most of us continue to grasp at the American Dream, which promises financial security in exchange for hard work
very first sentence. that “dream” has been a lie since its first utterance
“It’s called the american dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
A hobo travels for work, a tramp travels but doesn’t work, and a bum doesn’t travel or work.
White details how newspapers and magazines wrestled with the “tramp problem.” Some people pushed for compassion, endorsing the idea that their cities and towns set up social safety nets for the itinerant workers. Writers on the other end of the spectrum felt downright venomous toward these vagabonds, suggesting women leave poisoned meat on their back porches. Towns and cities would pass strict vagrancy or trespassing laws.
Thanks for sharing this. Woody Guthries autobiography made this point for me way back in the late 80s and we ended up riding the rods a bit just to experience it. Trains rule. We need more of them, nationalized of course
