The Pullman Boycott

A Complete History
of
The Great R. R. Strike.

By W. F. Burns.

1894:
THE McGILL PRINTING CO.
ST. PAUL.

Copyrighted 1894
by
W. F. BURNS.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY.

In presenting this work to the public, I beg leave to say that I lay no claim whatever to literary ability, and will ask the reader to kindly overlook the crudeness of this my first effort.

My line of work since boyhood has been confined principally to railway service; in short I am a switchman, and in that branch of the service, have been frequently confronted with the differences that arise between the management of the various railroad corporations and their employees.

While I disclaim any credit for ability as a writer, by years of experience and careful study of the condition of affairs as they have in the past and do in the present exist, I profess to be able to fairly present the facts of the Pullman strike. This strike was a matter of unusual interest to me, not alone because my individual interests were involved, but because the independence of every man in America who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, was in the balance.

The right to organize for mutual protection was questioned, nay more, the right to be heard, a right granted to the greatest criminal in any part of the civilized world, was refused by the power representing the capital of this country. This power fortified by the Federal troops, by the mandate of the Federal courts, instigated by the chief executive, the president of the United States, the account of this strike as presented to the public by the Associated Press, was George M. Pullman's and the General Managers' side of the question, distorted and colored to suit their purposes.

My aim in presenting this book, is to disabuse the minds of the people as far as possible, from the misleading statements given out by the General Managers' Association through their mouth piece, the Associated Press.

To this end I have carefully collected facts from the best and most reliable sources, aside from what personal knowledge I had of this strike.

I obtained information from telegrams received in our Central Committee rooms, from all parts of the country, also from committees appointed to investigate the authenticity of reports received from different parts of the country where the strike extended.

The general accounts I quote largely from the "Chicago Times," a paper whose honorable and manly stand throughout that great struggle, gained for it a world wide reputation for honesty and fairness.

The accounts herein contained are truths pure and simple, and upon these truths I base the merits of this book.

Very respectfully,
W. F. Burns

CHAPTER I.

THE AMERICAN RAILWAY UNION.

In order to give a clear conception of the greatest strike in the history of railroad organizations, it will be necessary to go back to the birth of the American Railway Union.

This organization was instituted on the 17th day of August, 1893, in the city of Chicago, and owes its existence to its present leader Eugene V. Debs.

Mr. Debs' connection with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen dates back to the early seventies, and be the credit due to that organization for introducing to the laboring people of America, a leader who stands absolutely without a peer in the labor world to-day, possessed of the collective traits of some of the greatest men of the past.

I know no better description of Debs than that of Wm. C. Pomeroy in the Eight Hour Herald, as follows: "I am sitting on the stage of a great meeting of people, my eyes are closed in dreamy reverie, I hear a voice whose resonant tones are familiar to my ears, the voice, the words bear me in imagination back to the days of Rome, and Caius Gracchus is proclaiming the coming liberty of the people. The words of flaming eloquence suddenly change into the rugged tones of Cola di Rienzi, crying: 'Arouse, ye Romans; arouse, ye slaves.' The words are sweet to the ears, and stir my soul to extacy. Soft, I am no longer in the Eternal City, but wander among the hills and dales of Judea, and the voice has changed again. This time 'tis the compassionate tones of Him of Galilee, beseeching to 'love ye one another,' now swift changing in its mellifluous harmony, I hear Pandora whisper 'the dawn approaches, take heart of hope,' and Prometheus answers with the echoed groans of the suffering, sighing souls. The air is now filled with stirring martial music, and above its changing cadences pours forth in passionate appeal the stentor voice of Peter, the Hermit, raising in the bosom of men, the lethargic love of duty. Aye; on the German hilltops, pulpited he speaks, and Hermanic in deep-toned thunder hurdles back, 'I come.' Now there is a silence for a space, and the changing draperies of imagination disclose a newer scene. I am in the meeting of the Virginian Burgesses, and the voice has taken on the tones of Patrick Henry. It says: 'Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,' and, 'he who would be free himself must strike the blow.' Now 'tis Thomas Jefferson giving utterance to, 'we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are born free and equal.' And lo! even as the soft tones of the 'chosen son' die into the distance, the voice of Andrew Jackson hurls forth the edict 'each man and every man in this country, by the eternal, must and shall be free.'

"The echoing ages take up the dictum and it becomes mingled with the tones of him who at Gettysburg spoke the immortal flaming words: 'This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and the government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.' Scarce had the utterance of the martyr ceased to fill the air when Lowell softly says:

"'He's true to God, who's true to men, whenever wrong is done.
To the humblest and the weakest of all the beholding sun;
That wrong is also done to us, and they are slaves most base,
Whose love of right is for themselves, and not for all the race.'

"My brain is puzzled. How comes it, I ask myself, that these heroes dead and gone are near me here to-day?

"What power permits them to quit their abiding places within the crusty bosom of mother earth, and visiting again the haunts of mortal man, pour forth their immortal utterances? My rummaging mind takes on a newer consciousness. Reverie lifts her leaden hand from off my brow, my eyes open and gaze upon a vast multitude of people—men, women and children. Men are standing on the seats and hurling their hats in the air; women are weeping in joy and waving handkerchiefs, all, all shout in clamorous accord. Their eyes are riveted upon the stage, and upon a man who is gracefully bowing acknowledgement to the thunders of applause. I am near him, I gaze in his face. 'Tis the face of Eugene V. Debs."

To my mind the above beautiful comparisons are not overdrawn.

In 1874 he was admitted to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and in 1877 his brother members of the local lodge, recognizing his superior ability, sent him to the Indianapolis convention to represent them. The next year he was a delegate to the Buffalo convention. Here he was chosen associate editor of the Locomotive Firemen's Magazine, and three years later he was elected editor, and assumed full control.

In September, 1880, he was elected Grand Secretary and Treasurer in Chicago, and to prove the confidence placed in him by this organization, he was unanimously elected to that office for thirteen consecutive years without a dissenting vote, and at the last convention, held in San Francisco, he was again nominated after making a speech, courteously but firmly declining, and was finally forced to refuse the nomination before his declinature would be accepted.

When Mr. Debs assumed control of this office, the Brotherhood was on the verge of disruption.

From this condition he, by his untiring devotion and wonderful executive abilities, elevated the Brotherhood to one of the most powerful organizations of the age, and thus it was through the instrumentality of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen he was brought before the laboring people. Some few years ago he saw that class organization would not be successful, owing to the petty jealousy existing between the different orders, and that in every instance where one organization had a grievance with a railroad corporation, the management would use one or all the others to crush the one having the grievance.

In order to remedy this, he promulgated a plan of federation whereby all the different organizations, engineers, firemen, conductors, trainmen and switchmen would stand as a unit in case of a grievance.

This federation was accomplished, but owing to the treachery of some of the chiefs, proved unsatisfactory and was finally dissolved.

But this did not discourage Mr. Debs, on the contrary, it made him more determined than ever to save the employes from the grinding power of railroad corporations, and to that end he instituted the American Railway Union, embracing all classes in the railway service from the trackmen to the engineers. This infant organization that so recently became such a power, was by no means the offspring of a premature conception. President Debs deliberated long and well, carefully considering all the points, and conscientiously weighing the advantages and disadvantages that would arise from the formation of such a union, before taking active steps to organize.

He finally decided that in the American Railway Union were the only true principles of organization, and in conjunction with a few of his associates, men true as steel, such men as Howard, Rodgers, Burns and, Kelliher, this union was founded.

The first strike that was authorized by the American Railway Union was that on the Great Northern Railway Line, against a sweeping reduction in wages in all departments on that system.

This strike commenced on April 13, and after a stubborn fight of eighteen days (where one of the shrewdest and ablest railroad presidents in the United States was met in his every stronghold and defeated by the grandest labor leader in the world, the matchless Debs) the strike was settled, and victory perched on the banner of the American Railway Union.

Then it was that the true principles of this organization were recognized by railroad employes, and applications for charters came pouring in from all parts of the country.

CHAPTER II.

THE BOYCOTT.

The American Railway Union is in every sense an American Institution, whose aims and objects as previously stated are to protect and shield its members from the grinding power of railroad corporations. Its motto is unity: "One for all and all for one."

The Pullman employes were admitted to this organization and consequently entitled to the protection guaranteed to all members, therefore when they walked out, after every honorable means to avert a strike was exhausted, the American Railway Union was in duty bound to sustain them.

The strike was ordered on the 11th day of May, after an all night session by a committee of forty-six members representing every department in the Pullman works. When the word was given four thousand employes responded to the call, and this proved to be the beginning of the most gigantic strike in the history of organized labor.

The wrongs of the Pullman people were not generally known to the public, the cruel and inhuman treatment they were subjected to, was kept strictly from the public ears.

They were reduced to a condition of slavery beneath that of the black slave of the South prior to the civil war, for while the black slave was clothed, housed and fed, the white slave of Pullman was forced to work for wages entirely inadequate to furnish a sufficient amount of food to keep body and soul together. In this condition, on the verge of starvation, with all hope of justice from the hands of George M. Pullman gone, they revolted. Whether the grievance of these men was a just one, or their resistance to further encroachments on their rights was right or wrong, after reading the report of the committee appointed to investigate and report to the American Railway Union Annual Convention, at that time in session in the city of Chicago, it will be for the reader to decide.

