Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-18
THE COMING OF COXEY
The View Taken of the Situation by City
Pastor.
The Unemployed Turn to Congress
"A Lawyer Suggests Legislation.

As Coxey's army and the other bands re-
pol ID to be on the march to join him APP
proach Washington, the question What
shall we do with them?" is becoming more
and more interesting. and is being serious
ly discussed Letters written to The Star
have touched on nearly all sides of the
question. Rev. E. S. Todd, pastor of Ham,
line NJ. E. Church, writes as follows:
THE public has been highly amused of
late over the advance upon the capital of
the army Of the unemployed led by Gen.
Coxey. Each days march has been written
up by the press as a new feature of a grow
ing joke. May 1t not be possible that un-
derneath all this is something positively
sad, and that back Of it is a condition of
things that gives ground for serious ap-
prehension? That the country has fallen
upon time of severe and protracted finan-
cial depression cannot be questioned, even
by those who are deaf and stone blind. The
cry of the unemployed laborer is very bit
ter. He knows this is le nd of plenty he
Is conscious Of his willingness to work, yet
Is forced to stand idle in the market place
while his children want bread. The con-
tinuancc of this condition is a severe strain
on his forbearance and law-abiding habits.
II ne could see any necessity for this condi-
ton OF things. or had an explanation of it's
causes, he might be content to suffer and
wait.
Is 1t strange that he should think that
something Is to blame, and that the respon-
sioility rests somewhere? Recognizing his
inability to solve the problem, the working
man turns to Congress as the highest
source or knowledge and power that he
knows anything about. The conviction that
congress fully appreciated the situation
and was earnestly graphing with 1t would
tend to allay the agitation. Sometimes to
the working man this is not apparent but
II seems to him from a distance as though
congress was the scene of daily struggle
N fQrQ 70
over the cries Of hundreds of thousands of
IDLE and hungry men. So far as the present
movement is an attempt to bring to the
notice OF Congress the distress which the
wealth and station Of the individual mem
bers Kept them from realizing, 1t will be
diff1cult for the average American citizen
10 understand in what they are offending,
or why there should be even the talk of
haling them to prison. 1t is probable thai
when the army of the unemployed reaches
Washington its paucity in numbers and
sne miserable condition of the rank and
nle Will be the occasion Of new ridicule. but
IL VIII also be true that back of these few
unfortunates Is a great host of working
men. who will carefully note the manner
tional capital
While 1t may not be apparent what
should be done in the present case. II Is
quite evident what should not be done
70 treat as tramps and criminals those
VINO exercise their right to peacefully set
forth, in the only way possible 10 thep,
their necessities would not only be unjust
put In the highest degree unwise A yalua-
pie page OF history just now for the Ameri-
can citizen Is that which gives the record
OF what Is known in English history as
the peasants, revolt. The story is very
simple Circumstances had combined to
make the lot of the peasants unbearable
armament, instead OF trying to relieve
the situation, made new and more oppres-
sive laws, going so far as to pass a law
regulating the wages they should receive
"a peu,lon Tor redress was met by new
enactment which forbade the peasant from
going out OF his parish to better his con-
clifton. Thus capital was arrayed against
labor, and the governma nt, with the no.
o.iity, the judges and the high dignitaries
OF the church, were alienated from the
masses and the masses from them Parlia
ment, goaded on by rich landlords LAWYERS
ana, alas. the church, finally laid the Ia 81
straw on the Gamers back, and the long
patient animal became desperate The ar
guments used by the peasants to set forth
their woes sound so like those of the pres
emit day that II hardly seems possible thar
.ney were uttered some hundreds of years
ago. Good people," said John Ball, speak
ing TO the churchyard of Kent '.by what
right are they whom call lords greater
LolK than We? On what ground have they
deserved II! II We are come of the same
| father and mother of Adam and Eve. how
can they say or prove that they are better
than We? Yet they are clothed in veIvet
ana warm In their furs and their ermines
wine and spices and fair bread ana we
oat cake and straw and water to- drink
Ihey have leisure and fine houses: we have
pam, ana labor. the rain and the wind In
the neio. AND vet IL Is of us and of our
toll that these men hold their state The
terrible condition of anarchy which follow
ed, In which many hundreds of the nobility
lawyers and clergy lost their lives and
mucn valuable property was DESTROYED
could easily have been prevented nv
wiser and more humane policy on the
par, OF those In authority. This they real
yea when London was in possession of the
peasants and mob law reigned The re-
volt or the peasants was Suppressed hut
all the same, the end was reached The
wrongs OF the past were brought to the
nollce OF the government In so forcible
way that they were soon righted
fortunately, the workingraan of our do ~
mas no such wrongs to charge against the
law or the ruling classes. He is not EN-
on or''e .h Dut inclined to be patient and look
on the best side of things. Nevertheless
1t would be the height of unwisdom 70
neediessly wound or ALLEVIATE him The
growth or socialism is rapid enough i'm the
country without deliberately turning oyar
most OF working men into that camp"
Legislation Suggested.
member of the bar writes.
Il beg to call attention to some provisions
OF the act of Congress of March & 1891
u. ;. Stats. at l.. 26, p. 1Ol4-1 OLD: The
following classes of aliens shall be excluded
from admission into the United States. In
accordance with existing acts regulating
immigration other than those concerning
Chlnese laborers: All idiots. insane per-
sons. paupers or persons likely to become
a public charge persons suffering from a
loathsome or a dangerous contagious dis
ease. persons who have been convicted OF a
felony or other infamous crime or misde-
n!eanor involving moral turpitude polyg-
amists and also any person whose ticket or
passage is paid for with the money of
another or who is assisted by others to
come, unless it is affirmatively and salts
1actor1ly shown on special inquiry that
such person does not belong to one ot the
foregoing excluded classes, &C. Sec l.
That any person who shall bring into
or land In the United States by vessel or
otherwise. or who shall aid to bring into
or land in the United States by vessel or
otherwise. any alien not lawfully entitled
to enter the United States shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall on
conviction, be punished by a fine not ex-
ceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment for
term not exceeding one year. or by both
such fine and imprisonment" Sec 6.
Now all repressve and penal legislation
is the result of a public sentiment demand
ing the protection of the community the
maxim being that self-preserva ton is the