The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-08
'If the Mormons are the kindest-hearted

"If the Mormons are the kindest-hearted who are the meanest?"
 "The Nebraskans. They are too far 1 west to be benefited by the culture of | the east They are too far east to par take of the generosity and honesty of the west They are raw barbarians, crude in manner, suspicious. close-fisted and cruel. Their only joke is a prac- tical joke. It was in Nebraska that two cowboys shot my hat off. l had walked Go miles without rest through a blizzard while the temperature was below zero. I came to a village and sought refuge in a livery stable. l was asleep in chair by stove when I was awakened by shots fired close to my ear, and saw two grinning men with smoking revolvers in their hands. The top of my hat was blown away. 4
 Git they said. and drove me with revovers into the street. That Is a fair | sample of Nebraskan hospitality. 1 do not want to go there again."
 What was the finest farm you saw?"
 up in Washington. It belonged to an Indian chief We were building a rail- road along the Columbia river. On either side of the river was a reservation The | chief would often come down from the range, where his farm was, to visit the 1 reservation and watch the Indians catch | salmon in the river. One day he invited | me to his farm because I had told him l l was interested in farming. He took 1 me over the trail which led to a plateau, and there before us lay the finest farm l ing country I had ever seen. It was all 1 the chiefs.
 You do not give the tramp class jus | tice in this country. In Europe the tramp has certain social standing. Every | city he visits he reports at once to the l police authorities, who keep track of him. 1 He has book which he must show the | xxO1tA ~a ost Az11 1 has been and what has been his conduct l The police o. K. the book. Every German | village has an institution similar to the | Young Mems Christian association. The tramp goes there. He hears lectures, reads books and listens to good music.
 Many tramps in Europe are students | Others are worthy worSingmen out of employment So long as they report reg
 ularly to the police they are not dis | graced In this country every city gives
 the tramp as little as possible gets as | much work out of him as possible and
 hurries him on to the next city as soon as possible
 'But look at the lasting work the tramps have done in this country have worked
 with them from the Battery to the Golden
 Gate on railroads, bridges, irrigation
 ditches and other big undertakings The farmers of Dakota, Kansas and Minne- l Go into the great potato fields in Nebras-
 ka and the beet sugar districts and you
 will find tramps doing the work Visit
 the forests of California, Washington and
 Idaho, the peach country in Delaware and the tomato fields in New Jersey, the
 hop fields in New York state, and you
 will find tramps doing a large portion of the work.
 What city in America gives a tray eler the best treatment?"
 New York You are referring now,
 take 1t, to cities and not to people oi | cities"
 1 Where is the finest soil?" Tn Illinois. The worst in Missouri" What is the oldest business you
 found?"
 "A frog farm"
 Where are the best roads?" "1n Massachusetts,"
 <'Where did you find the most wick
 edness and suffering?"
 That is hard question. I saw thu 1 most gambling houses in Nevada. Mon tana and Seattle. Seattle is the mos 1 oyercrowded of American cities Strange as it may seem, the east sidt | of New York cannot compare with Sc attle. When I was there thousands o homeless men slept in saloons on ths
 floor"
 What class of Americans are tn,
 most contented?"
 "The farmers"
 Have you had any romances during l your travels?"
 T have had two." said Raddatz witi