‘Knights of road’ doomed by diesels [ United Press International ANCHORAGE, Alaska — As with all the empires in history, “King” Filer’s is doomed. Done in by diesels. Gordon “Bud Filer of Altoona, Pa., as “king of the hoboes,” has seen his constituency shrink from tens of thousands to hundreds as the railroads in America went out of business and the fast-moving diesels replaced the steam locomotives. The 69-year-old Emperor of the Knights of the Road, Air and Seven Seas figures one of the easiest ways for a man to get himself killed these days is to try to grab a I free ride on a diesel-powered freight. The great days of hoboing went out with steam trains, explained Filer at the annual Hobo Convention in Anchorage. "In those days it took the hogger (engi neer) a mile or so to get up speed, and you could station yourself outside the yard, lope along the train and swing aboard without a problem. Today those diesels are doing 50 miles an hour before they’re on to the high iron (main track). And as for riding the blinds (behind the tender of the locomotive), forget it. There aren’t any tenders anymore, nor is there any way of hoisting yourself aboard.” Filer bristled when asked if there was any difference between a hobo and a tramp. You re darn right there is, he exclaimed. "A hobo is a wanderer in search of employment. A tramp is a wanderer attempting to escape work. The Knights of the Road, which he and 1,044,336 I other wanderers have joined in the past 70 years, was I started by the late Jeff Davis in 1908. The Knights got I royal recognition when the British Parliament al legedly proclaimed Davis an emperor and King of the Hobos. Filer became Emperor after Davis’ death. sa *d there were only eight hoboes who at tended the first convention at Miami during the winter of 1908, but there were a hundred the next year, and several hundred each year after that. Hoboing reached its peak during the Depression years, sa 'd John Frisco Jack Sopko, of Trafford, Pa., when there were hundreds of thousands out of work and thousands riding the rails seeking jobs. Bos in those days were a lot like the Masons and Knights of Columbus, he said. “They’d try to help each other, and it was pretty much a share and share alike fraternity. There was always a mulligan (stew) simmering in every jungle (rendezvous spot outside a town) and every Bo that wandered in would toss what he had into the pot. We always carried something to eat along and although few of the ingredients would pass any sanitary inspection law, those mulligans were tasty and nourish ing.” Filer, who started his hoboing in 1925 and then quit when he found he could get free train rides by working for the railroads, said the two biggest jungles he ever saw were just outside Fresno, Calif., and Des Plaines, Ilf Bos would come from all over the country to Fresno when the fruit picking started,” Filer said. “But most of the time things were orderly and quiet. Sure, there were always some troublemakers, but hoboes would go out of their way to avoid trouble. Life was tough enough in those days. wuisiue v>mcago was sort ot the change- trains-here place, as Chicago always bragged that all the railroads came into Chicago.” Coffee was the mainstay of hoboes, and the brewing ot the beans was done very simply. You just took off one of your socks, put the coffee in the sock and swished the sock around in the boiling- water until you got the strength you wanted,” said John Babiak of Jeannette, Pa. Although Jeff Davis was acknowledged as king of the hoboes, the legendary Knight of the Road was Leon Ray Lwingston who left his “A-No.l” mark on hun dreds of water towers, trestles, signal towers and freight houses all over America. Livingston, who died 40 years ago, claimed he hop ped his first freight train when he was 11 years old and spent more than 30 years wandering around the coun try. During the last years of his life he was a loudly- applauded speaker at church and civic groups where he ectuied the teenagers on the evils of running away from home. All this year’s conventioners gave up hoboing long ago and came to Alaska by plane. All have comfortable, even prosperous, means, but all are proud of their hoboing days. But hoofing is finished, said Filer. “Now if you’re broke you go on welfare. You don’t have to grab a freight and move on to somewhere else where there might be work. And if you do have the wanderlust, who would want to travel in a box car when he can hitch a ride on the highway and travel in an air-conditioned car? THE BATTALION Page 9D MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1978 Time to consider retirement is now United Press International NEW YORK — Some 1,180 Americans each day join the ranks of the 23 million already retired and by the end of the century one out of eight Americans may be a retiree. And, warns the Bowery Savings Bank, those who quit work 20 years or so from now are not likely to be able to get by on Social Security or pensions unless they are upper echelon executives, civil servants or military