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With this circular, Governor Lorenzo Dow Lewelling of Topeka, Kansas, appeals to police commissioners of Kansas cities to show restraint in the prosecution of the unemployed. The governor argues that high rates of unemployment are a product of the industrial system of production and not the fault of individuals. Since jobs are not available to all employable persons, he argues, unemployed persons should not be treated as criminals. The governor denounces the vagrancy law for first class cities included in the General Statutes of 1889, and similar city ordinances, which allowed for the arrest, imprisonment, or fine of "all vagrants, tramps, and confidence men and persons found in said city without visible means of support, or some legitimate business." The Kansas Legislature originally enacted the law in 1881. Governor Lewelling was the first People's Party (Populist) candidate to become governor. Republican opponents of the Populist governor dubbed this letter the "Tramp Circular."
Creator: Lewelling, Lorenzo Dow, 1846-1900
Date: December 4, 1893
Item Number: 207957
Call Number: Misc. Lewelling
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 207957
Business and Industry - Labor - Employees
Business and Industry - Labor - Unemployment
Collections - Manuscript - Miscellaneous
Collections - State Archives - Governor's Records - Lewelling, Lorenzo Dow
Community Life - Community services - Police and other law enforcement
Date - 1890s - 1893
Government and Politics - Crime and Punishment - Law enforcement officers
Government and Politics - Crime and Punishment - Prisons and Jails
Government and Politics - Local Government - Municipal - City Council/Commission
Government and Politics - Local Government - Municipal - Police
Government and Politics - Political Parties - Populist
Government and Politics - Reform and Protest - Populism
Government and Politics - State Government - Governors - Lewelling, Lorenzo Dow
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Letter
People - Notable Kansans - Lewelling, Lorenzo Dow, 1846-1900
Places - Cities and towns
Places - Cities and towns - Topeka
Places - Counties - Shawnee
Thematic Time Period - Age of Reform, 1880 - 1917 - Populism, 1890 - 1900
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Letters
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/207957
