The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-03
EASY"
HObOES CO THROUGH
OFFICIALS OF NATIONAL oRGANi-
TION ON WAY TO THE
INAUGURATION.
TO PETITION WILSON
WANT SHORTER HOURS, NOT AT
THEIR TRADE, AND OTHER
LAWS--ORGANIZED by 4
MILLIONAIRE.

MILLIONAIRE.
without scrip or purse bag or bag
gage. two delegates Of the Interna-
tional Itinerant Workers union, some
times knowp as the Hoboes' Union Of
America. entered Richmond shortly
after midnight today and fingered
few hours before hitting the bumper
route to Washington, whore they go
to seek recognition at the hands Of
President elect Woodrow Wilson
II. y. Kenney and G, w. Tanary
were the two delegates. AS they
wiped the dust stains Of travel from
their foreheads and pulled out their
cards Of Identification, they explained
that they should have arrived here
at o'clock yesterday afternoon But
the freight they Travelled on was de-
layed between Richmond and Ham
let, and they were very. very late. and
n little tired. Something happened
to the freight as something generally
does happen to freight trains when
they carry special cargoes, and the
bumpers were far from comfortable,
The two hohoes--they are proud
Of tho distinctive title--have been
on the road a week, travelling out
of New Orleans. where the great ma
tional convention was held on Feb
ruary Attn. Their road has not been
easy, for brakemen were sometimes
unsympathetic. and often their slow
pullmans were hours behind time.
They looked the part, though they
were men of easy address AS most
hoboes are, for the CRIME of railroad
dust and ashes lay heavily upon them,
a bar Of soap and water
Hobo, Term of Honor.
The main thing they wanted to
impress on their hearers was that
they arc not tramps or buns but
plain. undisguised hoboes, knights Of
the road travelling in search of ever
elusive jobs. The word hobo, they
explained. is term OF honor. One
who is a hobo is a gentleman. IL not
scholar. and, unlike the tramp and
the bum is willing to work, even unto
the saving of wood and the drawing
Of water A tramp is one who traV-
els away from work and runs II he
accidentally stumbles across an unin-
wiling cord of wood. A bum is one
who lives by pandering on the kind
ness of the man who always has
something to give away.
Not so with the hobo If he loses
q lob in one city he travels to an
other city, and sometimes the trail of
that one Job takes him around the
globe and brings him, back again to
where he started. There are now 500,
000 members of the union of migra
tory Job hunters, though not all of
them are on the trail. Some have be
come married. and that one Job of
keeping house and home together has
caused them to settle down. OF
course. it is supposed, the job is
sometimes the means to a wife. and
sometimes a wife to the means to
/ Job It's poor rule that doesn't
work both ways The organization
is now seeking to raise the member
( ship another 100000. though 1t is not
( necessary for one to he without job
to join
Petition For Wilson.
The union has drawn zap a set Of
/ resolutions to he presented to Wood
4 row Wilson after the Inauguration and
to he presented by him to congress
( for the enactment of certain laws
! which will make the lot of the hobo
I more bearable. The hoboes want a
/ clearer definition Of the word vagrant,
/ which means one who can work but
won't.
They want to eliminate from the
! vaRranCy laws, statutes which allow
:
suspicion and eliminate the fee sys-
! TEN, by which officers and magistrates
/ receive os much a head or a certain
i per cent of the fines imposed
They want a law prohibiting brake
men using coupling pins in driving
I the gentlemen hoboes from their
trains.
They are strong for the eight-hour
day law though most of them
haven't worked for even one hour.
They want the minimum wage law,
and they want the legalization of the
initiative and referendum--and a few
other things
Members from all over the country
have written to their senators and
congressman urging them to use their
influence In having these proposed
laws passed,
Founded by Millionaire.
The order is flourishing, the dele
gates said. 1t controls sit hotels and
operates paper. The organization
was founded by j. Eads Howe, of
st. Louis. the multi millionaire grand
son of that Engineer E,ads, who built
the famous Eads bridge across the
Mississippi at st. Louis, and the Eads
eddies below New Orleans, that made
that city a seaport. He was made
president. but has since retired from
that position. Although a millionaire
several times, MIR. Howe prefers the
life of a hobo and INDUCES in 1t
good part of the year.
The present officers are: c. JEFF
Davis. president; J. II. Hill, vice
president; Peter M Wynhoven, sec
retary-treasurer; s. Williams, legal
adviser. II. V. Kerney. conductor: C.
ID