ANNALS
OF THE
GREAT STRIKES
IN THE UNITED STATES.
A Reliable History and Graphic Description of the Causes and Thrilling
Events of the Labor Strikes and Riots of 1877.
ILLUSTRATED.
BY
HON. J. A. DACUS, PH.D.
_Late of the Editorial Staff St. Louis Republican._
CHICAGO:
L. T. PALMER & CO.
PHILADELPHIA, W. R. THOMAS:
ST. LOUIS, SCAMMELL & CO.: CINCINNATI, W. S. FORSHEE & CO.
1877.
COPYRIGHTED.
L. T. PALMER & CO.
A. D. 1877.
GEO. J. TITUS & CO., KINGSBURY & WILSON,
PRINTERS. BINDERS.
[Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN THE MILITARY AND THE RIOTERS AT THE
HALSTEAD STREET VIADUCT.]
PREFACE.
To collect and arrange the facts and incidents connected with the
history of the great labor strikes in this country, is an undertaking of
so much importance that it must commend itself to the favorable
consideration of the American people. The interest in events of the
nature and character of those treated of in the following pages cannot
prove to be ephemeral. An epoch in the history of the nation is here
marked, and from it will be dated the beginning of political
discussions, and social movements which are destined to enlist the
profound attention of thinking minds throughout the civilized world.
These events are phenomenal. The world is witness to a spectacle, the
like of which has never before been presented. A Republic still regarded
in the light of an experiment, having lately terminated a long and
fierce sectional conflict by engaging in one of the greatest wars of
modern times; having achieved order, reconciliation and peace between
all sections, having demonstrated the greatness and magnanimity of the
people; having extorted from the enemies of liberal institutions
acknowledgements that self-government was a possibility, having
accomplished all these things—this Republic suddenly startles the world;
drowns the noise of strife on the Bulgarian plains, and among the
Balkans, and draws exclusive attention to a social _emeute_ on this side
the Atlantic, unparalleled in the annals of time. Astonishing as was the
suddenness of the movement, yet no less surprising was the facility and
rapidity with which law, order, and profound peace were restored.
In this uprising of the laborers against their employers, aggravated as
it was by the early appearance on the scene, of a vast number of
theorists, and dangerous characters, who sought their opportunity,
during the reign of general tumult to subvert the very fundamental
principles of social order, we have gained a deeper knowledge of the
character of the American people. Sudden as a thunder-burst from a clear
sky, the crisis came upon the country. Hundreds and thousands of men
belonging to the laboring classes, alleging that they were wronged and
oppressed, ceased to work, seized railroads, closed factories,
founderies, shops and mills, laid a complete embargo on all internal
commerce, interrupted travel, and bid defiance to the ordinary
instruments of legal authority. Commencing at Camden Station, Baltimore,
and at Martinsburg, West Virginia, in three days the movement had
extended to Pittsburgh, Newark, Ohio, Hornellsville, Fort Wayne and a
hundred other points. State militia forces were encountered and
repelled. The whole country seemed stricken by a profound dread of
impending ruin. In the large cities the cause of the strikers was
espoused by a nondescript class of the idle, the vicious, the visionary
and the whole rabble of the Pariahs of society. No standing army was
available, and these classes absolutely controlled the country.
During these few days of the reign of the strikes, it seemed as if the
whole social and political structure was on the very brink of ruin. From
the Atlantic to the Pacific the laws were momentarily subverted;
officers, civil and military were for the time being powerless to compel
or restrain, yet the outrages committed, such as might have been
expected in a time of high excitement and the reign of passion, were
confined to a few great cities, in which a large element of vicious and
idle persons were to be found.
These are features of the Great Strikes which awaken our profound
attention, and demand that the record be made up while the events are
still fresh in the minds of the people. No better testimonial to the
sterling worth of the American character, no better evidence of their
fitness for self-government, can be produced than is furnished by their
conduct in rising in majesty in favor of law and order, during the
Nation’s trials. The American people are emphatically upholders of the
principles of social order and the reign of law. For these reasons the
author has undertaken the onerous task of gathering up the scattered
facts which go to make up the complete history of the Great Strikes.
