The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless ManAnderson, Nels
General
The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man
Anderson, Nels
Chicago (Ill.) -- Social conditions; Tramps
Seasonal workers are men who have definite occupations in different
seasons. The yearly circuit of their labors takes them about the
country, often into several different states. These men may work
in the clothing industries during cold weather but in summer are
employed at odd jobs; or they may have steady work in summer and
do odd jobs in winter. One man picks fruit in summer and works
as a machinist in winter. He does not spend his summers in the
same state nor his winters in the same city but follows those two
occupations throughout the year.
41. Bill S. is a Scotchman and a seasonal worker. During
the winter he is usually in Chicago. He works as a
practical nurse. He is efficient and well liked by his
patients and a steady worker during the winter. In summer
he quits and goes to the harvest fields or works on a
construction job. Since leaving his winter job (March to
October, 1922) he has had several jobs out of Chicago none
of which lasted more than a week or two. Between times he
loafs on West Madison Street. He does not drink. He is well
behaved. Seldom dresses up. When last heard of he was in
Kansas City, Missouri, where he thought he would spend the
winter.
42. Jack M. works on the lake boats during the sailing
season. When the boats tie up for the winter he tries to
get into the factories, or he goes to the woods. Sometimes
during the tie-up he takes a notion to travel and goes West
or South to while away the time. He has just returned from
a trip East and South where he has been “seeking work” and
“killing time” a week or so before the season opened. He
has already signed up for the summer. He is loafing and
lodging in the meanwhile on West Madison and South State
streets.
The seasonal worker has a particular kind of work that he follows
somewhere at least part of the year. The hotels of Hobohemia are a
winter resort for many of these seasonal workers whose schedule is
relatively fixed and habitudinal. Some of these who return to the
city regularly every winter come with money. In that case, they
do not work until next season. Others return without money. They
have some kind of work which they follow in the winter. The hobo,
proper, is a transient worker without a program.
THE HOBO
A hobo is a migratory worker in the strict sense of the word. He
works at whatever is convenient in the mills, the shops, the mines,
the harvests, or any of the numerous jobs that come his way without
regard for the times or the seasons. The range of his activities is
nation wide and with many hobos it is international. He may cross
a continent between jobs. He may be able in one year to function
in several industries. He may have a trade or even a profession.
He may even be reduced to begging between jobs, but his living is
primarily gained by work and that puts him in the hobo class.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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