Populism and the Populists: The Incoherent Coherence of Coxey's March

• Author: Jerry Prout
• Published date: 01 May 2019
• Date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12279

Populism and the Populists: The Incoherent

Coherence of Coxey’s March

By Jerry Prout*

AbstrAct. Coxey’s March was a multidimensional spectacle reflecting

the disparate social and intellectual strands that comprised an energetic

late 19th-century producer’s movement. This well-staged, though

seemingly spontaneous, march was emblematic of a brand of

grassroots populism that united producers from farm fields to factory

floors. Their cause was propelled by an eclectic array of reformers

whose distinct ideas to change the economic landscape were united

only in their common vision of a more cooperative, rather than

corporate, vision of the future. Coxey shared in that vision with his

bold public works plan. In choosing a direct form of democratic

expression, and then adorning it with religious and utopian symbols,

his march to Washington reflected the essence of a progressive

populism churning throughout the Gilded Age.

Introduct ion

As Jacob Coxey’s march of unemployed industrial workers arrived in

Allegheny, Pennsylvania on April 4, 1894, it was greeted by enthusias-

tic cheers of “Coxey!” rising from store fronts and balconies. Along the

roadside, crowds gathered to cheer the marchers along. As the band

of about 120 men moved steadily closer to city center, the excited

crowds overwhelmed the police force. The dust clouds from the fren-

zied mob at times seemed almost blinding. It was all that the offi-

cers could do when the marchers reached a local baseball field to

close the gates against the oncoming crush of humanity. Even then,

many admirers made their way into the encampment quickly named

American Jour nal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 78, No. 3 (May, 2 019).

DOI: 10 .1111/ajes.122 79

© 2019 American Journa l of Economics and Sociology, Inc.

*Visiting assistant professor at Marquette University. Authorof Coxey’s Crusade for

Jobs (Northern Illinois University Press 2016), “Hope, Fear, and Confusion: Coxey’s

Arrival in Washington” (Washington History 2013), “The Six and the Sixties: Newsweek

Addresses the ‘Crisis of the American Spirit,’” (Journalism History 2018). PhD in history,

George Mason University (2012). Email: gerald.prout@marquette.edu

594 The American Journal of Economics and Sociology

Camp Kirtland for the march’s eccentric astrologer. Similarly enthu-

siastic scenes occurred during the first two weeks of the march, and

they would occur again as this jobless troupe made its way toward

Washington (Baker 1945: 18; Schwantes 1985: 54–57; Chicago Daily

News 1894; Chicago Record 1894).

After departing from Massillon, Ohio near Coxey’s home on Easter

Sunday, March 25, 1894, this disheveled corps of jobless Americans

steadily advanced on Washington. Their leader hoped to present a

petition for a massive public works program on May 1, on the steps

of the Capitol. Coxey believed infusing $500 million into the economy

to build a national system of roads would remedy the unprecedented

unemployment crisis caused by a devastating depression that began

the year before.

When Coxey marched, the nation was a year into what would be

a four-year depression, referred to as the Panic of 1893 (1893–1897).

Like most economic downturns, its causes were complicated. Most

economic historians point to a combination of factors, including an

agricultural depression caused by overproduction that began in the

mid 1880s; ongoing currency instability due to changes in mone-

tary policy, including enactment of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act

(1890); and a collapse in foreign credit precipitated by a scandal in-

volving British Barings Bank’s investments in Argentina (Hoffmann

1970; Steeples and Whitten 1998).

The unprecedented daily newspaper coverage the story received

helped inspire the formation of a dozen other industrial armies

(Sweeney 1997: 17). Thousands of unemployed workers were now

coming toward Washington from points as far away as Spokane,

Washington and San Francisco. In press accounts, these workers were

described as commandeering trains and behaving more rambunc-

tiously than Coxey’s plodding and peaceful corps (Alexander 2015:

76–97; Schwantes 1985: 86–165). What, at its outset, seemed an innoc-

uous protest march led by a cranky businessman, suddenly seemed to

have morphed into a national movement that threatened Washington

with violence and insurrection.1

On the very day that Coxey’s Army arrived in Allegheny, still

some 250 miles from the nation’s capital, a Washington Post (1894a)