Coxey's Army
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Workers from Coxey's Army posing for a photograph |
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
Commonwealth of 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.
The purpose of the march was to protest the unemployment caused by the
Panic of 1893 and to lobby for the government to
create jobs building
roads and other
public works improvements. The march originated with 100 men in
Massillon, Ohio on
March 25,
1894. Various groups from around the country gathered to join the march, and its number had grown to 500 with more on the way from further west when it reached Washington on
April 30, 1894. Coxey and other leaders of the insurrection were arrested the next day for walking on the grass of the
United States Capitol, and the rest of the men scattered.
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Marchers leaving their camp |
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 written 1900, which has often been related to Coxey's Army. In his novel, Dorothy, the Scarecrow (the American farmer), Tin Woodman (the industrial worker), and Cowardly Lion, (political leader), march on the yellow brick road to Oz, the Capital, demanding relief from the Wizard, who is interpreted to be the President. Dorothy's shoes are interpreted to simbolize using 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 the Wizard of Oz was one of the first
Technicolor films.
* Schwantes, Carlos A.
Coxey's Army: An American Odyssey (1985)
*
List of protest marches on Washington, DC* Daily Bleed Calendar:
March 25, 1894
