Beason a stop for an army that changed U.S. government

 

[August 22, 2019] 

LINCOLN 

An event that happened in Logan County had a profound effect on the way the United States government treats its citizens. The Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society presented researcher Gary Freese at their monthly meeting Monday evening to talk about just this subject.

The 19th Century economy government of the United States did not treat the citizens of this young country with much respect. There were depressions every few years that created unemployment, and failed businesses that affected large swaths of the country. People were poor, and they were hungry.

The worst depression of the century occurred during the 1890’s. It was so severe, its effects so devastating, that it is considered to be second in line to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Five-hundred banks and 16,000 businesses failed.

Railroads that had been overbuilt failed, even though they tried to survive by gouging farmers for shipping their grain. Farms failed because of greedy railroads and grain storage companies.

During the 19th Century citizens just seemed to accept their lot and tried to get on as best they could during the bad economic times. All of that was about to change.

Gary Freese’s presentation concerned a movement that started in the 1890’s that created a revolution in the way the United States government handled the economy of the country. “A businessman in Massillon, Ohio, decided to try to do something about the depression, to somehow convince the government that it was part of its duty to help improve living conditions,” said Freese. That man’s name was Jacob Coxey.

Coxey’s idea was to create a large contingent of the poor and unemployed and march to Washington D.C., and present their grievances in person to the leaders. He had to be an optimist, because the U.S. government was not inclined to help the populace withstand the destruction of the depression.

President Grover Cleveland was serving his second term in office. He was on record that it was not the government’s position to help with social services during hard times.

The United States Senate was not elected at that time, but was appointed by the state legislatures. It had the reputation as being full of rich businessmen placed in office by people bought off back in the states.

So you had two entities, the presidency and the senate, that had almost no sympathy for what it was like to be a member of the lower class and unemployed.

This was also the time of the Chicago World’s Fair, an extravagant fairyland that was surrounded by economic chaos. But Jacob Coxey had a vision and he acted on it. And what was created was the first protest march against the U.S. government.

Jacob Coxey created an army of 10,000 and began his march to Washington, a so-called boots rebellion. It was a well regulated group along the lines of an actual army.

Coxey did not want his army to be viewed as a bunch of hooligans damaging the countryside as they went. His idea was to create a group that would garner the sympathy of the populace as they went on their way. He wanted the support of the general public and maybe their food. The marchers had nothing. Coxey wanted to speak on the steps of the U.S. Capitol surrounded by his army, to let the world know what they were hoping to gain.

His personal idea was that the U.S. should spend more money on infrastructure to assist the growth of business, which would increase production and employment. He seemed to be echoing the words of Abraham Lincoln when he was a member of the Illinois House, and spoke strongly in favor of the government assisting in infrastructure development.

A strange thing happened on Coxey’s journey to the nation’s capitol. He inspired others throughout the country to form their own armies and join the revolution of the people demanding help from the government. “Armies set out from Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, from Boston and elsewhere,” said Gary Freese.

Many headed for Washington had similar intent as Coxey, but others had their ideas of what was wrong with the country and how it should be changed. They walked toward the nation’s capitol, and in some cases jumped trains to help speed them on their journey. Others built rafts to float down the nation’s rivers. All had the idea of presenting their grievances in person to the government, something that had never been done before. They walked and walked, sometimes through such remote places as Beason, Illinois in Logan County. The army that approached Beason was received with graciousness and fed by the women of the town before continuing their journey.

“The local paper in Lincoln was a weekly at the time, and each issue was filled with page after page on the progress of Coxey’s Army and others like it. It was a big deal at the time,” said Freese.

And what did Coxey’s Army accomplish? When he reached Washington, its number had diminished to 300 from the original 10,000 that started out from Ohio. Other armies faced a similar fate. When Jacob Coxey approached the Capitol steps to give his speech, he was arrested for walking on the grass and jailed. So his efforts to make the U.S. government help the people fell on deaf ears.

Or did it. “Wait, there’s more,” said Gary Freese.

While it may seem that Jacob Coxey did not accomplish anything in his initial walk to Washington, things did change. The Constitution was changed to require the election of senators. The government came to see a role in helping the country recover from depression, as seen by the New Deal during the Great Depression. And as we know, groups of people with something to say demonstrate in Washington all the time protesting wars, segregation, discrimination of all sorts, demand for the right to vote; and the politicians listen. Jacob Coxey accomplished something huge after all.

The end of the story is even more interesting.

“Coxey actually did give the speech that he wanted to deliver in 1894 on the steps of the Capitol. It was in 1914 and again in 1944 when he was ninety four years old. Jacob Coxey did make a difference eventually, and marched his way into the history books,” said Gary Freese.

The Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society has its monthly meeting on the third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. They always have an interesting speaker and the public is invited.

[Curtis Fox]