The depression is one chapter of the hobo culture, but in the turn-of-the-century era, it was like a legitimate class of travel on some, if not most roads. It’s just that it was off the books. The money was collected for personal gain, like a tip, by the brakemen and conductors who were always looking over their trains. The trainmen relied on the “bo money” to augment their wages. They set rates for the hobos, and they spent a lot of time chasing and harassing hobos who would not pay. I have seen photos from this era showing a train of boxcars, each with its roof packed with as many standing hobos that the space would allow.

A really interesting book on railroading of this era, including the hobo culture is “Brownie the Boomer” edited by H. Roger Grant. It is the autobiography of Charles P. Brown, a railroader of the early 1900s. Brown vividly describes the details of the hobo culture and his experience with it while looking for work and seeing the world. He says that the majority of hobos were considered to be harmless migrant workers, but there was a class of them known as yeggs that were professional predators. They stole from the railroads, the townspeople, and the other hobos. Brown says that the harvesters moved in to harvest the wheat, and the yeggs moved in to harvest the harvesters.

RTK