A SYSTEM'S VICTIMS. MADE HUMAN WRECKS BY SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. Due of tho "Conventional I.l*n of Our Civilization"—Men Become Trump* lle caune They Are Denied the Most l*rlce leas of All Uiglita. The workings of our industrial system have created a vast and increasing tribe of pariahs—a despairing, degraded, un utterably miserable nation of outlaws, of whom it may truly be said "every man's hand is against them"—a people whose very existence we ignore, but who, by sheer force of numbers, must sooner or later obtrude themselves upon public attention. The most reliable au thorities place the number of tramps in the United States at 1,500,000, and ad mit that the number has been constant ly increasing during the last decade. In New York city the number of persons who sleep in station and lodging houses, and are thus always on the borderland of trampdom, is estimated at 25,000, and those who have no sleeping place but i the public parks and squares, the docks J and streets, at 10,000. How does society account for the ex istence of this nation of outlaws in its midst? For the presence of over a mil lion of idle, homeless, despairing men would, even in the eyes of the ruling classes, furnish an indictment against the present social order before which its most zealous supporters would shrink back dismayed. They must be sat) tac torily accounted for or our civilization must confess itself a failure. Therefore society has constructed what I regard as tho most ingenious and misleading theory in regard to them of any of "the conven tional lies of our civilization." It has invented and fostered the popular fallacy that tramps are a distinct specidfc of the human race, whose distinguishing char acteristics are a hatred of work and a most unaccountable preference for hun ger, cold and privation of all kinds. Children grow to inhnhood and woman hood cherishing this delusion—that a tramp is an outlaw of society, for whom it would be mawkish sentiment to feel either pity or self reproach; that it may be allowed occasionally to exhibit some degree of pity for even the worst class of criminals, but any one who would he considered sano must show no consid eration toward a tramp. Well has this lesson been learned. They are universally set apart as legiti mate objects of execration. Writers, speakers, newspapers and even other wise tender hearted women make their keenest sufferings the butt of ridicule. In New York city we have an nrmypf police whose principal business is to drive them into byways and dark holes and corners where they may not offend the sensitive sight and smell of respec tability; but ever}* year the horde grows larger, and although tractable with the apathy of despair the police find greater and greater difficulty in keeping them entirely out of sight. Passing through Madison squaro one evening I saw a policeman clubbing a man for the heinous offense of falling asleep on one of the benches. When I remonstrated with him he defended him self by saying, "If we allow them to sleep here there would be hundreds here every night; respectable people could not go through the park after dark." "Are there so many tramps, then?" He looked at me in surprise and said: "Enough to fill to overflowing every public park and squaro of the city if we allowed them to come out. But we keep them in the dark corners and alleys, by the docks and unfrequented parts of tho city." I decided then that I would find out something of this strange multitude— this army of skulking shadows whose very existence seemed to be an imperti nence to the powers that be, their manner of life and the causes that had led them to jotn this fraternity of misery. Now what is a tramp? The Rev. Mr. Kugler, of Hoboken, says, "All we owo a tramp is a funeral." Tho Chicago Tribune remarked: "The simplest plan probably, when we are not members of a humane society, is to put strychnine or arsenic in the provisions furnished to tramps. This produces death in a comparatively short time ami is a warning to other tramps to keep out of the neighborhood." A New York newspaper thus tersely disposed of him: "The best meal that can be given to a tramp is a leaden one, and it should be supplied in sufficient quan tity to satisfy tho most voracious appe tite." And finally a woman, Mrs. Mary Livermore, says: "Tramps have no claims on human sympathy. When they invade my house and ask for bread I bid them begone without ceremony. The hand of society must be against these vagrants, they must die off, and the sooner they are dead and