In the preparation of this work, the author has experienced no little
difficulty, not from the paucity, but from the plethora of materials at
hand. Care has been exercised to separate fiction from fact, and every
possible endeavor has been made to secure accuracy in statements and
details. In all cases, where it has been possible to do so, a careful
investigation as to the correctness of alleged facts has been gone into
by the author. It is believed, that in all essential respects, the
volume herewith presented for the approval of the American public, is
accurate and reliable. The brief time which has elapsed since the events
treated of occurred, has of course rendered it impossible to make a
thorough investigation of minor incidents. The author does not claim for
his work a high standard of literary excellence, but the claim is
preferred, that it possesses real historical value, inasmuch as all the
principal events of the critical period through which the country has
passed are here concisely and truthfully recorded. For these reasons the
work is commended to the consideration of an appreciative public.
J. A. DACUS.
St. Louis, Mo., Sept., 1877.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
_Relations Between Capital and Labor._
Condition of the Country—The Duty of Patriotic Citizens—The
Mistakes of Capitalists—The Faults of the Workingmen—The Poor
Man’s Hopes the Rich Man’s Protection—The Conditions of Social
Order. 15
CHAPTER II.
_Strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad._
A Circular to Employes—Ten per cent. Reduction in Wages
Announced—How the News was Received—A Delegation of Employes—The
Officers of the Road will not Reconsider—Commencement of the
Strike—Trains Stopped at Martinsburg—Trouble at Baltimore. 27
CHAPTER III.
_A Day of Dread._
The Strike Continues—The Governor of West Virginia Confesses his
Inability to Suppress Disorders—An Appeal to President
Hayes—Proclamation of the Chief Magistrate—Military Companies
Disarmed by Strikers—The Third Day of the Strike, and the Alarms
it brought—Wide Extent of the Disorders—Portentous Mutterings. 36
CHAPTER IV.
_Culmination of the Crisis._
Soldiers and Strikers—Fears Realized—From Baltimore to
Chicago—Pittsburgh Affected—The Pennsylvania Railway
Embargoed—Intense Excitement Throughout the Country—Successful
Emissaries—Immense Extent of the Labor Movement. 46
CHAPTER V.
_Riot and Ruin._
Progress of the Great Strikes—Social Disorders—“The Dangerous
Classes”—The Commune Comes Upon the Scene—Intense Excitement
Throughout the Country—Dealings with Death in Baltimore—Alarm
Throughout the Country—Proclamations and Orders. 56
CHAPTER VI.
_The Tocsin Sounds in Baltimore._
The Gathering Mob—Thronged Streets and Angry Men—Terrible
Exhibition of Passion and Temerity—Soldiers Stoned by
Rioters—Sharp Volleys and Sudden Deaths—A Night of Terror—Alarm
Bells—The Torches’ Red Glare. 67
CHAPTER VII.
_The Internationalists._
The Baltimore Mob Not Railroad Strikers—The Communistic Tendency in
American Cities—Destructive Theories—Danger to the Country
Threatened—An Element to be Feared—Some Account of the Origin of
the Association. 76
CHAPTER VIII.
_The Reign of Anarchy._
The Commune in Baltimore—A Paralyzed State Government—An Appeal to
the President—A Perilous Situation—Apprehensions felt by the
Administration—Another Riot—Clubs and Skulls—A Mob of Twelve
Thousand People—From the Atlantic to the Mississippi—The Country
in an Uproar—Precautions—Unparalleled Demonstrations. 88
CHAPTER IX.
_The Trouble in Pennsylvania._
Beginning of the Strikes—The Cause Assigned—The System of “Double
Headers”—Formidable Character of the Movement—Freight
Transportation Suspended—No Concessions—Measures of Repression
Taken—Dangerous Indications in Pittsburgh. 100
CHAPTER X.
