HOBOLAND.* MOST people are lint 4imly conseloneof the existence of
the hopeless and idle residuum of the population of modern States- They feel, to use the words of our author, that so long as there are lazy people discourageddrinika-rds, and boys possessed of wanderlust Hoboland C hobo is the slang name for tramp] will have its place hi our-soeial geOgraphy." But it is Startling to realise, as readers of these vivid sketches must, how highly organised :Val the life lea by a vast number of- worthless individuals, how great a tax upon, the community . _ their support in cchnparative comfort must be; andioir little has been done to apply a remedy.What:Mr. Wyckoff, has attempted in the case of labour, lgr:Flynt had accianplished even more -thoroughly in the more restricted field of the beggar classes. For the first time, as far, as we know, he has studied the problem of human Parasites in a thoroughly scientifiCapirit. At intervals for many years he has lived the life Of the ..tratap, not only in America but Germany, Russia., and England, and though'perhaps not primarily 'writing as a:censor Or :moralist, he has formed definite theories as to dealing with this considerable evil of modern societies based on the only sure ground, that of experience in its most practical shape. It is of America, however which he describes as the paradise Of the tramp, that lie SPealitiviith 'the Moat- intimate knowledge. He seema toliari3 travelled Withtiamps there for mouths at a time, to have become acquainted under his tramp name of "Cigarette or "Pig " with the various circles of the hierarchy, and with their most prominent indi- viduals; and the following sentences 'give an idea both of the conditions of their existence; and of its economic effect:— . "No one can tell exactly what this tramp population numbers, but: I think it safe to. say that there . are not less than sixty- thousand in this country [America]. Everyman of this number, Prantping with Tramps: Studies and Sketchea of Vogabona By
Josiah Fiyat. Loudon : T. Fisher Crawls. E684
as a rule, eats something twice a day,.and the Majority eat three good meals. They all wear some sort _of, clothiag, •and moat-of them rather respectable clothing. They all drink liquor, prob- ably each one a glass Of whiskey a day; . They all get into jail, and eat and drink there just as much at the erpetthe the'boni- munity as elsewhere. .They all • chew and smoke tobacco, and -all of them spend some of.their time in lodging houses. Row much all this represents in money I cannot tell, but I believe that the expenses I have _enumerated, together with the costs of bonvic. tion for vagrancy, drunkenness, and Crime, will • easily mount up into the millions. And all that the' country'canshow for this expenditure is an idlei homeloss, and use1ess:9*s of individuals called tramps.I' Several eaudes. ccooperate to iMake „tramp . life:more attrac- tive the United States than. eleewber6 Anglo- Saxon communities the .sentiment _of rpity for the Poor and homeless is stronger than. elsewhere. And in America, Where money-is quickly made; and, the, general:level of Comfort is a high 'one, this sentimenthakfull play. . But: the most _potent cause of enconragenaent tOvagtnnoY in -the /delay a IWQmo- tion from one part 'of the .ra.st territory of the -Union: to another, so -that when one State -becomes obnoxious to the tramps on account of stricter legislation or akbrainiabration;they can move to another ; orwh0n the opp-machotwinter renders the Northern Stated impossible for outdoor life; they can avoid the-necessity- of spending the arinter•niontliein prison': by a flight to the genial- South. They can-:do this: owing to the. custom which has -grown .ttp.lof allowing them. tO:traVel on the freight trains. It is the boast of the " hobees," -Mr.. Flynt. tells, us, that," they can travel in every Stare of the Union-for a mill a mile, while in a number of-States they:pay. nothing at all," and be estimates that during his first trip in Hoboland, which lasted ,eight continuous months, he travelled over twenty thousand -miles, and that there were not ten occasions when any payment was demanded of him', even then the medium of exchange consisting of such things as pipes, neck- 'ties, tobacco,: and, knives. :Well might the old tramp in East Prussia to whom he described. this system exclaim.: "Ach,- how beautiful that must be! A Republic is the only place for the poor and out-ea:et." And well )nay.M.r.:Flynt remark No other country in the world transports its . beggars free of charge; and there is no reason why it should. continue to doso." The custom, it seems, _grew up after the ,Ciyil War, before which there were comparatively' few tramps in 'Ameriea, and, practically no railway trunipa: -There then app6ared- upon the scene a large class of men who had become So enamoured of camp life that they found it impossible to return to ordinary life and who toOk. to about the country" 'As there were no-laNirs Itgainat walking on railroad property, the men. from using these roads took -to jumping ripti- and off freight cars, and by 1880 the-practice was -accepted by the companies as an unavoidable nuisance:, There Are -few; more amusing passages in the book than those, whioh describe the_prhift.s.to which tramps are- put in their railway excursions. Their favourite plan is to steal into an empty ".box car" on a freight train, but if . the train has " empties " they must . ride on. the top of the ear, between the bumpers--,'!:or,on he • car ladders. Every night in the year ten:thousand free passengers travel, on the .different lines. :Mr. Flynt. is con- vinced that if the tramps were kept-oft-ihe railroads the life would become 'so .unattractive that it would never again appeal to, men as it has done in the past, and he has a. most interesting chapter describing how one company has succeeded in putting an end to this abuse, • Mr. FlYnt treats fully of the pathetiC :side of the question, that of- the children of the road, in 'their Varibus categories: those who are" born there, driVen there, enticed there, or go there voluntarily. Those Who are 'enticed there begin by being full of admiration, been of the Police Gittzette, of the desperadoisth of thecowboy,. they fait Under the _influence of some- slouching wirard at the Street corner, and finally disappear.with him, becoming the Slave of their master or " jocker," And the reward held out to the "-prnshim," as he is called, throughout hi cruelapprenticeship is that he Will Some day be able "to. snare a bey' to slave and beg for him as he has slaved for Others. ' "Surely," erclainia our author, "there is kindness and ingenuity -enough in-the world to devise-some planor system" for reclaiming these children' of the road, and he insists that wherever law is' able to deal with them it should be done on the basis of intelligent dawn: Scation. In other wordis, reform the reformatories, and
station them, not at the end of the road, but at the junction of all bypaths that lead into it."
We cannot follow Mr. Flynt in his admirable pictures, realistic but restrained, of life on the road. No note, whether of pathos or humour, is forced, and the impression left is one of simple truth. But in his tramps in England there are some discriminating touches which we may quote. He dis- covered in England a species new to his American experience, —tramps who start out from London in the spring and " batter " (beg) all the summer, saving every copper in order to live during the winter on their earnings. This kind of tramp would not be allowed to associate with the American variety, who likes more generosity among his fellows. Alto- gether, the English " moocher " seems to be a poorer creature than the true "hobo." He is worse dressed and more filthy.
The following is a conversation between "Cigarette" and a clever countryman encountered in England :—
" I'd rather be lynched in our country than die a natural death over here; and as for moochin' and lodgin', why I can beg in five minutes in New York more than I can here in a day. As it is, I'm a little bit of a wonder to some of these fellows, because I'm se dead stuck on havin' the pleasures of life. I look for 'em till I get 'em, you know, and so far I've had my bob a day, besides chuck. And that's more than some of these blasted gay cats [amateurs] can say. Did you ever in your life see such badly faked bums ? They make me think of prehistoric gorillas. Half the time only a few parts of their bodies are covered in, and yet they think they can batter more when togged that way. How's that for being bughouse [crazy], eh F"
We must refer our readers to the book itself for suggestions as to dealing with the problem. The short chapter on the
criminal class seems to us full of good observation and sound sense. We may perhaps quote a few words from another chapter, entitled 4. Club Life Among Outcasts." "It is their gregariousness which makes them so difficult to deal
with." There is little chance of helping them by respectable clubs; you must "destroy their own clubs and punish their members" :—
"I would not have any word of mine lessen the growing interest in man's fellow-men, or discourage by so much as a pen. stroke the brotherly influences on the fallen brother' which are embodied in neighbourhood guilds and college settlements of the present, but I am deeply convinced that there is a work which these organisations cannot, must not. do. That work must be done by law and Government. Vice must be punished, and the vicious sequestered. Public spirit and citizenship, duly appre- ciated and exercised, must precede philanthropy in the slums. Government, municipal and State, must be a St. John the Baptist, preparing the way and making the paths straight, ere the embodied love of man and love of God can walk safely and effectively therein."
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