My Grandmother fed Coxey's Army

[Generic Other]

Because the only way we will know of our heroes and heroines is if we learn about them for ourselves. I heard stories of Coxey since I was a child. My father who was 50 when I was born had a lot of stories to tell. This one is one he told of my Grandmother. She made food for Coxey's Army before they left Tacoma. Sandwiches. Many many sandwiches. She passed them out in front of her house as the men mustered to begin the trek to Washington DC. Whenever she made a meal thereafter, the family would say she "made enough to feed Coxey's Army."

I am proud proud proud of my family's Wobbly roots and labor history. Push this union maid and I'll push back. Count on it.


from Wiki:

Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by the populist Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history to that time. Officially named the Army of the Commonweal in Christ, its nickname came from its leader and was more enduring. It was the first significant popular protest march on Washington and the expression "Enough food to feed Coxey's Army" originates from this march.

Some of the most militant Coxeyites were those who formed their own "armies" in Pacific Northwest centers such as Butte, Tacoma, Spokane, and Portland. Many of these protesters were unemployed railroad workers who blamed railroad companies, President Cleveland's monetary policies, and excessive freight rates for their plight. The climax of this movement was perhaps on April 21, 1894 when William Hogan and approximately 500 followers commandeered a Northern Pacific Railway train for their trek to Washington, D.C. They enjoyed support along the way, which enabled them to fight off the federal marshals attempting to stop them. Federal troops finally apprehended the Hoganites near Forsyth, Montana. While the protesters never made it to the capitol, the military intervention they provoked proved to be a rehearsal for the federal force that broke the Pullman Strike that year.<5>
Second march

A second march was organized in 1914.<6> A portion of the march reached Monessen, Pennsylvania on April 30.<7> Another contingent from New York City merged with the march.<8> When the march reached Washington DC, Coxey addressed a crowd of supporters from the steps of the United States Capitol.
Coxey's Army in culture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxey%27s_Army

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h0SQqY8ocp4/TQvJ5zAIDpI/AAAAAAAATEU/xawYwl57MRo/s1600/THE+ARMY+08.jpg

[Generic Other]

1. Please post your stories here

We need to share with each other the history that shaped us.

[iemitsu]

2. this event and the later bonus army

serve to remind us that unfettered capitalism is ruinous to society.
and here we are again in the same situation.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. I could well find myself marching with a similar group one day

It's human nature to band together in times of extreme adversity, and it certainly makes more sense than millions of people casting about aimlessly.

[iemitsu]

8. you are right about human nature.

we are social beings and are co-dependent throughout our lives. banding together increases our strength. it is also the reason the uber-class invests so much in keeping us divided.
all it would take to get me in an army such as this would be the loss of my job.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. K & R for the lessons of history

It's not like the schools are going to discuss Coxey's Army, after all.

[iemitsu]

10. its not in the official curriculum since the textbooks

are all published in texas but good teachers explore these events with their students.

[Generic Other]

5. Frank L. Baum wrote the Wizard of Oz based on Coxey

Among the people observing the march was L. Frank Baum, before he gained fame. There are political interpretations of his book, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which have often been related to Coxey's Army. In the novel, Dorothy, the Scarecrow (the American farmer), Tin Woodman (the industrial worker), and Cowardly Lion (William Jennings Bryan), march on the yellow brick road to Oz, the Capitol (or Washington DC), demanding relief from the Wizard, who is interpreted to be the President. Dorothy's shoes are interpreted to symbolize using free silver instead of the gold standard (the road of yellow brick) because the shortage of gold precipitated the Panic of 1893. In the film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, the silver shoes were turned into ruby for the cinematic effect of color, as Technicolor was still in its early years when The Wizard of Oz was produced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxey%27s_Army

[Generic Other]

6. The women of the West supported Coxey's Army

"Of particular interest was the role played by women, individually and collectively, in extending support and even leadership to men who joined the "regiments" in numerous Western cities."

http://www.jstor.org/pss/40169331

[Generic Other]

7. Northwestern Industrial Army marches to join Coxey's Army on April 25, 1894.

On April 25, 1894, some 650 unemployed persons calling themselves the Northwestern Industrial Army march out of Seattle in military formation, heading toward Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to relieve joblessness following the Panic of 1893. The Seattle contingent plans to join a similar force from Tacoma at Puyallup, and then to travel by train to meet Jacob Sechier Coxey (1854-1951) whose movement for federal relief is called "Coxey's Army."... Citizens and businesses in Seattle provided the men and needy families with food and with some funds.

...unable to negotiate free travel from the Northern Pacific. "General" Jumbo Cantwell instructed followers to break into small groups and to board trains away from stations. Two hundred specially sworn Deputy U.S. Marshals and U.S. Army soldiers patrolled the Northern Pacific to see that the men didn't steal rides. As many as 100 men at a time jumped aboard freights, but crews sidetracked the trains, and deputies cleared the cars. For days, between Puyallup and Spokane, marshals ejected some Industrial Army men from trains and arrested others.

