Evening star., 1932-12-24
BY DANIEL ROBERT MAUE.

trivial import, the youth laughed at her
and said his unsupported word would
be sufficient
When this 1.-THE son of war ace
and automobile racing driver took the
Second-year course in mechanics it was
all elementary stuff to him. He had
worked at mechanics. He already held
his Illinois glider's license. When he
demonstrated with his instructor and
the principal, these did what they
could to squelch him. That was more
than two years ago.
Now he goes daily to sit on stone
bench under banana tree in the inner
circle of Pershing Square Los Angeles.
He reads, ponders. dreams. He hopes
that when he is 81 he'll be able to quail
ify for an air pilots license. Even now
Frankie Dwight is but coming 90
This is his fourth trip to California.
His parents separated four years ago.
Both remarked The boy hasn't seen
his mother since the divorce. He'll take
nothing-"I should say not!'-from the
| employed father, once a good CON-
panion-
Knows He Is Marking Time.
| frankie has been to the Far East as
a deckhand. He has been to the East
l ern United States as a hitch traveller.
He will in a pinch hitch by train, but
he prefers the motor.
| II don't want much" he says. 'I
can get along somehow"
He has worked and will work at any
: thing except bookkeeping The youth
knows he is marking time.
meanwhile I'm bum But I'll tell
5you I've learned more from travelling
3than from all my school days. The
Id. 40 YYx,l1 L--tA
J near 'em. The parks cleaner, if wetter
and colder"
His father lost a garage business.
His fathers friends lost real estate.
The neighbors were reducing their budg-
Jets to the last uncompromiSing notch.
What have they got now?" asks
frankie. 'They haven't even seen a
bit of the world"
I do not try to answer. The charm
ing. laughing 19-year- old, slender, of
light complexion in no more than open
shoes. takes up his copy of "Cyrano de
Bergerac" and sets to reading.
And thus on and on in their bewil-
deringly varied. significant detail go
the stories of the youthful hitch trav-
elers. for the moment somehow lodged
in Los Angeles.
Wanderers Congest Los Angeles.
They all but congest SO square blocks
Of that city. The radial center of their
hauntS is the scattering fountain Of
green urchinS in the center of Pershing
Square.
I have their stories in black and
white. One by one the so-largely aim
less and frequently lonely young men
or boys talked freely with me. They
in tod
me to their diaries. They gave me
their free-hand drawings And all this
is rapid series of spontaneous. en-
thusiastic ompanionships-no more
no less.
Should my several young nephews
leave home to join this youthful move
ment and its newness of pleasantly,
hunger and suffering, both physical and
intellectual, shall 60 and sit in the
center of Pershing Square. Wherever
else they may go, if they stay out six
months or a year they'll pass down
some one of the alleys of that banana
circled, sunny square block in the heart
of Los Angeles.
From East Coast to West Coast
went, seeking to learn of this endless
number OF hitch-traveling American
youths. I would see them from the
inside, as no other had seen. I would
have a cross-section of their bewilder
ing and bewildered number. Here
can only select from my notebooks such
cross-sectioning bits as space will allow.
Doesn't Seem to Care.
st wouldn't insult my folks by going
home at Christmas" said young un
known in Westlake Park. Il guess I'm
living off the country now, but don't
% uoti
a place to eat and sleep. Oh, I've
looked for work Now I've decided I
don't belong here" He emphasized the
last word.
Maybe I'll sleep under a bush to-
night" said another, 19, out of Vir-
ginia high school by way of motor
bitches to Detroit. Chicago and Seattle.
I'm on the bum now, reckon, though
I've always worked and only mooched
rides. Economic revolution? Well, I
don't know what you'd call it, but"
He went along in talk and wistful
smiles for an hour.
Go into hotel here to ask for
Job and they'll say We employ only
Thae eame oae from }peck1ed 'nz
in the hitch travellers conventional
wind breaker. Out of Massachusetts,
and lust stopping probably" in Los
Angeles.
Storm. 10, from Cleveland, and Har-
riS, 20, from Houston, Tex, were going
together from the small quarters of the
store to ask % again for c ch1istmas eieTR
ships.
Its easier for the folks at home if
stay away" said Storm Il haven't
got as low as panhandling, but I will
asked for food
MY folks are gone" explained Har-
ris. Il lived with my sister. We both
lost our jobs. She got another; I |
didn't. Without me she can just get |
along. III try to get home for Christ
mas, and then after a week come out !
here again"
Lost Job Regretted.
Twenty-year old pike" Konkus, from
Pennsylvania, gave me the nice draw
ing of freight in the mountains that |
he had just completed at crowded |
table in the Mems Community Recrea- |
tion Center |
Those kids over there don't have to |
be out on the road" he said. Il do. |
I wish I could get my old mail-han- |
drling job back again. Just ask me some
place I haven't been. But if there's |
guy I despise it's the professional bum |
Economics? Why should 1 bother? |
Look what mess the rest of the world |
has made out of them (economics) as
it is
The old man said could stay at !
home If I'd earn my Clothes" explained |
Thomas Cook (his alias, 10. out of |
third-year high school at Atlanta, "but |
I couldn't seem to get enough work to
do that even. I was down by the rail-
road, met some fellows. and came on
left home for his first trip after he had |
struck a teacher for calling him "a
thief" We had met in the Penny Cafe |
terra. I asked him if he had asked aid |
Of a national welfare society.
"You bet they're smart people!
They're smart enough to keep their |
= -. L.. L.