MINGLE A LITTLE WITH THE “TRAMP” AND “DESTITUTE” CLASS.
By T.
It will pay you if you are rich, and dwelling in an elegant home, or else in the best hotels of the land, to mingle in a common, unattractive sort of way with the growing army of “tramps” and “paupers.” You will find them fairly boiling with discontent and strong sentiments for desperate acts of despoliation. Don’t toss this matter to one side with the stereotyped expression that “these fellows are not worthy of notice;” for they are a factor that will sooner or later be forced upon the world for most serious consideration. As you mingle among them you will find that many of them are not so bad and vicious at heart as you might expect. Many of them are the victims rather than the creatures of circumstances. They have been educated in a one-sided way. They only know how to do one particular kind of work for a living. They have not been educated to that versatility that enables a man to turn his hand from one thing to another when necessity requires. They lose a job, and that particular thing that they were doing is all they know about. And so they start out for employment, and until they find a place where their particular kind of work is needed, they are pieces of social driftwood. And, drifting about in this way, they soon become confirmed tramps. But you say, “A man has no business to be educated in such a one-sided way.” You might as well say he had no business to be born with a Roman nose and blue eyes. His whole education has been defective, it is true, but he did not educate himself, hence is not to blame so much as those who have educated him. And, no matter how you view this individual man, he is a factor in society, and should be considered as far as possible from his own standpoint. It is the privilege of all to so consider him to-day; it will be a stern and unavoidable necessity to-morrow. The great financiers of the country are the ones who have educated the tramp. I do not present this as a charge, but merely state it as a fact. In the unreasonable and senseless rush of the age to pile up wealth, large factories have been built, and boys and girls have been placed at the machines to make just one part of a shoe, or a farm implement, or whatever they were manufacturing. They have been kept at this one thing for month after month and year after year, until they are but little more than a part of the machine they operate. Then the “hard times” come, and the machine has to stop, and these people are thrown out of work. Then comes the drifting-time. But who is responsible for their one-sided education? They thought they had a steady job, and were all right while they had work of their particular kind. But now they are all at sea. They know not what to do, and if they saw something that was out of their line, but few of them would have confidence to take it up. It is deplorable that men should have such a defective education. And it is much more deplorable that those who have educated them in this way are not more willing and practical in their methods of helping them. To shut them up in jails or set them to breaking stones on the streets does not cure the evil. It only strengthens and deepens the feeling of hatred that they already cherish toward the rich. The wealthy have made their factories pay, and, altho their business may now be at a standstill, yet they have a big treasure of hoarded wealth. They have houses, lands, and stocks which they think are secure. But mingle among these discontented men and see. This whole world is a social volcano. Shut your eyes to it if you will, but disguise it you can not. And the mutterings of discontent show that an active eruption can not be long delayed. Some of these tramps are lazy and have become confirmed vagabonds. There is but little prospect of reforming such; still some of these may be reached. But there is a large number of them who really want to work. They seek for work day after day, the vision of their hungering wife and children goading them on. But each day are they disappointed, and each day they grow more bitter in saying that “it is exasperating beyond endurance when a man is anxious to work to support himself and family, that he can find nothing to do.” This discontent is not so very loud and outspoken in this country just now, but it is very deep. And when it is once set aflame, it will make a stir. The rioting in Italy is only a sample of what will be universally seen; and who knows when the spark will be struck that will ignite the social explosion? It is an easy matter for one to look out from a pleasant and finely-appointed home, or from a comfortable carriage gliding down a beautiful street, and exclaim: “How fair and beautiful this world!” “How charmingly grand is everything moving on!” But if you could only sense the feelings of bitterness that rankle in the hearts of thousands as you pass them by, a cloud of dreadful sadness would fill your soul. The signs of our times are ominous. Be sure that you read them aright. T.