The Butte daily bulletin., 1920-04-14
Interviews With the Hoboes
#The Atascadero Colony
(By JIM SENMOUR.)

In spite of his shabby clothing he
looked like Kentucky colonel. But
ne didn't talk about horses and
booze; he talked instead about as
tronomy and chemistry, art and
music, and psychology and econom-
les, in manner that would have
stirred the stupid wo der of ladies
and gentlemen who imagine that
persons who have no money are nee
essarily as nearly braine3s as those
who have.
The race has reached the hope
lessmstage, he said. 1T is senilcs
tottering. dying. Don't think for a
moment. just because an individual
here and there remains sane in spite
OF his environment and retains
enough courage to admit his sanity
that the great herd is a"y the less
conglomeration OF varying degrees
of idocy and cowardice. Don't think
| that because there is Bertrand
Russell and a Centrala wobbly there
can be any more hope for racial
progress. The Russells and the wob-
blies need their better clay for the
maintenance Of their own higher
standards; they cannot distribute it
among the hordes of lawyers
preachers, real estate sharks and
| razorbacks hogs in general. for to
| do SO would he to lower and demean
themselves infinitely without .appre-
ciably raising the standard of the
teeming wallowers.
| You are optimistic, he contin-
ued, because the poppes are bloom
| ing 91nnp tln poi1rnod No,,
overlook the fact that you are walk
| you know that il is one Of the few
remaining places from which the
poppy has not been banished And
YOU forget. in the ecstasy Of the mo-
ment, that soon there will be no
more poppies here than elsewhere.
| for persons who claim to love them
will ride out here in autos purposely
to Kill them and to carry their wilt
| ing carcasses into the stifling junk
shops they call home. And anyway
in a short time the poppies will have
died Of old age and we will be round
ing the cycle once more.
Peoples are seasonal stupidity
and greed are eternal. Down this
highway is the Atascadero colony
| where. through the enchantment Of
distance. we perceive cooperation
and idealism-a striving for the bet
| terment OF mankind. The poppi es
| are there now. but next fall they will
have vanished and there will remain
only the stupidity and greed that
even now are the most conspicuous
! things in the place.
"a fnW dave opO 7 ct in hal
to look things over and maybe to
take on a little hard graft for Il
roadstake. Now L. like many others
| pride myself upon being thoroughly
disillusioned, even though know
| that | lie to myself and that | shall
continue chasing ranbows until l
stumble and break my fool neck
But I had fallen for this dealistic
bunk just as hard and innocently az
any other scissor. | expected to find
a somewhat less impure atmosphere
and a somewhat less vicious scrarnb-
ling and claWing for the holy kale
| didn't know at the time that atas-
caderO is a Spanish word defined as
bog, mire, wallow; mess. difficulty.
embarrassment. But l soon learned
that | was in all of those things.
''The buildings in. full view of the
highway are ornamental and sub
stantal, and one of them is a mas
sive pile of architectural grandeur.
But they are for those who view
them from the highway. Back over
the hill we'll out of sight OF the new
come-ons, is the same old stinking