In Yakima, shooting erupted and one deputy died (shot by another deputy). Marshals arrested 154 men for attempting to steal rides on trains and 18 Yakima citizens for inciting them. All were brought to Seattle by train on May 12, 1894, to stand trial. Because of strong public sentiment in Seattle in support of the men, five companies of the 14th U.S. Infantry Regiment from Vancouver Barracks were dispatched to insure peace. Eventually, 111 "Commonwealers," as they were also called, were sentenced to 60 days in jail each for contempt of court (the Northern Pacific was under the control of the U.S. Courts which had issued an injunction prohibiting interference with railroad operations).

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=2181

[Generic Other]

9. Jumbo and Mrs. General Cantwell

The first battalion of the Commonweal Army started for Washington from Massilon on Easter Sunday, 1894.

A color-bearer with Browne's banner led the way, followed by General Coxey in a piano box buggy drawn by his forty thousand dollar pacer Acolyte, and, in a separate carriage, the second Mrs. Coxey, who held in her arms their infant son whose baptismal certificate read, no mistake, Legal Tender Coxey. Marshall Browne rode a spirited stallion.

The others walked. Among those in the ranks were Cyclone Kirtland, an astrologer who claimed that according to the stars the army would be "invisible in war, invincible in peace"; Unknown Smith, who had earlier been known as ringmaster for a disbanded circus; David McCallum, author of an economic treatise which sold under the title Dogs and Fleas, by One of the Fleas; Christopher Columbus Jones, a five-foot apostle of reform who marched under a silk hat; and Jones's private secretary, who "sustained a plug hat with impressive dignity."

The Commonwealers numbered only two hundred by the most favorable count but they were accompanied down the glory road by forty-three reporters, four telegraph operators, and two linemen.

http://www.tacomapubliclibrary.org/morgan/Cantwell.htm

This article was written by Washington state historian Murray Morgan whose mother was Mrs. Cantwell. I had the great fortune to have studied Northwest labor history from this man.

[Octafish]

11. Fascinating history that is never spread by Corporate McPravda or Academia Inc.

Thank you for telling us, Generic Other.

You might enjoy this video on the corporate nature of our noose media from Michael Parenti, in which he explains why the gangsters and their henchmen never mention Labor even on Labor Day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTCPoodUsgU

[Generic Other]

12. I like to think my activism cancels out big media money

My one shouted truth costs nothing for me to share. Their lies cost a lot of money to spread and maintain. Every time me or anyone else speaks out, we cost them money. A few cents here, a few dollars there.

Great discussion of media -- lilylivered mouthpiece of whoever has the most cash.

[sabrina 1]

13. "Their lies cost a lot of money to spread and maintain."

I've thought about that often. That we don't spend any money to try to find out and tell the truth, but they spend billions, eg, the Koch Bros, Melon Scaiffe et al and even with all they spend, they still have to keep spending more.

Which only shows how strong a weapon the truth is. To be able to stand up, even when at times it seems to lose, and prevail against so much effort on the part of the liars.

Imagine if we spent as much money as they do! I wonder if it would be worthwhile to start thinking about that. I'm not sure how much longer the world can withstand their assaults on truth and decency.

[Generic Other]

14. I only know how to nickel and dime them to death...

We just raise our voices. Make a little more noise.

:hug:

[onethatcares]

15. to spread the truth take but a few minutes of

freeway blogging, or putting home printed text in newspaper boxes, stuffed into the papers. You do have to pay to open the box and it takes a few minutes to stuff individual papers but its a well spent .50

I'd never heard of Coxeys Army and am quite amazed we had economic bubbles in 1893.

Jeeeeez, won't we ever learn?

[Generic Other]

16. All the things we did during the Bush years here at DU

They united us against a common enemy. Too bad we still don't see that enemy has not gone away.

Freeblogging is seriously fun. I did it before and after we invaded Iraq. Some of my signs stayed up for a long time. Especially the impeach signs I hung up all over the waterfront.

I saved cardboard, duck taped it together, painted it with housepaint. Cheap and very good for making one feel less powerless. A way to direct all that negative energy and anger and channel it to counteracting the lies. Like I said, it cost me nothing. As long as I live, they can spend millions to try and float any lies. I will throw them back in their faces and then some.

[onethatcares]

17. very nice, I'm gonna break out my the War is a Lie sign and get

it and a few others on the road.

I've been concentrating on prickscott/gov of Floriduh lately.

My pleasure knowing you.:hi:

[Generic Other]

18. OMG you have 1000% sympathy from me!

I fear someone put a curse on your state. Probably happened in 2000 and hasn't worn off yet.