The Coxey Army Marches West
A radical movement of the unemployed faces hostility from the press as it turns its sights toward the Pacific Coast.
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.
The announcement that Galvin's Coxeyite army, having grown tired of Washington City, will soon start on a journey for the Pacific coast is exactly what might have been expected. This branch of the Coxey crowd originated in Indianapolis and worked its way eastward until it reached the capital. Its members found the particular kind of vagabondage known as Coxeyism more to their liking than anything in their previous experience. They have accordingly determined to make a trip to the Pacific coast on the same plan, riding on stolen trains where possible, and compelling the people of one town to pass them on to the next by threats. Of course, Galvin's men do not expect to find work on the Pacific coast, or have any object in coming here; they simply find traveling agreeable. This is but the logical consequence of Coxeyism. The only way to stop this is for sensible people to decide that an organized band of vagrants is no more worthy of support than the old-fashioned tramp.
“The only way to stop this foolishness is for sensible people to make up their minds that an organized band of vagrants is no more worthy of countenance and support than the old-fashioned tramp.”
Coxey's Army was a major flashpoint in the 1894 economic depression, reflecting the intense class anxiety of the era. The rhetoric used here against 'vagrants' and 'tramps' mirrors contemporary debates surrounding displacement, public space, and homelessness in Seattle.
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