The report, as condensed, in one of the Chicago daily papers, copied and commented on by the St. Paul Branch of the American Railway Union, was as follows:

After showing by way of contrast, that $30,000,000 worth of Pullman stock paid its holders 9-1/2 per cent in dividends last year, the report goes statistically into a comparison of wages in the past year, with the wages received by the Pullman employees when the strike was inaugurated. A fair example of the general reduction is given in a comparison in the price of labor involved in the construction of a freight car in 1888 and 1893.

Other comparisons in the same department show that the wages of men employed in building freight cars, have been reduced 49, 57-1/2 and 47 per cent on contract work since 1888 and 89, and a long list of figures from the account of men in the upholstering department, show that cuts have been made in the prices paid for piece work during the last twelve months ranging from 33-1/3 to 50 per cent. The painters, according to the figures given, have been cut 20 per cent since 1893 and were receiving, when the strike went into effect, only 23 cents per hour, while the union men employed by the boss painters in Chicago were all busy under the scale, whereby they are paid 35 cents per hour until June 15th, and 32-1/2 cents during the summer months.

The machinists, sheet iron and tin workers, foundrymen and blacksmiths had all been reduced from 30 to 50 per cent during the last year, and even heavier reductions, according to the report, have been made in other departments. Although wages had been previously reduced, the greatest cut went into effect last fall in the higher grades of labor.

The reduction then made was from 80 to 20 per cent and in the lower grades 30 per cent. For example, the price paid for the decorating finish on the outside of a Pullman sleeper before the reduction, was $40.00, and now it is $18.00.

By working hard for ten hours a decorator may earn $1.90.

This sweeping reduction included all classes, and the laborers were compelled to work for from 70 cents to $1.00 per day, all this in the face of the fact that when a reduction was made three years ago, the men were told that as long as the shops stood there would never be another cut in the wages of those who worked upon the Pullman sleepers.

A committee of girls, from those who were barely keeping body and soul together by working piece work for $2.50 and $3.00 per week, asked the foreman for an increase to enable them to live, and his answer was: If you cannot live upon the pay you are getting, go out and hustle for more. Why should we wonder that houses of prostitution find no difficulty in procuring inmates?

Think of young women having to board and clothe themselves, and in many instances supporting an invalid mother or young brothers and sisters on such meager wages.

The cold blooded avarice of the Pullman company is not even satisfied in requiring its employes to work for starvation wages, for in what he exacts from his tenant employes he is even more grasping.

That model town of Pullman is owned by the Pullman company and everything about it is made to pay toll to this grasping monopoly.

All employes must rent their houses from this slave driving corporation. There is now in the city of St. Paul a gentleman who formerly worked in Pullman, and growing tired of paying so much rent for such poor accommodations, moved to the adjoining hamlet, and rented a better house for $8.00 per month. He was at once informed that if he wished to retain his situation he would have to move back, and he did so. The house was of the average kind and was called a cottage, consisting of two rooms down stairs, each 10 × 14 feet, and three rooms up stairs, one of which, the front room, was 10 × 12 and the two rear rooms each 8 × 10 feet, lighted front and back, with no bath room or other convenience, and the whole, a part of a solid row or block. For this abode there was exacted a monthly rental of $17.00 although the cost would not exceed $1,000. A four room flat rents for $14.50 per month, and if you should want one of these cheap cottages with inside blinds for the front window, you must pay 50 cents per month for that much style. Some tenants have paid 50 cents per month for this luxury for more than thirteen years, which is pretty good interest on the cost of those blinds.

About 100 acres of land is covered with dwellings and the rent derived is about $500,000 annually, which is over 8 per cent per annum on the investment.

In many of these houses families are crowded into attics in order to reduce expenses to enable them to procure the necessaries of life.

Recently a new church was erected in Pullman, known as the Green church and parsonage, for which is demanded a monthly rental of $60.00 and for a good sized audience room, and two smaller ones attached Mr. Pullman charges the Methodist Episcopal society $500 per year. These rents must be paid in advance and are deducted from the wages of the men, and notwithstanding that the wages have been reduced no reductions have as yet been made in the rent.

The manner in which these men have been bled in the matter of rent, is fully equaled in the manner in which money for water and gas has been extorted from them. When the town was built a contract was made with the Village of Hyde Park, to furnish water at the rate of four cents per thousand gallons, and incredible as it may appear, this water was furnished to the Pullman tenants at ten cents per thousand gallons. In other words he charged $3,000 per month for the water which cost him but $1,200. This represents an annual profit on this one item of $21,000.

Could cold blooded heartless avarice go further? Yes; in the matter of gas which was manufactured and furnished to the people by the Pullman company itself, and although the cost is but 33 cents per thousand cubic feet, the tenants pay $2.25 per thousand while the same gas is furnished the residents of Hyde Park for 75 cents per thousand.

This adds from three to four dollars per month to living expenses in the average house at Pullman.

Another source of income which is wrung from the unfortunate victim is for heat, for which the company charges for six months in the year $10.80 per month.

It might be well to state also, that no person is allowed to keep a horse, unless the animal is kept at the company stables for which $3.00 per week is charged.

Such were the conditions of affairs discovered by the investigating committee in this model town, nor was this all. Miss Curtis, a delegate to the convention representing a ladies' lodge of the American Railway Union at Pullman, and whose father died in September, '93, was obliged to work fourteen hours per day in order to earn fifty cents at the same work for which she received prior to the first reduction $2.25 per day, and not satisfied with reducing her wages to this starvation point, the company insisted on the payment of a debt of $60.00 contracted during her father's illness. This is but a sample of the devilish cruelties perpetrated on the employes by the Pullman Company to satisfy their hellish greed for gold.

This corporation cannot plead poverty for thus treating its employes, as its capital stock is $30,000,000 and carries an enormous surplus of $18,000,000 which is termed a reserve fund. Mr. Pullman's personal wealth is estimated at about $25,000,000. Quarterly dividends of not less than two per cent have been paid regularly on the capital stock, and the stockholders receive every three months $600,000 as their share of the earnings. It is to enable them to pay this immense sum every three months, that the wages of its employes have been reduced. Can it be wondered that the American Railway Union took the matter in hand and declared a boycott on Pullman cars. When the report was received every brother present was deeply moved, and it was the unanimous sentiment of the convention to declare a boycott, but before taking action, apprised the various local unions of the state of affairs then existing, and received the sanction of the local bodies. They then decided that if the Pullman Company would not submit the difficulty to arbitration on or before the 26th day of June, to cut off the Pullman cars and refuse to handle them until the matter was settled. This action was taken June 22, and decided action held off until June 26, in hope that committees appointed to wait on Mr. Pullman would be successful in gaining some concessions whereby a peaceable settlement could be arrived at before resorting to the boycott, and, although several committees were sent to the management and every honorable means resorted to in order to bring about an amicable settlement, it was of no avail and there was nothing for the American Railway Union to do but enforce the boycott.

CHAPTER III.

FIRST DAY OF THE STRIKE.

The 26th day of June was awaited with more than ordinary interest by the people of Chicago on account of the proposed boycott.

The first train to leave Chicago handling Pullman cars was the Chicago and Erie Buffalo Express, and hundreds of men gathered to witness the departure at 2:55 P. M.

It started out on time with several Pullmans attached and several Pinkerton detectives on board. This was owing to the fact that it had been made up before the time set for the boycott to go into effect, but drawbars had been chained together and fastened with padlocks as a safeguard against cutting out the Pullman cars. Everyone was anxious to see if the engineer would pull it out. All doubt was soon set at rest however, as the engine backed onto the train and started out on time as usual. The crowd then waited to see if the next train, the Limited Express, on the Grand Trunk, due to leave at 3:10 P. M., would meet with the same success, and after seeing this train also pull out on time, the crowd dispersed.

The trains on the Monon Route, Santa Fe, and Eastern Illinois also departed with their accustomed regularity and without interference, and at 6.00 o'clock, as every train was running on time, Mr. Pullman and the railway officials were quite jubilant at what they considered a complete failure of the American Railway Union to perform the task it had undertaken. But inside of three hours they were doomed to disappointment, for at that time not a wheel was turning on the Illinois Central with the exception of express trains that had been started before the strike was ordered.

The strikers might have stopped the Diamond Special which leaves at 9:00 P. M., but through consideration for the passengers who had already purchased berth tickets, and adhering strictly to the instructions of their leaders to do nothing to discommode the travelers who in all probability were not acquainted with the existing state of affairs, this train was allowed to proceed. The strike that paralyzed the traffic of the entire country was started in this manner. Early in the afternoon a committee of five switchmen, employed on the Illinois Central, made their appearance at the headquarters of the American Railway Union in the Ashland block, to learn authoritatively the nature and purpose of the order issued requiring them to refuse to switch the cars of the Pullman Company, as the instructions received by them through Organizer Meyers of the union, were not sufficiently definite, so they claimed, to warrant their resisting the railroad company, and forfeiting their positions by such action. The switchmen, they said were willing to help the Pullman strikers, but they wished to know to a certainty what was expected of them. The directors of the union immediately held a conference with the delegates the result of which was an order to strike if the company insisted on them switching the Pullman cars. Those who were not members of the American Railway Union were guaranteed equal protection if they joined the strike, and the result was a complete tie up of the Illinois Central R. R.

