A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR MANAGERS
Common Carriers and Charitable Or
ganizations Alike Seek Remedial
Legislation—Wrecks and Robberies
Are Laid to the Doors of Vagrants
—Problem Most Acute in Eastern
States.
Chicago.—What to do with the thou
sands of tramps who wander aimlessly
about the country and interfere with
the safety of passengers traveling on
the different railroad systems has be
come a serious problem, and has
aroused the charity organizations and
the railroad companies to the need of
a general cooperation with the au
thorities in an attempt to put an end
to vagrancy in all its forms.
At a recent conference of represen
tatives of several large railroads in
Minneapolis there was presented from
each road a set of figures approximat
ing the amount of damage sustained
by the different systems through the
depredations of tramps. The total sum
Teac>sd the amazing figure of $25,000,
000.
The showing made in the reports
was supplemented by reports of the
interstate commercg commission,
which stated that in the last five years
23,974 trespassers had been killed.
N'ot all of that slaughtered army were
tramps, yet it was shown that the
vast majority were of the class of
aimless wanderers whose vagrancy is
much mixed with viciousness.
An Army of Vagrants.
Representatives of the Baltimore &
Ohio railroad reported to the confer
ence that these hordes of the Tents of
Shem constitute one of the most seri
ous problems with which the road
had to deal. Others, who were compe
tent to testify, asserted that from one
half to three-fourths of all trespassers
were tramps.
It was asserted that on the Balti
more & Ohio accidents caused by
tramps were not infrequent, and that
the robbing of cars, freight house? and
stations was of almost daily occur
rence.
James McCrea, president of the
Pennsylvania railroad, declared that
the 900 vagrants arrested on his road
for trespassing in 1906 were but a
small percentage of the vagrants con
stantly traveling over £he Pennsylva
nia system.
Conference In Minneapolis.
At the Minneapolis conference ini
tial steps were taken to establish a
national vagrancy committee, whish
"dl have as its work the study of
'agrancy and the recommendation of
measures for the reduction of vag
tancy and for the more rational assist
ance of the honest wayfarer out of
"°rk. Its field is very large, and be
cause general knowledge of the real
acts of vagrancy le so limited, the ef
tect of the committee’s work will prob
y’J not be immediately apparent.
®t it is evident that much thought is
ti'-da> being given to the question of
fe^Phblic s duty to the vagrant, and
° ,, grant's danger to the public,
rofessional jokemakers have cre
ed out of the tramp or the “hobo,”
s m is more familiarly known, a pic
mesque, happy-go-lucky soldier of for
. P°8sibly one tramp in a thou
tu> justl®es this pleasant concep
v n’ ,u*' 'bose who know them best
of'.. 00 ‘fusions about the thousands
vagrants who roam over the coun
■ ■ cities persons generally re
la , _ ® tramp frivolously as they
wJf,i. the colored pictures in comic
tImK el’ *>u‘ 18 ver>' different with
e "ho dwell in thinly settled dis
tricts. There the “hobo” is a serious
menace—he trespasses, steals and
sometimes even wrecks a railroad
train and commits assault or murder.
An Incident at Ridgway.
An incident at Ridgway-, on the
Pennsylvania railroad, a week or two
ago shows how train crews are in
danger from tramps. In this case it
was a bottle of nitroglycerin that did
the damage, puttting four or live men
in the hospital and injuring one of
them so badly that his leg had to be
amputated.
rI wo freight trains were about to
leave Itidgway when the conductor of
one of them found a man lying upon
the tojj of a boxcar. The crews of the
two trains, when about to eject the
man, found him apparently powerless
to move. He seemed to be in a drunk
en stupe r. In his pocket was a bottle
which the trainmen thought to be
whisky. This bottle was taken from
the tramp by an engineman, who
either dropped or threw it on the car.
Immediately it exploded, doing severe
damage.
"Hobo” Depends on Rail.
To nearly everyone the picture of a
“hobo" riding on a freight train is a
familiar sight. It takes only a min
ute's thought to grasp the fact that
the railroads are the most valuable
asset in the tramp's existence. A
tramp cannot remain a tramp long un
less he can move about and be a
stranger to whomever he meets.