_A Night of Terror at Pittsburgh._
The Culmination—A Sea of Fire—Death-Dealing Volleys—The Spirit of
Desolation Lighting the Torch of Destruction—A Horrible
Spectacle—A Reign of Terror—The Commune Gains a Brief but Fearful
Ascendancy—The City Sacked by a Howling Mob—An End of all Lawful
Authority—The Ghouls of Pillage Abroad in the Glare of the
Devouring Fires—Millions of Property Resolved into Smoke and
Ashes. 112
CHAPTER XI.
_Given Over to Pillage._
The Great Conflagration—Demoniac Satisfaction—The Reign of the
Commune—Besieged Soldiers—Abandoned Artillery—The Miserable
Retreat—Pittsburgh Given Over to the Mob—Scenes of
Pillage—Citizens at last Aroused—A Vigilance Committee—Restoring
Order. 129
CHAPTER XII.
_General Movements in Pennsylvania._
Difficulty at Erie—Rioters near Bethlehem—Sunbury Strikers—A Rabble
at Altoona—Meadville Militia—Mauch Chaunk Characters—Lebanon
Valley Villianies—Marietta Marauders—Wilkesbarre
Disturbances—Shenandoah Colliers—Hazards at Harrisburg—Scranton
Miners—Hazelton Isolated—The Johnstown Murders. 143
CHAPTER XIII.
_The Tumult at Buffalo._
The Beginning of the Trouble—A Militia Company Arrives—Exasperated
Strikers—Business Suspended—The Railways all Cease to Transport
Freight—Threatening Outlook—Governor Robinson’s
Proclamation—Military Movements—The Strike Collapses. 154
CHAPTER XIV.
_The Federal Administration._
Precautionary Measures—The Rioters Declared to be in a State of
Insurrection—Indications of Trouble in other Regions—General
Schofield ordered to Washington—Determination to send General
Hancock to Pittsburgh—The Rule of the Mob to be Overthrown by the
Friends of Law and Order. 164
CHAPTER XV.
_Affairs in Philadelphia._
The Call for Troops—Gathering the Militia—Anxious Days—Governor
Hartranft and Mayor Stokely—A Street Riot—Dispersing a
Meeting—Colonel Thomas A. Scott and the Locomotive
Engineers—Philadelphia a Nicer Place than Pittsburgh. 182
CHAPTER XVI.
_The Strike on the Erie Railroad._
The Strike at Hornellsville—The Road Completely Blockaded at that
Point—The Demand of the Strikers—Action of the Officers of the
Road—The Situation at the Home Office, New York—Apprehensions of
Further Complications. 192
CHAPTER XVII.
_Reckless Slaughter at Reading._
The Fourth Pennsylvania Militia at Reading—General Frank Reeder
Undertakes to Restore Order—Bold Rioters Tantalize the Citizen
Soldiery—Without Orders They Fire into a Crowd of Peaceable
Citizens—Thirteen Killed and Thirty-seven Wounded—Not a Rioter
Hurt—A Boy Horribly Mangled—Five Police Officers Victims of the
Bullets—A Lady Shot, while Engaged at her Sewing Machine—Terrible
Anger of the Citizens and Rioters—Threats of the Mob—General
Reeder’s Sworn Statement. 205
CHAPTER XVIII.
_Jersey Trainmen._
Threatened Riot at Phillipsburgh—The Trainmen’s Strike—Intense
Excitement at Trenton—Governor Bedle Takes Decisive
Action—Disagreeable Demonstrations at Jersey City—Militia at
Hoboken—Governor Bedle goes to Newark and Jersey City—Guarding a
Bridge at Brunswick—Soldiers Sympathizing with Strikers—The
Jersey Central Railway—Relieved Soldiers Rejoicing. 223
CHAPTER XIX.
_New York Agitated._
The Excitement in the Great City—“The Dangerous Classes” Carefully
Watched—Getting Ready for Contingencies—Numerous Regiments of
Militia Ordered Out—No Strikes but Serious Apprehensions Felt—The
Internationals Active—A Great Communistic Meeting in Tompkins
Square—What They Demanded of Society—Gay Times at the
Armories—Ready Warriors without Foes to Face—Escaped the Danger. 234
CHAPTER XX.
