Evening star., 1932-06-06
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
THE strangest army that ever de-
scended upon q peaceful Ameri-
/ can city was gathering momen-
f,Irp t05ov

ME SLIduRcSL army tlldI CFcA Oc'
scended upon peaceful Ameri-
can city was gathering momen-
i tum today.
Dusty and weary, some in tat.
ters and some in trim uniforms. some
in trucks, some In battered cars anc
some on foot, some with flags flying
and some unobtrusively, contingents Of
the bonus seeking army of World Wal
veterans were arriving continuously al
the big Anacostia field that rapidly l.
taking the form a military camp. They
came in groups of threes and fours, In
small companies of 80 or 40. Finally
just before noon, the big New York
group of about 200 came marching ir
double file, flags dropping over weary
shoulders. down the dusty road to the
camp 1t is no mob down there ir
Anacostia-far less so today than was
the case Saturday Everything is Or
derly, and rapidly is being organized
into still more orderliness.
The army seems to be a fair cross
section of middle-class America. They
are truck drivers and blacksmiths, steel
workers and coal miners, stenographers
and common laborers. They are black
and white Some talk f1uently Of their
woes. Some hardly can muster enough
English to tell where they came from
and why The soft Georgia drawl
mingles with the characteristic patois
Of the New York sidewalks.
Like Great Escape Gesture.
What started it all? What common
impulse moved these men almost simul-
taneously in Harlem and Salt Lake
City, on the Texas plains and in the
Chicago flop houses? What impelled
colored street laborer and bow-legged
cowboy to leave everything familiar
behind them and start out together on
the open road?
Curiously enough. little can be gained
from conversations with the men? The
East Sioer and the fellow who used
to have a good racket" in Miami tel
stories that are almost indisttnguish-
able except that both talk in the char
acteristic speech Of their sections. Both
are vague It Is obvious that thi:
strange social phenomenon is something
that transcends the individual. But
nearly all have one thing In common
curious melancholy, sense Of the
futility of individual struggle. con-
sciousness Of being in the grip Of cruel
incomprehensible forces. Their pres
ence here is supreme escape gesture
Following are a few random glimpses
into the reasoning of these men:
A Chicago Pole, about 40 years old
phlegmatic after the fashion of the race
-stolid, hopeless, difficult to get started
on his story: He used to be a truck
driver and served in the 39th Division
in France. He hasn't worked, he says
for three years, except for odd jobs now
and then. He had wife, but "she amt
alive no more" He has three children
His mother, who lives in a little town ir
Indiana, is caring for them. He sleep.
around in flop houses" with lots oi
other fellows he knew in the army. How
did he get started to Washington? HI
shakes his head. Somebody had reae
about it in the papers. They got tt
talking about it in the flop houses ano
the next thing he knew he was on hi
way.
Men Just Got Together.
A burly, bronzed Texan in sonlbrero
He is horseshoer by trade Jobs are
scarcer for horseshoers than for most
men. Besides, he has spent a lot OF
time in service hospitals-two opera
tions for hernia. He was in Ogden
Utah, looking for a job. The ex-service
men hung around together" in that lit
tie Western city. Most of them were
out of work. married and with hungry
families. There were no meetings, nc
previous organization. The fellows got
to talking about it on the street and,
the next thing they knew, they we're on
the way to washington.
A Chicago colored man: For three
years he has had an cdd Job now and
then distributing handbills on the
streets and such work for rs cents q
day. His wife is a charwoman She
has supported him and his two children
but shes just about ready to break
down" The word spread around that
the fellows were coming to Washington
and he started with them. There was
no previous organization that he knows
OF. He used to be truck driver in the
92d Division.
A glass blower and coal miner from
Morgantown, w. Va: He served in the
RAINBOW Division. Conditions among
the coal miners are worse than any
where else, he says. Even If he could
get an occasional day in the mines, he
would be barred from his union II he
accepted. This, he believes, is just
Two OF his brothers are out Of work
AAAo AoeAACk dAAA lilOt1lCl dlC Living dl0
have kept them from starving thus far
1t has been 18 months since he has had
work for more than two days at time
There is no real organization Of needy
veterans In West Virginia, that he
knows about. The papers tell of the
bonus march on Washington. A few
fellows IN each town happen to get
together, talk things over and the next
thing they know they are on the way
IN any sort Of transportation they can
get.
Jobless for Three Years
A sheet metal worker from Columbus,
Ga: He hasn't worked for three years
and there is no possibility of getting a
job. He and his family "have just got
BY somehow" During the war he was
an infantryman with the 1st Division.
As seems to have been the case every
where else, the Columbus bunch "just
got started" without preliminary or
ganization. On the way they picked
up others in the same fix from various
Georgia towns. Everything was fine
until they reached Lynchburg, Va.
There the main body Of the Georgia
were stranded last night while
three or four came ahead In their own
automobile.
A truck driver from Philadelphia: !:
He was with the 18th Engineers Truck
drivers seem to predominate In this