James Eads How

James Eads How (1874 - 1930) was an American organizer of the hobo community in the early 20th century. He was heir of a wealthy St. Louis family but chose to live as a hobo and to help the homeless migrant workers. The newspapers often referred to him as the "Millionaire Hobo".

How was the founder, driving force, and financier of the International Brotherhood Welfare Association, a union for migrant workers which published Hobo News, and organized hobo colleges and hobo conventions.

James Eads How's father was James Flintham How, vice president and general manager of the Wabash Railroad. His mother, Eliza Eads How, was the daughter of James Buchanan Eads, a successful civil engineer and inventor who had built the Eads Bridge. Even as a child he preferred a simple life without the servants his family could easily afford. How studied theology, first at Meadville Theological School, a Unitarian school in Meadville, Pennsylvania. There he was known as an eccentric because he donated much of his allowance to the poor and lived in the bare minimum. This was largely because of his religious conviction. How went to study at Harvard, where he tried but failed to found a monastic order, The Brotherhood of the Daily Life. He later went to Oxford and joined George Bernard Shaw's Fabian Society, at which time he also became a vegetarian (which he remained for the rest of his life). He then studied medicine at the College of Physicians & Surgeons in Manhattan but did not finish his medical degree.

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