The Chicago Times, in an article next morning, said that for rapidity of conception and execution this strike which probably involves five thousand men, beats anything of the kind on record, and in the same article says: the efforts to sidetrack the cars of the Pullman company yesterday was carried on with strict conformity to law and order.

With the exception of a crowd attracted out of a curiosity to see what might happen, there was nothing unusual about the depot, there was no boisterous talking, no threats were made, and the few squads of police officers sent there to preserve order, had nothing to do.

Train No. 7, due to leave at 9 o'clock, hauling two Pullman coaches filled with passengers, did not leave on time there being a delay of 30 minutes before it finally pulled out of the depot. After running within one hundred yards of Grand Crossing it stopped, there being a crowd of about five thousand people at this point of whom there was not to exceed one hundred and twenty-five railroad men. The engineer refused to start, and although Supt. Collins expostulated with him it was of no avail, and any further attempt to move the train was abandoned for the time being.

At 11:30 P. M. tower man Cable, who controls the switches at Forty-third street, left his post, and two south-bound suburban trains were whistling for the switches. They were soon joined by three north-bound trains, a freight train, Michigan Central Fast Mail, and Illinois Central Limited, and all were tied up until one o'clock in the morning when the superintendent of terminals threw the switches. The Chicago Great Western, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago and Northern Pacific and Wisconsin Central were next to fall in line and refuse to handle Pullman cars.

President Debs, after reviewing the situation, asked the men as individuals to consider the problem involved, saying, that if the Pullman Company was right, then the strikers must be wrong, but if you feel assured that those men are only striking to gain that which is every man's right—living wages, then we ask your moral support. There is but one hope for the laborer. Labor must stand by labor. The corporations have now forced a fight upon us by combining to help the Pullman company; they have forced us to combine and use the only weapon which the workingman possesses, the strike and the boycott. The railroads have never done anything for labor that the latter should hesitate to use these weapons.

It is a battle between allied monopoly against the rights of working people, it is a matter of broad humanity. I want to see the switchmen, the car inspectors and other employes wait upon the officials in a manly way, and refuse to handle these boycotted cars.

I want to appeal only to your reason, and not to influence your passion, but I ask you to take a manly stand in the aid of men, women and children who have been ground down by the iron heel of the oppressor.

I would rather be a manly pauper than an unmanly millionaire.

I ask every man, as an individual to think for himself and to do what he thinks to be right.

President Debs appealed to the men to commit no acts of violence but act in strict accordance with the law.

The strike had now reached St. Paul, Omaha, Denver, Trinidad, Cal.; Raton, N. M.; Cincinnati, St. Louis and Duluth, and no intimidation, no threats, no violence of any kind whatever was resorted to. When the men were asked to handle the Pullman cars, they simply stepped down and out.

CHAPTER IV.

AN APPEAL FROM DEBS.

As the light of dawn proclaimed the birth of a new day so the events that this day would bring forth was the all absorbing thought and theme of a great number of the American people.

All were anxious to learn the situation, whether interested in the boycott or otherwise, as by this time the whole western part of the United States had begun to feel the heavy hand of the American Railway Union boycott, and every railroad from the Missouri to the Pacific coast, from Manitoba to Mexico, and all centers of importance in the West, Southwest and Northwest were tied up, because the American Railway Union men, in the cause of humanity and right, would not operate them with Pullman sleepers attached, and the railroad managers, in the cause of oppression, would not allow them to run otherwise.

Thirteen roads centering in Chicago were now completely tied up, the Santa Fe, Chicago & Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific, Chicago & Western Indiana, Pan Handle, Monon Route, Chicago & Grand Trunk, Chicago & Erie, Illinois Central, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago & Great Western, Wisconsin Central and Cincinnati Southern, and the General Managers had begun to realize the futility of carrying on the fight, and if they had not received encouragement and aid from outside sources, would have in all probability ended the strike at once by dropping the Pullman cars.

As a prominent railroad man said when asked about the strike situation: "It is my opinion that the railroads will drop the fight just as soon as the American Railway Union can demonstrate the fact that Pullman cars can not be hauled without a long and expensive fight with their own employes. I know that this view of the case was taken by some of the managers at a meeting to-day, and Mr. Pullman will be notified that he must make a settlement with his men at once, otherwise the effected roads will drop his cars and resume business."

The Union now felt confident of success. President Debs said: "We are sure to win as our cause is just, there will be no disturbances as the men have orders that there must be no rioting and no interference whatever with the roads, other than to refuse to assist to operate them.

"Whatever the officials can do for themselves with the few men at their command let them do; we propose to be fair and square in this fight, and if within my power to prevent, not one spike belonging to any road will be damaged."

And thus the second day of the great strike came to an end.

June 28th added nine more roads to those already tied up.

The Chicago & Northwestern; Chicago & Alton; Union Pacific; Denver & Rio Grande; Chicago & Eastern Illinois; Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Stock Yard Terminals, making in all twenty-two roads out and twenty thousand men on strike in the city of Chicago, and not one act of violence committed that could be charged to a striker.

The Mobile & Ohio at this time succumbed to the boycott and sidetracked its Pullman cars promising not to haul them again until the strike was settled. This rail road is a large corporation, and its surrender to the American Railway Union was considered a great victory, and the directors at once ordered the boycott raised as far as this line was concerned.

Minneapolis and St. Paul was now beginning to feel the effect of the boycott.

The Northern Pacific was the first in the fight, and the same plan of action outlined at Chicago was followed at these points when the time came to make up passenger trains. The switchmen refused to couple on the Pullman's and were discharged.

The mediation committee at once took up the matter with the manager, asking him to re-instate the discharged men, which he refused to do, and as a result the entire system from the Pacific coast to Minneapolis and St. Paul was called out.

This plan was adopted and carried out on all the rail roads entering the Twin cities.

The boycott was no longer a fight in the interest of the Pullman employes alone but had resolved itself into a gigantic contest between organized labor on the one side, and organized capital on the other, and although up to this time there had been no violence, no loud demonstrations, no threats of any kind, the Illinois Central demanded troops to protect their property, and the militia was ordered out. On the Pan Handle the Cincinnati Express had the cars of Mr. Pullman detached, and the officials cried "riot" and asked from Sheriff Gilbert of Chicago a posse to protect the U. S. mail. This was furnished, and although the mail cars were not molested in any way, the officials refused to allow the mail to go forward without the Pullman sleepers attached.

Seven more railroads had now come under the ban of the boycott making in all twenty-nine at the close of the fourth day.

On June 29th President Debs issued the following appeal to railway employes of the country.

"The struggle with the Pullman company has developed into a contest between the producing classes and the money power of the country.

"This is what Lincoln predicted at the close of the civil war, and it was this reflection that gave the great emancipator his gloomiest forebodings. We stand upon the ground that the workingmen are entitled to a just proportion of the proceeds of their labor. This the Pullman company denied them. Reductions have been made from time to time until the employes earned barely sufficient wages to live, not enough to prevent them from sinking deeper and deeper into Pullman's debt, thereby mortgaging their bodies and souls, as well as their children's, to that heartless corporation.

"Up to this point the fight was between the American Railway Union and the Pullman company. The American Railway Union resolved that its members would refuse to handle Pullman cars and equipment. Then the railway corporations through the General Manager's association, came to the rescue, and in a series of whereases declared to the world that they would go into partnership with Pullman, so to speak, and stand by him in his devilish work of starving his employes to death. The American Railway Union accepted his gauge of war, and thus the contest is now on between the railway corporations arrayed solidly on the one hand, and the labor forces upon the other. Every railroad employe of the country should take his stand against the corporations in this fight, for if it should be lost corporations will have despotic sway and all employes will be reduced to a condition scarcely removed above chattel slavery; but the fight will not be lost. The great principle of American manhood and independence is involved. Corporate power, drunk with its own excesses, has presumed too far upon the forbearance of the American people, and, notwithstanding a subsidized press (to which there are many notable and noble exceptions), public sympathy is with the striking employes, who are merely contending for the right of their fellow toilers to receive living wages for their work.

"I appeal to strikers everywhere to refrain from any act of violence. Let there be no interference with the affairs of the companies involved and above all let there be no act of depredation. A man who will destroy property or violate law is an enemy, not a friend to the cause of labor. The great public is with us and we need only to maintain a dignified, honest, straight forward policy to achieve victory. Let it be understood that this strike is not ordered by myself nor by any other individual; nor is the strike inaugurated anywhere except by consent and authority from a majority of the employes themselves.

"Neither is this a fight simply of the American Railway Union. The question of organization ought not be raised, but every man who believes in organized railroad labor should take his stand on the side of labor, and its battles for his rights and those of his fellowmen. I have faith in the great body of railroad employes of the country and am confident they will maintain an unbroken front in spite of any opposition that may be brought to bear against them.

"I am perfectly confident of success. We cannot fail.

E. V. Debs.

CHAPTER V.

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SIDES WITH THE MANAGERS.

The fifth day of the great strike showed no cessation of hostilities, the entire Northwestern and Southwestern portion of the United States was practically at a standstill. Every road entering Chicago was partially, if not completely tied up, and the General Managers Association, under the leadership of John M. Egan was at sea.

