The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-05

Return Of the Hobo.

Washington. May 3.-After disap-
pearing almost completely for sew
eral years, the hobo is back again.
Reports from all over the country
show that the army Of men which
moves across the country as the
unlimited guests Of the railroads
and the public is once more mobil-
izing. Again is heard the request
| at the back. door for o handout. The
+. water tank has again become the
waiting room for these non-paying
passengers, and its strange collec-
ton of cabalistic writings, which
are OF so much value to the wan
dering fraternity, is being renewed.
Theft of freight is again mounting
to an enormous figure, jails and
warehouses are filing up, petty
offenses are on the increase.
Popular opinion in this country
has always held the tramp to be a
man who would not work under any
circumstances. This theory was
dealt blow by the fact that dur
ing the war the army and industry
seems to have absorbed nearly all
! of the tramps, and that they have
reappeared only with the return Of
hard times. The tramp then, must
be man who will and can work il
the inducements are strong enough,
but who prefers a wandering life
when employment is hard to get
or unremuneratiye.
The tramp is large and sig
nificant problem which has had
very little study. The size of it
you can realize when you are told
that several different estimates
made by officials of railways placed
the number of tramps in this coun-
try before the war at half a mil
lion. This estimate is based on the
number of Migrants who are killed
every year stealing rides on the
railroads. more Migrants are kill
ed this way in normal year than
trainmen and passengers put to-
T, gether. In one year it was estimat-
ed that these Migrants cost the rail-
roads $18,500,000. This included
what was paid for protection from
them, and the thefts OF freight
which were attributed to them. For
tramps often get food as we'll az
| transportation from the railroads,
| They break into shipments Of food
stuffs and take what they can eat
or carry away. often making it i'm
possible for the railroads to de-
liver a case of canned goods, for
instance, although perhaps only a
Few cans have been stolen.
Varieties Of Migrants.
The estimate Of half a million
which the railroads place upon the
normal tramp army of America
does not of course include only
tramps properly so-called. 1t in
Guides all those who steal rides on
the railroads. Among these is a
small number of men who are ordi-
narily steady workers, but are tenn
porarlly out of funds and ride the
break beams or the blind baggages
10 get to some new job. One young
man, for example, who was a ma
tive OF a far western state and
worked his way through college.
employed this method of crossing
the continent four times a year.
such cases are few. Besides the
true tramps. the greater number Of
these Migrants belong to the class
OF seasonal workers. The tramps
! and the seasonal workers are of
close kin. Many a man drifts into
tramping by way of seasonal work.
and the tramp may occasionally be-
come a seasonal worker.
The seasonal workers are a large
and well defined class. They make
their llvlngs at such work as cut
tlng Ice and telling timber in the
winter and working on lake boats
and IN the harvest fields in the sum-
mer. When not employed these
men congregate in large cities, such
as Chicago. where there are great
numbers of cheap lodging houses
that cater to them. They soon
learn to live for a year on the earn
| ings Of few months, and will not
take all-time employment if thew
can get it unless actually starving.
A man who is used to making a liY-
ing out Of the harvest fields in the
. summer has been known to refuse
work at ice-cutting in the winter on
the ground that he did not need the
money and would be merely taking
bread out OF the mouth of some
habitual winter worker.
The lives OF these men lack all
comfort and stability, but they have
change, adventure and leisure
Hence it is comprehensive that
men OF certain type come to pre-
fer it. Freedom and wandering
are the things that we all dream
of, and the man for whom the alter
native is 10 hours day at some
monotonous mechanical task can
not perhaps be altogether blamed if
he prefers a life in which labor and
leisure alternate and there is