buried the better for society." I am sure that Mrs. Livermore would have had sympathy and aid for almost any other class of unfortunates, when for these victims of society she had only the harshest condemnation, for she too thoughtlessly accepts the popular preju dice in their regard. She is undoubt edly a good woman, but she has been badly educated in political economy. Now I contend that in the vast major ity of cases a tramp is only a man or woman out of work and more or less demoralized by such an unnatural con dition. It is true that a man may l>e born with a constitutional dislike of work, just as there are other defective members of society—idiots, cripples, blind or deaf—but in no greater proj>or tion. The increased invention and use of labor saving machinery without a corre sponding decrease in the hours of labor, the growing employment of women and children, the saving of labor by the cen tralization of business and industry are the prime causes which are yearly swell ing the ranks of traini>dom in this conn- try. Thero are intermediate stages between the condition of the workingman and the tramp. First Conine intermittent employment, then the odd job period ami finally the j>erinanently unem ployed. It is estimated that there is a class of 5.000,000 unemployed in the United States. From the ranks of this class are recruited the last hopeless battalion— the tramps. These people are popular ly classed as "a danger and menaco to our civilization." But I hold that the present civilization is a danger and men ace to the whole working class of this country, for no workingman, however prosperous, who depends upon the sale of his labor in the competitive market can be sure that the veriest chance may not make him a tramp tomorrow. The police and the tramps seem to be natural enemies. Seldom, by any chance, do they speak well of each other. No matter how kind hearted a police man may be he has no mercy or pity for a tramp. For the tramps the policeman represents the society which hunts them down and proscribes them, and they shiver and cower before the power of its representatives. Nothing human could be more abject than the manner and attitude of a tramp in the presence of a policeman. At his slightest word or move they skulk off and need no com mand to "move on." A new and one of the saddest features of tramp life is the large and increasing number of woman tramps. The police man in charge of Paradise park states that between seventy and seventy-five women sleep nightly on its benches. Anything more inexpressibly degraded and repulsive than these women tramps I have never seen. "And still," this po liceman added, "these tramps were once all hardworking people." At 9:30 p. in. I mot my police guide at the music stand in Battery park for the purpose of making a tour of the park and interviewing its lodgers. It is one of the most picturesque of the city parks, and on this clear, starry night one could not have looked upon a more beautiful scene than the park and bay, or one more typically American. Above the background of trees arose huge warehouses and exchanges, churches and manufactories; before us stretched the beautiful bay dotted with vessels bringing and carrying the wealth of the world. Peace and prosperity seemed to brood over all, but it was only seeming. In tho midst of all this apparent pros perity and content there was a dark un dercurrent of human misery and degra dation. In the shadows of the lofty bnildings, under the clumps of beautiful flowery shrub and tree —aye, even in the nooks and crannies of old Fort Clinton, which reminded us of the glad begin nings of our national existence, when we proudly proclaimed to tho world that "all men are created free and equal"—lurked hundreds of human be ings to whom the words "equality, lib erty and happiness" were but a bitter mockery, and who furnish the most damning evidence that already our young civilization is rotten to the core. We wended our way toward the old fort, formerly inclosed and used as a part of Castle Garden. Hero from every one of its twenty or thirty portholes pro jected two pairs of feet, belonging as we found to its two lodgers, who with a stone for a pillow and a newspaper for a covering had settled themselves for the night. Selecting them by chance, I interviewed several of these tramps, and their stories, in many cases corroborated by the police, proved my assertion that in most cases a tramp is only a working man unable to find employment. One was a waiter out of work for many months—a young man still in his twenties, with