The Women’s Auxiliary of the Industrial Army
While the Coxey-style movement mobilized unemployed men, the women of Seattle organized their own corps, complete with military drills and plans for housing the city's vulnerable.
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A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The woman's auxiliary to the Industrial Army met again yesterday and carried forward the work of committees in arranging for the supper Saturday night. They also made arrangements to parade with the army this afternoon, but later, on the advice of some of the officers, the idea was given up. The women have provided badges for themselves and for the officers of the army, and have planned to secure quarters further up town than the army barracks, where a permanent home for unemployed girls may be established and general assistance tendered to all women who are out of work. After the meeting they went through a military drill.
“They planned to secure quarters further up town... where a permanent home for unemployed girls may be established and general assistance tendered to all women who are out of work.”
This 1894 mobilization reflects a moment when Seattle’s unemployed took direct action to address the failures of the economic system. The Women’s Auxiliary's focus on securing permanent housing for those without work echoes the persistent, century-long struggle for civic stability in a city that frequently cycles between boom and bust.
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