The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-04-13
COXEY,S ARMY ON ITS WAY.

and must have suffered severely dur |
ing the rough weather of the past few |
days. This movement has aroused |
widespread interest throughout the |
United States, not so much ON account
of any great Importance attached to
it, but from the natural curiosity of
public which follows alike with avidity
the details OF schism in church or
a brea ch-of- promise suit, and becomes
convulsed over the project of an inter-
national prize-fight. Some thinking
people, however, have been disposed
to look upon it with alarm, fearing it
might end in riots or revolution, but
the small accessions to the army and
the frequent assertions warrant the
assurance that if it ever reaches
Washington it will amount at best to
a small band of wayfarers who will
be quietly gobbled up by the police
This was done last Saturday with a
band of forty-four men who came
from Cincinnati in freight car, and
CHANGED to belong to Coxey's band.
They were arrested as Migrants but
were discharged on Il technicality, as
they had been arrested outside the
city limits. Judge Kimball, of the
Police Court, remarked in deciding
this case 1.-The men who compose
Coxey's army are evidently tramps.
We will send them to the work house
as soon as they come" Chief of police
Moore also asserts the ability of his
force to give them warm reception.
Many others, notably workingmen,
are watching the movement with a
more serious interest, and some others
who study politics and political econo-
my see in this movement, cranky
though it is, an Indication of the in
dustrial distress prevalent in the
country and wonder where the end
will be. These are getting very near
the light. Times are hard, not on
workingmen alone but on every one,
and it is the unwise legislation of
Congress which has made them So
The tariff schedules of the past thirty
years, eliminating in the Mckinley
bill, have by stimulating production
and cutting off our foreign market,
caused such glut of all manner of
industrial products that nearly all the
large manufactures in the country
have either shut down or greatly cur
tailed their forces. Meanwhile, the
cost of living, raised by this artificial
stimulus, remains as high as ever and
the natural result is great distress in
all classes of business.
The remedy is not to be obtained by
armies of unemployed or gangs of
tramps marching to Washington only
to be taken to the work house or be
stranded in the suburbs and become
a menace TO the surrounding rural
districts, but by every citizen remain
ing quietly at home, tiding over the
hard times as best he can, and voting
to send men to Congress who repre-
sent the principles of the Democratic
party, the true friend of the working
man and farmer, and necessarily of
all men, for when those prosper all is
well. Nay, if we mistake not a par
tial remedy is already at hand The
Wilson bill which was passed by a
Democratic House of Representatives
on February list, and will probably be
passed by a Democratic Senate and
signed by a Democratic President early
in June, will reduce the cost of living
by natural reduction of the duty on
necessaries and will, by admitting
raw materials duty free, revive our
languishing factories and restore our
trade with sister nations, which has
been almost destroyed by the I'M
friendly legislation of the Reed Con-
gress.
THE WILSON BILL IN THE SENATE.
The result of the first weeks debate
on the tariff bill in the Senate is not
encouraging to those who wish for
speedy action on it, and some Demo
Gratis are disposed to take gloomy
view of the prospect. Friends of the
bill should not be discouraged, how
it took eighteen months to pass the
Mckinley bill, and the indications are
that the Wilson bill will become law
in much less time. Those who are
disposed to criticize the slow action of
the Senate should bear in mind that
it is coordinate branch of the govern
ment and is equally responsible for
the legislation enacted. The Demo |
cratic majority there is much smaller
than in the House, and necessarily |
more compromises must be made and |
accepted to secure the passage of the |
bill. AS amended by the committee |
the changes are relatively small, the |
most important being the retention |
of the duties on iron ore and COAL
While these can not be defended from |
Democratic standpoint, it should be |
remembered that the duty on coal |
does not affect anthracite coal at all, |
but bituminous coal solely, which is |
principally used by manufacturers.-I
History is a record of compromises |
and it is hardly possible for measure !
which changes the whole policy of |
the government to pass both houses |
of Congress without much debate and |
many changes.
Another feature of the bill which |
arouses much opposition, especially in |
the East and North, is the income tax
clause. Senator Hill, in his speech, |
last Monday, devoted himself princi-
pally to opposition of this feature and
an arraignment of President Cleve-
land. This secured him a resolution
of thanks from the Republican major |
ity in the New York Assembly, but |
has brought severe and deserved crit |
icism upon his head from the mem
bers of his own party and from the
Democratic press.
Governor Tillman's troops evacua-
ted Darlington, South Carolina, last |
Friday, and business was Immediately |
resumed. 1t was shown at the in
quest that the spy McLendon fired the |
first shot, which killed a young man
named Norment. 1t is stated that |
the State Supreme Court will declare
the dispensary law unconstitutional, |
in which event a large quantity of
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