Tlius the "hobo" depends upon the
railroads to go from city to city and
from state to state. He cannot pay his
fare, rarely having money, so he steals
his rides and thereby becomes a tres
passer. If "ride-stealing" can be pre
vented, vagrancy will receive its
deathblow. And thaj: is the' peg upon
which the effort to disband-the army
of vagrants is to be hung.
Cooperation Is Necessary.
Naturally enough the railroads have
always been anxious to stop “free
rides.” The trespassers not infre
quently steal valuable packages of
freight, damage cars, interfere with
signal and switching apparatus and at
times attack and seriously injure em
ployes. Hut it has been impossible to
make any headway against “ride
stealing" because the trespassers, if
detected and arrested, are rarely pun
ished by county or town officials, but
are just ordered to “move on,” which
means that they board the next freight
train that comes along.
Thus, to accomplish results, there
must be cooperation between railroads
and authorities. To obtain this co
operation several charity organizations
are planning a national educational
campaign and will seek to have ade
quate legislation enacted and the laws
enforced. The railroads through their
regular employes and through their
police departments will work in har
mony with the charity organizations.
Acute in Eastern States.
The tramp problem is peculiarly
acute in the eastern states. The av
erage number of trespassers killed to
every 100 miles of track in the United
States is 1.6 persons. In the group
of states Including Louisiana, Texas
and New Mexico the proportion falls
to lesa than a single person psr hun
dred miles.
But in group 2 of the interstate com
merce commission's classification of
suites, comprising New York, Penn
sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and
Maryland, the proportion rises to 3.2
per hundred miles of railroad in oper
ation. This means that the largest
number ef tramps are in this and
neighboring states. The cities con
tinue to attract the vagrants.
It is the country districts and little
towns that suffer most from the “ho
Ijo." At the same time they are less
able to deal with the question because
of the expense involved in the prose
cution and imprisonment of offenders.
If a tramp drops off a freight train at
some village it is much easier and
cheaper for the village constable to
say "Get out of town in 12 hours” than
it is to put the tramp in jail and feed
him for ten days. This “move on"
order relieves the town of that one
tramp, but some other town gets him
and some other tramp is unloaded in
a similar manner upon the town that
sent the first one away.
Recruits Constantly Come.
So it goes on interminably. Every
year the number of wanderers with
out available means of support is in
creased by new recruits. The habit of
idleness once contracted is rarely
abandoned, except under compulsion.
This compulsion has not been supplied
by separate communities; it will
probably have to be! brought about by
state or national action.
Railroad police departments have
been mentioned as a probable cure for
vagrancy, but this goes only a short
way. If a tramp is arrested, but is
discharged in court, the lesson is of
little value; he is then free to resume
his “occupation.” This failure to pun
ish in most cases may be laid to the
matter of expense. Therefore, it is
suggested that the expense of main
taining prisoners, or at least part of it,
be shared by the slate.
Another method suggested is en
forced labor. “Work," says James J.
Hill, of the Great Northern, "is more
dreaded than all the other terrors of
the law. If every tramp were sen
tenced, ' under a penalty of a diet of
bread and water, to work hard before
he was passed along, the end would be
in sight. The construction of good
roads would be assisted by compelling
every tramp to break stone, wheel
dirt or go hungry. This, with a fine
enforcement of the criminal laws loy
the local authorities, would probably
furnish a simple and satisfactory solu
tion of the vagrancy problem.”
Legislation suggested.
Railroad policemen who have had
experience with “ride stealers” are
quite as enthusiastic advocates of en
forced labor as is Mr. Hill. “Rut,”
they ask, “how can we have enforced
labor for tramps when labor organiza
tions have worked.up a powerful sen
timent against giving wftrk to prison
ers when 'honest men’ go idle?” This
opposition to letting prisoners do tvork
that wage-earners might do is regard
ed as a powerful obstacle to the “en
forced labor” solution of the vagrancy
problem. t
The superintendent of police of one
of the large eastern lines says that the
greatest blow to vagrancy would be a
law passed by the legislature of every
state making it illegal to trespass on
the right of way of a railroad. At
present, in this state, the tramp can
not be punished for simply being on
the property of a railroad, though he
can be punished for “stealing rides.”
