“MINOR DEVELOPMENTS OF THE STRIKES.”[5]
Footnote 5:
Twenty six pages are here added to correct the omission in paging the
illustrations.
How a Strike was Averted on the Union Pacific Railroad—Concessions
to the Men—A Settlement at Memphis—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.
Some of the minor incidents of the Great Strike about this time, excited
an important influence on the general course of events. The concessions
made by railroad companies and other employers, had a salutary effect by
withdrawing from active interest in the movement, many thousands of men.
In all cases where the demands of the men were promptly acceded to, all
enthusiasm in behalf of the cause of the strikers at once ceased. It is
difficult to conceive to what extent the spirit of lawlessness might
have gone, had the vast number of men who made demands, been repelled,
as were the employes of the Baltimore and Ohio, and Pennsylvania
Railroads. The course pursued by those managers of railroads who made
concession, justly entitles them to the lasting gratitude of the people
of the entire country. It was this action of theirs which withdrew a
mighty force from the cause of the strikers, and perhaps even saved the
country from a revolution, at least a protracted period of mob-rule,
anarchy, and bloodshed. They strained a point to do what they did, and
are entitled to the honor which is cheerfully accorded them.
The situation on the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha to Ogden, was
becoming every day more threatening. The evening of the 19th, about
three hundred employes of that road, held a meeting for the purpose of
discussing the reduction from five to ten per cent. in their wages. A
committee was appointed to confer with Superintendent Clark, and the
meeting adjourned to Monday night. The night for the meeting arrived. By
this time, about seven hundred employes of the road had come to Omaha,
and were present to receive the report of the committee. The chairman of
the committee then rose and stated that they had discharged the duty
assigned them. They had met Superintendent Clark, who had received them
in a cordial manner, and informed them that the Company had determined
to rescind the order reducing the wages. The report was received with
immense satisfaction. Thus was averted a strike on the great
trans-continental highway, and no further trouble was experienced on
that road during the existence of the strike.
The Central Council of the Labor League of the United States, at a
meeting held at Washington the afternoon of the 19th, passed a series of
resolutions on the depressed state of labor throughout the country, and
the anticipated results to flow therefrom, enjoining coolness and
moderation upon the members of the order, and especially warning them,
as well as workingmen in general, to beware of emissaries, some of whom
had endeavored to operate at Washington, by inciting to strikes and
violence, measures which injure labor in general, disturb order, and end
in the conviction and punishment of the participants therein. The
council further resolved that moral agitation is the strength and power
by which labor can acquire tangible reformation, and that mob violence
and riot lead only to anarchy and the final destruction of human
liberty, and it was better to submit to any sort of despotism for the
time being, than to have no government at all.
A strike on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad was averted by the
action of the Railroad Company. Dissatisfaction with the wages received
had been manifested for some days. The evening of the 19th was selected
as a suitable time to hold a meeting of employes, to give expression to
their views and wishes. Accordingly, the machinists and carpenters of
the road met quietly and discussed the present condition. The result was
the drawing up of resolutions, which were placed in the hands of a
committee, who waited on the master mechanic, H. N. Buford, who referred
them to Colonel C. M. McGhee, manager of the road, upon whom they
called, at the Peabody Hotel, late in the evening. The resolutions were
respectfully couched. The machinists and carpenters requested that their
wages be made the same as those paid for the same work by the
Mississippi and Tennessee, and the Memphis and Louisville roads. The
cost of living was enumerated, and the careful consideration of their
petition requested. The increase asked was in some cases ten cents, in
some fifteen cents, and others twenty-five cents per diem. This road was
not making expenses, and the employes appreciated the difficulties under
which the management labored. The plan had been to keep up the regular
force on trains, and to reduce fares, so as to throw none out of
employment.
