Our Tramps--what Shall We Do With Them?

The tramp question is one that has perplexed tha !aw maken of this and other states. What to do with this class, how to punish theui, and wliat tbat punishment shall be, has puzzled the mind of many men. Hut it would seem that the problem mlght bc easily solved, after all. And we beliuve it has been in many couiniunities. The present system of boardiug tliem at tlie county jail, keeping thein in idleness, is just the sort of thing that pleases theni. They couldn't ask for anjrthingmore to their liking. Sendingthem to the house of correction isn't a great terror to their eyes, save the working part of it. Our jails and poor houses are constantly overrun with apilications frojn these gentrjr for lodgings and food. Had the authorities somc work for them to do, the case might be different. In and about Aun Arbor there is plenty of stone. It exists ia great abundance. And in and about Ann Arbor there are plenty of roads that woukl be greatly beneflted by being macadamized. But there has beeu no way, so far, to procure the pounded stone for that purpose. Now put these two great needs of the times together (our idle tranips and poor roads) and we may solve the problem for each. The legislatura of the state meets in a few weeks, and the time for action is at once. Let a law be epacted providing for the establishment of a stone yard at our county jail, and Uien we can run a house of correction of our own. Let all the tramps who desire food and lodgings at county expense be pfOTided with them and giveu so much Work to do for each mea! and lodging. Let prisoners sent to the county jail be obliged to work for their living, the same as the people do who pay the taxes to support them in idleness. WII1 not some one move in this matter? Can there not be provisions made for a stone yard at our jail the coming spring? By so doing the taamp question will solve itself. A general law lor the whole state would be beneficia], and help every community which would adopt it. If there is anything in the state of Michigan that ueeds attending to, it is tl. e tramps and the country roads. Now there is au opportunity, shaïl it be improvedf Reporta coming frota all portions of this country and the world, we rnight say, bear only one story, and that an unpleasant one. Business is at a standstill. Manufactories everywhere are shutting down and throwing men out of employuient. Largc firtns, and small ones also are cutting down their f orces to the least possible, and 'reducing tlie salaries of those who remain. It will probably be the hardestyear for the laboring masses, and the manufacturersever known in this nation. There will be hunger in morethan onehousehold where lieretofore there has been plenty, and he who bas a situation or a business that provides bread for his family ma y consider hiinself a fortúnate person. There is plenty of money in the country, but it is lylog idle, and no Jnew channels of trade or commerce are opening up. Congress has it in its power to keep these hard times with us, or in a great mcasure dispel them. If that body will give the people assurance that there will be no serious tinkering with the tariff, to unsettle values, and that the business interests of the country shall not be meddled with in a deleterious manner, it can do much towards helping the people out oí these hard times. The Evening News of last Saturday gave Jutlge Joslyn, of this circuit, such a boost on the road to farne, that the lawyers in this circuit better keep an eye to windward, or they may get a turn of the crank. There were three separate editorials, the pith of which was: With Judge Joslyn on thebench.ln Wayne counly, and líquor cases on the docket, the court deputies may as well hang up a placard inserí bed: "No monkeylng with the court, as It lsloaded." It Is solongsincethe Wayne circuit court had a judge capable of enforclng discipline and willing to do so- not to speak of other aud far more Important eharaeteristics - that the advent of Judge Joslyn has raised a rlpple of excltemeut In that stagnaut law-poo]. Many of its officials and hangers-on doubtless consider the strange judge a crank, us lnstead of letïing things run themselves in ihe orthodox Wayne circuit fashion he evlnces an uucontrollab'e desire to "lay down the law" and bring incompetent jurymen, perverse lltigants and tardy uttendunts precisely to time. lf this be "crankiness" it is no wonder that the ancients considerad insanlty as the gift of God, and it is to be devoutly hoped that the Almiglity will see flt to present the rest of our legal umpires with this mild raania. Judge Joslyn got to work at the delinquent publlcans and rattled them off in bhort order, Never before was there sueh business done in this county, exeept perhaps In Justlce Miner's court, as the Ann Arbor magistrate has done in these cases, and the people of Wayne have reason to be grateful to Judge Joslyn not only for the acceleratlon of business, but still more so for the recovery of the health of our three excellent regular Judges Knough representatlves of worklngmen's and labor reform assoclatlons are elected to the leglslature to díctate the policy to some extent and enforce theïr views with regard to the present Bystem of employing the coovlcts in our prlsons. In all probabillty the contract systera will be abolished and tome other not so unfair to honest men adopted In its place.- Berrien Sprlngs Era. Will the Era be kind enough to teil the people what that " other system " will be? Shall we keep the prisoners in idleness? Shall we adopt the Georgia and general southern system of renting them out to railroad corporationg and the like? Shall we niake one immense stone yard, and keep them at picking stone until all the roadi ia the state are macadamized, or what sliall be done? Please teil the people. During the reign of the repnblican party the number of pensions allowed reached the immense figures of 545,130. What will the record of the next four yeais be ? Will the party in power attempt to pay the southerners for their slaves, as ex-Postmastcr General Regan, of the ex-Southern Confederacy, says ought lo be done? Or will they atternpt to put Jefferson Davis on the pension rolls, for the great services he has rendered this nation ''