Plans of the Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania railroad has set
out to perfect the organization of a
well-disciplined police department.
Members of this special police force
will travel along the road, on both pas
senger and freight trains, and will
make it their special duty to look out
for trespassers. If they were aided by
a state law making it a misdemeanor
to trespass on the right of way, un
doubtedly the number of tramps on
the Pennsylvania and other railroads
and the risks to employes and equip
ment would rapidly decrease.
Railroad officers say, however, that
they can accomplish little unless they
are able to work in harmony with the
authorities. It is the object of the
charity organizations, in undertaking
the study of this problem, to bring
about such harmon># The results to
society at large can be appreciated
when one learns that the number of
vagrants is estimated as great, as 500,
000. This great army, many members'
of which are well able to work, is now
a dead load to the country. The
quicker they can be assimilated—by
persuasion, by force or by -the press
of circumstances—into the producing
classes the better.
£
At the National Capital
Gossip of People and Events
Gathered in Washington
2
FORESTRY BUREAU RULES
OVER MILLIONS OF ACRES
WASHINGTON.—The Forestry Bu
reau, which now administers
more acres of land than any other
institution in the world and is the
landlord branch of the Federal Gov
ernment, has just compiled its report
covering statistics of grazing on the
public lands of the great West. The
figures will give some idea of the scale
on which Uncle Sam has gone into the
land business, and are very comfort
ing because of their very size, for if
the existing policy is unmolested the
vast areas of forest and mountain new
embraced in reserves will for all time
be administered in the interest of the
entire people.
There are now more than 156,000,
000 acres of land in the national for
ests. Grazing is permitted, but under
strict regulations, made in order that
the grass may not be destroyed by
overfeeding. This, by the way, is
what has caused most of the friction
in the West. Owners of flocks and
herds in that section of the country
for years have been accustomed to
grazing without restrictions of any
kind. Many of them in time came to
look upon the public domain as their
very pwn, in an important sense, and
they were quick to resent any effort
on the part of the government to con
serve either forest or grazing land.
But this friction is rapidly disappear
ing, as the western people see that
without such conservation the range
and forest in time will be destroyed.
A glance at the regulations govern
ing grazing on the government forests
will give the reader a very good idea
of the government forest policy and
how it is being administered. Stock
men who desire to make use of the
range apply for permits stating the
kind of stock they have, the quantity
of it and the location of the range they
want. The forest officers then proceed
to make allotments, apportioning the
available pasture among the appli
cants on as equitable a basis as prac
ticable.
Sometimes stockmen who live near
forests or have stock near them allow
that stock to drift across lines. If this
is done carelessly or wilfully it is con
sidered trespass and the offender is
subject to a fine and may also be sued
for damages. The number of tres
pass cases last year was 1S3, of which
163 were s^tled out of court. The
sum collected for these trespasses ag
gregated $5,576. These trespass cases
have been another source of friction
between the government and the
grazers. It is difficult for the west
to realize that, the country now being
thickly populated, it is no longer pos
sible to maintain the old time free
range without destroying that range.
The entire Bystem of permits and fees
is for the purpose of enabling the
government to know that the range
within the reserves is not being over
fed.
TRACTION AUTOS TO BE
USED IN WORK ON CANAL
TRACTION automobiles are the
latest thing fordhe Panama canal,
and their use, according to officials
ot the canal in Washington, presages
the doom of the ancient and time
honored railroad velocipede, now used
by track walkers and employes in
charge of switch lights in sparsely
populated communities. It is not be
yond the realm of probability, in the
opinion of some of them, that the run
ning of automobiles ou railroad tracks
will become a fad if the railroads will
Stand for it.
The purchasing agent of the com
mission has advertised for two such
machines for use on the railroad
across the Isthmus of Panama cap
able of carrying ten persons each and
able to make a speed of 40 miles an
hour on a level track with the engine
running at normal speed. The en
gine must be stout enough to climb
a grade of eight per cent., and to in
crease their speed to 25 per cent
above normal, or, in other words, to
make 50 miles an hour. The car must
burn ordinary stove gasoline and have
a capacity to go 125 miles at full
speed, and load. It is the purpose of
the commission to place these cars
in the inspection department for the
use o,f the chief engineer and his as
sistants, who now have to rely on
passing passenger, freight, dirt or
special trains in inspecting the work
along the canal.
