The representative., 1894-05-23
The COxey Incident.

Well, the Coxey army came, saw, was
dubbed, and two of the leaders hustled off
to the police station. For what? For en-
tering the capitol grounds as individuals,
for entering citizens within the sacred
area set apart by the people for our repre-
sentatives to make laws in. Mr.. Coxey
was the bearer of petition setting forth
certain grievances. He was stopped on the
capitol steps by a policeman, to whom he
announced his mission, and for insisting
upon his constitutional rights he was
seized and hustled out of the grounds.
The sacred right of petition has for the
first time in the history OF our country
been not only denied, but denied by a po-
liceman. This act will be received with
loud acclaim by the privileged classes, who
have been and are fattening upon the
misery and privation of the great body of
the people. 1t is temporary victory for
might over right. A homeless and work.
less lot of "hobos' and BUNS have
marched across several hundreds Of miles
of American soil to ask our national law
making bodies to give them some relief
from destitution-from hunger and priva-
tion They intended only to ask that a
system of public improvements be inaugr-
rated so that they might get an opportuni-
ty to work. A policemans club barred the
way and forbade it. They have been treat
ed with contumely, their chief representa-
tive hustled, the next in authority dubbed
until blood came. Society and good gov
ernment'' now breathe more freely
perhaps.
For nineteen hundred years oppression
reigned supreme. A Man came to the front
who advocated the cause of the people.
He was crucified Five hundred years af-
terwards he was defled., and today all
over the civilized world temples are reared
In His name.
For 600 years the common people of
France were the sport of the nobility. The
revolution came.
Great Britain played FAST and loose with
the people of the greatest Of her colonies.
She lost a continent
Denis Kearney voiced the will of the peo-
pie of our Western coast He was NAL
treated, dragged to Jail numberless times,
and his followers mercilessly dubbed and
bounded by the police authorities, and the
classes were still privileged to drag the
Golden State in the mud for their personal
aggrandizement The people rose and
hurled both political parties from power.
Inc sufferlngs of the people of Ireland
made no impression upon the privileged
classes of Great Britain until one day a
bomb was exploded on Lincoln bridge
The Irish question has been the principal
question in the British parliament ever
since.
The aspirations Of the Coxey movement
are not confined to the 400 or 500 footsore
worn, destitute men who paraded Pennsyl-
vania avenue yesterday. Hundreds of
thousands of Americans in every corner of
our Union have been with them in spirit
every foot of the way, and were with
Coxey in spirit when he was forcibly ex-
PEELED frim public grounds. The blows in
fiicted by the clubs of the police on Browne
and his followers were felt by every lover
of humanity in this land. Each was a
blow in the face Of liberty and a violation
of the constitution under which we live.
The law has been transgressed by it's rep
resentatives. We shall attend to them
hereafter. The ides of November are al
most here
The gentlemen now lolling in cushioned
chairs in our national temple will all be
held responsible for the disgrace of yester-
day. They must clear their skirts, and
soon. If they do not, We promise them a
worse clubbing next fall at the polling
places of this country than was admins
tered to any member of the Coxey army
yesterday. We promise this, not because
we are an exponent of Coxey's views-we
are not-but because in his and his follow
ers persons an unalienable right belonging
to all of us equally has been ruthlessly
trampled upon.-Washington Times.