The trainmen presented their needs to Colonel McGhee, who agreed to meet
his petitioners in conference at eleven o’clock the following day. The
matter was amicably adjusted. At noon Colonel McGhee met the committee
appointed by the employes, and after a free discussion and consultation
as to the causes of the strike, an arrangement was agreed upon as to
rates of wages, which was alike satisfactory to the Railroad Company and
the employes. There was no further trouble on the Charleston road, and
every thing moved along as before the appearance of the unpleasantness.
A convocation of the Supreme Council of the Labor Union of the order of
Melakhto, for the State of Missouri was called at St. Louis. This
organization is said to number more than two hundred thousand in the
United States. It is a secret society, and has for its object the
educational, social, and physical well being of the working people. The
situation of the country was discussed, and the following declaration of
rights and privileges was issued to the members of the order.
Every man has a right to determine for himself, whether he will or will
not, work for any wages that may be offered him. No man has a right to
determine for another man, whether that other man shall, or shall not,
work for any wages that may be offered.
No man has a right to prevent another man from doing any work, not
noxious to society, and not dangerous to other individuals, which he may
think best to do.
Every man has a right to his own freedom.
Every man has a right to act, or not to act, in accordance with the
dictates of his own judgment, and his own conscience.
No man has a right to interfere with the freedom of another, by
dictating either how he shall feel, what he shall think and say, or what
he shall do.
The foundation of society in this country is freedom, and anything
except the laws of God, or the laws of the land, which interfere with
freedom must be suppressed and removed.
The Supreme Council of the Labor Union, O. M., of Missouri, solemnly
affirms that it is the privilege of all men—
To refrain from labor at any time, even though that should result in a
complete stagnation in all business.
That since employers exercise the privilege of closing their
manufactories, thereby depriving their employes of the means of labor,
the employes are entitled to the privilege of depriving employers of
their services at any time.
That it is the privilege of all men to give full expression to whatever
views they may entertain, and that any interference therewith is gross
tyranny and should be resisted.
That it is an unquestioned privilege, appertaining to manhood, of
laboring men in all departments of human industry, to combine together
in associations to promote the general welfare of their class, as much
as it is the privilege of capitalists to combine in corporations.
That statutes formed by several State Legislatures and known as
conspiracy laws, encroach upon the privileges of the people to organize
and combine forces.
That it is the privilege of capital to combine, and no less the
privilege of labor to combine to resist the power of combined capital,
by all legitimate means.
That it is the privilege of the people to assemble, and discuss any
subject in their own way, and all municipal regulations which trench
upon this privilege, should be set aside as unconstitutional, and
subversive of popular liberty.
That it is the privilege of this Supreme Counsel of the Labor Union,
ORDER MELAKHTO, to express sympathy with the railroad and all other
laborers now on strike, and, to lend aid and comfort to them so long as
they refrain from acts of violence.
The discussion of the question of cause was taken up by all the leading
journals of the country. Every one had a particular theory, and nearly
every one had a ready patent remedy for the occurrence of such strikes.
The following is one of the remedies suggested by one of the leading men
in the nation, and published at the time. Secretary Evarts said but a
few days ago, that “if we want to sell, we must buy.” The laws and
treaties affecting foreign commerce be changed so as to allow us to
exchange our products for others. In this, the railroad companies and
their people have a common interest; and the managers of these companies
are to blame that they have not forseen trouble and arrested it by
showing their workmen where lies the true remedy for the general
depression, and leading them to demand needed changes. The country is
not really poor; it is suffering because it has too great abundance. One
of the communistic speakers said, that the great increase of
labor-saving machinery had not improved, as it ought, the condition of
the workmen. He was perfectly right; but the workmen themselves are
largely to blame for this; they have tolerated a total neglect of
foreign commerce, and in the course of time the country has come to a
point where it can manufacture more—not much more, but yet more than it
can consume. The surplus weighs like lead on every branch of industry;
it depresses prices and disables manufacturers, who find the home market
overstocked by nine months work in the year, and are prevented by
plundering laws from selling the surplus abroad. Suppose our wheat
farmers could not sell their surplus in Europe. They would be utterly
ruined, no matter how great their crops were. But that is precisely the
condition of our manufacturers, and all interests suffer with them—the
railroads of course chief of all. The workingmen can easily and quickly
change all that, but not by striking. Let them demand that Congress
shall free foreign trade from some of the shackles, and they will see a
new prosperity rapidly springing up, and labor in demand everywhere, we
must sell our surplus.