a boyish, good natured face. Ho said: "I don't think I shall ever find a job again, for my clothes are getting too ragged and dirty. No one would take me now. I have walked fourteen miles today and have eaten nothing. I went out into the country to look for work in some of the summer hotels, but I look like a tramp. No one would hire me." Another was an old man of sixty-five | years—a soldier in tho civil war—who had walked a long way to New York to procure an order for admission to a sol diers' home. Ho had no money, and had been kept many days while the intermin able "red tape" of a military bureau had been gone through with. He had evi dently seen better days and was in the last stages of consumption; still he had been sleeping for several nights upon the damp ground of Battery park. He was an American. There were half a dozen others whose sad experiences had been similar in a general way to these. The last one 1 interviewed was an educated Swede, who had been employed as bookkeeper and clerk in the barge office, and also ;is interpreter of the Scandinavian lan guages in the immigration bureau. He also spoke fluently French, German and Italian. For his services, which required such varied acquirements, the govern ment paid him the munificent sum of sixty dollars per month. When he fell sick live years ago, and l>ecame by par tial paralysis of the brain unable to work, he had no resources, and after being dis charged from the hospital drifted back to his old place of employment—Castle Garden—as a tramp. When I saw him he was not talkative. Tho little he said I will give in his own words: "Do not believe any one who tells you that a tramp is one from choice; no one could choose this life; it is so horrible, so horrible. Tiio summer is not so bad, but the long, cold rains of fall, the fear ful cold of winter"— Here a shudder ran through his frame. "When I first came here I rebelled against it—l could not believe that it was I who had come to this. But you do not know how differ ently you feel after a few weeks of half starvation; you become, oh, so listless; you lose all hope, all ambition, all tcuch with the world; everything seems un real; the days come and go, the sleek, well fed policemen are the only link be tween you and tho world. I remember the horror with which I saw the first vermin—then I became used to it, and no longer recoil from even that. "What is the dreariest part of the day? The morning is to me indescriba bly dreary. To wake np in the gray light of a new day and in the border land between sleep and consciousness to struggle back to the horror of the reality is horrible, most horrible. To enter once more upon a day which contains no pleasure, no hope—to feel that in tho bustle, activity and brightness of the morning you can never more have any share. On Sundays you hear tho church bells ringing—sometimes you see happy families passing through to parks —these are like sights and sounds from a faroff world—you know that henceforth you can never have a part or lot in them." How powerless are words to express the stories of hopeless, awful misery which I heard one evening from the po liceman and fireman who accompanied me through Battery park! I had read of the sufferings of Jean Valjean told by the powerful pen of Victor Hugo, the tortures of the Inferno pictured by the poetic fervor of Dante, still these stories told in the matter of fact, unexaggerated manner of a common policeman were more horrible than either. So accus tomed do the policemen become to sights and sounds of misery and suffering that they are usually unmoved by them. But even they now seemed touched by their own recital of them, as though the sight of horrified listeners made them realize the infinite pathos of the stories. Could it bo possible that we call ourselves a civilized, even a Christian people, and allow such horrors to exist in our midst? It was not alone the frightful physical suffering, but the still more horrible mental and moral degradation, and yet there are good people who quiet their consciences by the fallacy that these outcasts prefer this life to a life of hon est, happy work, not recognizing the fact that our present social order denies to thousands of men the most priceless of all rights—the right to labor. A system of industry which employs thousands of illiterate children in its shops and factories, and as a natural complement has created an army of over a million of despairing, demoralized tramps cannot be an ideal system; neither can the society in which it ex ists be in a healthy state. The last ditch into which society drives the unemployed is not pleasant to contemplato. The words of Iluskin come to one's mind, "That country is tho richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human be ings." From this view of riches, how poor is our country with its thousands of toil ing children and its hordes of starving, wretched tramps!