The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-07-11
THOUSANDS HEAR C0XEY.
A Great Audience Greets Him at Min.
nehaha Park-His Remarks Re.
ceived With Applause

but it was enormous. Long before noon
thousands of people had sought the UNI
brageous hollows in the vicinity of the
classic creek and the crowd was greatly
| augmented in the afternoon. The announce
ment that Jacob s. Coxey would speak as
sembled together people in every condition
in life, and when the notorious common
wealer finished two hours speech there
were a good many opinions modified. Not
that Mr.. Coxeys political and legislative
recommendations produced any great
| change in peoples opinions; the change was
in regard to the speaker himself. The
crowd stared at him as if he was a citizen
of another world. Could this be the man
who had marched with tramps and arrest
ed the attention of the civilized world :?
That man, in the minds of the crowd was
raVing crank, a sort of a wild man, half
tramp and half bandit. Paradoxical as it
may SEEM Mr.. CoXey is modest unaf-
fected gentleman, quiet and unassuming in
his manner, giving one the impression of
q well-to-do business man, which he is
and devoid of a single Incorporate or vim
dictive sentiment. He dresses and talks
like a gentleman He abuses nobody but
crooked legislators, and wants to see the
people get good roads His speech was
revelation to thousands.
Mr. Coxey began talking at 2:30 and for
two hours held his audience. He occupied
a neat pine stand near the pavilion, and
was greeted with tumutuous applause He
spoke without notes, and confined himself
pretty closely - the money question. He
reviewed the condition of the country at
great length and said that the solution lay
in the passage of the two bills he had rec
commended to congress- the good roads bill
and the non-interest bearing bond bill He
explained the various provisions of these
measures with which the public is famil-
lar, and devoted considerable time to Wall
street and England, (which were getting
hold of all the peopleis money. What the
country needed was plentyfof full American
legal tender money. Tot n
man in the croWds handed up card
asing him if he was iaa favor of the single
tax. This nettled the speaker a trife and
he said: 10 ~
THAT is just the trouble. You are irving
to do too many things at once. Speakers
talk about 20 different issues from the same
platform, and nobody has intelligent
conception Of any one Of them. Money is
what you want, is it .not27 What good will
single tax or any other kind of a tax do you
II you have no money? Let US get at one
thing at time, and prosecute a campaign
of education on this money question. am
in favor of the free coinage of silver at
the ratio of 16 to l. l, am also in favor of
the single tax
The speaker was sarcastic at Geo. NJ.
Pullman's expense. He called him king
George the Fourth" and said the monopoly
earth. 80
Mr.. Coxey also spoke in favor of eight
hours for days work, and Aid. Lars M.
Rand from his place in the crowd, was
seen to cheer long and Justify.
He did not talk much of the strike and
alluded to it only in a general way. He
said that the great strike was made when
he struck for Washington, and the dissat-
isfied laboring men of America should all
nave been with him. 1t evident from
Mr.. CoXey's remarks that his scheme is
to keep great standing army of idle men
at Washington, to be maintained by pop
uar subscriptions and donations of pro-
visions. He solicited the audience for aid
and said that he hoped to get 21b per cent
of the unemployed, or 100000 men at the
national capital.
He talked of his family and of little lie
gal Tender" his baby. The child would
provoke discussion among his fellows. Chill
dren would inquire why he was called Le-
gal Tender, and sensible explanations would
be beneficial to them.
The time has come" said the speaker,
Ito operate the railroads yourselves. Issue
bonds running for % years without inter-
est. Deposit them with the secretary of
the treasury and he will issue the face
value of the bonds in full legal tende
treasury money and send the states 50
per cent of it. Then you can condemn
the railroads and pay their owners what
the jury says they are worth. But above
all, put in the right kind of a ballot when
you vote. The only true ballot is that
which bears the name of the Peoples
party. Get good men. Instruct them and
tell them what you want legislation on
II they return recreant to their trusts
greet them with hemp necktie and try
again. 1t would be better to remove one
man than to let thousands suffer hun
ger"
The crowd cheered this sentiment to the
echo. In fact, it liberal with its APP
plause all through Mr.. Coxeys speech, and
one fervent old gentleman on the platform
cried Amen at intervals
When Mr.. Coxey had finished speaking
some one asked him to tell them some
thing of the grass episode. He gladly COM
Piled, going into the whole subject of his
arrest, conviction and sentence. He said:
My fellow citizens, did not step on the
grass. Mr.. Brown did. and the police took
after him. l had plenty of room on the
walk and reached the capitol steps without
having touched the grass. 1 did not dream
OF being arrested. I had asked permission
to speak and had met with some courtesy
from those supposed to be in authority.
l did nothing which an American citizen
living in this free land of ours might not
do with perfect propriety. The charge If
stepping on the grass. was trumped I'D by
Grover, presumably. They wanted an ex-
cuse to arrest the fringrleader." But seri-
ously, my friends, suppose 1 had mad
vertertly stepped on the grass. 1t would
not have been crime. If grass is SO pre-
cious in Washington we had better move
the capitol out West where it Is not SO
much of luxury, "A
Inc other charge against me was for
displaying banners 1t was an innocent
little thing CMr. Coxey held up a small
white banner about 6x12D Let me read you
the terrible words which were printed on
the banner. did mot garry it, but Mr.
Brown did. Peace on earth. good will to
men, Not a dangerous sentiment, is it?
here Is another sample Death to inter-
est on bonds That was the trouble. The
banner contained nothing else except The
commonweal of Christi
When the speakeri had finished the crowd
set up tremendous cheer and there was a
Gus man. An autograph 1end was the first
to get his ear. He presented his book
for the generals signature and laid down
dollar for the cause of good roads. Other
dollars flowed in fast. Mr.. Coxey request
ed members of the local committee having
the matter Of securing donations Of pro-
visions In hand to take charge of the
money.
There was also a great rush to purchase
Photographs or the man who had marched
petition to Washington in boots"
Mr.. Coxey made a good impression and
was voted smart fellow by the men
ana a nice man" by the ladies.
Inc days program included quite num-
Der OF speakers, but as Mr.. Coxey did not
nnlsh until O'clock it was thought best
to dispense with the remainder Of the
oratory.
The day at the falls was hugely en-
Joyed. There was ample room for all and
the weather was the best in the markt.