expanding needs demanded better means of communication, which even the rapid development of the steam and electric railroads were not able to supply. A rapid continuation of this movement may be expected until Illinois is crossed in every direction with a network of improved highways adequate to her needs and importance.

VIII. LABOR ORGANIZATION AND LEGISLATION

TH

HE labor situation in Chicago in 1894 was a serious one. The World's Fair boom had attracted to the city a large number of workers, who swelled the ranks of the unemployed after the momentary demand for labor ceased. Their situation was aggravated by the depression which followed the panic of 1893, and which filled Chicago with homeless and workless men. This city has always been noted for the large number of partially employed or wholly unemployed workers within its limits. In 1892 the number in the latter group was put at 130,000,1 undoubtedly an exaggerated estimate in view of the opportunities for work; but in the winter of 1893-1894 it was declared by Mayor Harrison that there were 200,000 out of work. This was due not merely to the presence in the city of an unusual number of persons seeking employment, but also to the partial or temporary cessation of accustomed lines of work as a result of the panic.3

The labor situation was profoundly affected by these changes in the labor market and in conditions of employment. During the early part of 1893 there were numerous strikes for increases of wages, which were generally successful and short lived. After the effects of the panic began to be felt and the artificial stimulation given to business by the exposition wore off, however, strikes were more generally against reductions of wages or for restoration of the former

1 American Artisan, May 7, 1892, p. 13.

2 Closson, "The Unemployed in American Cities," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 8: 189.

3"

"At the close of 1892, up to the close of 1896, nearly all of the great manufacturing_industries of Chicago were practically at a standstill." Testimony of M. B. Madden before the industrial commission, March 22, 1900, Report of the Industrial Commission, 8: 108.

4 For a tabular statement of all strikes for 1893 and 1894, see "Strikes and Lockouts," Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1896, 1:236-258.

wage scale. Less frequently, too, were they successful. As usual the first outbreaks arose in the unstable building trades, which moreover suffered most severely as a result of the overproduction of the previous year. The building contractors had signed a wage scale on April 1, 1893, agreeing to pay forty cents an hour as a minimum, but two months later they complained that those contractors who had not bound themselves were getting men for thirty cents an hour under the altered conditions of the labor market. The agreement was submitted to an arbitration board which reduced wages to thirty-five cents an hour for the months of July, August, and September, the busiest months in this trade. Strikes against reductions of wages were frequent in the building trades all summer-in August among the tile layers, the painters, and the riveters, in September among the painters, and in December among the steamfitters.

Resistance to wage reductions was even more widespread in the spring of 1894. The following are some of the strikes called for this single purpose in Chicago: carpenters, compositors, and upholsterers in February; plasterers, iron and brass workers, and canal laborers in March; painters and roofers in April; carpenters and cigar makers in May; coopers and engineers in June. And what was true in Chicago was true on a smaller scale in the rest of the state. It was evident that in the industrial readjustment going on the workingmen suffered heavily as shown by the frequent strikes. In most cases, however, the men made no open resistance to wage reductions, but clung grimly to their jobs in spite of decreasing pay.

All these incidents, however, were reduced to insignificance by the historic Pullman strike, which occurred in the spring and summer of 1894. This momentous struggle began with an attempt of the workers at the plant of the Pullman Palace Car Company to restore wages which had been cut several 5 Arbeiter-Zeitung, July 5, 1893.

"Strikes and Lockouts," Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1894, 1:236-258.

times during the past year, the average reduction for all employees averaging twenty-five per cent. The men presented their demands to the Pullman Company, which answered by discharging the committee which presented the claims. The men thereupon struck on May 11. At first the strike was local in its nature, but it was soon made national in its far-reaching

scope.

A year previously, in June, 1893, the American Railway Union had been organized in Chicago under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs. At this time it claimed to have a membership of 150,000. Unlike the railway brotherhoods, this organization included all railway employees, even those engaged in the allied trades of car building and equipment. It had therefore admitted to its membership some of the employees of the Pullman Company, enrolling about 4,000 in the months of March, April, and May, 1894. In the inclusion of these diverse elements and in the general character of its aims it resembled the Knights of Labor, and indeed at its convention in 1894 the American Railway Union adopted a resolution tendering "to the Knights of Labor its hearty alliance in all movements brought about for the elevation and benefit of the laborer." 8

On June 22 the American Railway Union held its annual convention in Chicago and the strike among the Pullman workers came up for consideration. Although the officers of the union had advised against a strike at Pullman, they felt that the strikers must be supported, and decided that in case the company was not willing to arbitrate by June 26, the members of the union would refuse to handle Pullman cars and equipment after that date. As the company refused to submit the question of wages to arbitration or to recognize the American Railway Union, the strike order went into effect."

The Strike at Pullman, 17-18. See also Gompers, "The Railway Strike," American Federationist, 1: 121, and an unsigned account in the Railway Times, July 14, 1894.

8 Ibid., June 15, 1894.

a The Strike at Pullman, 12.

Just as the Railway Union sponsored the cause of the Pullman strikers, so the General Managers' Association, representing twenty-four roads centering or terminating in Chicago, came to the aid of the Pullman Company. This organization had been formed in 1886 to determine a common policy as to freight rates, but it dealt incidentally with wages. The sympathetic strike directed against the Pullman Company now became a general struggle between the railroads and their employees. The distinction between Pullman and other cars could not be maintained and soon all train service was affected including the railway mail service. Rioting took place, trains were obstructed, railway property was destroyed, and even loss of life occurred. By July 6 the strike had been so far successful in its object that only six of the twenty-three roads entering Chicago were unobstructed in freight, passenger, and mail service.10

At this point the federal government took a hand in the struggle. A sweeping injunction was issued on July 2 against Debs and other officials in the American Railway Union enjoining them from interfering with the carrying of the mail or obstructing interstate commerce.11 As these orders were not obeyed, President Cleveland on July 4 ordered United States troops into Chicago. This act was protested by Governor John P. Altgeld on the ground that it was an interference with state rights, and that the state troops were able to restore and maintain order. But the facts were against him and the federal executive proclaimed a state of insurrection, first in Illinois and later in railroad districts further west, and announced his firm determination to prevent any interference with the mails or with interstate commerce, to enforce the mandates and decrees of the federal courts, and to protect federal property from destruction. The state militia was also called out to maintain order in the city. The total force employed during the continuance of the strike was 14,186.12

10 Cleveland, The Government in the Chicago Strike of 1894, p. 32. 11 Ibid., 21.

12 Wright, The Battles of Labor, 140.