Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-19
Washington, D, c., Oct. 1s.-At, this

SSdSOn. VI the year LHdt Vd6I lOOLlOOSe
and %carefree tribe generally known
into our large cities, with the idea of
locating comfortable quarters for the
winter. Already the historic reading
room at New York's Cooper Union
is crowded with veteran vagabonds,
snoozing over their unread encyclo-
pedias while the cheap lodging houses
along the Bowery are rapidly filling
up with winter boarders. At the same
time Boston, Buffalo and Philadelphia
all report a large increase in street
beggars.
BY late November the weather is
SO cold that tramping on a widespread
scale Is out of the question:. even
when aided by frequent rides oh
freight trains, so that, for at leas.
three months in the year the wander
er's wanderlust must be held in check
and he must live the fixed existence
manage to spend this enforced period
of retirement in certain jails which
90 not require much work on the part
of the inmates; others earn regular
incomes from street or office begging,
while still others loaf comfortably on
40 or SO cents a day, saved up from
their summer earnings.
Hoboes who have enjoyed especial
~ prosperous summers in the begging
line usually go South in the winter
ITO rest up" New Orleans, st. Au-
gustine, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and
Atlanta are the, favorite resorts OF
there fatigucd idlers-especially New
Orleans, where q well trained beggar
can nearly always earn a dollar a
day, II necessary, and easily discover
q congenial dive in which to- spend
it. This wholesale migration to the
South starts about October l. and
lasts for q month or more, during
heavily burdened with free passen-
gers. One SOCIOLOGICAL, who has made
a valuable study Of tramps by min
Cling among them ard temporarily
adopting their habits. says that on
one trip which he made to Florida
there were over 70 tramps travelinjg
on the same train with him.
Except for the winter months, how
ever. the South as q whole is largely
free from these nomadic parasites,
because it is row good working ter.
rttory."S In other words. the hospi-
tally for which this section OF the
country is famous evidently does NOT
extend to hotsoes. The negroes, who
usually have full charge of the south
ern kitchens, have a shrewd method
OF getting rid Of unwelcome strangers.
When such a one applies for q mcal
at the kitchen door they inform hin;
that they are not permitted to give
away food without permission from
their mistress and ,yefer him to the
front door, But when the tramp ap-
plies at the front door re fs inyari-
ably informed that the mistress is nd
al home . Big cities, which are the
chief moiDstay Of the vaEabond
brotherhood, are also much farther
apart in the South than they are in
the North, which greatly adds to the
diffi of tramping.
S A Sterile Field.
For Practically the same reasons
New England, with the exception OF
Boston, is carefully stunned BY no
boec during the entire year. The av-
erage southerner has u marked dis
taste for tramps,. but .he NeW#EnK-
lander is aggressively opposed to
them. He not only refuses, to feed
them upon his we'll scrubbed; doorstep,
but he seizes the first opportunity to
place them In jail where they are
provided with plenty OF hard work.
And as hard work IL the last thing
that a hobo Il willing no do. the New
England states are not much bothered
with peripatetic beggars.
Undoubtedly. the greatest strbnR-
hold OF the hobo tribe IN this. coun-
try IL New York city, particularly In
winter. but to q large extent through.
out the entire year, Here the pro-
fessional svagabond finds an abunds
ance Of cheap lodgings,irenting from
10 TO 10 cents A might: and here DUR