—lda M. Van Etten in New York Herald. Tho Dangerous Strikers. The most marked of the great eco nomic changes which are taking place in this wonderful country is tho daily for mation of combinations of capital and industry. They, and not the combina tions of workingmen, form tho real dan ger to tho community. What more dan gerous thing lias there boon lately than the consolidation of the coal interests? I undertake to say that about nine-tenths of the coal lands east of the Alleghany mountains are controlled by about half a dozen men. That half dozen men ' could starve New York next winter if they chose. The military should have been called out against this coal inter est, and not against a few workingmen who struck for an hour's pay for an hour's work. They have struck a blow at every industry that makes wealth. By controlling the fuel necessary to make steam they control everything re quiring steam. Who will say that these are not the strikers most to be feared?— Erastus Wiman. The Cigar Maker*' lloun;. A committee representing the Cigar Makers' International union has been inspecting points in Colorado recom mended as suitablo for the erection of a home for superannuated and indigent members of the union, such as the print ers have at Colorado Springs. The com mittee consists of A. Strasser, ex-presi dent of C. M. I. U.; W. Cannon and Charles Broderick. Favorable offers were made by citizens of Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Monte Vista and Colo rado City. Bites in the suburbs of Den ver were also visited by the committee. A report will be made by the committee without special recommendation, and the membership at large will decide upon tho location of the home. Storage Ilutterlett for Dwellings. A company has been formed in Vienna with the idea of serving charged storage battery cells to the houses, in the same way in which milk, ice and other com modities are served. The wagons for supplying these accumulators make reg ular trips through the suburbsof Vienna daily, distributing their cells fully charged and taking away others whose energy has been exhausted.—Exchange. A Plausible Explanation. "Ethel jilted that magnificent crea ture Ponsonby, and now she is the cen ter of attraction for about twenty-five miserable dudes." "That's all right. She simply turned her first love into small change. It takes about twenty-five dudes to make a man."—Harper's Bazar. The late Samuel McDonald Richard son, president of a savings bank in Bal timore, had a wonderful memory of faces. He personally knew, and could call by name, over 40,000 depositors, most of them people of small means. In the lottery of life there are more prizes drawn than blanks, and to one misfortune there are fifty advantages. Despondency is the most unprofitable feeling a man can indulge in.—Rev. Dr. Talmage. Pliny tells us that any plant gath ered by a river before sunrise by a per son, if unseen, tied on the left arm of an ague patient, without his knowing what it is, will cure the disease. In the executive mansion at Raleigh , is a card table presented to Governor Barrington by King George II about thu year 1755. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE. EDITOR TRIBUNE.—The following ques tion lias been sent to me by some kind "protectionist" friend with the request that I "put it in my pipe and smoke it." Just why it was given to me I do not know, but I think the answer is easy and simple: "Free traders claim that trade is an advantage— that it is so to both parties to the trade —that the greater the advan tage to the one, the greater it is also to the other. Now, if that be so, is it not more advantageous to a nation to have its citizens trade with each other and thereby make two profits instead of trad ing with a foreigner, thereby enriching the^ foreign nation?" Now for example: If an American trade with a Canadian, the American nation makes but one profit, where if the trade was between two Americans, the nation would have two profits. Now, Mr. Editor, the fallacy of considering the above an argument is found in the failure to apportion effort and capital. If one American trades with a Cana dian, there is only one effort and one capital