They now realized that they had taken a contract that it would be difficult to fulfill, and without the co-operation of some greater power they would be defeated. A lack of confidence in their ability to subdue the strikers and compel them to work, was well illustrated in a meeting between Sir George Pullman and Vice-President Harahan of the Illinois Central. W. M. Daley, of New Orleans, was the only witness to the meeting and his presence undoubtedly saved Sir George from a masterly drubbing at the hands of Mr. Harahan. Mr. Pullman entered the office of Vice-President Harahan, and in the course of time his conversation turned to the strike and its effect on the Illinois Central.

This was the opening round.

It aroused all the ire in the portly form of Mr. Harahan, and with blazing eyes he turned on Sir George.

"You are not fit to govern men," he said; "instead of visiting your own works, you have a number of superintendents who furnish you with reports, and when they are colored to suit you take them as facts, and a result is business is embargoed, poverty stalks all over your grounds, you are alone responsible for the present condition of affairs on the railroads. Why don't you go among your employes and see things for yourself? If you did there would be no such trouble." Then followed a number of epithets such as thick head, incompetent, over-rated, and the official shook his fist under the stubby nose of Sir George in a very threatening manner. Mr. Pullman tried to speak, but the Vice-President broke in on him again. "You think you have a contract with this road that you can rub it in on us, but you can't, never will we submit to it, the railroads are losing $250,000 a day owing to your obstinacy. You are unfit to act as president of any company, and if you were to visit your much boasted town to-day, the chances are that you would be dealt with severely. Why, you are nothing but a figure head, you are not the actual president of the company, for if you were you would know something about it. You know nothing in regard to the actual state of affairs." It did not take long for the story to reach the different railroad centers about the city.

It came to the knowledge of the American Railway Union that J. M. Egan and Manager St. John of the Rock Island road had employed two thousand men in Canada to fill the places of the strikers, and steps were taken immediately to stop their importation, but with what success it was impossible to determine.

All this time the strike was spreading and the membership of the American Railway Union was increasing rapidly. The sensational reports of rioting and bloodshed in various yards proved upon investigation to be false, and beyond doubt circulated by the General Managers and eagerly seized by the subsidized press to win the sympathy of the public in the interest of the corporations.

The police when questioned positively denied the stories saying there were no grounds for the reports.

Marching orders were received at the headquarters of the Missouri U. S. troops, for the 15th infantry and though it was not known at the time the orders were received from Washington, it was soon learned that they were to go to Chicago and assist the General Managers to run their trains.

At this time occurred the tie-up at Minnesota Transfer, which was the most complete and effectual blockade of any in the strike district. The Minnesota Transfer represents nine different roads. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha; Great Northern; Northern Pacific; Minneapolis & St. Louis; Chicago Great Western; Wisconsin Central; Chicago, Burlington & Northern and Belt Line Ry.

All freight through the Twin Cities handled by these roads, is interchanged at this point. It is situated midway between St. Paul and Minneapolis and employes from three hundred to five hundred men according to the volume of business. This is a freight yard exclusively, and therefore had nothing to do with the handling of Pullman equipment. But this little technicality did not prevent this body of men from coming to the assistance of their brothers, and as each road was brought under the ban of the boycott they refused to handle cars or in any way assist them to operate their line.

On the night of the 1st day of July, the Milwaukee road now under boycott brought in five cars of beer for delivery to the Great Northern.

The men including the yardmaster refused to deliver the cars, and were sent home. A meeting was called for the night of July 2nd, and a committee appointed to wait upon the superintendent, Mr. D. M. Sullivan, and ascertain if the men were discharged. Mr. Sullivan answered in the affirmative, and an unanimous vote to strike was then taken, over three hundred men, the entire force with three exceptions quit work, and not a wheel was turned except by the superintendent himself, for ten days.

The general Managers now got in their fine work by utilizing the government. A Washington special to the Chicago Times says:

Our wretched administration is in the hands of the railroads, there is no doubt about it, Cleveland, Lamont, Olney and Bissel are at the beck and call of the corporations, from the White House down it has been determined to put forth every effort even to Gatling guns, to employ every arm of the government even to its Supreme Judges to destroy this strike and the laboring people concerned in it. The case is decided against the strikers in advance, the wired words of the General Managers are accepted as settled facts; what they ask for they will get, what they suggest will be adopted. The workingmen are to be ground beneath the heel of the military, and if necessary, to force them into submission they are to be sabered, bayoneted, shot down or taken prisoners or whatever is deemed sternly necessary to compel them to submit to such terms as their moneycrat owner sees fit to impose.

This is a railway administration. So promptly loyal has Cleveland proven himself to be that it is to be believed that should the companies desire it, they could have the Executive Mansion for a round house and the White House grounds for switching purposes.

The managers wired Olney to name Edwin Walker, who is attorney for the Milwaukee road as special solicitor for the government, to take measures against the strikers as they had no confidence in Milchrist.

He seemed weak, his term was soon to expire and he seemed inclined to avoid harsh measures ablest with the men. They wanted Walker, he was the corporation attorney in the country; he had been cradled by, and grown up at the knee of corporations; he was their body and soul in the life and death struggle with their employes.

They urged Olney to clothe Walker with the special United States authority to better protect them and overthrow the strike. By thus making the railway attorney Walker solicitor for the United States, the control of government power could be placed in the hands of the corporations to wield against the men. Walker was appointed by Olney and placed in control over Milchrist in the affairs of the strike. Mr. Walker was known personally by Olney, and Olney is at the present time one of the counsels of the Santa Fe and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and said to be a director of the latter road. He has been for years intimate with Mr. Walker, who, by the way, is a hot favorite of Fuller of the supreme bench. There was, therefore a dozen good reasons for this selection, which addressed themselves to Mr. Olney, who is in this not as a cabinet officer, but as a friend and director of railway corporations, and he therefore precipitately granted the request of the general managers. Bissel, also a railroad director, shows Olney's anxiety to come to the back of the roads. (The truth of the above correspondence could not be denied.) In this way the entire available force of troops at Ft. Sheridan, including infantry, cavalry and artillery was ordered out by the President of the United States to assist the railroad managers against the people. Such was the attitude of this government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" against the people. The railway managers having now secured the federal troops, proceeds to issue injunctions restraining the strikers from using the power of persuasion on those men still in the service, to induce them to quit. This order drawn up by Judges Wood and Grosscup was a lengthy one, and peculiarly in harmony with the corporation interest.

The Chicago Times, in an editorial says: In this Federal injunction, which is in the main eminently just and equally unnecessary, appears a claim in which certain persons named, and all other persons whatsoever are ordered to refrain from compelling or inducing, or attempting to compel or induce, by threats, intimidation, force or violence any of the employes of any of the said railroads, to refuse or fail to perform any of their duties, as employes of said railroads, in connection with the interstate business or commerce of such railroads, or the transportation of passenger or property between or among the states; or from compelling or inducing or attempting to compel or induce by threats, intimidation, persuasion, force or violence, any of the employes of any of said railroads, who are employed by said railroads and engaged in its service, in the conduct of interstate business or in the operation of any of its trains carrying mail of the United States or doing interstate business or transportation of passengers or freight, between and among the states, to leave the service of such railroad. The Times emphatically does not believe that any court whatever has a right to order men to refrain from attempting by persuasion to induce others to leave the employment they are engaged in. There is a natural law that in the end will prevail over the formal law built up by lawyers and courts. If as Judge Gary says, the law is common sense, this injunction will not stand, for common sense will certainly pronounce an orderly and respectful request to a railroad employee to give up his position and join the organized strikers, no crime. It is idle to plead that a discreet and just court will only enforce this injunction against actual law breakers, for there is in it an opportunity for injustice and oppression which makes it wholly bad. The injunction is becoming a menace to liberty, it is a weapon ever ready for the capitalist, and there should be more careful federal legislation limiting its use.

Certainly if the restraining order of Judges Wood and Grosscup be good law there is no sense in maintaining organized labor. Childlike trust in the benevolence and fairness of the employer must be the workingman's future policy if this injunction be made a precedent.

In the meantime the General Manager's association and the subsidized press were endeavoring to impress the public with the belief that the strikers were a lot of disorderly and riotous law breakers of the worst description. To show how much truth there was in these tales, I will give the statement of Capt. J. Hartnett as made after dispersing a mob. He said: There wasn't a railroad man in the whole outfit, but a lot of bums who thought they would have a lot of sport at the expense of the railroads. But we soon gave them a hustling, and I want to say this for the strikers, and by that I mean the real railroad men, they are orderly here and as quiet as possible, I have had no disturbance in any district that can be traced to railroad men. It is well known that on occasions like these every loafer turns loose and takes advantage of the strike to start a row, but the genuine railroad men are too sensible to cause any disturbance.

This was true also of all other cities engaged in the strike.

CHAPTER VI.

TROOPS AT BLUE ISLAND.

The Fourth of July dawned upon a scene that would start the blood of the signers of the Declaration of Independence leaping in flames of fire through their veins, if they could but reappear upon this land in the vigorous manhood of their youth; those heroes whose blood baptized the battlefields of Yorktown and Bunker Hill for the glorious cause of liberty and equal rights; and behold the spectacle of this day, they would think that they had fought, bled and died in vain, that victory after all was but defeat.

