Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/896

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work, and exclude all non-union men from employment in the same trades. This has naturally produced friction and opposition not only from non-union workers, but from employers who favor freedom of employment, to secure which, a powerful organization called the "open shop" has been organized to protect non-union men and their employers. This organization has been strength- ened by the recent events of the teamsters' strike, during which many non-union teamsters were clubbed and beaten by the union men, so that the mayor and chief of police were compelled to put on an extra force of policemen to protect the non-union men; which extra force cost the city $18,000 for pay of men.

THE COXEY ARMY.

The first and severest trial of the patience and patriotism of the so-called laboring class in the city of Portland came to a crisis in May, 1894. The finan- cial panic, which had closed many of the banks, and a great many of the indus- tries in 1893 all over the United States, bore down heavily on the men who de- pended on their daily wage for their daily bread. The business houses and well to-do citizens of Portland met the crisis with large-hearted sympathy and gener- osity, contributing freely to the support of places to house and feed the desti- tute, as well as take care of the families of those in need. The winter of 1903-4 wore away without any special demonstration from the army of unemployed men ; but with the coming of spring there arose a new sensation in the land, which, while it did not help the penniless laborer, made him forget his troubles. A sporadic genius suddenly arose at Massillon, Ohio, like a comet in the sky, calling himself "General Coxey," and appealed to the unemployed throughout the land to form a grand army, "the Army of the Commonweal," and march to Washington city in such divisions as was convenient and demand relief from the president and congress. Armies formed all over the country ; one at Los Angeles, one at San Francisco, one at Portland, and one at Seattle. The Los Angeles army made the longest march, going to El Paso, Texas, thence to St. Louis, and finally reaching Indianapolis, where it disbanded. The San Fran- cisco army marching by Salt Lake and Omaha, reached Eddyville, Iowa, and dis- banded. The Seattle army marched as far east as Spokane and went to pieces. The Portland army under the lead of General Sheffler, got as far east as Coke- ville, Wyoming, got employment in the coal mines and disbanded. The only army that finally reached Washington was that commanded by Coxey himself ; marching on foot all the way from Massillon, Ohio, to the capital, where the General, being refused admission to the presence of congress, delivered a peti- tion for redress of the grievances of the laboring man to the sergeant-at-arms of the house of representatives at the east portico of the capitol.

These armies from the Pacific coast did not march much of the way on foot, but seized railroad trains and ran them as far as they could before being stopped. General Sheffler marched out of Portland with over 1,200 men, with their blankets on their backs, and a few days' rations. Following the line of the O. R. & N. Co. railroad, they halted at Cleone, 12 miles east of Portland, where they seized the first passenger train going east and ran it to Caldwell, Idaho, where it was halted by a detachment of U. S. soldiers, and most of the men rounded up into a stockade. But afterward, making terms with the railroad company, they got a train of box cars that carried them on to Cokeville, where they got employment. On all these marching lines the people sympathized with the marchers and furnished them food and shelter.

ECONOMICS, PRICES AND WAGES.

From the Spectator at Oregon City, of October 18, 1849, we learn that the price of beef on foot was given at 6 to 8 cents a pound ; in market 10 to 12 cents a pound, pork at market 16 to 20 cents per pound; butter 62 to 75 cents per pound; cheese, 50 cents; flour, $14 per barrel of 200 lbs.; wheat, $1.50 to $2.00 a bushel, and oats the same. Potatoes, $2.50 per bushel, and green apples $10