writing paper and of course no money. but I am going out on the street and see cant I dig up a few old rusty dimes and now Good-bye--hoping you succeed in your undertaking of trying to get Municipal lodings such as new york as got because I have been there and no it is allright but the main point is to have decent officers in those places an not Brutes like Boston got. But the question (Why does a tramp keep tramping) P. S. I have just come down from the free Employment office and there is a big sign on the window Dont loafe in front of this building come inside, and when you get inside there is another sign entilted Dont loaf in this office. Nobody in this part of the country knows my right name because I have about a dozen or maybe more but if you care to write you can address John Murphy in care of Peoples institute corner of 4 and Burnside sts. Portl Ore" CHAPTER XVI TACOMA "_The greatest bravery is theirs who humbly dare, and know no praise._" I stood one day on the curbing of the principal street in Tacoma watching the construction of a sky-scraper. Near me stood a man of thirty-five, also watching. In reply to a question of mine concerning the wages of these builders who were taking such fearful risks, he said: "They receive four dollars and a half a day, but one does not have to float in the open air on a steel beam fifteen stories high, only, in order to hold his life in the balance. I am working for the lumber trust for two dollars a day down in the Sound. I work on slippery logs under which is a current so swift and treacherous that a misstep would be absolutely fatal. But I was glad even to get that job for I was broke when I reached here and slept three nights sitting up in a chair in a saloon. The police thought I was a worthless old bum, I guess, for every little while they would come along and rap me awake. Out of my two dollars, I am saving a little, though, and I have a promise of a better job. If I get that I will soon be able to send for the wife and little ones," and as he left me the thought touched his face with gladness. It was a rainy day, the Puget Sound country being filled with rain and cloud during the winter months. I walked up to the City Hall, the Associated Charities, the Free Labor Bureau and City Jail, which are all near together. I counted twenty-five men standing out in the rain waiting for work. They were a pitiable lot. Stepping inside, I discovered why they were forced to remain in the storm. The office space for applying for work was about large enough to accommodate six men comfortably, and there, also, was a very noticeable sign which read, "No Loafing in Here."