St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-15
CoxEY,s GRAND MARCH.

The grand march of CoXey'S army on
Washington is nearly at an end. Grad
uaily its ranks are being decimated by
voluntary and enforced assertions. In
every town through which it passes it
leaves a, few reminders Of its tramp in
the shape,0f fresh inmates of the jails
and the wOrkliouses, and its great rally
ing cry OF BREAD and Booze" has lost
its potency to attract recruits. 1t IS now
a scattered. Irresponsible mob, held in
partial communion only by the impulses
that govern flock of carbon crows,
The question of whether or not any pOr-
ton of the army will reach Washington
depends altogether upon the capacity
of the jails il. the towns ell route from
present headquarters.
Coxey himself Is said to he sorely dis
appointed at the. iil-success of his adj
venture. He knew the prevalent dis
content among w0rkingmen in conse-
QueHce of their enforced idlenesS, but
he did not realizs that the American
workman. employed or unemployed, is a
man of common sense. guided by moral
impulses, controlled by love of peace
and public order. He is not easily
moved by the appeals of fanatics, and
except among the exceptionally igns-
rant there Is seldom resort to yiOleuis
methods for accomplishing an end. He
is believer in oratory and the efficacy
or protests. This Is a failing of all
Americans In whatever condition they
may exist. We have more orators in
our midst than there are hairs on a
dogs back, aud orators. too. of no mean
ability. But with all his amiable weak
nesses, the American workman is no fool !.
The man who goes fishing tor -gudge0ns
will have TO sit on the log long time
before he catches string of genuine
workmen. They do not bite at the bait
he has to offer.
The tramps who compose Coxey's
army are different race of beings from
those the general hoped to capture.
They are Migrants by instinct and edu-
cation. They will not work when they
have chance; they prefer to live by
beggary and petty larceny. They would
rather eat roast pig filched from con-
yenient wayside pen than sit down to
the most abundant repast ever served at
a festive board. They would rather be-
come sodden and besotted Oh rot-gut
whisky than quaff the rarest vintages
In the world gotten by legitimate means.
The vagabond instinct is uppermost in
them. and has gotten such a hold upon
their natures that it can never be eradi-
Gated.
1t is an insult to American workmen.
employed or unemployed, to speak of
this army OF vaeabonds as workmen.
They do not belong in that category.
They are the scum of the earth, regard
less alike of their own welfare and the
rights of others-birds akin to the buzz
yards that fatten ON the rotting car
casses left IN the pathway of ciyiliza-
ton. Fortunately the movement in
question did not assume the importance
it at tirsc threatened. 1t has never
risen above the level of the ridiculous
has never been more than a roaring
farce. 1t will serve its lesson, however,
for it will teach the demagogue of the
future that it is useless to attempt to
catch birds of the species referred to
with chaff. The honest workman knows
too much, and is too firmly grounded in
common sense and moral principle, to
be carried away by such tomfoolery.