Military despotism reigned supreme. The great masses of the liberty loving people who were wont to celebrate this National holiday of Independence in a manner befitting the occasion, began to think. Their thoughts took them back to the days of English tyranny, and they ask themselves, must this fight be fought again? The thoughts were contagious, and when the American people began to think, their thoughts are dangerous. The battle must and will be fought again, but not with the weapons of '76, but with the weapon the old man can wield as well as the young; the ballot.

Wholesale arrests followed the arrival of the federal troops at Blue Island, free speech was eliminated, any man who passed along, who had the appearance of striker or sympathizer was promptly arrested, and that too without a warrant. The remark "that fellow is a scab," was sufficient to send a man to the guard house. A fireman was asked by his landlord, "where have you been lately?" That was enough, he was placed with other shackled prisoners in the guard house, but was released later on. In the morning there was a parade, but the old time patriotism was noticeably wanting, a fireman arrested for refusing to go to work, having a depressing effect. Patriotic speeches were prominent by their absence, and people began to wonder what day was being celebrated.

The bloodcurdling lawlessness and rioting by the strikers at Blue Island, as depicted by the corporation press; when simmered down to facts proved to be as false as other similar reports sent out by the plutocratic press. The so-called rioting amounted to nothing more or less than expression of thought, and I believe if the General Managers, corporation courts, Cleveland & Co., could conceive and put into execution some plan whereby they could put a restraining order on the minds of the striker and deny him the right to think, it would be done. The gist of the rioting as I said before was simply expression of thought. A man as he watched a train pass by remarked: "There are d——d few Pullmans anyway." He was promptly arrested. Another remarked that some fellow was a scab, and was also taken in. This and other like remarks were samples of the Blue Island rioting at Chicago.

Upon the arrival of the federal troops, the General Managers Association shifted the responsibility from their own shoulders to those of Uncle Sam, and the eager willingness that the representatives of the people exhibited to assist Sir Duke Pullman and the railroad corporation to subjugate and reduce the working people to a condition of serfdom, was sufficient evidence that the managers knew what they were about. They felt secure in the knowledge that their interest would be well taken care of by the administration, and sought the much needed rest that these weary sessions of plotting and scheming had earned for them.

CHAPTER VII.

A PROTEST FROM GOV. ALTGELD.

It was plain to be seen that the presence of U. S. troops in Chicago had a bad effect. The people felt disposed to resent this uncalled for interference of the President. His unwarranted and illegal action in sending federal troops into the state of Illinois uncalled for by the civil authorities (waiving all question of courtesy), was a reflection on the efficiency of the civil authorities to maintain order, and a direct insult to the intelligence and loyalty to the citizens of the state. The governor protested against this high-handed proceeding, and in no mild terms insisted that he was amply able and willing to preserve order if called upon to do so.

He assured the President that it was not troops the railroads needed but men to run their trains, and this was the exact truth, as the strikers were not interfering with the running of trains but refused to run them, and the companies could not operate their roads without the aid of the men who left the service.

But they needed a shield to hide their helplessness, and this they found in the federal troops, therefore it requires but little reasoning to understand the bad effect on the people, made by the presence of United States troops, equipped for war in time of peace. This ill feeling, mingled with curiosity produced excitement. Excitement invited the presence of the tough and lawless element, which was exactly what the railroad magnates were striving for, as the strikers had no intention of interfering with their trains, and they knew that it was necessary to incite rioting in order to have an excuse for not operating their roads.

Their devilish schemes succeeded only too well. A mob composed of the tough and hoodlum element congregated at the Rock Island yards and from Nineteenth to Fortieth Street, overturned box cars and destroyed everything that came in their way. The mob increased until not less than ten thousand people participated in the work of destruction, but be it said to the credit of the impartial press of that city, they announced that no strikers had taken part in the lawlessness. Mayor Hopkins, who went in person to the scene, said that from what he had heard, and what he could see for himself, that no railroad men were implicated in the depredations, and business men whose veracity could not be questioned corroborated his statement.

This occurrence was much to be feared by the strikers, as it was not the first time that such means had been employed to turn public sentiment from the side of the workingmen.

Realizing this the men did their utmost to prevent it, and by threats and entreaties tried to persuade the mob to desist from the work of destruction, but were successful only for a short time. One of the strikers remarked to an officer at the time: "By Heavens! this won't do, there is not a striker in that crowd; this is done to injure us, and those fellows are not trying to stop it," meaning the troops.

The strike had now reached Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo, and was rapidly spreading east, the entire country was in a whirlpool of excitement, and the strikers were jubilant. The general managers with the combined forces of the federal troops, state militia, and Cleveland and his cabinet could not operate the roads. One simple word from the general managers to Pullman would have been more effective in starting the trains than all the armies and courts in the United States or all the scabs from Canada, but rather than speak that one word, "arbitration," they would bankrupt every system of railroads in the country.

On July 5, President Cleveland received by wire the following protest from Gov. Altgeld of Illinois:

"Dear Sir:—I am advised that you have ordered federal troops to go into service in the state of Illinois. Surely the facts have not been correctly presented to you in this case or you would not have taken this step, for it is entirely unnecessary and as it seems to me unjustifiable. Waiving all question of courtesy I will say that the state of Illinois is not only able to take care of itself, but it stands ready to-day to furnish the federal government any assistance it may need elsewhere.

"Our military force is ample and consists of as good soldiers as can be found in the country. They have been ordered promptly, whenever and wherever they were needed. We have stationed in Chicago alone three regiments of infantry, one battery and one troop of cavalry, and no better soldiers can be found. They have been ready every moment to go on duty and have been and are now eager to go into service.

"But they have not been ordered out because nobody in Cook county, whether official or private citizen, asked to have their assistance or even intimated in any way that their assistance was desired or necessary.

"So far as I have been advised the local officials have been able to handle the situation, but if any assistance were needed the state stood ready to furnish 100 men for every one man required, and stood ready to do so at a moment's notice. Notwithstanding these facts the federal government has been applied to by men who had political and selfish motives for wanting to ignore the state government.

"We have just gone through a long coal strike more extensive here than in any other state because our soft coal fields are larger than that of any other state. We have now had ten days of the railroad strike, and we have promptly furnished military aid wherever the local officials needed it. In two instances the United States marshall for the southern district of Illinois applied for assistance to enable him to enforce the processes of the United States court and troops were promptly furnished him, and he was assisted in every way he desired. The law has been thoroughly executed and every man guilty of violating it during the strike has been brought to justice.

"If the marshall of the northern district of Illinois or the authorities of Cook county needed military assistance they had but to ask for it in order to get it from the state.

"At present some of our railroads are paralyzed, not by reason of obstruction but because they cannot get men to operate their trains. For some reason they are anxious to keep this fact from the public and for this purpose are making an outcry about obstructions in order to avert attention. Now, I will cite to you two examples which illustrate the situation: Some days ago I was advised that the business of one of our railroads was obstructed at two railroad centers, that there was a condition bordering on anarchy there—and I was asked to furnish protection so as to enable the employees of the road to operate the trains. Troops were promptly ordered to both points. Then it transpired that the company had not sufficient men on its line to operate one train. All the old hands were orderly but refused to go. The company had large shops in which worked a number of men who did not belong to the railway union and who could run an engine. They were appealed to to run the train but flatly refused to do so. We were obliged to hunt up soldiers who could run an engine and operate a train.

"Again two days ago appeals which were almost frantic came from officials of another road stating that at an important point on their line trains were forcibly obstructed and that there was a reign of anarchy at that place and they asked for protection so that they could move their trains. Troops were put on the ground in a few hours' time, when the officer in command telegraphed me that there was no trouble and had been none at that point, but the road seemed to have no men to run the trains and the sheriff wired that he did not need troops, but would himself move every train if the company would only furnish an engineer. The result was that the troops were there over twelve hours before a single train was moved although there was no attempt at interference by anyone. It is true that in several instances a road made an effort to work a few green men and a crowd standing around insulted them and tried to drive them away, and in a few other instances they cut off Pullman sleepers from trains. But all these troubles were local in character and could easily be handled by the state authorities. Illinois has more railroad men than any state in the Union, but as a rule they are orderly and well behaved. This is shown by the fact that so very little actual violence has been committed. Only a very small per cent of these men have been guilty of any infractions of the law. The newspaper accounts have in many cases been pure fabrications and in others wild exaggerations.

"I have gone thus into details to show that it is not soldiers that the railroads need so much as it is men to operate trains, and that the conditions do not exist here which bring the cause within the federal statutes, a statute that was passed in 1881, and was in reality a war measure. This statute authorizes the use of federal troops in a state where ever it is impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States within such states by the ordinary judicial proceedings. Such a condition does not exist in the state of Illinois. There have been a few local disturbances but nothing that seriously interfered with the administration of justice or that could not easily be controlled by the local or state authorities for the federal troops can do nothing that the state troops cannot do.

"I repeat that you have been imposed upon in this matter, but even if by a forced construction it were held that the condition here came within the letter of the statute, then I submit that local self government is a fundamental principle of our constitution. Each community shall govern itself so long as it can and is ready and able to enforce the law, and it is in harmony with this fundamental principle that the statute authorizing the president to send troops into states must be construed. Especially is this so in matters relating to the exercise of the police power and the preservation of law and order. To absolutely ignore a local government in matters of this kind, when the local government is ready to furnish assistance needed and is amply able to enforce the law, not only insults the people of this state by imputing to them an inability to govern themselves or an unwillingness to enforce the law, but is in violation of a basic principle of our institutions.

