, has only to inaugurate strin-
gent measure to drive all the other
States into measures that shall be
it's equivalent. The tramp whose
freedom is imperiled in New York,
will fly to New Jersey or New Eng
anu ANCM OCICOy Oi INCW
land will be obliged TO protect them
selves. So one powerful State can
compel unanimity ofaction through
out the country. The Legislature
of New York had a bill up a year
ago which came to nothing. We
hope the present session will see
something done, but Legislators have
so many things to do besides look
ing after the public safety and the
public morality, that we are quite
prepared to hear that this matter
will be overlooked. But something
must be done, somewhere, very
soon, if we propose to have anything
like safety and comfort in our homes,
or TO relieve ourselves of a great bur-
den of voluntary, vicious, and even
malicious pauperism.