The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-17
CONSIDERS HIMSELF 4 HOBO
BUT FINDS NEW YORK LOOKS ON
THAT WORD NTH DISF4TOR.

When He Handed Out Cards Inviting ObO
10 II Meeting MIR. How Encountered
Resentment lis n Riding Delegate OF
the Brotherhood Welfare Association.
James f.. How OF st. Louis, who Gala
himself a hobo and who wears a beard
that isteth as it may. started along some
OF the streets Of the lower part of town
yesterday afternoon carrying for distribu-
ton a package Of invitations that read:
Hobo brotherhood
Meeting
SUNDAY, $50 y. ".
At the Straight Edge Kitchen
Abingdon Square
(On $50 Hudson Street,
But | didn't give out more than half a
Dozen said Mr.. How when he was seen at
the Straight Edge Kitchen at the ii me APP
pointed. The men | met on the street
seem TO nave other ideas of the meaning
of the word hobo-whioh came originally.
| believe. from the man with the hoe
thar we nave out in st. Louis. When |
saw the men here were getting mad about
the invitations ! stopped handing them
out early"
Mr.. How says he is the riding delegate or
field agent Of the Brotherhood Welfare
Association and that he was sent here to
organize a branch local OF the association.
A hobo, according to Mr.. How's dictionary.
is any man who does useful work. But
many n good workman. says the field
agent. is compelled to go from town to
tow seeking employment, and 1t is to
establish employment bureaus, dormitories.
&c. for these travelling workseekers that
his society aims.
The Welfare association. Mr.. How says.
has one employment agency at st. Louis
and another at Chicago. just now the
st. Louis branch is trying TO have a bill
put through the st. Louis Municipal As
sembly that is explained in a typewriter
set Of resolutions that Mr., How had with
him yesterday:
Whereas workin gmen are often arrested
as va grants and sentenced 10 the W orkhouse
or other penal institutions. and
Whereas there Is now a bill pending in
the Municipal Assembly providing for the
payment of 10 cents per day TO all such inn
prisoned men during their imprisonment:
therefore be it
ResoIrcd, That this body indorses said bill
and calls upon the peoples representatives.
in the Municipal Assembly for its early pas
age. and be il further
Rosolrcd, That a copy Of this resolution be
forwarded to the president Of the City Council
and the speaker of the House Of Delegates.
A similar resolution would have been
proposed at the meeting yesterday had
the meeting materialized. But at 9 O'Clock;
or one and a half hours after the appointed
time, the audience consisted only OF Mrs.
Irwin, wife of a minister; John Heddaeus.
who ia a Brooklyn friend OF Mr.; How, ana
Nicholas Mattel, head baker in the Straight
Edge Kitchen. Mr.. How announced then
that the time evidently was not ripe for
Il kArn n nd thnf IL would no
taken up later. There was one man sitting
on a bench in the little patch OF grass at
Abingdon Square that Mr.. How said he
doubtless would have got to attend the
meeting only that a cop chased him of as
Mr.. How was approaching him.
Mr.. How said that he had got a tempo
rary Job in a drug store here and that he is
going TO keep right on getting jobs like
that until he eventually becomes a physician.
Tolstoi. he says is the very best type OF the
hobo, and he adds that all great men were
hobOs. When asked if he ever had been
arrested for vagrancy he replied in. the
affirmative. but said that there are others
and instanced Jack London.
The dues of the Welfare Association are
five cents a month but Mr.. How says that
any member that wants to go as nigh as
eight or ten cents a month can do 80. In
fact there is nothing in the bylaws con-
corning dues that interrupts a mar from
going as far as he likes. The hobo is more
useful to the community than the million
aire. saws the Welfare organizer, and he
thinks il would he only just Of the country
to pay every travelling o that so
cents on each pinched day so that when
the vagrant is released he will have a little
nest egg upon which he can draw when
he starts to beat it to the next town. Mr..
How came to New York from st. Louis all
in one trip. he says, and on a passenger
train. He is said TO be a Socialist, but this
has not been verified.