"It will be seen from these figures that at the charity-
level men outnumber women by something like ten
to one. The cause is presumably that unemployment
affects women less than men ; also that any presentable
woman can, in the last resort, attach herself to some
man. The result, for a tramp, is that he is condemned
to perpetual celibacy. For of course it goes without
saying that if a tramp finds no women at his own
level, those above—even a very little above—are as far
out of his reach as the moon. The reasons are not
worth discussing, but there is no doubt that women
never, or hardly ever, condescend to men who are
much poorer than themselves. A tramp, therefore, is a
celibate from the moment when he takes to the road.
He is absolutely without hope of getting a wife, a
mistress, or any kind of woman except—very rarely,
when he can raise a few shillings—a prostitute.
It is obvious what the results of this must be : homo-
sexuality, for instance, and occasional rape cases. But
deeper than these there is the degradation worked in
man who knows that he is not even considered fit for
marriage. The sexual impulse, not to put it any
higher, is a fundamental impulse, and starvation of it
can be almost as demoralising as physical hunger. The
evil of poverty is not so much that it makes a man suffer
as that it rots him physically and spiritually. And there
can be no doubt that sexual starvation contributes to
this rotting process. Cut off from the whole race of
women, a tramp feels himself degraded to the rank of
a cripple or a lunatic. No humiliation could do more
damage to a man's self-respect."