"The question of federal supremacy is in no way involved; no one disputes it for a moment but under our constitution federal supremacy and local self government must go hand in hand and to ignore the latter is to do violence to the constitution.

"As governor of the state of Illinois I protest against this and ask the immediate withdrawal of the federal troops from active duty in this state.

"Should the situation at any time get so serious that we cannot control it with the state troops we will promptly and freely ask for federal assistance, but until such time I protest with all due deference against this uncalled for reflection upon our people and again ask the immediate withdrawal of the troops. I have the honor to be,

Yours respectfully
John P. Altgeld,
Governor of Illinois."

To the above communication President Cleveland answered as follows:

"To the Hon. John P. Altgeld, governor of Illinois. Federal troops were sent to Chicago in strict accordance with the constitutions and laws of the United States upon the demand of the post office department that obstructions of the mails should be removed, and upon the representations of the judicial officers of the United States that process of law federal courts could not be executed through the ordinary means, and upon abundant proof that conspiracies existed against commerce between the states. To meet these conditions, which are clearly within the province of federal authority, the presence of federal troops in Chicago was deemed not only proper but necessary, and there has been no intention of thereby interfering with the plain duty of the local authorities to preserve the peace of the city.

Grover Cleveland."

CHAPTER VIII.

INCENDIARISM AND BLOODSHED.

The 6th day of July was one long to be remembered, as the first act of incendiarism was committed. A conflagration was started along the tracks of the Pan Handle, Baltimore & Ohio; Chicago & Northern Pacific, and Belt Line R. R., which terminated in the burning of whole trains of cars, switch houses and tool-houses belonging to these companies. A splendid tower house belonging to the Pan Handle was saved through the supreme efforts of the strikers, who tore away the burning sidewalks which connected the tool-house with the tower-house. This fine structure was recently built and cost the company $40,000. Upon the authority of the city police and firemen, I can state that the fires were started by a crowd of young hoodlums and toughs living in the vicinity, and the strikers were in no way responsible for them.

There was only a small crowd of these young toughs around the yards, they scattered in different directions and simultaneously fire broke out in different places. One boy was seen to set fire to a bunch of waste, and throw it into the empty cars as he ran, and the dry woodwork was soon a mass of flames. Between eight hundred and sixteen hundred cars were destroyed by this conflagration and the loss aggregated over $200,000, besides three men killed outright and seven wounded.

The peaceable and law abiding city of Chicago was feeling the effects of a reign of terror. Innocent men, women and children were being shot down or bayoneted by the tools of railroad corporations in a most cold blooded and heartless manner. According to the statements of eye witnesses some young fellows under the age of sixteen years, and therefore not strikers, threw stones at the soldiers who at once began to shoot indiscriminately into a crowd composed of men, women and children who had no connection whatever with the affair, then with fixed bayonets charged upon the people, and those who were unfortunate enough to be caught were severely dealt with. One old man, a Pole, who was standing in in his own door yard, and seeing the people run took fright and started into his house, was pursued by a soldier who saw him run and stabbed in the back. The old man fell shrieking to the ground, begging for mercy, when the brutal fiend plunged the bayonet twice more into the helpless form and left him in a dying condition.

One young lady was shot while standing on the roof of her own house, and fell a corpse in her brother's arm.

Still another victim was a man who was shot while standing in the doorway of his home and a rioter by the name of Burke was shot and killed in the charge.

In an editorial the Chicago Times says: "Let us examine the net results of the activity of the troops on Saturday; results of which the amateur soldier Brigadier General Wheeler remarked: "I am glad that the troops made a stand and that blood was shed." There is some conflict in the reports of the day's carnage, but the salient facts seem to be these:

"Three persons in all were shot dead, one of these, an eighteen year old girl, was standing on a distant house top watching the fray, when a bullet pierced her heart. Of course she was not a striker nor was her continued life a menace to American institutions.

"John Burke, identified by the police as a professional crook, was another victim and his presence in the mob adds evidence to the claim of the Times that the rioting was the work of chronic toughs and criminals and not of workingmen. Joseph Warzouski, the third to fall before a military bullet, was sitting smoking before his house door when wantonly shot down by a regular. He was not a striker, and not within one hundred yards of railroad property when murdered.

"Of the wounded five were women, one of whom looses an arm and another a leg. Six were boys under nineteen years of age, and one was a baby.

"The points which these facts demonstrate, is that the rioting is not the work of members of the American Railway Union, or in fact of workingmen of any organization, but the acts of toughs and pluguglies and boisterous boys, with whom this city like other large cities, abound. Though the crowd looks large and dangerous, the actual number of combatants is comparatively small, and the clubs of the police instead of the bullets and bayonets of the soldiers, would have been the proper weapons to use. Then Chicago would not have been disgraced by shedding the blood of women and children and taking innocent lives."

On July 6, Mr. Debs issued the following clear and succinct statement of the causes and status of the present condition of affairs:

"To the public:—So many misleading reports have been given currency in reference to the great railroad strike now in progress that I am prompted, in the interest of justice and fair play, to give the public an honest, impartial statement of the issues involved and the facts as they actually exist. My purpose in this is to have the great American public—the plain people—in every avenue of life conversant with the situation as it really is, that they who constitute the highest tribunal we know, may pass judgment upon our acts, condemn us if we are wrong, and uphold us if we are right.

"First of all let it be said that the Pullman employes who struck May 6th, last, did so entirely of their own accord."

"Their action in so doing was spontaneous and unanimous. They simply revolted against a series of deep-seated wrongs of long standing, and no power could stay them. It has been charged, and the charge has been widely accepted, that they were induced to strike by their "leaders" and labor agitators; that if left alone they would have remained at work. The charge is wholly untrue.

"The fact is that the officers of the American Railway Union used all their influence to pacify the employes and advised them repeatedly not to strike, but to bear patiently their grievances until a peaceable settlement could be effected. To the truth of this statement the employes themselves will bear willing testimony.

"But the grievances of the employes, men and women, had become so aggravated, so galling, that patience deserted them, and they abandoned their employment rather than to submit longer to conditions against which their very souls revolted. Whether they were right or not, let only those judge who comprehend the conditions under which these faithful employes toiled and groaned. Let us avoid sentiment. The bare facts will suffice, and they are haggard enough to excite the sympathy of every good citizen, rich or poor, employer or employed.

"The Pullman company, be it understood owns the town of Pullman, owns the houses, the homes of employes, controls the light and water, and other necessaries of life, and wages are so adjusted to living expenses that in a large majority of cases the employes are barely able to support their families. Proof overwhelming can be furnished. One instance will suffice. At the time they struck the employes were in arrears to the Pullman company $70,000 for rent alone. Wages had been repeatedly reduced but rent and other expenses had remained the same.

"At this rate it would be a question of a short time only until the employes would have been hopelessly involved in debt, mortgaged soul and body to the Pullman company.

"The employes from the beginning, have been willing to arbitrate their differences with the company. That is their position to-day. The company arrogantly declares that there is nothing to arbitrate. If this be true why not allow a board of fair and impartial arbitrators to determine the fact?

"At this point we appeal to the public as to whether the position of the employes is entitled to the sanction of the public conscience. If the employes were to assume the position of the Pullman company and defiantly declare they had nothing to arbitrate, and arbitrarily demand unconditional surrender as the only basis of settlement they would merit the condemnation of the public and it would certainly and swiftly fall upon them with crushing severity. Committee after committee waited upon the officials of the Pullman company with the vain hope of effecting a settlement. They were willing to make concessions, to compromise in the interest of peace. All their advances were repelled.

"The company was, and is, unyielding as adamant. Finally, June 12th, the delegates of the American Railway Union, representing 425 local unions of railway employes located on the principal lines of American railways, met in convention at Chicago. The Pullman trouble had been discussed at their local meetings. Many of the delegates came instructed. The grievances of the Pullman employes were taken under consideration, and two separate committees were sent to the officials.

"Not the slightest satisfaction could be obtained. As a last resort the delegates by a unanimous vote determined that unless the Pullman company would agree to do justice to their employes within five days, the members of the order would refuse to haul Pullman cars. This action be it remembered, was not taken until the strike had been on six weeks, and every conceivable effort to obtain redress had failed because of the obstinacy of the company.

"Up to this time the trouble had been confined to the Pullman company and its employes. How, then, did the strike extend to the railways? Let the answer be given in accordance with the facts. The day before the order of the delegates declining to haul Pullman cars, went into effect, the General Managers' association, representing the principal Western railways, met and passed a series of resolutions, declaring in substance that they would uphold the Pullman company in its fight upon the employes, that they would haul Pullman cars and that they would stand together in crushing out the American Railway Union. The resolutions in question were published in the city papers and can be referred to in substantiation of this averment. It will thus be seen that the railway companies virtually joined forces with the Pullman company, went into partnership with them so to speak, to reduce and defeat their half starved employes. In this way the trouble was extended from line to line, and from system to system until a crisis has been reached. The business of the country is demoralized to an extent that defies exaggeration.

"To say that the situation is alarming is entirely within the bounds of prudent statement. Every good citizen must view the outlook with grave concern.