officers. In a booklet designed to teach persons how to prepare for retire ment, the Bowery says the average minimum income needed for a re tired American couple has climbed to $6,776 a year from $3,860 ten years ago and may reach $24,416 by 1999. The Bowery doesn’t pretend to be able to read the future accurately but the book contends that those still some way from retirement — young people especially — must not leave the matter of retirement up to Social Security or company or union pension plan. They must do some thing important for themselves. The book goes into the basics of Keogh plans, individual retirement accounts and other relevant pro grams a bank or a good investment counselor can set up for the years after the paychecks stop. The booklet says there is a psychological barrier to be over come in workers’ reluctance to think about retirement or even to ask exactly what their pension benefits under the company or union plan will be and to make a decision on the options in the plan. The Bowery has collected a lot of general information about retire ment and the booklet contains this information as well as details about the plans it is selling. For example, of the eight states with the biggest retired population, Hawaii is the most expensive in which to live. A couple needs $10,000 a year to live there. New Mexico, at $5,800, is the cheapest and Arizona at $6,900 is next. Most people know by now that the maximum a couple — one work ing and one non-working spouse — can collect from Social Security is $690 a month. The minimum may be as little as $172. But the Bowery says these con siderations are dwarfed by the prob lem of where to retire. Many people want to go to a warm climate but the bank warns that terrible financial and social mistakes can be made by putting too much emphasis on this consideration. It may be better to stay right where you are in your re tirement years although perhaps in a smaller house or apartment. iousewives form ? movement % mil ■nilejui ■ctivei violef s, a net The ai- s tripled he Ford Yera In- organi- vn .is to rtion of :1, have are IS hlI Unit.*! Press International Indianapolis — They work ■ hours a day and don’t earn a Tiny, but they wouldn’t give up fcirjobs for anything. (its a job that has constant inter- ptions and a high frustration level, i challenging but sometimes bor- 1 and it can be isolated and de- essing," says Mrs. Donna Ab- Mrs. Abrams and hundreds of men like her call themselves omemakers.” They have come to- fetlur in a movement intended to ■allenge their status as unem ployed. It’s called the Martha fovement. | It was started two and a half prsagoby a woman executive who [ind herself put down by people rshe quit her job and became a -time mother,” Mrs. Abrams •mis B The group takes its name after the Now Testament story in which Jesus visited the home of two sisters .named Martha and Mary. Mary 'chosetostay with Jesus and listen to his stories while Martha prepared i the meal and cleaned the house. The movement has 6,()()() mem- ers nationwide, she said, and “we elieve a woman has a right to loose whether she wants a career itside the home or whether she ants to be a homemaker. ” Mrs. Abrams organized the In- ianapolis chapter in May. Its 16 lembers and their children meet at er house twice a month to socialize oddiscuss problems they encount- We don’t need an organized >picbecause our needs just seem to surface,” she said. “Recently we talked about how women cope when a husband is away from the home on a business trip, and we discussed our own feelings of safety or insecu rity' as a woman alone in the house. Although Mrs. Abrams said the group does not oppose the aims and beliefs of the women s liberation movement, Martha members are trying to reverse what they believe is the gradual decay and deteriora tion of the family structure. “The sad thing is that young women not only don’t think about having a family today, but they’re not encouraged either. The careers they think of are outside the home. “The nice thing is you can have a career as a homemaker, and then when the children are grown up, you can go out and find a job. "But it doesn’t work in the re verse. If a woman gets a job and stays with it until she’s 40, it will be too late for her to safely begin a fam ily.” “We hope to be all things to all homemakers,” Mrs. Abrams said, “not only women who stay at home, but women who work and men who take care of the family as well. Most important, however, group members are attempting to demon strate that being a homemaker is as fulfilling and challenging as any other job. “When I fill in forms or tax rec ords that ask for my profession I write homemaker now,” she said. “It’s kind of a retraining, but when homemakers are asked, ‘Do you work?,’ they should be proud to an swer Yes.’” JU, CUSTOM FRAMING GALLERY Windberg and Other Fine Prints Photo Frames Arriving Soon - WICKER Little Red Schoolhouse 3737 EAST 29TH STREET (TOWN & COUNTRY) BRYAN 846-6901 Culpepper Plaza ^Limited to colors in our Styleline color line.