Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-01

There were not as many of them-poSSi-
bly, 5000 as compared with 100000.
They did not sing as they marched on
Pennsylvania avenue, the sun setting be-
hind them, heading toward the Capitol
They were silent men, the noise they made
was confined to the shuttle of their weary
feet.
They carried an occasional sign, but there
were more American flags than catchy slo-
CANS
There were no orations, with Abraham
Lincoln sitting in stony silence as the ro-
bustful periods of polished oratory floated
like bubbles around his brooding face,
touching with the beauty Of sacrifice such
ugly and earthly business as "wallowing in
the valley of despair or draining the cup
Of bitterness"
Both had detectives, tangible enough
when expressed in such understandable
words as bonus" in the one case, rights.
freedom, "unShackle" in the other-but
detectives as illuSory as most of the sym
bolic phrases chosen to depict vague but
human aspirations, felt rather than defined
march of the Bonus Expeditionary Force
on July 8, 1882 was even more moving
than the rather aweSome spectacle last
Wednesday staged by the assembled claim
ants OF civil rights
Both Of these demonstrations shared ele-
ments in common
Both revealed a state of mind that
demands relief from what suddenly has
become intolerable.
Both were rooted In an ugly truth that
many people would rather ignore and pass
by on the other side.
Both reflected a conclusion. rapidIv
spreading and accepted deep down in the
grass roots of the people, that a time of
change is at hand that nothing or anybody
can much longer defer.
Both were indications Of forces in mo-
ton capable of throwing away, of discard
ing as II they were recent accumulations of
worthless things, strong beliefs, traditions.
cherished concepts that once seemed as
arbitrarily permanent as a surveyors bench
mark.
Both were frowned upon by thoughtful
men as unwise, hazardous, badly timed
though unpreventable exercises Of the
peoples right of petition and assembly.
And both were the advance guards of
social revolution, periodic and usually dis
tasteful phenomenon, lacking the more
glamorouS and fetching trappings of poit-
ical revolution and less easily identifiable
at the time.
There were also elements as conspicuously
absent, in the demonstration of the bonus
marchers, as they were evident in the DEM
onstration for civil rights.
One Of the absent elements in the march
OF the bonus seekers was any organized
leadership; leadership Of the run-of- the
mine demonstrators or leadership at the in
vaded seat Of government. symbolic source
OF good and evil, worker of miracles
capable Of creating good and eliminating
evil, and doing it all before tomorrow.
The descent on Washington Of the bonus
marchers by veterans Of World War was
spontaneous, unanticipated, like flash
flood from dam collapsing under pres
sures centering on hidden defects in what
everybody thought was an impregnable
structure.
1t began as a trickle, discernibe from
Washington early in May of 1882 In the
form Of brief news dispatches from around
the country, reporting groups of veterans
talking UP march TO Washington to per-
Suade Congress TO pass bonus bill.
The trickle became a flood. Groups Of
struggling veterans, accommodating others
as they came, rode freight trains to Wash
ington or trucks, or thumbed their way
Some Of them walked Towns and villages
along the way sped them through with food
10 get rid Of them.
BY Saturday, June 5, enough Of them
had reached Washington TO cause deep
concern at the District Building Four
camps, lacking almost all sanitary provi-
sions, had been established. The Chief Of
Police the late ex-Brigadier General Pelham
Glassford, did what he could to raise money
for food and help the veterans establish
their environments The Commissioners cid
nothing. They could think Of nothing TO do.
They had no money. They we're being
blamed by members Of Congress, and,
presumably by the executive branch, for
tolerating the mess. Senator Borah was
saying that he would not vote for bonus,
but II he favored the bonus he wouldn't
vote for 1t as long as bonus marchers re-
NAMED in town. The Chief Of Police. was