"Something should, something must be done. The American people are a peace-loving people—they want neither anarchy or revolution. They have faith in their institutions, they believe in law and order, they believe in good government, but they also believe in fair play. Once aroused they will not tolerate arbitrary and dictatorial defiance, even on the part of an alliance of rich and powerful corporations.

"What can be done to dispel the apprehension that now prevails, and restore peace and confidence? The American Railway Union on whose authority and in whose behalf this statement is made, stands ready, has from the beginning stood ready, to do anything in its power, provided it is honorable to end this trouble.

"This, briefly stated, is the position the organization occupies. It simply insists that the Pullman Company shall meet its employes and do them justice. We guarantee that the latter will accept any reasonable proposition.

"The company may act through its officials or otherwise, and the employes through their chosen representatives. Let them agree as far as they can, and where they fail to agree, let the points in dispute be subjected to arbitration. The question of the recognition of the American Railway Union or any other organization is waived. We do not ask, nor have we ever asked for a recognition as an organization. We care nothing about that, and so far as we are concerned it has no part in the controversy. Let the officials deal with the employes without reference to organizations. Let the spirit of conciliation, mutual concession, and compromise animate and govern both sides, and there will be no trouble in reaching a settlement that will be satisfactory to all concerned.

"This done let the railway companies agree to restore all their employes to their situations without prejudice and the trouble will be ended. The crisis will thus be averted, traffic will resume and peace will reign. The railways are not required to recognize the American Railway Union. This has never been asked nor is it asked now.

"If there are those who discover in this statement a 'weakening' on the part of the employes, as has been so often charged when an exposition of the true attitude of our order was attempted, we have only to say that they are welcome to such solace as such a perverted conclusion affords them. We have been deliberately and maliciously misrepresented, but we have borne it all with an unwavering faith that the truth will finally and powerfully prevail. We firmly believe our cause is just, and while we hold that belief, we will not recede. If we are wrong we are ready to be convinced. We are open to reason and to conviction, but we will not be cowed or intimidated. Were we to sacrifice the multiplied thousands of wageworkers who have committed their interests to our hands and yield to the pressure of corporate power, we would be totally unworthy of American citizenship.

"It may be asked what sense is there in sympathetic strikes. Let the corporations answer.

"When one is assailed all go to the rescue. They stand together; they support each other with men, money and equipments. Labor, in unifying its forces, simply follows their example. The corporations established a precedent. If the proceeding is vicious and indefensible let them first abolish it.

"In this contest labor will stand by labor. Other organizations of workingmen have themselves felt the oppressive hand of corporate capital. They will not be called out, but will go out. And the spectacle of Mr. Pullman, fanned by the breezes of the seashore while his employes are starving, is not calculated to prevent their fellow wageworkers from going to their rescue by their only means at their command.

"A few words in reference to myself, although ordinarily I pay no attention to misrepresentation or vituperation, may not be out of place, not because of myself personally, but on account of the cause I have the honor to in part represent, which may suffer if silence is maintained while it is assailed with falsehood and malignant detraction. I shirk no responsibility, neither do I want credit to which I am not entitled. This strike was not 'ordered' by myself nor by any other individual. I have never 'ordered' nor 'called' anybody out. Under the rules of the American Railway Union members can only strike when a majority of the members so decide.

"The votes of the delegates in this instance was unanimous, and where ever men have struck they did so of their own accord. I have simply served the notice after the men themselves had determined to go out.

"This is the extent of my authority and I have never exceeded it. My alleged authority to 'call' or 'order' out has been made the pretext on which to assail me with every slander that malignity could conceive. So far as I am personally concerned, detraction cannot harm me, nor does it matter if it could. I do not amount to more than the humblest member of our order—perhaps not as much. Fate or fortune has assigned me a duty, and, no matter how trying the ordeal or severe the penalties I propose to perform it. The reflection that an honest man has nothing to fear sustains and comforts me in every hour of trial.

"In closing let me repeat that we stand ready to do our part toward averting the impending crisis. We have no false pride to stand in the way of a statement. We do not want official recognition. All we ask is fair play for the men who have chosen us to represent them.

"If the corporations refuse to yield and stubbornly maintain that there is 'nothing to arbitrate,' the responsibility of what may ensue will be upon their heads, and they cannot escape its penalties.

Eugene V. Debs."

CHAPTER IX.

SLAUGHTER OF CITIZENS.

The situation at Hammond, Ind., would compare favorably with Chicago in so far as the wanton shooting of innocent citizens was concerned. The town had become infested with a gang of toughs from Chicago, who overturned a number of box cars and blocked the passage of trains. About noon of July 8th, the U. S. troops arrived, and their appearance attracted large crowds of citizens on the streets, in the vicinity of the railroad tracks. The troops who were ensconced in passenger cars were being hauled up and down the track, when a gang of toughs attempted to overturn a Pullman coach. The soldiers, who could easily have left the coaches and placed the lawbreakers under arrest opened fire, but strange to say these sharpshooters, under instructions to shoot to kill, did not wound even one of the lawless rioters. Not so, however, with the citizens who were walking along the street and had no connection whatever with the mob. Charles Fleischer, who lived near with his wife and five children, walked down the street in search of his little son, when without a moment's warning he fell to the ground a corpse pierced with a law and order bullet. This man had no connection whatever with the riot nor even with the strike.

Miss Flemming, of Chicago, who was visiting friends in Hammond was on the street when the shooting occurred and was seriously injured by a shot in the knee. Wm. Campbell, Victor Dizuttner and an unknown man were also shot and seriously injured by the regulars without the slightest provocation.

These people had no connection with the rioters, were citizens of Hammond, and not on railroad property.

Bullets crashed through frame walls, and I was told by a man whose head was grazed by a bullet while in his room, that nothing short of a miracle saved many persons from being shot down in their own dwellings.

Mayor Reily whose anger knew no bounds, after the killing rushed to the telegraph office and wired Governor Matthews, asking if martial law had been proclaimed. I should like to know, he said, by what authority the U. S. troops come to our city and shoot down our citizens without the slightest warning.

Immediately after the fatal occurrence, A. Shields and Dr. F. E. Bell, representing the citizens of Hammond, wired Governor Matthews the following message: "Federal troops shooting down citizens promiscuously and without provocation. Cannot something be done to protect citizens? Act quickly."

The governor replied that he had sent troops to restore order, enforce law, and protect lives of law abiding citizens. Lawlessness and rioting must be suppressed. Citizens obeying law had nothing to fear.

Was ever military despotism more thoroughly demonstrated? What further proof was necessary than the reply of the chief executive of the state, to the citizens, that they were at the mercy of, and subject to the arrogant brutality of military despotism? The governor in his reply said: "Citizens obeying law have nothing to fear, that lawlessness must be suppressed." According to that we can only arrive at one conclusion; that the persons overturning cars and destroying property were obeying the law, as they were not shot down nor were they arrested, but on the other hand peaceable citizens who were in no way connected with the rioting, were shot and maimed by the troops.

The people were beginning to regard the law with suspicion, they no longer felt that sense of security, the implicit confidence, they were wont to place in the constitution. The law of to-day, if the interests of the railroad corporations so required, would be reversed to-morrow. Under those circumstances could it be wondered that the people were beginning to lose the respect that had been accorded the law, and to which it was entitled? Could it be wondered that they became restless and exhibited signs of revolting against such damnable brutality, and the indignities to which they were subjected under the guise of the law?

Cleveland was now beginning to fear, that in his eagerness to assist the railroads in crushing the strikers he had overreached himself and the wanton murder of citizens, he feared, might have a damaging effect on his future political plans. His uneasiness was quite apparent, while on the other hand his co-conspirator, Olney, was in a happy state of mind. He claimed to be able with the anti-trust bill, to break up every labor union in America.

The general managers, finding out that the city would not be held responsible for the loss of and damage to railroad property, were now in favor of removing the troops from the city of Chicago—but knowing the effect of such action after making an appeal for their assistance—did not ask for their removal.

The situation throughout the country had not materially changed, and the prospects for a final victory for the strikers looked very favorably.

General Miles circulated a story that ninety per cent of the citizens of Chicago were in sympathy with the Pullman company and the railroads.

The railway managers took advantage of this report and spread and distorted it in order to discourage the strikers.

Now for facts: The trades unions of Chicago alone represent 750,000 people, adding to this the membership of the railway unions you have a total of 900,000 or ninety per cent of the citizens, who were in direct sympathy with the strikers. And it was not confined to members of Unions alone; such men as Bishop Fallaws, Rev. Dr. Henson, Prof. E. W. Bennis, Rev. G. P. Brushingham, Rev. W. H. Carvardine, Mayor Hopkins and hosts of other men prominent in the affairs of the city endorsed the men and denounced the railroad corporations.

Resolutions by the score were passed by business men, by the Typographical Unions and other organizations endorsing the American Railway Union, and denouncing Pullman and the railroads, also condemning the action of Grover Cleveland in upholding the corporations against the workingmen.

Resolutions were passed requesting all sympathizers to wear a white ribbon, the badge adopted by the American Railway Union, and the sea of white ribbons to be seen in Chicago would not bear out the statement of Gen. Miles.

The labor unions now signified their willingness to strike in support of the movement if called upon by the American Railway Union.