There was one feature that cropped out in the widespread riots, that was
full of meaning, and that was the great body of suffering men opposed to
any infraction of the law. Hungry and naked as they were, they placed
their brawny bodies between the vicious rabble and those who were
injuring them. This changed it from the form of a strike for wages, to
an earnest protest against a cruel and wicked national policy, and it
was a protest that must be heeded.
The workingmen were only resisting a strike inaugurated by the officers
of the railroads. These had combined to cut down wages, and the men
said, “we will not stand the reduction.” An idle, vicious rabble took
advantage of the disorder to steal, burn and rob. The injured men
interposed and said to the mob, you shall not destroy the property of
our employers, however much they have wronged us! Their protest was
honorable, calm, magnanimous! In the meantime, tramps were multiplying;
the hungry, the starving, the naked, were daily increasing. This
condition of things could not be trifled with. It ought to be considered
and remedied. Men cannot, and will not “grind at the mill forever.” Even
in America, the _proletariat_ is becoming great in numbers, and
dangerous in disposition. A policy that increases the number of poor,
that depresses the condition of the working people is unwise, and must
inevitably end in the destruction of social order and the ruin of the
country.
A largely attended meeting of the merchants of Evansville, Indiana, met
at the Court House in that city, on the evening of the 22nd of July, to
discuss the situation of the country. Mr. Peter Semonin presided.
Mr. Read explained that in view of the troubles by which the country had
been invaded, it had been deemed expedient to call the business men of
the city together. He thought the President ought to be petitioned to
convene Congress immediately, to repeal the resumption act. The strike
was not an excuse, there was widespread dissatisfaction. It was growing
worse every day, but they had hope of settling the difficulty without
bloodshed. Men must not die from starvation. They would not submit to
that. He was opposed to the resumption act heart and soul. All the
people were in the same boat. As merchants he declared they would not
turn back against the working classes for John Sherman. The sooner the
bondholders were made acquainted with that fact the better for the
country.
Mr. Williamson moved the appointment of a committee of five, to draw up
resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting. The committee having
performed the services assigned them, returned with the following
declaration and resolutions, which were adopted:
In view of the disorders existing throughout the country, consequent
upon the revolt of workingmen against the reduction of wages below the
cost of comfortable living, and that the people of this city may clearly
understand the relations of the business men of Evansville towards their
fellow citizens, comprising what is known as “The Laboring Class,” this
meeting declares
1. That the prosperity of business men being directly dependent upon
well-paid labor, and the happiness and prosperity of the masses, it is
the interest as it is the duty of business men to demand the removal of
all causes that compel employers to curtail expenses beyond a point that
makes economy an oppression too grevious to be borne.
2. That business, despite the practice of the greatest prudence on the
part of employers, has hardly been self-sustaining for years past, and
believing, as we do, that the cause of this general stagnation in the
commercial and manufacturing world, is directly traceable to the policy
of forced resumption, to be reached through the severe contraction of
the currency, we respectfully request of the administration the
cessation of the contraction policy, and demand of our Representatives
and Senators in Congress the unconditional repeal of the resumption act.
3. That the bankrupt law be abolished.
4. That we favor the making of the silver dollar a legal tender for all
debts.
5. That we have every confidence in the good citizenship of the
industrial classes of this community, and we pledge ourselves to use
every influence at our command to secure relief from the evil
legislation that has resulted so disastrously to the entire people.
6. That we cordially approve the action of the workingmen in tendering
their services to the Mayor and city authorities for the protection of
life and property, and the preservation of law and order, and that the
chairman of this meeting be authorized to make a similar tender on
behalf of the business men of Evansville.
