Show ry < I J j + < 1 t < I p i i PROBLEM OF THE AMERICAN TRAMP t a1i HOW SHALL VAGRANCY EVIL BE CHECKED A Laws of Various States Have Proved Unequal to the a t TaskElaborate System for the Cure of Habitual tt Idleness in Force on the Continent of Europe fl 1 t Striking Contrast to the Futile Efforts That Have if y JI t t Been Made Here in the United States gW YOUK Tho course of the 1s I i i I N vagrants Ufa is In a vicious circle cir-cle Street park bench cheap I lodging house court jail street li brako beam court jail etc no it J goes from month to month from hand to mouth from city to city More accurately j t i ac-curately stated the vagrants course la spiral and downward with accelerated > accel-erated momentum toward demoralization i 4 p demoraliza-tion disease and death Along his i road are certain rescue stations iY i g 1 charitable societies missions curb r d Htono breadlines Industrial homes personal visitations in alcoholic wards I i Those aro efforts to extend tho helpIng L I 4r help-Ing hand to switch the vagrant from the circular track to the straight ahead lino But generally the momentum i r mentum Is too great Failures are recorded vI re-corded far In excess of oven Imagined t I BUOCOB8CS writes O F Lewis of the I jr + Charity Organization noclety In the + r Now York Times t r When wo seek by imprisonment toY to-Y o + I deal with the Individual vag what y1 i hJ t do we find Generally Ineffective Inadequate u < adequate unjust methods of punishment l ii punish-ment so futile as to bo rldlculotm H t ware they not so tragic Wo find correctional 1 cor-rectional methods In jail that Instead 1 1fv iI 1k of correcting debase methods IIH i 1a jsl vagrant UB are the prisoners Wo be 4 Hove that each man who IB able should contribute his share of the r days work Nature abhors a vacuum t4Wl and the community general abhors 2 3i n the constitutional idler If the drone I s J i t f work not neither shall ho oat We believe that crime should be punished Vagrancy Is n crime under tho law Punishment la generally and necessarily neces-sarily effected by the restraint of liberty 4 lib-erty within a penal Institution Vagrants ur t E r e r Vag-rants are Imprisoned generally In jails t fr workhouses rfi I3 But how t l j What are the conditions of American Ameri-can Jails f ip 1 d1 Do they check vagrancy Do they punish justly tt Do they reform hln AN ANSWER has recently been kt made public which Is a scathing ll f I arraignment of conditions In a great lS majority of American county jails all wKBttty the more scathing and staggering because I tl rl h11 i be-cause made after a caroful Investigation Investiga-tion by a committee of the National I t 1 Prison Congress which does not seek sensationalism The following paragraphs < r5 para-graphs are almost random quotations + I from the report If tho only or chief purpose of jails were to keep wild beasts in cages 1 most of the jails are well enough m here s adapted for this purpose The n t customary mode of serving food la revolting I re-volting demoralizing and often dangerous f I dan-gerous to health Often we must ll 4 t Imagine bunk over bunk in tho same + t e ° cell or cage crowded until the horrors r t of stench or suffocation aro Indescribable iy Indescrib-able Under nnopon Jnll system z1 4 the filthiest vilest prisoner punishes or tortures those who have not yet ja Dunk to his level The very struc + af i t II 4 A 1 1 I w In Birmingham Ala 240 men in 72 cells 26 women In ten cells The Inmates of Jails aro chiefly of two classes thoso awaiting trial and convicted con-victed misdemeanants The ordinary ordi-nary term of convicted misdemeanants misdemean-ants vagrants and inebriates Is too short for any sort of Industrial training train-ing or systematic production A careful care-ful study of the situation In all parts of tho land has long ago driven many to the conclusion that we must have district labor colonies or workhouses for those convicted of offenses and that the term of degenerates must boat bo-at least two years If we really intend to fit them for useful lives T IIfJ committee plainly shows that under present conditions and laws the county jail must provide for males and females children youth and adults first offenders habitual criminals crimi-nals vagabonds prostitutes witnesses wit-nesses held for their testimony poor debtors whoso crime IB their poverty Idiots Imbeciles Insane epileptics persons arrested on suspicion and apoplectics whom the sapient policeman police-man could not distinguish from drunkards drunk-ards All these Bays the report aro often under ono roof and management In a building so built that cries and whispers travel along a corridor with cages open at the side Now what chance is there in the average JM1 for the reformation of the Imprisoned vagrant We may think that Jack London draws the long bow In his picturesque descriptions of life on tho road but in his tale of Imprisonment Impris-onment In the Erie county jail he never wrote of such horrifying conditions condi-tions as are described by the report of the committee of which Prof Charles It Henderson of the University Univer-sity of Chicago was chairman What chance above all has the detained witness or suspect held In the jail for his testimony and innocent before the law until ho Is proven guilty What chanco has ho of not suffering contamination con-tamination and gaining a hatred of society so-ciety that will not die In many county coun-ty Jails the only exercise enjoyed by tho prisoners is In a common large room with steel grating separating It from the surrounding corridors and called In jail parlance the bull pen ARE we not then In a wretched dilemma di-lemma wo who urge that the vagrant receive treatment that will deter and reform Shall woo knowIng know-Ing jail conditions allow hIm to roam at largo But the vagrant habit is fostered fos-tered by Idleness mendicancy and the absence of prosecution Even as It Is the unwillingness of many police ofll clals or magistrates to prosecute tramps Is well known When the vagrant Is told to get out of town or be run In ho of course decamps and the town finances are spared while the neighboring community receives tho shifted burden Yet if the convicted con-victed vagrant Is Bent to jail ho becomes be-comes a source of contamination to I I U jiJ I i f i JI N1 1 f fo f8 a ilt G r f ji t t r Hflj i r r O 1 1t1ID i 0 i t r J i I f III I 1tMi m i i at 1 Aix 1 l K ty 1 I Y a t 4 i 1 1 1 I 0 f iJ J i i jj i ii mm do f 4 a fl 91 I f s to f t 7 y t H 1 i I I i 1 r G 1 1 z Ye JJt i j I Q 0 I j y ist4 fIa i I fu tint Ij > zo Ox V zz > < fax 1a 1 w i j Table showing the prisoners committed In the United States for vagrancy r t tl r In 1904 the length of sentences and the percentages of commitments for various periods 1 1 1IIX i turo of the ordinary jail is radically f l wrong and offends against the laws of r health Almost all the reports t I + I from jails record the dull mononton c f 1 OUR maddening tramp of prisoners t walking aimlessly up and down the t Ala corridor It is the path of lunacy i I y Why not have walled yards In tho open air partly sheltered from rain covered over with steel wire to prevent pre-vent escape But this plan Is rarely t i thought of Card playing is the q t l universal resource for passing the dull i tjJ b end anxious waking hours r a J F l Many examples am given of excessive iI exces-sive overcrowding I t I t I t 1 I lfW I other inmates and in addition he is often glad to hibernate or spend a few weeks where warmth food idleness and the company of vicious fellows Is I assured Aro we not often by admin istering tho law condemning the vagrant vag-rant to further depths of degeneracy What do the reports of chiefs of po lice show The writer recently received re-ceived extended reports from 60 chiefs representing as many different cities representative of large and small municipalities Tho letters showed that In most Instances vag rants aro committed to Jails less frequently fre-quently to workhouses and In a few instances to the penitentiary Boston Lowell and other MaRpachiLsotts towns report sending some vagrants to tho state farm where there Is a nine months sentence In those Jails and workhouses the labor required when there is any consists generally of Breaking stone In quarry or In Jail yard roadmaklng chalrcanlug chair making and farm work This work Is on paper There IB little or no effort ef-fort made to bring reformative Influ ences to bear on those serving short sentence or to tench a trade Even at the Massachusetts state farm where the workhouso conditions are far bettor than In most correctional Institutions whero misdemeanants of ho vagrant or Inebriate class are confined con-fined the Industries maintained seem to be far more largely carried on as sentences than as chances to earn n living ANY of the cities use the Bertlllon MANY system of Identification measure mettle One chief reports asking the usual questions another the name and addressas though a vagrants name and address would be of value What a contrast Is this to the elaborate elabor-ate Belgian system for the identification identifica-tion of vagrants which centers In the easier centralo do vagabondage a general Identification bureau at Brussels Brus-sels In Belgium the process of trying an arrested vagrant is speedy and thorough As soon as the police arrest a vagrant they communicate by tele graph with Brussels Within a few hours there Is sent back from Brim sole by telegraph a full description of the vagrant and of his previous career If anything of the prisoner Is on record rec-ord On tho following morning the magistrate who is a graduate of the university has before him sufficient material about this particular vagrant cd vagrant Is sent ton malson de rof uge which besides acting as a kln < of almshouso for the aged and hsndl capped serves somewhat as do the voluntary colonies of Germany for those wanderers who at the time of their coming within the law are unfit through Ignorance Illness or Inefficiency Inefficien-cy to make their living Thirdly Belgium does not expect that any largo proportion of Its vagrant vag-rant population will be reformed Most of tho vagrants at Merxplas are recidivists repeaters who have reached their present position through drink Fourthly Belgium believes that vagrancy va-grancy being a social disease developed devel-oped through months and years cannot can-not bo cured by 30 days of Idleness in a demoralizing jail The average term of detention Is 16 months long enough to effect a considerable cure If curs cur-s possible In Germany and In Switzerland the treatment of the habitual vagrant Is similar to that prevailing in Belgium There are 24 compulsory labor colonies colo-nies In Germany the average length of sentence being one year Numerous Industries are carried on and the cost Is comparatively small These workhouses work-houses have diminished vagrancy while tho 31 voluntary labor colonies accommodating nearly 4000 persons show no evidence of any substantial improvement resulting from the time spent in tho colonies In Switzerland there are several compulsory colonies the sentences being from six months to two years HE Swiss colony of Wltzwyl whlcb THE Mr Edmond Kelly has recently described de-scribed In detail in his book on The Elimination of the Tramp shows that In a certain proportion of cases the inmates committed to a compulsory 00 s ii d v1 It a < I I 1 F = y i a r tili i 1 J il < j iii < k 1 i 1 i Niyi ca I I 1 I piii t t if 1j < 1 i it r Ijn it I i > e 1 R i f n I I i I r 1 10 H I41d G j J i 1 t 1 tr r hj 1 I nJ V Y ir to I i f t i i S TI t 4 11 iI 1 1 I Ir i i Ioi I i 4 II i IJ I b t lI 1 p 4 dJi rJ1f 1 1 v I t I j i IH1 I P t 1 Nilt 44 < ia1 1 JJ I r V M7j 11t J 1 te II d did I ryry ire 1 fi t h JJ I i I 3 fA I I I 1 r r I < i i I 414 i in I J j Jhi i Y 31 I t 1Jr li ITN N I t < ji r iJ I I im > dl + I CJ rl1 kii < t I ti e ytit f r tlil yatf4 4 I t i I ih IJ t 11 i 1 g ftt 1r I t t 1 h j l ylhJda j Ii I V 1J1 i roJt I j P i j f 11 > 1 j 1 i 4 i 1 < < yI t4 l 11 Fa hi i it i Mi 1 < 1 1 < f f < ili Ii r wL4 t ioj r ftr ffi r J a r il f r fl > L J 4 < E J J J j i J a ri < rUrd i l < ik I 1 17 Ir IJf il3 1 s A i j I11 l I t r li f r14 ry + t It t 1 N IFI l J r < S f I h r I 1 I I 1 1I lih fi fIi WC d fI l i i 11i J tj i < p A i Ni1 1t t foil Iw1 Y na r f t I I 1 k i t y I ir I L 1 1 1 N4 t t1 I ty t1 t1 tq6 t t r 1 JI j I t 1 1 r < is I tI y 11 II I J jot iJ ot 1 sf r 1I 1A4O J iI 11 I t A3xaa DI7 IF T n2R yi I z zar xox 1 b s 1 ix 1 PRISONERS COMMITTED IN THE UNITED STATES DURING 1904 The table classifies the principal offe noes showing total number of sentences sen-tences for each offense and perce ntage of each class of offenses to total number of sentences 149691 to enable him to form an adequate Judgment of the case Coupled with this carefulness and completeness of Investigation registration regis-tration and adequacy of judgment Is the Belgian system for the punishment punish-ment of vagrants which differs so essentially es-sentially from our opportunist methods meth-ods as to be staggering at first to contemplate con-template We bunch our vagrants In law In New York state the man with no money no work and no visible visi-ble means of support