Grover Cleveland at this time issued a proclamation which—to all intents and purposes—declared martial law in the city of Chicago. This was what Gen. Miles desired, as it virtually gave him full power to rule with despotic sway over the citizens and civil authorities.

The following protest was wired the President of the United States by President Debs, of the American Railway Union and Grand Master Sovereign of the Knights of Labor.

"To the Hon. Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C.

"Dear Sir:—Through a long period of depression, enforced idleness and low wages, resulting in wide spread poverty, and in many cases actual starvation, the working people have been patient, patriotic and law abiding, and not until the iron heel of corporate tyranny was applied with the intention to subjugate the working people to the will of arrogant monopolies, did they make any effort to stay their oppressors.

"The Pullman strike was not declared until the employes of the Pullman company were driven to the verge of starvation, their entreaties spurned with contempt, and their grievances denied a hearing. No refusal to handle Pullman cars was declared by any railway employe until all propositions looking towards arbitration and conciliation were rejected by the Pullman company. Notwithstanding the truths set forth above were known to the public and the national authorities, you have seen fit under guise of protecting the mails and federal property to invoke the services of the United States army, whose very presence is used to coerce and intimidate peaceable working people into a humiliating obedience to the will of their oppressors.

"By your acts, insofar as you have supplanted civil and state authorities with the federal military power, the spirit of unrest and distrust has so far been augmented that a deep seated conviction is fast becoming prevalent that this government is soon to become a military despotism. The transmission of the United States mails is not interrupted by the striking employes of any railway company, but by the railway companies themselves, who refused to haul the mail on trains to which Pullman cars were not attached. If it is a criminal interference with the United States mails for the employes of a railway company to detach from a mail train a Pullman palace car, contrary to the will of the company then it holds true that it is the same criminal interference whenever a Pullman palace car is detached from a mail train in accordance with the will of a railroad company while said mail train is in transit. The line of criminality in such a case should not be drawn at the willingness or unwillingness of railway employes, but at the act itself, and inasmuch as it has been the common practice of railway corporations to attach and detach from mail trains Pullman palace cars at will while said trains are in transit and carrying the mails of the United States, it would seem an act of discrimination against the employes of the railway corporations to declare such acts unlawful interference with the transmission of the mails when done by employes with or without the consent of their employers.

"In view of these facts we look upon the far-fetched decision of Attorney General Olney, the sweeping un-American injunctions against railway employes, and the movements of the regular army as employing the powers of the general government for the support and protection of the railway corporations in their determination to degrade and oppress their employes.

"The present railway strike was precipitated by the uneasy desire of the railway corporations to destroy the organizations of their employes and make the working people more subservient to the will of their employers; and as all students of government agree that free institutions depend for their perpetuity upon the freedom and prosperity of the common people, it would seem more in consonance with the spirit of democratic government if federal authority was exercised in deference of the rights of the toiling masses to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But on the contrary there is not an instance on record where in any conflict between corporations and the people the strong arm of the military power has been employed to protect the working people and the industrial masses from the ravage and persecution of corporate greed. But the measure of character has been in the line of declaring the corporations always good and in the right, and the working people always bad and in the wrong.

"Now, sir, we pledge to you the power of our respective organizations, individually and collectively, for the maintenance of peace and good order and the preservation of life and property, and will aid in the arrest and punishment of all violators of the civil and criminal laws of the state or nation. In the present contest between labor and railway corporations we shall use every peaceable and honorable means at our command consistent with the law and our constitutional rights, to secure for the working people just compensation for labor done and respectable consideration in accordance with the inherent rights of all men and the spirit of republican government. In doing so we appeal to all the liberty loving people of the nation to aid and support us in this most just and righteous cause.

By Eugene V. Debs,
President.

"Order of Knights of Labor,
By J. R. Sovereign,
Grand Master Workman."

CHAPTER X.

BUSINESS MEN'S PROTEST.

The town of Danville, Ill., was now visited by martial law with the result that two women were killed and two men fatally wounded. A non-union brakeman fired three shots into a crowd that was jeering him, whereupon some one in the crowd returned the fire hitting him in the neck. The militia then opened fire, killing a Mrs. Glennon who was standing in her own yard and Miss James seated at the organ in her own house. This was the effect of federal troops in Danville, and so it was in every town and city where Grover's minions were stationed. The damnable outrages perpetrated on the people of the commonweal by the federal troops under the guise of law and order was goading the citizens to a state of open rebellion. The business men of Chicago fearing a general outbreak determined on sending a committee to the Pullman company with a view to reaching a settlement whereby this dire calamity would be averted. A committee was formed composed of representative business men, members of the city council, and members of the various trades of the city. The committee met with no success.

Mr. Wickes, who represented the Pullman company, informed them that the company had nothing to arbitrate and wished to see no committee. The proposition they wished to submit to Mr. Wickes as the representative of the Pullman company was this: That Mr. Pullman had said there was nothing to arbitrate while the men contended that there was. Let the Pullman company appoint two men and the circuit court two men. Let these four select a fifth, if necessary, to determine if there was anything to arbitrate and in case there was, that would take care of itself later. If not, the strike would end just as soon as the decision was reached. Surely this proposition was fair and manly but speaking for the Pullman company Mr. Wickes flatly refused to entertain it for an instant. Alderman McGillen, who acted as spokesman, then made an eloquent plea for the Pullman company to take steps, which he considered would go far toward settling the strike. He said: "Mr. Wickes we received a request from the trades-unions—their representatives who are now here you have already met—to see if some means to settle this strike peaceably could not be found.

"It has been demonstrated that your company had no subject for arbitration, that the request of the employes for arbitration could not be acceded to?"

Mr. Wickes: "Yes, sir."

Ald. McGillen: "We are here to suggest that it might be possible to obviate all differences between the company and the men—strikers, ex-employes, or whatever you wish to call them. We would suggest a committee to ascertain whether there is any matter needing arbitration as you are a quasi public."

Mr. Wickes, interrupting: "Do you come as representatives of the city instructed by the mayor? We have nothing to arbitrate, the Pullman company cannot recede from its position."

Ald. O'Brien: "There must be some trouble?"

Mr. Wickes: "Our men made complaint, we promised to investigate, but before we had time to do so they struck."

Ald. O'Brien: "But that will not settle the matter."

Mr. Wickes: "Unfortunately not."

Ald. McGillen: "We suggest that this committee be made up of representative men, the best men in Chicago, men who occupy positions of honor."

Here attorney John S. Runnell appeared and was closeted with Mr. Wickes for a quarter of an hour.

On his return to the room Mr. Wickes said that neither the Pullman company or the railway manager's association created the situation of to-day. When our men went out we told them that we could not do the work at the scale of wages we were paying. We had contracts to fill then, some of them we let out and some we retained. No men can arbitrate this, you, as business men would let no man say how that business should be conducted.

Ald. McGillen then said: "You require protection from us. You call on the police, on the county, on the state, and on the nation for protection. Your only valued assets are the patents which the nation gives you in recognition of the genius which built the Pullman car. Remove that asset and you are ruined. You utterly ignore our request. It is not dishonorable men we ask to investigate your affairs. Think of the sickness, starvation, want, disaster and bloodshed which is coming if the strike assumes larger proportions. The climax is fast approaching and who will be to blame. I am here for the common weal, and I hope and beg of you not to refuse."

Mr. Wickes: "There is a principle involved. Every business should have the right to dictate to its own labor, we will brook no interference, national, state, county or municipal."

Ald. McGillen: "Compulsory arbitration is not a law but it will be if this strike does not stop."

Mr. Wickes: "We have nothing to arbitrate."

Ald. Warreinner: "We are not asking for arbitration, we want a committee appointed to see if there is need of it. Will you consent to that?"

Mr. Wickes: "No."

Ald. McGillen: "In the name of humanity let me beseech you to reconsider your negation."

Mr. Wickes: "Gentlemen, the Pullman company has nothing to arbitrate, we want to see no committee, the Pullman company cannot recede from its position. This is final."

When the committee met again at 4:30 to make its final report, it was completely discouraged. Mr. Elderkin stated the proposition that had been made to the Pullman company and its direct refusal. The alderman begged the labor representatives not to strike and cause widespread suffering.

The general manager's and Pullman's position was so clearly defined that it would be impossible for the public to fail to see it in any but its true light.

The companies were losing millions of dollars but the general managers had determined if necessary to bankrupt every system in the United States in order to crush labor organizations out of existence. The Pullman matter was something of the past, with them they were after the labor organizations, and they were after them with a vengeance.

The government was backing them. The attorney general of the United states,—a corporation attorney as well,—had pledged himself to disrupt every labor organization in the country. President Cleveland, another railroad attorney, had encouraged and abetted them to the same end.

With the subsidized press, the bankers unions, the moneycrat manufacturers and the federal courts arrayed against them, what in the name of justice could they expect?

Surely the martyred president and savior of mankind, the immortal Lincoln, must have anticipated the present deplorable condition when in his message to the second session of the thirty-seventh congress,—to be found in the appendix to the Congressional Globe of the thirty-seventh congress, second section, page 4—when he said: "Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism. It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions, but there is one point with its connections not so hackneyed as most others to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital, that nobody labors unless somebody else owning capital somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. * * * Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration. * * * No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost."