JULY 25,2025 INSP Hobo News: the first street paper? OWEN CLAYTON International Network of Street Papers On 12 April 1923, 200 Chicagoans attended a public debate, chaired by the notorious sex-positive “clap doctor” Ben Reitman, between three university students and another trio who identified themselves as “hobos.” The question was whether Kansas ought to establish a court to mediate industrial disputes, with the university students arguing in favour and the hobos against. We know of this event thanks to an account by one of the debate’s three judges, the hobo-turned-sociologist Nels Anderson. According to Anderson, the students were long-winded and “presented their arguments in the usual conventional manner,” which left them “unable to get the ear of the audience.” Their main argument was that U.S. institutions could be trusted to adjudge industrial disputes fairly. The hobos, by contrast, spoke of their real-world experience of being in front of American judges. They spoke of going to prison for violating so-called “Tramp laws,” which criminalised poverty by making it an offence to cross State lines “without visible means of support.” For these men, judges were a class enemy who could not be trusted. Anderson describes the three hobo speakers as being logical, well prepared and “caustic,” especially a man called John Laughman, who “was humorous and terrible by turns.” Laughman in particular was used to public speaking, being a regular participant in open-air debates held at “Bughouse Square,” just in front of Chicago’s Newberry Library. The hobos won the debate, winning over two of the three judges, presumably (though he does not say so explicitly) including Anderson. This debate took place in Chicago’s “Hobo College,” which was one of many institutions run by the International Brotherhood Welfare Association (IBWA), an organization founded by the “Millionaire Hobo” James Eades How. These colleges provided accommodation and free education for transient workers, or, as the IBWA, called them, hobos. Though it predated the IBWA, Eades How’s organization aggressively campaigned to privilege the term “hobo” over alternatives, such as “tramp” or “bum.” They adopted Dr. Reitman’s distinction that “[t]he hobo works and wanders, the tramp dreams and wanders and the bum drinks and wanders.” One reason for making such a distinction was to avoid the legal consequences of being called a tramp. Another reason was because, in a context in which U.S. transients were demonised as, at best, lazy and feckless, and, at worst, dangerous to women and society more generally, the IBWA sought to reframe its members as hard-working Americans. It was hobos, the IBWA proudly asserted, who built up the American West following the closure of the frontier around 1900, working in lumber camps, mines, mills, railroads, harvest fields and other places. Key to this campaign was the “Hobo” News, which the IBWA launched several times but the most sustained publication run of which was between 1915 and 1924. The “Hobo” News is the world’s earliest known street newspaper. Like many subsequent papers, it provided subsistence by allowing vendors to keep a portion (in this case, half) of the proceeds. The hobo vendors did not just sell the paper: they also wrote for it. Around 80 different transient contributors wrote for the paper, providing news articles, short stories, poems, comic “society news” pieces, and even a parody version of an agony aunt. This allowed the “Hobo” News to brag that it was “OF THE HOBOES, BY THE HOBOES AND FOR THE HOBOES”. This pioneering model was hugely successful, with the paper selling 20,000 copies per month at its height. There were even international vendors selling the paper in Japan, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, and England, and an (unsuccessful) attempt to establish a London version of the Hobo College. The material on the pages varied over time, and there were battles as to what kind of paper the “Hobo” News ought to be. Some favoured accounts of lived experience, while others sought to make the paper into a pro-Soviet propaganda organ. Though clearly written with a male audience in mind, its representation of women improved over time, not least when How appointed a female editor, Laura Clarke. Unfortunately, the paper lacks any representation from transients of color, and some articles display the dated racist humour of their day, though its pages also contain debates about how strong an anti-racist stance the IBWA ought to take. The paper advocated many GROUNDCOVER NEWS 11 progressive policies, including a living wage and a universal eight-hour workday. Most importantly, though, it provided a platform for a widely despised group of unhoused people to demonstrate their writing talent, humor and intellectual ability. As the famous author Jack London put it, “Hurrah for the hobo newspaper! I wish there’d been something like that afloat when I was knocking around on the road.” But calling the “Hobo” News the first street paper may not be entirely accurate. Most papers of this kind from earlier periods have not survived, so it is difficult to know what we are missing. We do not even know when the “Hobo” News stopped publishing. The copies of the “Hobo” News that we do have survived through chance, being kept on open shelves in the St. Louis Public Library for decades without the library being aware of what they had. Other treasures might come to light in the future, changing how we view the history of street papers yet again. Courtesy of INSP.ngo HISTORY from page 8 successful from its inception in 2010 to the present day. In May 2021, the torch of Groundcover leadership was passed from Beckett to Lindsay Calka, the present Managing Director and Publisher. Reflecting on this, Calka shared, "In 2021 Groundcover not only was recovering from the pandemic, but underwent a leadership transition from being directed by our founder, to a full-time managing director and publisher. As we've name a few." Calka commented that she sees the 15th anniversary campaign as Groundcover's chance to reminisce, reflect and celebrate the contributions of the many vendors, volunteers and supporters who have been with Groundcover since the beginning. She also sees it as a chance to communicate the organization's immense impact to the community — jump starting the next "15 years of news and solutions from the ground up." grown and changed to adapt to the demands of that change, so many wonderful, now foundational, aspects of our organization were innovated: increased publication frequency, the the freelance writing program and expanded arts and culture programming, just to Conclusion It started as a montly, one dollar paper. Vendors would purchase a paper for 25 cents and sell it for $1, keeping the balance of 75 cents as a profit. In March 2017, Groundcover News increased the selling price of each paper to $2. The vendor is expected to purchase a paper for 50 cents and sell it for $2. The vendor gets to keep a profit of $1.50 for each paper sold. Groundcover wants to help the vendors make more money and be able to pay their bills. Groundcover News is now published every two weeks, and Special Issues come out twice a year. Circulation has surpassed pre-pandemic rates, and vendor income is higher than ever. The visibility of and community engagement with Groundcover News are incredible. Many of the students and faculty members of U-M are aware of the paper. The businesses on Main Street, Fourth, Liberty and Washington streets are supportive of the newspaper’s mission. The County government and the City government are supportive, recently offering monetary support. The Ann Arbor and the Ypsilanti District Libraries have shown remarkable partnership and collaboration in projects which involve Groundcover News. In June of 2021, during the COVID19 global pandemic, we published an article entitled, “Groundcover News turns 11: Making a difference, addressing life’s most difficult challenges.” We are grateful that the newspaper survived the pandemic. It is now thriving, with signals pointing to an even brighter future. We look forward to celebrating future milestones.
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