Is a vagrant That Mich a man Is not often jailed unless the caso Is aggravated by other factors Is not the fault of the law so to speak but Is duo to tho un willingness of magistrates to commit tho unemployed homeless or to the Indifference of the authorities But In Belgium tho state of no work no homo no money Is not a crime unless un-less there is added to that the state of Intentional Idleness BUT when Belgium does commit a vagrant then woo to the liberty of that vagrant for a long period Cons viction is ton Con-s de mondlclto for from two to seven years The depot de mondlclto Is at Mcrxplus a great Industrial colony with accommodations for about 6000 prisoners Here there occurs a classification the worst elements ele-ments being at night placed In solitary i soli-tary confinement and otherwise placed under strict discipline Intensive labor la-bor Is carried on the work being graded according to the physical ability abili-ty of tho Individual Inmates The Belgian treatment of vagrants brings out prominently several facts In the first place Belgium believes In getting vagrants off the streets and highways Some years ago the minister minis-ter of justice declared that there was no vagabondage In Belgium This statement needs Interpreting There Is probably fairly little vagrancy along the highways because every vagrant must be apprehended and made to show cause through his papers pa-pers or by the absence of a record at Brussels why he should not be sent to the depot de mendlclto The fact that Merxplas contains about 6000 Inmates In-mates and that the average period of detention is 18 months and that the majority of the inmates are returned to Merxplas for succeeding offenses of vagrancy shows that vagrancy In Belgium is not eradicated from the social so-cial body but removed as much as much as possible from society SECONDLY Belgium does not regard SECONDLY gard all vagrants alike If there are extenuating circumstances or if the caso of vagrancy seems the result of physical Incapacity tho auurehend labor colony do not reform and rejoin the ranks of the industrial army A trained English Investigator stated recently regarding Wltzwyl that there Is no doubt that the fact of hav ing worked hard for a year or 18 months makes a man apt to get Into the habit of working and this is be lieved to be the actual result In Switzerland What then shall we say regarding the treatment of vagrancy In tho Unl ted States First that at present It Is thoroughly inadequate As statis tics and the accompanying diagrams show 07 per cent of the commitments to penal Institutions are to county Jails and workhouses In which the conditions are often exceptionally bad i Drunkenness vagrancy and disorderly dis-orderly conduct were responsible for i more than half tho commitments dur ing 100J to penal 1 Institutions In the United States For these three of tenses the county jails and work houses to which the largo majority of offenders are committed offer 1 roc tically no reformative Influences For more serious crimes such as burglary robbery assault forgery etc there are reformatories and state prisons in which latter institutions some reform atory influence Is felt T liE sentences for vagrancy are In over 90 per cent of the cases for six months or less and the largest percentage of commitments is shown to be for less than one month No euro for vagrancy can be had under such conditions New York state leads all other states of our country in the number of Its commitments for vagrancy The burden of vagrancy In the United States was represented In 1904 by over 28000 commitments be ing about 20 per cent of all commit moats to penal institutions during that year This brief resume of the present conditions Inevitably points to the necessity of a material change In our system of combating vagrancy this In connection It Is of special inter est that within recent months a bill has been drafted In New York state providing for tho establishment of 8 farm colony upon lines very Blmiim to that of the Swiss compUlsory colo ny Wltzwyl This bill which has the approval of the leading charitable cie ties of New York city and of so sew eral trunk lines terminating in New York and which will be Introduced into the next legislature provides the establishment In Now York state for of a compulsory labor colony with in determinate sentence regular labor reformatory Influences and claasinca tlon of prisoners |