8
street roots
Feb. 18, 2011
100 years
after 1,000
homeless
men
The journals o f a
Chicago social worker
from the early 1900s
provides a haunting
reminder o f how
quickly a life can take
a turn fo r the worse
BY BEN COOK
STREET NEWS SERVICE ,
I
n Î911 William Taft Was
president of the United States and
Carter Harrison Jr. was the first Chicago-
bornm ayorofC hicago.Theinfam ous
Stockyards wefe'WfuD swing and fàcfôry':T '
work abounded, but many Chicagoans
wanderers;, ____ ,
and finally"
'
^^**s^*
homeless, vagrant and
slipped through the cracks of opportunity
runaway boys. While many of
and became homeless. It was up to religious these categories may sound horribly
organizations and the Chicago Bureau of
antiquated, the creation of these categories
Charities to administer humanitarian aid.
for her study was nonetheless a hugely
At that time it was common to consider
progressive step in 1900.
the homeless population “tramps* and
The following is a selection excerpts from
“bums,* or other easy-to-file away
Solenberger’s work, “One Thousand
stéréotypés.
Homeless Men.”
One individual, Alice Solenberger, took a
Solenberger defines a homeless man as
different approach. Mrs. Solenberger was in
“any man who has left one family group and
charge of the Central District of the Chicago not yet identified himself with another. It
Bureau of Charities, located in the South
might include hundreds of men living in
Loop. She interviewed men who were
clubs, hotels, and boarding houses, and its
referred to her office to determine their
use would not necessarily imply a forlorn or
individual need, and starting in the year
penniless condition. But for the purpose of
1900 she decided it would b e useful to start
this study the term will be used to designate
collecting her case data on homeless men,
those men of the homeless class who live in
as accurate demographic information was at cheap lodging houses in the congested part
best scarce and commonly non-existent'
of the city.’* Chicago was especially
Over the following 10 years she compiled
noteworthy for its lodging houses.
1000 interviews in all, but unfortunately
Solenberger continues, “All large cities
died in December, 1910 before she could
and some small ones in these days have
complete the forward section of her Work.
cheap lodging houses in which men many
Regardless, in 1911 “One Thousand
secure a night’s lodging at a cost of from 10
Homeless Men: A Study of Original
to 25 cents. With the exception for Greater
Records,” was published and soon became
New York, the city of Chicago has a greater
essential reading for those in the emerging
number of such houses and a larger floating
field of social work.
transient population than any other city in
The study is at once filled With both
the United States.”
comprehensive statistics used to determine
Largely due to serving as a central rail
homeless trends and individual narratives
hub for the nation, “Among tramps and
that allow homeless^ men to become more
vagrants also, Chicago is a favorite rallying
than statistics-but human beings. Both
place.” She also noted that “As in most
aspects were at the time revelatory,
other large cities, politicians are likely at
especially by allowing homeless men to rise
election times to add to the comfort and
above stereotypes. As Francis H McLean
security of a floating population whose votes
mentions in the forward, “It portrays clearly may usually be counted upon in return for
where society has failed, where the
small favors.”
individual has failed.
Of this homeless population, Solenberger
created the subcategories of “self-
supporting, temporarily dependent,
revious to this work it was common to
chronically dependent, and parasitic.”
categorize homeless men into two
Regarding the physical condition of the
categories: those who will work, and those homeless men, Solenberger counted 195
who won’t. Mrs. Solenberger created new
men who “were addicted to excessive use of
categories that included: The crippled and
drink and known to be drug users.” 81 men
maimed; those injured by industrial
were found to be “mentally unfit for work.”
accidents; the insane; the feeble-minded;
220 men were confirmed tramps or
the epileptic; the elderly; the seasonal and
wanderers. 117 men were homeless,
casual laborer; chronic beggars; confirmed
vagrant, or runaway boys. 254 men were
P
either temporarily or permanently crippled
or maimed due to everything from birth
defects to runaway horses, to jumping from
windows during hotel fires.
She gives an example of the effects of
one man’s accident “A man on his way to
newly-found and much-needed work one day
gave an expressman a lift in handling a
heavy trunk. By some awkwardness it
slipped and crushed his right thumb. A
trifling accident perhaps, but the sore
thumb, although given the best of surgical
care from the beginning, not merely lost the
man the permanent job to which he was
going when the accident occurred, but keep
him from any other work for several weeks.
In another very similar case, an injured
thumb was not given proper care and the
man ultimately lost his left arm.” She
chronicles several other heartbreaking cases
where men suffered horrible accidents and
were reduced from bright, capable working
men into the chronically dependent.
olenbuerger was troubled by the
conditions that the chronically
dependent endured. She believed that a
man’s self-respect was very much tied to his
economic dependence, and that long-term
housing at a lodging house was “morally
poisonous.”
In modem homeless efforts, the “housing
first” model has become the most popular-
theoretically, if a person has stabfe housing,
they have a better chance for success in
other areas of their life.
Solenberger’s work supports this notion.
When men are homeless and are massed in
great numbers in city lodging houses where
there are practically no restraining and
refining influences; where, in sharing a
common living room they must of necessity
associate with men who have long since
become chronic tramps, confirmed beggars,
or clever impostors...it is not surprising that
many deteriorate rapidly and that such self-
respect and decency as they may in the
S
SEE 1,000 MEN, page 9