_Away from the Metropolis._
Rochester’s Wave of Trouble—A Slight Shock at Albany—Syracuse
Seriously Threatened—Other Places Experience Some Uneasiness—The
Conclusion of the Blockade at Hornellsville—The Empire State
Comes out of the Great Strikes Almost Unscathed. 258
CHAPTER XXI.
_Onward Through Ohio._
Events in the Buckeye State—An Ugly Mob at Columbus—Marching Around
and “Shutting Manufactories Down”—Festive Firemen at
Collingswood—Marching Through Zanesville—The Breeze at
Newark—Cincinnati’s Fortunate Escape—A Mayor Harmless but Wise—He
Talks Kindly to the Strikers—And They Hear Him Gladly—Trouble at
Toledo. 272
CHAPTER XXII.
_Insolence in Indiana._
The Strike Inaugurated at Fort Wayne—Trackmen and
Trainmen—Indianapolis Taken in—Terre Haute Yields to the Popular
Uprising—Miners at Brazil—Mayor Cavin of Indianapolis Indisposed
to Interfere—Governor Williams not Certain that it is any of his
Concern Except to Keep the Peace—United States Judges and
Bankrupt Railroad Receivers—Freaks of the Strikers—They Capture a
Railroad. 289
CHAPTER XXIII.
_Chances for Chicago._
The Tidal Wave Reaches the Illinois Metropolis—The Bad Elements
Restive—The Tramps Marching in by Hundreds—Chances for
Plunder—The Commune Commences—Boastful Manifestos—Absurd
Demands—The Social Atmosphere Grows Misty—Precautionary Measures
by Civil and Military Authorities—Noisy Demonstrations of the
Internationalists—Citizens Philip Van Patten and George
Schilling. 307
CHAPTER XXIV.
_Pistols and Clubs._
It Comes at Last—Riotous Roughs—Socialists Serving Satan—A Well
Organized Police Force—The Military all Ready—Hot Heads at
Halstead Street—Resisting Arrest—The Police Persist, are Resisted
and resort to Pistols and Clubs—Intense Excitement—A Scene of
Bloodshed and Death—At the Viaduct—Triumphant Law—Roughs
Retire—Dead in the Streets—Then Peace. 327
CHAPTER XXV.
_Anxious Days Elsewhere in Illinois._
At the State Capital—Peoria Strikers—Miners in the Southern
Section—The Braidwood Troubles—Troops Sent Down—Matters at
Mattoon—Effingham Idlers—The Trainmen at Many Points—Shutting up
Shop in Various Provincial Towns—Peace Restored. 343
CHAPTER XXVI.
_Blockade of the Great Bridge._
Excitement in East St. Louis—Scenes on “Bloody Island”—Council of
the Trainmen—A Night at Heims Hall—Hite’s Thrilling Oratorical
Flight—“Oppressed Labor”—“The Executive Committee”—Bold Jack
Benson—Organized for Business—Across the Great Bridge—Trains
Stopped—Slight Dissension Among the Strikers—Blue Coats in the
Early Morning—General Jeff. C. Davis Moves Over—Resigning
Potentates—Governor Cullom—General Bates—Exemplary Conduct of the
Strikers—The Last Scene. 352
CHAPTER XXVII.
_Demonstrations in St. Louis._
The Strike in the West—East St. Louis sends Emissaries Across the
Great Bridge—The Workingmen Aroused—The Valley Metropolis Shaken
by a Mighty Wave of Excitement—Marching Mobs—The
Internationalists—Vox et Præterea Nihil—Black Bummers—Disgraceful
Scenes—The Mob—Demand of the Pacific Railroad Employes—Oliver
Garrison, General Manager—How he Broke the Back-bone of the
Strike—Measures for Protection. 365
CHAPTER XXVIII.
“_The Storming of Schuler’s Hall._”
“To Arms!”—Down with Lawlessness—The Giant of Communism rather
Ghostly—Governor Phelps—Mayor Overstolz—General A. J. Smith—The
Mighty Executive Committee—More Phantom than Fact—An Important
Undertaking—Seven Hundred Armed Men—They March to Storm the Hall
of “The Workingmen’s Party of the United States”—Schuler’s Hall
Captured—The Vanquished Commune—A Grand Parade—Prevention better
than Cure. 387
CHAPTER XXIX.
_Minor Incidents of the Missouri Strikes._
Interest in the Strikes—Kansas City—The Sedalia Trainmen—The
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway—Hannibal and St. Joe—“Strike
Smashers”—The General Tumult—Growing Quiet—The Decline—The
End—Peace. 406
CHAPTER XXX.
_San Francisco’s Problem._
The Workingmen’s Sympathies for Strikers—A Mass Meeting—The
Hoodlums on the Alert—Concocting Mischief—Race
Riots—Incendiarism—Chinese Wash Houses—The Hoodlum’s
Aversion—Destructive Conflagration—A Vigilance Committee—Chasing
the Roughs—A Bloody Scene—The Aroused Citizens Crush the Mob
Spirit—Peace Restored. 413
CHAPTER XXXI.
_The South and the Strikes._
All Serene in Dixie—A Slight Ripple in Texas—Speedy Restoration of
Peaceful Relations—“Old Virginia Never Tires”—Southern Men Offer
Services to Restore Order in Northern States—The Era of Sectional
Harmony—Law and Order. 428
CHAPTER XXXII.
_Minor Developments of the Strikes._
How a Strike was Averted on the Union Pacific Railroad—Concessions
to the Men—A Settlement at Memphis Tennessee—Declaration of the
Supreme Council of the Labor Union—Order of Melakhto—Rights and
Privileges—Sympathizers with the Strikers—The Engineers’
Brotherhood at Pittsburgh—Views and Opinions. 466
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR.
Condition of the Country—The Duty of Patriotic Citizens—The Mistakes
of Capitalists—The Faults of the Workingmen—The Poor Man’s Hopes the
Rich Man’s Protection—The Conditions of Social Order.
Republican government in this country, has just been subjected to a
strain greater than any which our system has been before required to
sustain. It is true, that great armies were not organized to meet in the
shock of battle as in the civil war between the North and South. Nor
were powerful sections arrayed against each other. But the phases
assumed by the recent conflicts are far more threatening to social
organization and political stability, than was the terrible contest
waged between sections from 1861 to 1865. In that collision, the North
represented the idea of the organic unity of the several States of the
Federal Government, the South the idea of State Sovereignty, but both
represented the principles of social order, and contended for the reign
of law. But we have witnessed an uprising of no mean magnitude, which
represented nothing in common with the fundamental principles of
Republican institutions. The history of the Great Strikes of 1877,
affords materials for thought, a basis for the most profound
reflections.
The causes which produced the results, so startling to the friends of
liberal institutions, have not ceased to operate, and as a consequence
the records of the events connected with the inception, progress and
culmination of the disorders, must prove to be an interesting study to
all thinking minds. The very foundations of American society have been
disturbed; the whole political structure has been made to sway to and
fro, as if about to be overthrown.
The strength, the fearful power, which stopped the wheels of commerce,
closed the marts of trade, and threatened to engulf all wealth,
institutions, social organization,—everything in the vortex of ruin, was
not the offspring of a conspiracy, was not generated by elaborate
planning, and did not result from mature deliberation. And in this very
fact, the man of calm reflection discovers, not far ahead, the rocks on
which the ship of State is likely to be driven—on which every hope of
mankind may be wrecked. If it had been a deliberately planned and
concerted movement; if those engaged in it had exhibited evidence of
organization, then its failure would have given a better promise of
enduring peace and order. But the spontaneity of the movement shows the
existence of a wide spread discontent, a disposition to subvert the
existing social order, to modify or overturn the political institutions,
under which such unfavorable conditions were developed. Somewhere, there
must be something radically defective either in the system, or in the
manner of its control. Such spontaneous demonstrations by large masses
of the people, as have been witnessed in the United States in the year
1877, do not take place without a sufficient cause. To discover that
cause and take measures for its removal, is one of the first and most
important duties required of the patriotic citizen.
Theories in abundance have been advanced; oracular assertions that this
or that measure of the general government is responsible for the
existing unrest, have been made; the convenient talk about shrinkage in
values; the failure of the government to furnish the people with a
sufficient supply of legal tender treasury notes; the payment of the
interest on the National debt; the protective tariff; the demonetizing
of silver, all these have been assigned as the cause of “hard times,”
and to the “hard times,” as the immediate cause, the scenes described in
this work are attributed. But are these sufficient to furnish an
explanation satisfactory to the student of social science? Never before
in this country—perhaps in no other country in the world—have so vast a
number of men taken part in riots and strikes for increased wages. It
was an impulsive, perhaps an imprudent outburst, and certainly it was
characterized by violence and lawlessness, that cannot be palliated or
excused. The supremacy of the law is an essential condition of social
order, and without social order, the right to private property, the
right to personal security cannot be assured. Social disorganization
means political death. With the reign of anarchy commence the miseries
of the people without distinction of class. In the throes of expiring
society, all alike become victims.
But social disorders cannot take place in the midst of a prosperous
community. The alarming movements of the present year are the logical
results of the condition of society. They are but evidences of deep
sufferings among a large class of the people of this country. Somewhere
great wrongs have been committed, and society must pay the penalty for
crimes. The study of the natural causes that govern the rate of wages,
is a study of the causes that distribute wealth to the mass of mankind.
Capitalists cannot afford to oppress laborers, because such oppression
endangers their own security. It is a fact that in those countries where
the highest wages are paid we find the highest type of civilization, and
a more equal distribution of wealth. Where a large majority of the
people are poor, the few who are rich cannot be assured of protection.
It is in the power of those above to lift up those below; but it
requires time for the operation of moral and natural causes, while it is
but the work of a day for the lowest to drag down the highest. The first
ripple of disturbance to the industry of the country is felt soonest by
those nearest to destitution, and the problem is how to remove that
small number from want, and thus ensure social security. This cannot be
done except as wealth is more bountifully distributed to them through
higher wages. The part of wisdom, it seems, should dictate such a policy
by the owners of capital. The American people are not yet ripe for
anarchy, because perhaps a majority of the adult population either have
homes, or cherish the hope that they will have homes, and because of
this interest in the government, they are the staunch friends of order,
and the upholders of law. But neither government nor social order can be
maintained when the majority of the people are homeless and hopeless.
The poor man’s hopes are the rich man’s protection. The condition of
Mexico may be cited as an illustration of the position here taken. A
country containing a population of upwards of nine millions of souls is
owned by less than a hundred thousand proprietors. What has been the
result of this ill-distribution of wealth? The answer is, fifty years of
anarchy. The poverty of the masses is fatal to the security of the
wealthy proprietors. In Mexico wages are at least fifty per cent. less
than the average in the United States. That country has sunk beneath,
even the contempt of the most enlightened nations.
But the evil results of low-paid labor should be anticipated in good
season, before it inundates and overwhelms the nation, and destroys
every hope of a successful republic.
It is cheap labor, more than any other fact, that most endangers our
institutions—cheap labor serving corporate wealth, intent upon nothing
but _more_ wealth. Here is where capitalists make the gravest mistake,
and the great strikes of the present year should be taken as a wholesome
warning. Capitalists consider their direct interest in the cheap labor
they hire, and not their indirect interest in the dearer labor that buys
what wealth wishes to sell.
The number of laborers who can buy, must be large, or many of those who
produce to sell will have little or nothing to do. Buyers are as
important, in order to have prosperity, as sellers; and those who buy
are those who have something with which to pay. Poverty demoralizes,
destroys self respect, and in time will make the honest laborer a
dangerous member of society, by lowering his opinions. And this lowering
of the opinions of the laboring class with respect to the mode in which
they should live, is perhaps the most serious of all evils that can
befall them. Let them once accept the alternative presented by Henry
Ward Beecher, and undertake to exist upon “bread and water,” and become
contented with such a condition, and they may bid a long adieu to
anything better. It does not require a very profound observer to arrive
at the conclusion that the best interests of society, the interest of
the capitalists themselves, require that the rate of wages should be
elevated as high as possible,—that a taste for comforts and enjoyments,
should be widely diffused, and if possible, interwoven with national
habits and prejudices.
But justice compels to the declaration that such has not been the policy
of the managers of the great corporations in this country. They have
persistently sought to reduce wages of the laborers, while at the same
time there has been a gradual increase in salaries paid to the managers
and their assistants. Thomas A. Scott while receiving one hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars in salaries per annum, for managing
property interests which in part belongs to himself, cannot very
consistently insist upon a sum less than four hundred dollars per annum,
as the proper compensation for the services of a man whose peculiar
employment requires that he must be vigilant, prompt, and constantly
exposed to danger. Then again, the system of watering stocks of
railroads and other corporations, debars the managers from the privilege
of pleading a failure to earn interest as an excuse for cutting down the
wages of labor. Perhaps Wm. H. Vanderbilt is not able to secure ten per
cent. interest on the stocks of the New York Central Railroad. But it
must be remembered that the par value of the stocks of the New York
Central Railroad, exceeds eighty-two thousand dollars per mile, or
upwards of fifty-five thousand dollars per mile more than the cost of
the road—more than the actual cash investment. It is quite possible that
Mr. Vanderbilt would have no difficulty in earning a dividend of fifteen
per cent. on the actual amount of money invested, and have enough
earnings left to make a handsome dividend to every employe of the road.
And here we find the immediate, potent cause of the Great Strikes.
Depression in business, but more important still, depression in
transportation rates brought about by the jealousies and hostility to
each other of Thomas A. Scott, John W. Garrett, and William H.
Vanderbilt, rendering it necessary to reduce operating expenses in order
to “make something,”—that is ten per cent. on their largely increased
amount of stock. The lower order of laborers were first to feel the
weight of this curtailment of income. Meanwhile the higher grades of
employes were still receiving salaries not much less than were obtained
ten years ago, when the whole country was enjoying unparalleled
prosperity. The higher officers of companies received higher salaries in
1876 than they obtained in 1866, notwithstanding the immense change in
values which had taken place.
The reduction of ten per cent. in the wages of laborers, which was made
by a majority of the railway companies throughout the country during the
first half of the year 1877, was sufficient to evoke the earnest
protests of the men affected by the curtailment of their income. Had the
reduction on all the roads which have cut the wages of their employes,
taken effect at the same time, it is probable that a general strike
would have taken place earlier in the season. But the date of reduction
was not the same on any considerable number of the roads. Petitions and
remonstrances from employes of railroad companies were received by their
employers, but were wholly disregarded. A feeling of discontent was
engendered, while the burden of “hard times” weighed more heavily upon
workingmen.
The mine was already prepared, a spark only was necessary to cause an
explosion. That was supplied by the action of the managers of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The pressure put upon their employes
elicited the spark, and the explosion followed. Commencing at
Martinsburg, West Virginia, in less than three hours the strike was
fully inaugurated, and had already reached Baltimore. The line of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railway was completely invested by the strikers in
less than twenty hours. From the Baltimore and Ohio Railway the strikes
extended first to the Connellsville branch, then to the Pennsylvania
system, Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne, and other railways. In an incredibly
short space of time, strikes had taken place in Maryland, Pennsylvania,
West Virginia, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois,
Kentucky, and Missouri. Fifteen thousand men were engaged in the
strikes.
The whole country was profoundly agitated. The uprising had assumed a
dangerous aspect. A feeling of alarm and dread quickly succeeded the
first impulsive feeling of sympathy entertained by the masses for the
strikers. The vast numbers engaged in the strikes against the railroads,
their apparent determination, the general belief that they were well
organized and prepared, produced a dangerous effect upon the idle and
vicious classes in all the large cities. Labor unions were suddenly
aroused into unwonted activity, and displayed alarming vigor. “The
Workingmen’s Party of the United States,” which is but another name for
the “International Association of Workingmen,” which has caused so much
anxiety to the governments of Europe, came forth from its shadowy
coverts, and what had been regarded as a phantom party, assumed a
realistic attitude that caused a thrill of astonishment and terror to
fall upon the urban populations of the country. Nothing to compare with
the demonstrations of the Internationalists in all the larger cities, by
day and by night, had, at any time, been witnessed in this country.
In less than four days after the commencement of the strike on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, no inconsiderable portion of the territory
of the United States was in the hands of the strikers; transportation
was embargoed; shops closed, factories deserted, and the great marts
which but a few days before had been so noisy, had became silent as
“banquet halls deserted.” Men remembered France, and the scenes of
1789–93, and trembled as they heard the tumult increase, and saw the
mighty masses of strange, grimy men, excited by passions, dark and
fearful, surging along the streets.
Then was flashed abroad over the land news of the fusilade at
Martinsburg, and the conflict in the streets of Baltimore. Blood had
been shed! Men wondered what would be the final outcome. The prevalent
alarm was intensified. In many cases State and municipal authorities
seemed to have been stricken by a paralysis of dread. Meanwhile, the
strikes were increasing. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo,
Indianapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, and numerous other places began to
feel the effects of the mighty wave of human passion which threatened to
engulf all in a common ruin.
Pittsburgh was doomed to feel the most terrible blow from the mob or the
Internationals. The news of the conflict between the militia and the
rabble; the temporary success of the latter, and the immense destruction
of property which followed, was received by the whole country with
amazement and grief. The sympathies of the masses of the people, which
had unquestionably been with the railroad strikers, was now withdrawn in
a measure. Even the strikers themselves felt constrained to disown the
elements who had made an opportunity of their necessity, to create a
reign of terror throughout the land. The reaction against the strikers,
and those who claimed to be their allies, was positive and practical.
Men sprung to arms with a feeling that it was necessary to protect the
sanctity of their own homes. The spirit of turbulence evoked by the
strikers must be crushed.
Such were the sentiments which actuated the men, who hastily banded
themselves together in companies, battalions and regiments, in New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois,
Michigan and Missouri. Within less than six days, an army of
citizen-soldiers had been created in the states named, which in the
aggregate numbered more than sixty thousand men, armed and equipped,
ready for service.
Meanwhile the Internationalists were not idle. The railroad men’s
strikes was made their opportunity. The atmosphere of social disorder
favored their designs. M. K. Goldsmith, Secretary of the National Board
of Supervisors of the American branch of the order, from his
headquarters in Hartford, placed himself in immediate communication with
the local Sections, all over the country for the purpose of advising and
encouraging them. Citizens P. Van Patten and Geo. Schilling, of Chicago,
who are prominent members of the organization, were also warmly enlisted
in the cause of the “Party;” while in St. Louis, Curlin, Curtis,
Cardell, Ratz, Porter, Cope and Sykora, held daily and nightly meetings,
to induce the proper degree of enthusiasm among the masses of
workingmen. In New York, Justus Schwab, John Swinton, Michael Doyle,
Paul Kaiser, Frank Coufal and Frank Bartosek, organized a great mass
meeting in Tompkins Square, where the principles of the
Internationalists were elaborately discussed.
Indeed, the three hundred and sixty-five sections of American, German,
French, Bohemian and Scandinavian Internationalists, located in twelve
states of the Union, were all active.
The appearance of this organization as allies of the strikers, had much
to do in alienating public sympathy from that class of the workingmen,
who it was believed, had a just cause to strike. It is also certain that
the bold utterances, and audacious demands of the Internationalists,
stimulated the organization of military forces adequate to the work of
suppressing all disorders.
The history of the movements alluded to in these introductory pages must
prove deeply interesting to the student of American social institutions.
It is well to preserve it. Perhaps there may be other and even greater
strikes, but it is improbable that this country will ever be visited
again by a movement so spontaneous, yet so vigorous and threatening. A
great danger has apparently passed. As a nation, we should profit by the
warning it affords.