Читать книгу The Pullman Boycott - W. F. Burns - Страница 13

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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.