NEWSPAPERS FAST EATING
UP OUR SPRUCE FORESTS
THE rapidity with which the news
paper is eating up the American
spruce forests has caused some alarm
among officials of the government,
who have been looking into the thing.
The conversion of spruce timber into
paper is going on at the rate of 1,765,
000 feet for every working day in the
year. And most of this timber is cut
in the United States, although a few
wood pulp logs are imported from
Canada.
During 1905 the newspaper demand
alone consumed 900,000 tons of manu
factured white paper. This was one
ihtrd of the output of all the paper
mills in the country. To make it re
quired an army of 15,000 men, who
drew $9,000,000 in wages. The mills
used raw material amounting to 1,300,
000 cords, representing the cut of
about 100,000 acres.
The present tariff on lumber causes
this enormous drain to fall almost en
tirely upon the forests of the United
States. It has been suggested that
it would be a wise political and eco
nomic move to remove this lumber
duty, and let the paper mills begin to
eat into the almost limitless forests of
Canada.
Incidentally the price of paper
would drop some, and the paper trust
would not have quite the monopoly on
affairs which it has to-day.
Increased size of newspapers and
magazines is laid by government ex
perts to the introduction of the type
setting machine. In 1S90 newspapers
and periodicals averaged 5.7 pages
each, on a basis of weight, and in
1900 6.6 pages; 1905 they came to 8.5
pages.
During the 25 years from 1880 to
1905 the number of newspapers and
periodicals of all classes in the United
States 'practically doubled. During
that time 10,000 publications were
added. During the last decade the
number of morning newspapers in
'creased 7.1 per cent., while the num
ber of evening newspapers increased
11.3 per cent.
During the last 20 years the evening
newspapers have increased more rap
idly than morning newspapers. A
hundred years ago there were 3S9
newspapers in the United States, hav
ing an aggregate circulation of 22,
321,700 copies per annum.
GOVERNMENT TO SUPPRESS
TRAFFIC IN GIRL SLAVES
A SYSTEMATIC effort is to be
made by .the bureau of immigra
tion to put an end to what is popularly
known as ‘'the white slave traffic,”
which, it is asserted, has been con
ducted, especially in cities on the
Atlantic seaboard, for a long time.
On recommendation of Robert
Watchorn, immigration commissioner
at Ellis Island, New York, Miss Helen
M. Bullis has been appointed an im
migration inspector for the particular
purpose of developing information re
garding this traffic. Miss Bullis re
sently has been connected with the
Travelers’ Aid Society, and has done
much work along philanthropic and
sociological lines.
Commissioner Watchorn says that
despite the scrutiny with which im
migrants are examined as to their
right to enter the United States many
women of non-English speaking races
are being imported for immoral pur
poses. The method by which this is
accomplished is so well devised that
the victims of the importers nearly
always avoid detection by reason of
the thorough coaching they receive
prior to their embarkation for this
country.
Mr. Watchorn suggests that Miss
Bullis is in position to furnish the
department conclusive proof of the
existence of the traffic. This would
enable the immigiation officials not
only to deport thoBe who have been
brought unlawfully into the country,
but also to punish those who are re
sponsible for this sort of immigra
tion.
Still Owed for Them.
A couple of men were chatting in a
club smoking room about a friend and
his motor. "He seems to be very well
satisfied with it,” remarked one.
"Oh, yes. Hasn’t paid a copper in
repairs all the nine months he’s had
it, he tells me.”
“H'm. I heard the same story from
the fellow who's done all the repair."
PROPRIETARY REMEDIES VS.
PHYSICIANS' PRESCRIPTIONS
Statistics Show, of the Deaths from
Misuse of Drugs in Two Years, Only
Three Per Cent. Were Due to Patent
Medicines, According to Figures
Based on Medical Certificates.
The press committee of the Proprie
tary Association of America will pre
sent at the next meeting of that body
a report showing the number of acci
dental deaths caused by patent medi
cines in the two years ending June 30,
1907, as compared with deaths from
other causes.
