When the amount of exposure, the extent of dissipation, and the malnutrition that falls to the lot of the homeless man are taken into consideration, it is remarkable that he is as free from sickness as he is. The fact that he is outdoors much of the time may have something to do with this. THE PROBLEM OF HEALTH Disease, physical disability, and insanitary living conditions seem to be, as things are, the natural and inevitable consequences of the migratory risk-taking and irregular life of the homeless man. These effects of his work and life upon his physical constitution will be considered by many the most appalling of all the problems affecting the hobo and the tramp. Municipal provision and philanthropic effort have been and will continue to be directed to the treatment of his diseases and defects and to the improvement of his living conditions. The efficiency of the homeless man as a worker and his chance of regaining his lost economic and social status depend upon his physical rehabilitation. A clearing house for the homeless man when established should, therefore, include as one of its activities facilities for diagnosis of the needs, medical, vocational, social, of each individual. The living conditions of the homeless man, although revolting to the public, are intolerable to him, chiefly as a symbol of his degradation. Lodging-house sanitation and personal hygiene are of minor import, in his thinking, as compared with working conditions, or, for that matter, with the problems of his social and political status, to be discussed in the next two chapters. FOOTNOTES: [41] Alice W. Solenberger, _One Thousand Homeless Men_, p. 36. [42] F. C. Laubach, _Why There Are Vagrants_, p. 21 [43] _Report of the Advisory Social Service Committee of the Municipal Lodging House_, pp. 9-11. New York City: September, 1915. [44] This unpublished study of 400 tramps was made while riding freight trains from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Chicago in the summer of 1921. All the cases tabulated were cases in transit. A large part of them were men who regularly beat their way about the country. Document 115. [45] George S. Sobel, _Report to Committee_, summer, 1922. [46] Letter from Chicago Health Department to Committee on Homeless Men. [47] U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, _Defects Found in Drafted Men_. [48] Unpublished Document 87 is a statement from Dr. Ben L. Reitman, based upon cases in his practice of venereal infection caused by homosexual relations. [49] It is of interest to note the findings of the study of 2,000 men in connection with the Municipal Lodging House of New York City, 1914: “Of 1,482 men who made statements regarding their habits, 1,292--approximately 9 out of every 10--said they drank alcoholic liquors. Six hundred and fifty-seven or 44 per cent said that they drank excessively; 635, or 43 per cent, said that they drank moderately; and 190, or 13 per cent, claimed to be total abstainers.