Fran DeLorenzo recorded, and Bruce Phillips played on Loafer's Glory #30, a poem. Fran tells me the author is unknown to him, but he thinks he may have got the poem from George Milburn's book "The Hobo's Hornbook". Here's the poem ( I know it's not a song...well, I don't think it's a song...it COULD be a song... maybe someone will make it a song.):

THE HOBO BUILT THE RIGHT OF WAY

The hobo built the right of way
That reaches from coast to coast
Over which the fast trains run
Of which we proudly boast.

But the hobo does not ride the train
When he wishes to take a trip.
He hits the ties between the rails
And carries his blanket and grip.

Although he built the right of way
Over which trains go and come,
He is slated in the Book of Life
As just a common bum.

Driven about from place to place
With no bed on which to lay,
Only the leaves in the jungle
Along the right of way.

The engine shrieks a loud shrill blast
As it passes the hobo by.
The headshack gives him a leering grin
As he trudges, tie on tie,

Never thinking the hobo clan
Were the ones who blazed the way.
Over the plains and through the hills
They made the right of way.

Can anyone give me a title, an author, or even confirmation that this is in fact from "The Hobo's Hornbook"?