Almost immediately after the begin
ning of the latest crusade against
proprietary medicines this committee
was instructed to collect data. This
work was done through the clipping
bureaus,"which furnished accounts of
all deaths, exclusive of suicide, due to
the misuse of medicines, drugs or
poisons. The result showed that only
three per cent, could be traced di
rectly to the products made by the
members of the association.
The greatest care is said to have
been exercised in tabulating the fig
ures received. Whenever the cause
of death was doubtful, special inves
tigation was made, no matter where
the case might have occurred. The
work of assorting and preparing the
record was done in Chicago, and the
original clippings and correspondence
are in the possession of Ervin F.
Kemp, 184 La Salle street, that city,
the association's publicity agent. The
report says, in part:
“A large number of accidents, re
sulting fatally or otherwise, were
caused by the carelessness of persons
who left drugs, medicines or poisons
within the reach of children. A large
number, also, were caused by persons
going to medicine cabinets in the dark
and taking down the wrong bottle.
In no case reported was any medicine,
‘patent’ or otherwise, held responsible
for injury or death except when left
within the reach of children or taken
or administered in gross overdose."
The committee says that it is un
likely that any cases of death from
the use of patent medicine escaped
the newspapers, but that it is prob
able that death from the causes tabu
lated did occur without receiving pub
licity. Physicians, of course, report
the causes of death. The committee
says that they would bo the last to
suppress the cause if due to the use
of medicine not reqularly prescribed.
A recapitulation of the committee’s
findings show 4,295 cases of poisoning,
of which 1,753 were fatal. The great
est number of cases, 1,636, with 803
deaths, is attributed to medicines
other than proprietary remedies.
There are on the list 90 cases of sick
ness and 43 deaths due to patent medi
cines.
Analyzing its statistics, the commit
tee finds 201 cases of sickness, with
143 deaths, due to strychnine tablets,
which are among physicians’ favorite
remedies and are often left within the
reach of children.
Under the head of miscellaneous
prescriptions are grouped 44 cases
where, the report says, it has been im
possible after diligent inquiry to as
certain the name or the character of
the drug or medicine which caused in
jury or death, beyond the fact that
the medicine or drug was prescribed
by a physician. Of these cases 18
were fatal. The committee says:.
‘ Under the head of ‘All Patent
Medicines’ are grouped all those rem
edies which are recognized as patent
medicines and which are advertised
direct to the public for internal use.
Competent authorities say that at
least one-half of the medicines taken
in the United States are of the kind
known as patent medicine,’ and vet
in two years among 80,000.000 people
there have been but ninety cases
(forty-three fatal) that have been re
ported in the newspapers from the
use or misuse of these remedies.”
Not in a single fully substantiated
case is it- ever charged that any pat
ent medicine in recommended doses
was injurious. In this connection it
should be understood that in making
death certificates and in reporting
cases of injury to the newspapers
from which these cases were secured,
a physician had the final word, and
in this connection is there any prob
ability that the doctor will hide his
own carelessness or neglect or that of
a fellow practitioner whose support
he may want at some time, and is
there even«a possibility that he might
hide any responsibility that could bo
thrown at a patent medicine? Ask
yourself these questions. Then when
you have found the answer, consider
that during all this most thorough
and careful investigation covering a
period' of two years, in not a single
established case was it shown that
patent medicine in recommended
doses was injurious.
The most remarkable case reported
was fhat of an Italian laborer in New
York who suffered from pains in the
chest. A physician ordered a porous
plaster which the ' patient ate, with ’
fatal results.
Economloal Boarders.
‘‘Do you know any Bedouin Arabs,
Mr. Slimm?” asked the boarding house
lady.
“Why, what are you talking about,
madam ?”
“Well, I read^ in the papers, to-day,
that the Bedouin Arabs can go a
whole day and only want a few datds
soaked in melted butter. I thought
I’d like to get a few of ’em to board,
that’s, all.”—Yonkers Statesman.
For the Greatest Success.
Life is greater than any series of
surroundings that may affect it, and
the greater success in life consists in
following the possibilities of otir high
est selves—Ridley.