The United States had entered a serious economic depression in 1893. The panic of 1893 was marked by overbuilding and shaky financing of railroads, resulting in a series of bank failures. To make things worse, there was a run on the gold supply. It was the worst depression Americans had experienced at the time. Many factories were hit hard and employers began to reduce wages. One of these was the Pullman Palace Car Company. In 1893, George Pullman reduced factory wages by about 25 percent. What made this pay cut special is that George Pullman also required his workers to live in company housing. Pullman City was a 3000 acre tract of land located just south of Chicago. Even though worker's wages were cut, George Pullman did not decrease rent or prices at the company stores. Thus on May 11, 1894, three thousand Pullman workers when on a "wildcat" strike, that is, without authorization of their union. Many of these strikers were members of the American Railroad Union (ARU) founded by Eugene V. Debs.
Eugene Debs became aware of the situation and was determined to help make things better. He brought in ARU organizers, but the Pullman managers refused to negotiate. To win the strike, Debs decided to stop the movement of Pullman cars on railroads. Debs and the ARU began a boycott on June 26th in which ARU members refused to run trains containing Pullman cars. Within four days, 125,000 workers on 29 railroads had "walked off" the job. In response, the managers of Pullman hired replacement workers. Then on June 29, Debs hosted a peaceful rally to support the striking railroad workers. But the crowds became enraged and set fire to nearby buildings and derailed a locomotive. President Cleveland assigned US Attorney Richard Olney to deal with the strike. Olney obtained a federal injunction to bar union leaders from supporting the strike and demand that the strikers cease their activities or be fired. Workers ignored the injunction and violence grew among ARU members across the nation. Eventually federal troops were sent in to enforce the injunction. City by city, federal forces broke the ARU efforts to shut down the railroads. Thousands of US Marshals and 12,0000 US Army troops took action to get the trains moving again.
Once the dust settled, President Grover Cleveland established a federal commission to investigate the causes and ramifications of the labor dispute known as the Pullman strike. In his 1894, annual address, Cleveland announced the commission had delivered it's report and it would shortly be submitted to congress for further investigation. Here are Cleveland's words:
"By virtue of a statute of the United States passed in 1888 I appointed in July last Hon. John D. Kernan, of the State of New York, and Hon. Nicholas E. Worthington, of the State of Illinois, to form, with Hon. Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor, who was designated by said statute, a commission for the purpose of making careful inquiry into the causes of the controversies between certain railroads and their employees which had resulted in an extensive and destructive strike, accompanied by much violence and dangerous disturbance, with considerable loss of life and great destruction of property. The report of the commissioners has been submitted to me and will be transmitted to the Congress with the evidence taken upon their investigation. Their work has been well done, and their standing and intelligence give assurance that the report and suggestions they make are worthy of careful consideration."Included in the commission's report, was a recommendation that there be a permanent US strike commission with official duty to investigate disputes between railroads and their employees. The commission also required national trade unions to include in their constitutions, rules and by-laws that would disqualify a member who participates or instigates violence against persons or properties during strikes or boycotts.
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). Grover Cleveland: Second Annual Message (second term). [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29535 [Accessed 21 Feb. 2018].En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Panic of 1893. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893 [Accessed 21 Feb. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Pullman Strike. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike [Accessed 21 Feb. 2018].
Fjc.gov. (2018). History of the Federal Judiciary | Federal Judicial Center. [online] Available at: http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_debs_doc_11.html [Accessed 21 Feb. 2018].
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