At Cincinnati, on Monday evening, 22nd of July, shortly after the
steamer W. P. Thompson had come in and began to unload her freight, a
swarm of negro roughs from the “Yellowhammer” saloon, “Pickett’s,” the
“Steamboatman’s” saloon, and other extraordinary places along the
landing, descended upon the Thompson’s crew with drawn pistols and
boulders, and ordered them to quit work, or strike for higher wages. The
crew, which consisted of twenty-three men, attempted to keep on working;
but their boss, a hard working little roustabout called “Nigger Jack,”
had to quit in consequence of being hurt by a boulder, and the mob
commenced throwing rocks on board the boat. There must have been at
least one hundred and fifty or two hundred of these fellows, who were
not working themselves, and wanted, apparently, to keep others from
working. There were no white tramps, it seems, in the black flock; and
the rumor that the idea of the undertaking was organized in the “Blazing
Stump” does not seem probable.
The captain had actually anticipated the possibility of a row of this
kind, because at Pittsburgh the ’longshoremen had been striking for
thirty cents an hour, in consequence, he ordered the mate to pay the
crew twenty-five cents per hour for night work, the old rate being
twenty cents. The strikers however, made the crew demand thirty cents,
and compelled them to stop work. As the W. P. Thompson had to leave at a
very early hour, and would lose much more by a few hours delay than
would suffice to make up the difference in wages. The captain stepped on
shore and told the strikers he was going to pay thirty cents per hour.
The crowd then became quiet and the work went on.
Mr. H. C. Lord, one of the oldest and most experienced railway men in
the West, gave his views of the railway strikes in a very able and
interesting letter to the Cincinnati _Enquirer_, from which we make some
extracts. They touch the vitals of the whole difficulty. It is well
known that very many of our roads are in the hands of Federal and State
courts, whose records show that the pay-rolls of the employes are
terribly in arrears, while they should have been promptly paid, in
preference to bondholders or any other class of creditors. So they are
left to the mercy of the small grocers and shop keepers, who have
furnished them food and raiment upon their credit in the corporations,
and now the employe is refused further credit, and is at the same time
called on to pay up his back dues, which he cannot do. He is alarmed and
desperate, and now a further reduction in his wages is threatened. Mr.
Lord says, further, “It is perfectly well known, at least to the railway
and mercantile community, that while there has been no essential falling
off during the past two years in the number of passengers carried on our
railroads, nor in the amount of tonnage hauled between the seaboard and
our Western cities, farms, and prairies, yet the business has been done
at rates of fare and freight earning no profit to the companies, but, on
the contrary, involving them in daily loss. I venture the assertion that
if fair and judicious rates of transportation had been fixed, and not
departed from, nearly every railroad in the country would to-day be in a
prosperous condition, its men paid up and contented, the whole country
more prosperous, and not a road strike throughout the land.
“Now, who is to blame for this gross mismanagement? Certainly not the
engineers and firemen, nor the brakemen, nor the mechanics, nor the
section men, and yet they are the parties virtually called upon to make
up the loss. The merchants and manufacturers of the country have not
enforced these ruinous rates of transportation. All they ever need or
ask for is uniform rates over all competing lines to common points; and
what difference has it made to the western farmer whether his wheat,
corn, and cattle paid twenty cents freight to New York or fifty cents,
so long as the rates were uniform, and the price to the consumer was the
original cost of the product, with the actual freight added? No, the
great fault lies with the railway managers, who have defied all
established maxims and rule of correct business procedure, who have
quarreled among themselves, and inaugurated a policy of personal, and
local, and corporative rivalry and competition, which has been
destructive of the property they were pledged to protect, and of all
confidence in railway securities, and they are now striving to stem the
tide by the practice of a false economy, in striking a blow at the wages
of over-worked men, while the rates of transportation are not changed.
