The Industrial Army Prepares to March on Washington
As unemployment spikes during the panic, Seattle's 'Industrial Army' plots to seize trains to reach the capital and force federal action.
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 Industrial Army received marching orders yesterday from General Shepard, who announced that the men would start for Washington City next Thursday, April 26. While the army intends to ride, no arrangements for transportation have been made, and the railroads are currently uncooperative. There is talk around headquarters of capturing a train and running it through on the Great Northern line, with striking employees claiming they will hold the switches open to give the army the right of way. The army, which views itself as a force coming 'not to destroy, but to doctor the laws,' continues to drill while surviving on donations of potatoes, parsnips, and salmon.
“We come not to destroy, but to doctor the laws; not to remove, but to amend the constitution.”
The 'Industrial Army' of the 1890s was part of a larger nationwide movement known as Coxey's Army, composed of unemployed workers seeking federal public works jobs. Their desperation and bold tactics reflect the intense class tensions of the depression-era 1890s, rhyming with the economic anxieties faced by marginalized communities in our own time.
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