Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-07
THE CoXEY PUZZLE.
Suggestions of "star" Readers az to
the Way of Solving 1t.

views. Mr.. August Donath writes as fol-
lows:
There are now assembled, within a few
| squares Of the Capitol some four or five
hundred idle men, banded together for the
purpose Of influencing legislation in some
manner not altogether. defined. They are
| waiting. we are told, for the arrival of other
bands or so-called armies" who propose
to assemble here for the same purpose. The
| presence of those now encemped within our
midst is a menace to the peace and welfare
| of the community. Deny II who can. The
| gathering of a larger force of reckless, ir-
responsible men will simply increase the
danger. Now, i am not an alarmist, nor
| am / Indifferent to the efforts of the many
unemployed, throughout the land, to secure
| a betterment of existing deplorable condi-
| tons. But the movement engineered by
| Coxey and Browne is devoid Of good sense.
| and must fail Of good results. The public
| has only contempt for leaders who live In
| luxury at first-class hotels, while their fol-
lowers are left to low rations and filthy
| quarters. Nor can 1t have any regard for
| the intelligence of followers who seem to
| acquiesce in such treatment However,
| what started out to say is that the gather
ing of such bodies of men. for the avowed
| purpose of influencing legislation by force
| of number. is dangerous. 1t should not be
| permitted! 1t has been permitted too long.
| Let the proper authorities disperse them at
| once And IL they resist, let them be treat
ed as individual Migrants are treated under
our laws"
A Lunncy Commission Suggested.
A well-known physician writes: THE
present incursion of a gang of poor, mis-
| guided and ignorant men at the instigation.
| and under the leadership of one Coxey re-
minds us forcfbly of the Gordon riots a
century ago in England, under the leader
ship Of an egotistic crack-brain, Lord Geo.
| &c rdon. The mob entered London to pre-
| n DarHdmont.
| in their ignorance knew or cared for Its
reason. The move was against the govern
ment which is sufficient now. as In any
| past age. to incite the idle to outrage. Mr..
| Coxey is apparently honest, though he talks
| OF revolution in country where one man
can exert as much influence as another.
| individually at the ballot box, to shape
legislation. He s probab honest and
| earnest; SO was Lord George Gordon. Last
| Tuesdays performance escaped being a
, repetition of the suffering and slaughter
which attended the Gordon riots. not by
merit of Mr.. Coxey. but because of the
more humane method of this period in
| meeting the disturbance in its incipiency.
What man of sane mind would lead for
lorn gang of men. without means of susie
nance, into strange city. with threats Of
burdening the population with their support
for months. after shocking the religious
part OF the country with his blasphemies
phemy alone, nor would he, unlimited, claim
to represent the will OF the people.
THE writer would earnestly suggest in
the interest of peaceful solution of the
difficulty, shown by the general movement
all over the country, and as q deterrent to
others from what Mr.. Coxey has done, that
Mr. Coxey be apprehended and examined
under civil process de lunatico inQui-
rendo. and II found to be O mental per
vert capable of mischief. that he be Sc
cluded in an asylum for some months.
THE same process could be pursued in
the case of any other man who takes ad-
vantage of the disturbed financial and
labor conditions to delude ignorant men
into coming to Washington to overawe
Congress. The. course suggested seems a
proper and legal one, and IL applied to any
leader, assistant, or promoter of such move
r.ent, would result in a paucity Of leaders
at least; would not leave any Of them
ground for claim of martyrdom, and
should give the law-observing community
a bloodless relief from threatened posi-
blities."
An Appeal From Montgomery County.
Mr.. Arthur Stabler Of Sandy Spring, Md.
writes: I'VE notice that as Coxey's army
has passed through the country on its
march to Washington the people living on
| the line of march have fed them and en-
couraged them to proceed on their journey.
Thus they moved on until they finally
reached their destination, foot sore and
weary, and they doubtless realize now that
they are stranded. forsaken and desperate
having been grossly deceived and misled by
2 d
rest for creating disturbances at the ma
tional capital
Now, what are the Commissioners going
70 do about IL! Are they going to drive
them further? We trust not We trust you
! will not drive them out of the city to flood
the country adjacent to Washington as aim
less tramps- Should you take such action
they would naturally start to retrace their
steps, and We OF Montgomery county would
have them all among US. and thus be the
unfortunate victims of their desperation.
I'VE ask in the name of justice and rea-
son to make some disposition OF these poor
deluded creatures that will enable them to
reach home and friends We ask in the
name of humanity that this question may
be treated fairly and intelligently by the
District authorities-in short, that they may
accept the situation as II exists and treat IL
IN manner that will prevent these people
from being compelled to seek food and shell
ter from people who are in no way re-
sponsible for the condition they are in"
Question of Right.
Another correspondent asks. now that the
excitement OF Coxey and his army of unem-
ployed is over. how long after his trial will
| 1t take to drum him out of town with his
| poor deluded follower By what right has
one nan to dump several hundred idle men
into a town and compel them to be fed
| and sheltered, filling our lodging houses,
| hospitals, and oblige US to keep several hun
dred police to guard them? II this state of
affairs can occur whenever a crank can
bamboozle the vicious and idle, where will
II end?
Regards Them as Rebels.
Another writer. veteran of 1861, says:
II can not forbear from expressing my
opinion of Coxey and his movements.
consider him just much of a rebel as
were the leaders Of the south in 1861. when
| they rebelled against our established forms
| of government and took up arms against
| them. These men have no right to come
here to intimidate the representatives of the
people assembled here in Congress, and
should be treated as rebel mob melting to
| civil war. The redress of the people is I'm
the ballot boxes. The south is today in
sackcloth and ashes because she did not
! fight her battles in the national houses of
| Cor gress That Congress has been dilatory
| cannot be denied, party spirit has entered
| too far in politics. More work should
| be done by our legislators: they should be
| held accountable for their dilatory work.
but not by a mob, tramping from the west
| and made up of uneducated foreign anar-
| chists and youthful, inexperienced men and
many of the regular type of tramp They
| are a danger and a menace to our law
abiding citizens. They are liable to organize
| lawless mob of ignorant, desperate men.
H. 49,, a