They give another turn to the screw upon wages, but make no effort to
reform themselves. The result is natural, inevitable, and will continue
to be as it is as long as the world shall stand. Capital and men in
power become timid, apprehensive, and call upon the State for
protection, and labor becomes first suspicious, and then mutinous.”
About this time a Buffalo railroad fireman published an account of the
life and pay of a fireman on the engine of the Lake Shore road. An
extract will be found interesting as containing one view of the strikers
cause. He wrote, “After the last cut down, we firemen received one
dollar and forty-six cents for running one hundred miles, and our
division is eighty-eight miles long. Now supposing we start out of here
early in the morning. We get our breakfast here which costs twenty-five
cents. At Dunkirk we dine, which costs twenty-five cents more, and on
arriving at Erie we have supper, costing twenty-five cents more. Our
lodging also costing twenty-five cents, making one dollar in all. So
that here alone we have about forty-six cents left. Now, if we were able
to run all the time, and make all the trips possible, we would clear
above board, about twelve dollars per month. From this comes washing and
other incidentals. This is only a bare statement, when in reality there
are hundreds of cases where the men fall below many a month. A month ago
a test was made by an unmarried fireman, who was well known for his
economical habits. Well, he ran as often as he could, and made many
extra trips, and had an unusually good month. It was found at the end of
the month that he owed fifty cents.”
This man is ready to take the stand and swear to the truth of this fact.
Very bright prospects for the future, was it not? The remainder of the
employes are as bad off in regard to pay, and many of them worse than we
are.
“I suppose you think, like all other people, that we are a fierce set of
fellows, anxious to burn and smash things, etc., a set of lions going
about seeing what they can devour. But all of our men, excepting a few
who are under the influence of liquor, have decided to be quiet, and
make no violent demonstrations whatever. From all I can find out none of
the acts done here to-day have been committed by the strikers, although
there may have been one or two of the fellows mixed up in some way, but
as a general rule they are quiet and not a bit war-like. We are
confident of success, as we believe we have the sympathy of the people.”
Such are some of the phases of the opinion which prevailed at the time
of the great strikes. They are interesting now, and will prove more so
as the scenes and incidents of the great strikes become a mere episode
in the history of our country. They prove, too, that the popular
sympathies were without doubt with the strikers, but not with the
vicious rabble that gathered in every city—with no other motive than to
pillage and burn down houses, and commit other deeds of violence. But
the thieves were not railroad strikers.
A large amount of jewelry and silverware was found in one car, which was
distributed with a prodigality that would have astonished the legitimate
owners. A few very fine pictures were found and carried off by persons
whose appearance indicated a woeful want of aesthetic culture. There was
no attempt at concealment. Property thus stolen was exhibited as freely
as if it had been honestly acquired. Men exchanged old boots for new
ones without hesitation or shame. One person secured several silk dress
patterns Sunday morning and sold them for one dollar and fifty cents
each. It was a harvest for those who did not know the difference between
_meum et tuum_. But it is a fact well attested that these depredations
were not committed by railroad, or any other laborers or artisans as a
class, but by the evil disposed of all classes. All railroadmen are not
honest or perfect men, neither are all capitalists, bankers, merchants,
priests or preachers. Human nature is about the same in all classes, and
with all conditions of the people.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
48 they did not chose to do so. they did not choose to do so.
Here military force was a Here military force was a
77 foresight of the Perfect of foresight of the Prefect of
Police could discover no good Police could discover no good
82 was necessary in order to adopt was necessary in order to adapt
it to the conditions it to the conditions
82 in no county in Europe is the in no country in Europe is the
International in a more International in a more
174 he reported that matters were he reported that matters were
comparatively quite, that comparatively quiet, that
204 Some Buffalo fireman stole a Some Buffalo firemen stole a
locomotive and ran out to locomotive and ran out to
261 striker in the 25th, but striker on the 25th, but
afterwards were allowed to afterwards were allowed to
283 was appointed to draft was appointed to draft
resolutions expression the resolutions expressing the
sentiment sentiment
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.