Led by Jacob S. Coxey, a businessman, the group left Massillon, Ohio, on March 25, 1894, with about 100 men, accompanied by a large contingent of reporters, and arrived in Washington on May 1 with about 500. Coxey hoped to persuade Congress to authorize a vast program of public roadbuilding, financed by a substantial increase of the money in circulation, to provide jobs for the unemployed. His proposal was written in the form of a congressional bill, which stated, in part: