Glimpses into the Abyss
eventually be of great value in solving social problems. But in the present confused state of things there is also special val
ression that the vast majority of so-called "vagrants" are "loafers," vanishes, and the inmates of the casual ward are mo
l on sustenance gradually loosens, and the least competent or more unfortunate are shaken off and drop into the abyss. At a meeting of the City Council of Manchester in the winter of 1904 it was deliberately stated that "between 40,000 and 50,000 people were on the verge of starvation." An investigation undertaken by the Rev. A. H. Gray in an area between All Saints' a
mployed returned by trade unions in January for 10 years (1894-1903) was 4.7 per cent.; in January, 1903, it was 5.1 per cen
the winter of 1904-5 to an "incursion of tramps." Even the prisons were filled by tramps who rebelled against regulations. "Two or three times a week batches of tramps have to be removed from the prisons of Carnarvon and Ruthin to Shrewsbury and Knutsford, and even to gaols in English towns." With regard to this result of the present vagrancy regulations, there is much to be said. A working man cannot sustain himself in a condition fit for work on the tramp ward dietary.[25] I have personal experience of the exhaustion consequent upon it. Unless supplemented by begging, a man must inevitably lose strength if he tramps from ward to ward. Mr. Ensor himself saw a young man thr
lived upon it." This man "had been in two situations over thirty years," and appeared clean and r
e "skilly" was brought in a bucket, and the men
writer, there was a general consensus of opinion th
ence in legal die
etary-Low
8 oz. bread,
oz. bread,
s, 8 oz. bread,
. bread, 8 o
bread, 8 oz.
solid, with 2? pints
5 or 10 cwt. ston
ry for Casu
6 oz. bread,
oz. bread,
oz. bread,
1? oz. solid, wi
ask, 14 cw
son statistics through crimes due to a desire to escape fro
s this are conti
a tramp, when brought before the King's Lynn magistrates
n for twenty-one days,"
to have it weighed, as he was of opinion that it was 12 cw
re sentenced to twenty-one days' impri
ruary, 1905), handcuffed. Seventeen out of twenty-three inmates refused to work. They alleged that they had been for
statistics. Prosecutions for offences of this kind rose in 1901 to 5,118
on. All masters of workhouses witness how this tends to make a forced migration in a limited circle.[28] Therefore to the town unemployed the shelter is a boon, as it enables him to remain in one place and look for work, and the testimony of all who are working shelters and labour bureaux is that numbers who avail themselves of them do obtain employment. But if they belong to the "inefficient" class this employment cannot be permanent.[29] So much is the tramp ward disliked, and so useless is it as a remedy for destitution, since at best it affords only a night's shelter with poor f
gradual physical and moral deterioration from
here was a local merry-making, hoping to pick up a little. There was no room either in tramp ward or lodging-house;
ed by exposure." "Jos. Lucas, no fixed abode, 'knocked up and down mostly,' getting odd coppers when he could, found dead in yard of White Hart, Royton." Such incidents might be multiplied, but the facts of disease and death are masked, because people suffering from illness in the street usually obtain pity. Recent statistics show that the perc
author of this paper. He is extremely truthful, and where investigation has followed, his statements have been fully endorsed. They furnish most valuable evide