The day book. [volume], March 13, 1915, LAST EDITION, Image 14

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
used In decorating automobiles and
other vehicles used in the great pa
rade. The total number of roses
grown in the "Rose City" annually
has beefti estimated as high as 25,000,
000. This year the city-"will plant 250,
000 rose bushes, decorating 3,000 city
blocks, which means one hundred
miJes of roses!
The bushes blossom from May to
November in this climate, and it is
not unusual to see roses in bloom in
Portland yards throughout the win
ter. Portland expects at this year's fes
tival the greatest throng of travelers
in her history.
THEARMY OF
DESPAIR
BY FRED ISLER,
Teamster and Sec'y Hoboes' Union
BARREL HOUSES. -To many of
the member of the Army of Despair
the barrel house or cheap saloon fills
the place of the club of their more
fortunate fellow citizens. Welcome
nowhere because of their generally
dilapidated appearance and sadly de
pleted pocketbook, having no home,
no place they can call their own,
hounded off the street corners by vig
ilant policemen, barely tolerated in
the lobbies of the cheap lodging
houses, and most of the time suffer
ing intensely from the effects of the
cold, they naturally flock to barrel
houses, where they have an opportu
nity to meet their companions in mis
ery, get acquainted, exchange views
and, above all, a chance to be in a
warm place. Besides, for a nickel one
can get a big "foaming schooner"
and either soup or free lunch. And
cheap whisky, known by the names
of ky, a shot of houtch, katy-flyer,
beachy-flip, sky-rocker, one on the
sleeper, rocky mountain fiz, and other
nicknames, can be gotten for five
cents.
Although the liquid is strong
enough to burn the -entrails of a hog,
many men, in fact too many, will
drown their misery in it and for the
time being imagine themselves to be
perfectly happy. And sometimes a
man with a few dollars in his pockets,
"a live one," comes in and treats oth
ers to something to drink. When such
an event happens few are those who
refuse.
Paradoxical as it appears, it is a
well-known fact that a starving man
can get a drink easier than a meaL
The effects of strong drink upon an
underfed stomach can be imagined.
It leads to chronic drunkenness, de
lirium tremens and an early grave. It
really looks as if circumstances
would combine in a huge conspiracy
to push those unfortunates down the
social ladder to the gutter and keep
them there. Only the strong can re
tain their balance and not sink.
When you enter a barrel house you
see a motley crowd of men of all ages
either sitting around tables or else
standing singly or in small groups
around the walls. The majority wear
clothes that long ago have ceased to
afford protection to the wearer. The
life of the homeless is such that
clothes soon lose their original shape
and before long look like a shapeless
mass of rags, only fit to decorate a
scarecrow. Some of the most ragged "
have to tie up their clothing with
pieces of string, and often a safety
pin picked up on the street, or even a
small stick of wood to replace a miss
ing button. Many wear shirts that
have not seen the inside of a laundry
for sometime, and no doubt vermin
keeps them busy. It is not always an
easy matter for one who has no home
and no money to clean up, especially
in the winter time.
A fall description of their footgear
would fill a chapter. Unpolished,
misshapened, leaky, heels worn out
on the side, sometimes a toe stick
ing out, some of those shoes, if they
could only speak, would tell a sorrow
ful tale of the trials and tribulations
of the owner. For they have been
the constant companion of the man.