Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1907 — GETTING RID OF TRAMPS. [ARTICLE]

GETTING RID OF TRAMPS.

Illinois Will Undertake a War of Elimination. The tramps, like the poor, we have always with us, but in several quarters a determined effort is going to be made to suppress the former. Perhaps no State in the country has suffered more from the evils of trampdom than Illinois, for Its great city of Chicago has been the refuge of myriads of those who particularly dislike work, as it has been the refuge of the criminal class generally. A movement has just been instituted to drive the tramps out of Chicago. Previously this has been found impos1 sible. An amendment, however, to , the law, which went into effect recently, giving police officers power to arrest either on warrant or on view any person not having visible means of support, is thought to give promise of relief. | There can be no question that the tramp is a genuine evil. The idle man easily becomes vicious, the idle rich man no less than the idle poor man. Work of some kind is necessary to give one that healthy interest in life which will keep j him sound at the core. The tramp soon loses all interest in things which are true, ! honest, pure and of good report. The enmity which society justly feels'towards him is reciprocated, and a criminal he is almost certain to become. Whether it is possible to cure the tramp evil by means of acts of legislation alone is doubtful. There is some danger that the new law in Illinois may be applied ip such a drastic manner as to work harm and hardship. “Not every man walking the dusty road or beating his way in a freight car is a tramp. Many a man often looks for work, which, in our present imperfect state of sociological development, he finds it hard or impossible to obtain To be without visible means of support is a misfortune and not a cripae.