Evening star., 1932-12-11
WANDERING YOUTH
BECOMES PROBLEM
Many Fine Types Found
Among AimIess Young
Travellers.
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Continued From. First Page)
time as one of his fellows, have sought
his story from the inside. I have heard
the most intimate details Of his per-
sonal history. I have read his diary
and his love letters. I have tried out
his mentality and stirred his deeper
emotions.
Figures Impossible.
Whenever I approached him with
STRAIGHTFORWARD friendlinesS he made
me his confidant. I conclude that
whatever hitch-hiking may once have
been-pastime, art or just nuisance
1t has become in the great majority OF
cases now mode of life BY virtue OF
such existence, often compulsory be-
cause of economic conditions, the young
male is marking time.
The bewildered boy or young man
shuttles rapidly about over the conti-
nent in unreliable numbers. I would
not attempt actual figures. My route
from the Atlantic to the Pacific could
be but thin thread through the tap
estry of American hitch-travel, for
there are almost as many routes as
there are travellers.
From that statement those who will
may compile statistics. The welfare
or community bureau cannot accurately
gauge this traffic from its own records,
as there is reason to believe such or
ganizations are in contact with as low
as 10 per cent of these wandering
young men.
Anything smacking Of welfare" Is
anathema to a surprising number. Of
the tranSients-in part because they
are far from willing to be considered
public charges, national nuisances, or
some sort of fallen creatures who must
be saved" A welfare bureau Is the
last port OF call, even in the worst of
storms. The social worker is one of the
last persons in the world to whom the
more sophisticated young fellows will
tell the truth : indeed, in many in
stances the social worker no longer
expects to hear the truth.
SCOTS at the BUNS"
The Salvation Army, the Young
Mems Christian Association, the Ameri-
can Legion Gin few instances), the
mission, the community shelter, or
other such institutions, provide food
and shelter for many boys, it is true,
but the boy individually is rarely en-
couraged to remain longer than the
prescribed one night.
Even as this youth distrusts organ
ized charity, so does he turn against
the professional tramp or hobo. Pic
turesque though the hobo may be, per-
haps in the young mans eyes he rep
reSents the menace of this marking
time At any rate the roaming Ameri-
can boy is even more modern than the
bright red filling station. He SCOTS at
the bum"
The term "hitch-hiking" in connec-
ton with these boys is incorrectly used,
as but for rare instances the process
is now all hitching and no hiking.
Hitch-traveling is the more accurate.
The older term applied chiefly to a
combination progress along the motor
highway; the newer includes hitching
to passenger and freight trains - a
practice more common in the Western
half of the United States, where set
| Elements are far apart and motor high
ways less frequented by vehicles offer
ing through passage.
The age of the transient youth
ranges from IA to %. Personal stories
l shall give will show a tendency
| toward the median 10 years, likewise
| toward the median educational line OF
two years in high school.
Few Are Illiterates.
1t is only infrequently that the
| illiterate boy or youth of low-grade
intelligence is on the road. He has
neither the stamina nor the wit to
| travel far and endlessly. He IS the
more apt to lodge permanently with an
! institution. 1t is significant that on
my transcontinental trip I encountered
only two illiterates, and one of these, a
pop-eyed boy of Is in the camps about
| the Texarkana Railroad yards, was the
authority of authorities on freight train
movements throughout the Southwest
The bewildered young traveller, in
the main, is of excellent physique
courageous and enterprising. Time and
time again he represents superior men,
tality. He has had grade school or
| high school ducation-sometimes a
| year or SO of college. He is. or speedily
becomes. the sophisticate. He has been
much maligned as a menace" or as
''non-aggre ssive," when exactly the op-
home, the American boy remains an
asset. From the transient ranks will
come some of the brilliant minds OF
the future.
| Due entirely to economic conditions
communities large and small are fail
ing to absorb young manhood; they are
failing to provide scope for energetic
activities and high ambitions. The odd
jobs a high school boy may do have
simply disappeared. He cannot earn a
living, let alone schooling. Parents, al
too frequently. can no longer be oil
assistance.
There remains the education ol
travel There remains mode of life
which is O weird combination oi
Huckleberry Finn and battle front
existence. This is moment to.
moment struggle fer food and shelter
a struggle which, while not devoid oi
acute physical and mental suffering. 1.
likewise not devoid Of instruction ane
| thrills.
Causes Of the Migration.
|, II takes no wild reach of Imagination
to see potential hitch-traveling sons o.