The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-18
THE MARCH ON
WASHINGTON,

One can get very little idea of what
is going on in this country from the
daily papers of St. Paul and Minnea-
polls. You have to buy the Chicago
papers, and especially that best news
paper of them all-the tHerald, ito
be posted. Our city papers only give
the people what they think their
weak stomachs will bear:-the news
is MIXED through monopoly seive
and the cream taken out. For in
stance, this item of news, from the
"Herald" will not be found in the
Minnesota journals:
"DENvER, April 3.-General Nc
Cook looks upon the Coxey movement
as dangerous. 'The weather has
been against the army so far" he
says, but by the lst of May fully be-
lieve there will be an army of 10000
hungry, half-clad men clamoring
around the national capital. The
spectacle of such vast army of al
legged working men, asking for en-
ployment in order that they may not
starve is, something new in the his
tory of the world. If the national
troops are ordered out to drive them
away, who can imagine the complica-
tions that may arise? These men of
Coxey's army have friends and sympa-
thiZerS in every state of the union.
To me it seems that the country is
approaching crisis such as faced it
only once before, and that was at the
time of the great rebellion"
If it had been fist fight Or horse
race the twin-city papers would have
given us the news by the page full.
AS it is they devote finger length
to the reception of Coxey's army in
Pittsburgh, while the Herald" gives
nearly a column and half to it,
Here are some extracts:
"CAMP KIRKLAND, ALLEGHANY
CITY, Pa, April 3.-One hundred
thousand people saw Commander
Coxeys army of ragged and dust
stained men enter this city this
afternoon. The demonstration accorded
to the miserable creatures has no parallel
in history. A barbarian, returning
from campaign with the scalps of
his foes strung to his belt, could not
have aroused more enthusiasm than
marked the progress of the spellbound
hOrSeman and Quarryman, who is now
on his way to Washington, to urge
Congress to pass the good roads non
interest t-bearing bond bills which he
has framed to thrust3 into both wings
of the capitol.
1t was nearly 2 o'clock when the
army was swung into line for it's
march into Allegheny. The sun was
now beaming down upon the hills
with terrific energy. The dust in the
road was almost ankle deep, and the
clouds of sand the impatient horses
kicked up choked and begrimed the
men who stood in line. just ahead
of the army were the iron mOlders,
the bakers and the pattern makers,
all of them wearing badges, and each
division led by sturdy fellow who
bore a banner. 1t took nearly half
hour to get this escort in line. The
crowd in the roadway was SO dense
that the hOrsemen found it difficult
task to preserve any kind OF align
ment. For an hour or more the army
stood at attention, and then came
the bugle blast to move upon the
city, which was half choked in the
smoke of it's mills. The column had
no escort of police. 1t moved along
as it has done ever since it left Mas
sillon, now over 100 miles away, with
Lieutenant Browne at the head of
the army proper, and the escort strag-
Cling along on horses. on bicycles and
on foot.
On either side of the dusty through
fare were thousands of people who
. cheered and howled until Commander
Coxey was compelled to stand up in
the vehicle and tip his hat repeatedly.
Many of the demOnStrative men
along the roadside wore badges, and
hundreds of them had cards in their
hats bearing the name of the great
commonwealth
There is bend in the roads at
Woods Run, which is at the lower end
of Allegheny. Here the crowd was
so denSely packed that it took de-
tail of policemen to cut a lane for the
procession to pass. Women who sat
in the dead leaves, on the SlOping
banks waved their handkerchiefS, the
men cheered, and now and then a
fellow more enthusiastic than the
rest ran up to Commander COXey and
shook his hand. y
Soon after the graveyard was passed
two men rushed up to Commander
Coxey's carriage and gave him two
apple pies. There was another jam
of people at Kirkpatrick avenue.
Here the crowd became so noisy and
demonstrative that the policemen
had great difficulty in keeping peo-
pie from breaking into the column.
A red faced man, who had hat on a
pole, fell into line behind Commander
Coxey's carriage, but he was quickly
punched into the crowd by an officer
who swung vicious club. The
crowd grew denser as the column
swung into Fremont street. The
windows of the cigar factory were
filled with girls, who waved their
aprons at Commander COxey, and at
the next corner a wagon, filled with
bread for the army, stood ready for
delivery to the cOmmisSary. People
in Pennsylvania and Irwin avenues
stood in great solid walls. They
cheered and roared and some of them
waved flags.
At the point in Irwin avenue the
crowd became so unruly that the
police had to use their clubs in order
fO cut a nathwav for the armV