This thread reminded me that I still have my father’s lifetime membership card
from the Hobos of America (Intern’l. Itinerant Migratory Workers Union.) Took me awhile to dig it up.
There’s no date on it, but it’s signed by Jeff Davis, King of the Hoboes, who was elected King for Life
at the April 1935 Hobo Convention in Pittsburg.
My father would have gotten this before he entered the Marines after Pearl Harbor.
It has the Hobo’s Oath on the back:
“I [...] solemnly swear to do all in my power to aid and assist all those willing to aid and assist
themselves. I pledge myself to assist all runaway boys
and induce them to return to their homes and parents.
I solemnly swear never to take advantage of my fellow men, or be unjust to others;
and to do all in my power
for the betterment of myself, my organization,
and America - so help me God.”
It was a very different time.
My Grandmother told me that during the depression, they’d come to the back door asking for food;
and then they’d make marks outside the house to indicate to others whether the people were kind and the food good.
Somewhere I have a pamphlet on how to read those and other signs of itinerant groups.
Interesting article:
Hobo, or ‘Tramp’ art is interesting, too.