Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1920 — War, Execution of Saloons and Disappearance of Free Lunch Rooms—Hobo No More. [ARTICLE]

War, Execution of Saloons and Disappearance of Free Lunch Rooms—Hobo No More.

Whst has become of the old-time) hobo? - . Not that anybody wants him back again, but his disappearance la a my»> tery. To be sure, the war cleaned himi out, but even so, be was a diminishing quantity before the bugle called. Chief Thomas Shaughnessy of Madison, Wls., like many other police chiefs, reports that the tramp has censed to be a problem for him and that the hobo is extinct Despite the war, it Is still a puzzle to Madison’s custodian of the law what han become of the 2,605 hoboes who have disappeared from Madison in the last five years. In 1914, the total number of lodgers at the police station was 2,820, in comparison with 215 in 1919. The extinction or execution of the saloon is one contributing factor to the lyk of H ’boes” according to Chief Shaughnessy. Disappearance of free' lunches and riumbering Joints Lave set the tramps to working for bread and butter. Scarcity of labor during, the war forced a lot of the trlflers to work. And a lot learned how to work In the grmy, says the chief. In 1914, 2,820 lodgers registered at! the police station; In 1915, 3,486; in; 1916, 2,320; In 1917,1,066; in 1918,156 $ and in 1919, 215. The almost steady, decrease in numbers Is shown by *' comparison of the lodgers in the months of December during the five years which show 813 lodgers at the police station in 1914; 518 in 1915; 166 in 1916 ; 40 in 1917; 15 in 1918, and only Several in 1919.