expended and one profit made. If two men trade there are two efforts and two capitals expended and (wo profits to the nation. If only one trade is made and one profit to the nation, the other effort and capital are saved to the nation, and can be used to advantage in other directions—it matters not where. Now the question of profits depends upon the number of men engaged in the trade—the more men trade, the more profits are made. I trust the above will satisfy my friend and help remove the cob webs from his inner chambers. But I trust the next argument (?) of my friend will be of a more substantial character. J. F. S. Cleveland to le Done in Coal. A solid block of anthracite, five feet square and weighing nearly five tons, has been taken out of the Beunet vein at No. 2 shaft, Plymouth, and will be sent in a few days to Nebraska. It will be chiselled into an enormous bust of the next president of the United States. It is intended to exhibit the bust in the anthracite department of the world's fair at Chicago. Railroad Men Have Grievance.. For the past few days grievance com mittees have been calling on H. Stanley Goodwin, supeintendent of the Lehigh Valley division of the Heading system. On Friday twenty men went down from Haokerton. A number also came from Kaston. They met and together went to Goodwin's office in Bethlehem, ! where a long consultation was held. Their mission was not divulged. PERSONALITIES. P. J. Kelly, of Audenried, was a visi tor here yesterday. J. J. Brislin, of Treskow, spent a few hours here on Friday. Patrick McLaughlin is at Tamaqua to day attending the funeral of a relative. Willie Boyle and Frank Cannon, of liazleton, were in town yesterdry after noon. B. McClennan and daughter Mamie, of Oneida, were among the visitors here on Friday. Hugh Dugan and family left this morning for Providence, Lackawanna [ county, where they intend to reside for the future. DEATHS. MCHUGH.—At Lattimer, October 2.'!, Annie McHugh, formerly of Freeland, aged 22 years. Funeral on Tuesday at 2 P.M. Interment at St. Gabriel's cemetery. UI.RICII. —At South Ileberton, October 20, Arthur John Morris, son of Mr. and MrR. Morris Ulrich, aged 2 years, 8 months and 13 days. Interred yes day at Freeland cemetery. Bachman. ZEISTLOFT. —At Drifton, October 18, Harry, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Zeistloft, aged 3 months and 2 days. Interred on Thursday at Freeland cemetery. Bachman. PLEASURE CALENDAR. October 24—"The Social Glass," by the Pioneer Dramatic Company of Auden ried, at Freeland opera house. Admis sion, 25 and 35 cents. October 31—Ball of St. Patrick's cor net hand, at Freeland opera house. Admission, 50 cents. November 18—First annual hall of Free land Company, No. 20, Military Rank, Knights of the Mystic Chain, at Free opera house. Admission, 50 cents. November 23—Third annual hall of the Progressive Literary Club, of j Jeddo, at Freeland opera house. Ad mission, 50 cents. j When Baby was slclc, wo gavo her Castoria.' When she was a Child, sho cried for Castoria. j When sho became Miss, she clung to Castoria. When she bad Children, sho gave them Castoria. Lane's Medicine Moves the Dowels Fucli Day. in order to lie healthy this in necessary. TPOII SALE,—Two lots situated nil enst side I of Washington street, between Luzerne and Carbon streets. Five l'oints. Apply to iatrlek McFnddon, Eokloy, er T. A. lluekley, Freeland. li' Oil SALE. A new two-home truck wugun, J- 1 one set of light double harness anil one set of Iteuvy harness. For further Information and prices apply to John Shlgo, Centre street, r rcclund, where the articles can be seen. TJISTATE of Richard H. Griffith, late of Uji ■Dj per Lehigh, deceased. Letters of administration upon the above named estate having been granted to the un dersigned, all persons indebted to said estate are requested to make immediate payment, and those having claims or demands to present the same, duly authenticated, without delay to Chits. Orion .Stroh, administrator. Freeland, Fa. G. L. Halscy, Esq., attorney. NO riCE is hereby Riven that an upplicution will be mude to the Court of Common l'leas of Luzerne county, or one of the law judges thereof, on Saturday, ()otol>er 21), IHP2, at 10 o'clock A. M., under the Act. of Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, en titled "An Act to provide for the Incorporation and Regulation of certain Corporations," ap proved April 21), 1K74, and the supplements thereto, for the eharter of an intended corpora tion to be called "St. Vigillo lleneticial Society, of Freeland, Pa., 11 the character