The Pullman boycott : $b A complete history of the great R. R. strikeBurns, W. F.
History
The Pullman boycott : $b A complete history of the great R. R. strike
Burns, W. F.
Pullman Strike, 1894
The Chicago Times, in an article next morning, said that for rapidity of
conception and execution this strike which probably involves five
thousand men, beats anything of the kind on record, and in the same
article says: the efforts to sidetrack the cars of the Pullman company
yesterday was carried on with strict conformity to law and order.
With the exception of a crowd attracted out of a curiosity to see what
might happen, there was nothing unusual about the depot, there was no
boisterous talking, no threats were made, and the few squads of police
officers sent there to preserve order, had nothing to do.
Train No. 7, due to leave at 9 o'clock, hauling two Pullman coaches
filled with passengers, did not leave on time there being a delay of 30
minutes before it finally pulled out of the depot. After running within
one hundred yards of Grand Crossing it stopped, there being a crowd of
about five thousand people at this point of whom there was not to exceed
one hundred and twenty-five railroad men. The engineer refused to start,
and although Supt. Collins expostulated with him it was of no avail, and
any further attempt to move the train was abandoned for the time being.
At 11:30 P. M. tower man Cable, who controls the switches at
Forty-third street, left his post, and two south-bound suburban trains
were whistling for the switches. They were soon joined by three
north-bound trains, a freight train, Michigan Central Fast Mail, and
Illinois Central Limited, and all were tied up until one o'clock in the
morning when the superintendent of terminals threw the switches. The
Chicago Great Western, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago and Northern Pacific
and Wisconsin Central were next to fall in line and refuse to handle
Pullman cars.
President Debs, after reviewing the situation, asked the men as
individuals to consider the problem involved, saying, that if the
Pullman Company was right, then the strikers must be wrong, but if you
feel assured that those men are only striking to gain that which is
every man's right--living wages, then we ask your moral support. There
is but one hope for the laborer. Labor must stand by labor. The
corporations have now forced a fight upon us by combining to help the
Pullman company; they have forced us to combine and use the only weapon
which the workingman possesses, the strike and the boycott. The
railroads have never done anything for labor that the latter should
hesitate to use these weapons.
It is a battle between allied monopoly against the rights of working
people, it is a matter of broad humanity. I want to see the switchmen,
the car inspectors and other employes wait upon the officials in a manly
way, and refuse to handle these boycotted cars.
I want to appeal only to your reason, and not to influence your passion,
but I ask you to take a manly stand in the aid of men, women and
children who have been ground down by the iron heel of the oppressor.
I would rather be a manly pauper than an unmanly millionaire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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