The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-16
GEN. JACOB COXEY, LEADER OF HOBO ARMY IS 60 TODAN

ssGen.s Jacob Sechler Coxey, who attained world-w1de notoriety twenty years ago by organizing an -arny
 Of the unemployed to march on Wash 5reton and demand work, and who Is now promising to repeat the perform arce was born in Pennsy lvaaaia sixty years agp today. The general him self is far from being in the finan- csai position of a hobo as he is possessed Of considerable wealth. For several years past 1.-the has been heard of the famous agitator but in February last he announced that he. would celebrate his sixtieth birthday by inaugurating another @On to W ashinzton's army of the unernpIoy ed Since then he has visited many cities. usually directing the work Of organization from headquarters estab- ,1isted tn the highest priced hotels
 ssoen.s Coxey was reared in pow l<.rty. and at thirteen began work in a rolling min. At twenty-seven he was afse owner of a flourishing sandstone quarry at MazsHIon. O.. which city he has since made his horn el Some years later he became a horse breeder on < large scale. first at exirgton. Ky. where he purchased B rge stock fs1zzr.z and later at Massfllon
 Politically. Coxey was ori riginaIly as areenbaoker, and later becanae aFPop- anlist and a. leader izaa tllat party. R e- IiEfously, he has described himself as 4 achristian theosopEist.s
 1t was during the widespread finan- cial depression incident to the panic of 1898 that Coxey first became an suternationai Character The Ameri- can Federation of Labor hsd recom- intended that work be provided for the millions of unemploye ed men in the United States by the issue of s5oe,- GOO .OOo in bonds by the federal gov sernment- ito be expended in the con- structfon of good roads Coxey be- came Athe staunch advocate of this scheme Tor relieving the situation and prevfding jobs for the hungry, and 1t was for the purpose of bringing this plan prominently before the public hhat he organized the ACoanmonweaI ar11ay'' for ftsssOn to Wasl1ing gton'' main division of the isssr1sss zlass1llon on March 2 5, ass4. with less than a hun dred men. ssrhe boys. as Coxey called his fol- lowers, made the trip "on the hoof, 7 But the "GeneraP' rode in a phaeton. me vehicle is stilI in existence. and Goxey has promised to use it again, but the horse that drew the leader of the army" is dead.
 The march of the Coxeyites, as they Fzere called. aroused some interest in hne plan which 1t was designed to fos- Ter, but the attitude of the general public was largely that of derision. when Eoxey made his entry into rFashfngton on an April q ay a score of years ago, his army had increased ho s3s men They paraded the streets of the capital. and were cheered and a1ooted In turn by the big crowd of Washingtonians assembled to see the ssarnys' of which they had heard so much Coxey had planned to make 2 speech from the steps of the Capitol, f5u1 in attempting to do so he com united a. srievous violation of the law by walking on the grass. Coxey and his lieutenant, Carl Browne, were inn mediately arrested and hailed to court There they were charged with AAlE8aA A>11A11 c<7c The evidence against them was SC overwhelrnineIy that they were forced to confess guilt, and both Coxey and Browne were Imprisoned for twenty days During that period thei1 army melted away and although other "armiee'' started from various sections of the country. the move
 nent came to nothing. Gen. Coxe, declares that there are more jobIess men in the United States now thar ever before. Unless something fl done. he foreseeA a critical perioe ahead for the United States, with cap
 ifa1 and labor engaged in a civil wa. that will make the Tate unpleasant ness between North and South seen
 but a trivial affair by comparison.