and object or whicii is the maintainance of a society for charitable ami benevolent inn-poses for its members from funds collected therein, and for these purposes to have, possess and enjoy all the rights, iKjnetlts and privileges conferred by shid Act of Assembly and Its supplements. John 1). Hayes, solicitor. j. onus EMPORIUM We Are Now Ready With Our Fall Stock of Dry Goods. Canton flannels, from 5 cents a yard up. Calicoes, from 3 cents up. All-wool dress goods, double width, from 25 cents up. We have the room and the stock. Ladies' Coats, Copes and Shawls In Fall and Winter Styles. Mens' Heavy and Light Weight Shirts. The Most Complete Line of Underwear In Town. Blankets, Quilts, Spreads, Etc., Etc. Wall Paper, Stationery and School Books. Furniture, Carpets and Beddings. A good carpet-covercd lounge for $5.00. Ingrain carpet 25 cents a yard up. Brussels carpet, 50 cents to $1.50 per yard. Boots and Shoes. Ladies' kid shoes, SI.OO. Children's school shoes, Nos. 8 to 10J, 85 cents; Nos. II to 2, 95 cents. Groceries. All fresh goods. Flour, $2.35. Ham, 15 cents. Tobacco, 28 cents. Cheese, 12£ cents. Scim cheese, 8 cents. 3 pounds of raisins, 25 cents. 5 pounds of currants, 25 cents 0 pounds of oatmeal, 25 cents. 0 bars white soap, 25 cents. 3 bars yellow soap, 10 cents. Thousands of Other Goods All Guaranteed. Queensware. We sell Deite's Lantern, 38 cents. Milk and butter pots, a com plete line. Tinware. Wasliboilers, with lid, 00 cents. Blue granite ware, a complete line—is everlasting. Call and see our stock and be convinced of our assertion that we can save you 25 per cent on any goods you may need. Terms, spot cash to one and all. All goods guar anteed or money refunded. Yours truly, J. C. BERNER. Corner South and Washington Streets. CITIZENS' BANK OF FREEJLAND. 15 Front Street. Capital, - SE>SO,OOO. OFFICERS. JOSEPH HIHKUKCK, President. H. C. KOONH, Vice President. 11. it. DAVIS, Cashier. JOHN SMITH, Secretary. DIRECTORS. Joseph Ilirkbeck. Thomas Birkbeck, John Wagner, A Rndewick, H. C. Koons, Charles Dusneck. William Kemp, Mathias Sehwal>e, John Smith, John M. Powell, ad, John Ilurton. t3T" Throe per cent, interest paid on saving deposits. Open daily from 0 a. m. to 4p. m. Saturday evenings from 0 to 8. WM. WEHRMANN, German Practical Watchmaker. Centre Street. Five Points. The cheapest nntl best repairing store in town. All wateli repairing guaranteed lor one year. New watehes for sale at low prices. Jewelry repaired on short notice. Give me a call. All kinds of watches and clocks re paired. ENGLISH, SWISS ANI AMERICAN WATCHES. Complicated and fine work on watches a specialty. PATENT X A 48-page book free. Adderes W. T. FITZ GERALD, Att'y-at-Law. Cor. Bth and F Sts.. Washington, D. C. To-day! To-day! NEUBURGERS BEGIN THEIR. Fall Opening in Dry Goods ZDepartmexxt, V7-Ixlclx is more complete in variety and. quantity tlxam ever. We Are Offering During This Week: Very line 4x4 unbleached muslin at 5 cents per yard; would be cheap at 8 cents. Good tea toweling at 4 cents per yard. Good apron gingham at 5 cents per yard. The very best apron gingham, namely Amoskeag and Lancas ter, at 7 cents per yard. Good canton tiannel at 5 cents a yard. The best cheviot shirting at 7 cents a yard. Out-door cloth, in the newest dress designs, at 10 cents a yard. It will pay you to inspect our handsome assortment of Bedford cords, chevrons and Henriettas, which we are selling at 2d cents per yard; cannot be bought the world over under 40 cents Extra fine black Henrietta, 40 inches wide, 00 cents per yard; actual price should be 8d cents. A large assortment, comprising all the newest shades, of extra line 64-inch all wool habit clpths at 00 cents per yard; sold else where at 00 cents. MANY OTHER BARGAINS Too numerous to mention, as our stock is more complete than ever, therefore giving you better opportunities to make your selections. Prices are astonishingly low. OUR - BLANKET - STOCK - IS - COMPLETE. Call and examine it and be convinced. See the line silver gray 10x4 blankets, which we are selling at 76 cents a pair; just one-lialf what they are worth. Hllkm'S ! HTi n |M 3 n m ffet 0 r m fm EH Ifelk £ And Hardware of Every Description. REPAIRING DONE ON SHORT NOTICE. We are prepared to do roofing and spouting in the most improved manner and at reasonable rates. We have the choicest line of miners' goods in Freeland. Our mining oil, selling at 20, 25 and 30 cents per gallon, cannot be surpassscd. Samples sent to anyone on application. Fishing Tackle and Sporting Goods. B\RKQECK'S, CENTRE STREET, FREELAND, SA.