The Industrial Army’s Great Trek East
As Coxey's 'Industrial Army' traverses Washington, cold, hungry men turn to rail-hopping and the kindness of strangers to reach their destination.
The Northwestern Industrial Army has degenerated into an unorganized body of tramps. About 900 men are scattered between Puyallup and North Yakima, waiting for a chance to sneak onto the blind baggage or brakebeams of freight trains. At Palmer, where Commonwealers boarded a train, they were forced off by marshals and had to seek shelter in a schoolhouse and cattle cars. Cold, wet, and hungry, the men eventually mingled with the marshals in the station, sharing space on the floor and benches before turning to make pancakes from a meager supply of flour, salt, and baking powder. While railroad officials and marshals attempt to clear the lines, public sentiment largely supports letting the men move on, provided they do not interfere with train operations.
“The Commonwealers, most of whom were from Seattle, had to make the best of pancakes made from a mixture of flour, baking powder and salt.”
This 1894 story captures the desperation of the 'Coxey's Army' movement, an early organized labor protest against the economic malaise of the 1890s. The struggle over 'tramps' riding the rails mirrors modern debates about public space and the policing of unhoused individuals moving through our transit corridors.
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