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Show The Industrial Army's Utah Connection THE HISTORY BLAZER , lrEtl'S OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State ~ istoricaSlo ciet!? 300 Rio Grailde Salt Lake City. VT 8- 4101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 333- 3503 THE NATIONWIDE DEPRESSION OF THE 1890s- the second Worst in U. S. Hist~ ry- spawned a number of movements to alleviate unemployment. One of the biggest was the Commonweal of Christ ( dubbed by others the " Industrial Army") movement launched by Jacob S. Coxey, a wealthy Ohio businessman. In Utah the movement caused a sensation involving government officials, railroad companies, and hundreds of Utah workers. It also spawned a second " Army" led by a young Utah worker. Coxey suggested that the federal government could assist the unemployed by commissioning a network of " good roads." He organized groups of unemployed workers to march on Washington to pressure the government. The " Industrial Army" ( a term Coxey hated) movement gained support in California where the unemployed planned to travel east on the railroad, via Ogden. Utah Temtory was already suffering about 25 percent unemployment, and Governor Caleb W. West objected to the presence of more unemployed and possibly desperate outsiders in Utah. He called out the militia to cordon off the " Army" when it arrived in Ogden on April 8, 1894. Officials obtained an injunction keeping the " Army" in " camp" at the terminal. Coxey ' s followers remained at the railroad station for several days, displaying generally good behavior and gaining local popular support while government and railroad officials negotiated their further passage. Southern Pacific officials argued that the " soldiers'" fare was only paid through Ogden and that they could not ride without further payment. The " Army" took action on April 11, marching to Uintah and capturing a freight train bound for Wyoming, to the relief of Utah officials. In Salt Lake City the Workingmen's Association met to denounce the governor and to create an " Army" of its own under Henry E. Carter, a young carpenter. " Soldiers" swore allegiance to the U. S. Constitution and pledged to honor all laws as well as property rights. " General" Carter attempted to raise transportation funds for the 600- 700 man " Army* but despite much public sympathy could not reach an agreement with the railroad companies. On April 30 the defiant " Army" set out for Washington on foot. Carter continued to demand transportation and continued to receive no help from the railroads. On May 12, about 40 " Industrialists" boarded a Union Pacific train headed for Lehi where they captured a passenger train. At Geneva, the rest of the " Army" was loaded on and taken to Provo where the train was ditched. Governor West called out the militia and raced police and judicial authorities to Provo. Carter and other leaders were arrested, found guilty of contempt, and sentenced to light fines and five days in prison. The " Army" scattered, some giving up the march, while others proceeded east, the railroads apparently deciding that giving the men free ( more) 1 passage was preferable to hijacking. Upon his release, Carter joined his " Army" in Colorado and continued east. Carter's " Army" did not leave Utah without casualties however. According to historian Carlos Schwantes, " Some women resented their husbands joining the crusade. Two women drove to General Carter's bivouac outside Salt Lake City, broke through the picket lines, and returned with a sheepish- looking man in tow. As angry words were exchanged, one woman ended the argument with a blow to the face of her ' liege lord.' She exclaimed loudly that she would thrash any man who would desert his wife and children to follow a ' will- 0'- the wisp' across the deserts of the West. The case of Mary Cook was different. When her husband left Salt Lake City with Carter's army, she ran out of money to feed herself and her child and forged a check for $ 10.15. Confronted and humiliated by the bank which detected the forgery, she returned home, swallowed strychnine, and died in terrible wnvulsions. Had she lived in Salt Lake City, where various support groups were active, instead of tiny Pleasant Grove, things might have been different. " While some 30,000 of " Coxey's Army" eventually made it to Washington, mass arrests of marchers throughout the West and Midwest deprived the movement of reinforcements. The Industrial Army idea generated much sympathy but little government action, and by June 1894, the movement was largely over. Sources: Salt Lake Tribune, April, May, June 1894;, Carlos A. Schwwtes, ' Western Women in Coxey's Army in 1894," Arizona and the West 26 ( Spring 1984). THEH ISTORBLYA ZER is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533- 3500. 961204 ( JN) |
