The hobo, like other egocentric types, is suspicious. The I.W.W. at its inception spent days arguing whether the name of its chief officer should be that of president. Some felt that to model the organization after others would be a step in imitation that might lead to other forms of imitation. Some reasoned that most presidents of organizations they had known were “parasites” and their head officer might become one also if given the name. The hobo’s suspicious attitude toward all organizations and persons in power is not altogether without ground. As a group the migratory workers usually get the “short end” of every bargain they drive with organized society. Every contractor they work for “does” them for something. If he does not charge them for tools they lost or destroyed he may charge them for rent on a pair of boots or a blanket they may have used. They may buy a job from some private agency and later lose the job because the agency and the contractor have an understanding to sell as many jobs as possible. The hobo gets the opinion that most officers in most organizations are playing the game for what they can get out of it and he concludes that it is the natural thing to do.
The mobility and instability of the hobo or tramp, which is both cause and consequence of his migratory existence, unfits him for organized group life. Moreover, he is propertyless, and therefore the incentive of fixed ownership and fixed residence to remain faithful to any institution is gone. While the man of property secures himself best by associating with his neighbor and remaining in one locality, the hobo safeguards himself by moving away from every difficulty. Then, too, the hobo is without wife and child. His womanless existence increases his mobility and his instability.
In pointing out the repeated and seemingly inevitable failures of hobo organizations, the fact must not be lost sight of that they are absolutely necessary to his social existence. Only in these social and political organizations can the migratory worker regain his lost status. Only in association with his fellows can he again hope and dream of an ideal world of co-operation. These organizations will either survive repeated failures or take new forms, because they satisfy this fundamental need of the social outcast for status. Then, too, in these groups, his rebellious attitudes against society are sublimated into a radical idealism. Were these organizations destroyed, the anti-social grudge of the individual would undoubtedly be reflected in criminality.
FOOTNOTES:
[65] According to the financial statement for the I.W.W. for May and June of 1922, there were in good standing 18,234 members. This, it must be remembered, was just before the summer membership drive, which is said to have recruited over 18,000 additional members.
[66] The Chicago branch of the “Hobo College” is located at present (1922-23) at 913 West Washington Boulevard. It has taken the name temporarily of “Brotherhood College,” because the owners of the property would not rent the hall so long as the word “hobo” was connected with the movement. The change was made rather reluctantly. The second and third floors are in use; the second floor for reading-room and kitchen, the third floor is a lecture-hall.
CHAPTER XVII
MISSIONS AND WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS
In the winter of 1921-22 there were twenty-five missions in the Hobohemian areas of the city. This number tends to expand and to contract with the increase or the decrease in number of men out of work. The number of missions in the West Madison Street section is larger than the number in the South State Street and North Clark Street regions combined. The influence of the Salvation Army, which has outgrown the status of a mission, upon similar organizations is profound. The names of many of the missions suggest their origin in imitation of this pioneer body in religious work for the “down-and-outs”: Christian Army, Samaritan Army, Saved Army, Volunteer Rescue Army. The names of other missions are as interesting: Bible Rescue Mission, Cathedral Shelter, Helping Hand Mission, Pacific Garden Mission, Sunshine Gospel Mission.
The uniforms of the “armies” that make up the working force of certain of the missions are often so nearly alike that it is difficult to tell them apart. A short time ago the Salvation Army brought suit against the Saved Army to prevent it from using the poke bonnets, the blue uniform, the song “The War Cry” on the ground that they were so similar to those of the Salvation Army that the public was confused. It is claimed by representatives of the Salvation Army that individuals contribute to these other missions and “armies” under the impression that the contribution is for the Salvation Army.