The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-04-20
THE BURDEN OF COxEYIsM.

THE BURDEN OF COXEYISM.
When the hard times came on and thou
sands of men and women who had lost
their employment had to be assisted, a gen.
eral movement was made in every city and
town in the country to take care of its
needy people All the reports go to show
that the work was SO we'll done that there
was very little actual suffering for food
and shelter. There will always, under the
best conditions, be a limited amount Of
suffering, because there has always been,
and always will be, men who, chiefly be-
cause of dissolute habits, cannot or will
not provide for themselves. To assist the
needy as has been done in this and all
other cities, has imposed heavy burden.
but one which it was a duty to assume
But now comes the Coxey lunacy. and the
leaders, with the air of men having right,
ask or demand of the people of the towns
and cities through which they pass rations
TO sustain them on the most idiotic project
ever undertaken in this country. In some
States these men have seized trains, and
there is reason to believe that the author
tiles in several Pacific slope cities have
secretly encouraged the migration of their
tramps and others who are without en-
ployment to the East, that they may be rid
of their maintenance.
There is reason to believe that the indus
trial paralysis has stricken the whole coun-
try about equally. 1t may have been more
severe in certain mining sections, but no
more SO than in the manufacturing towns
of the East. This being the case. it is un-
just to encourage the migration of men
to the East who could be better cared for
where they were living when the evil fell
upon the country. One of these alleged
armies refused permanent employment at
East St Louis. preferring to force them
selves upon trains and to demand food of
people who can i'll afford to contribute it,
TO earning their bread by labor or de-
pending upon the people in their own local
ity. The most Of these men who are push
ing through the country are crack Drained
adventurers; that is, the leaders. The most
of them come from beyond the Mississippi,
where the means of sustenance are as
abundant, compared with the population as
elsewhere. Very few men will be found
among them who are willing to work Why
should such men be encouraged in their
organized beggary? Why should sensible
-bn
most absurd the country has ever known,
encourage men, some of whom are sincere,
to organize and go through the country
compelling people who have none to spare
to contribute, simply because they fear that
they will be robbed and their property de-
stroyed if they do not? Why should peo-
pie in this locality assist these men to go
on toward Washington and finally become
from that city, as to eat up the substance
of the people of the country through which
they pass? If thousand men are support
ed by the apparently voluntary contribu-
tons of the people of the country through
which Coxeys followers pass, there will be
companies of Migrants marching in every
State on some fantastic mission, but really
with a view of forcing Industrious people
to impoverish themselves to support them.
1t is time that sensible people protest
against this sort of thing and refuse to
contribute a loaf of bread to these men on
a wild goose chase to Washington. They
should be refused a morsel of food until
they disband and promise to return
whence they came, and where some of
them have left families.