The Governor and the 'Commonweal' Marchers
A scathing look at the politics of 'passing the buck' as governors react to the roving industrial armies of the 1894 depression.
The story, cleaned up
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.
One of the Coxey armies appeared in Portland, committing lawless acts. As the Northern Pacific was under the charge of receivers appointed by the federal courts, federal troops intervened, but other lawless acts were threatened over which they had no jurisdiction. Oregon has an excellent, loyal militia, capable of preserving the peace, but when the adjutant general asked Gov. Pennoyer for instructions, Pennoyer telegraphed back that he didn't care a whoop whether the law-breakers or the United States troops came out ahead; that Cleveland had brought them to Portland and Cleveland might take care of them. The Populist governors of Colorado and Kansas exhibited the same spirit, and worst of all, the Republican governor of Iowa begged the railroads to transport Kelley's 'army' over into Missouri or some other state instead of coping with the problem himself.
“The people rid themselves now of immediate danger by state and municipal cowardice. Under pretense of sympathy, but really under a sense of fear, each community exerts itself to pass the army on to its next neighbor.”
This reflects the 1890s version of 'not in my backyard' (NIMBY) politics, where struggling populations were pushed from one municipality to another. It parallels contemporary regional struggles over homelessness, where cities often compete to displace unhoused populations rather than coordinate sustainable solutions.
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