30,000 locked out : $b the great strike of the building trades in Chicago
John Locke · en
The objection to the United States judge was amusing to those who fully
understood the situation. If he had been a judge whom they had helped to
elect, or was a politician, there might have been no objection on the
part of the executive committee of the union. But they would not submit
to a United States judge because, they said, he did not come in
"contact" with the laboring men. They wanted some one who did or had
come in "contact" with them, because they believed such a judge or
person would be afraid, for political reasons, to decide against the
power of the union. The union was also afraid to submit to fair-minded
men its constitution and by-laws in comparison with the code of
principles of the Master Masons, because its rulers well knew that a
decision would be against them, and their union would fall. It was well
known that if President Vorkeller could have had his way, or could have
controlled the union, a settlement would have been reached that would
have been satisfactory to every builder in the city. But he was
powerless, because every proposition he had made to adopt the code of
principles of the builders had been howled down, and he had been
threatened with violence if he persisted in his efforts to reach a
settlement in that way. On one occasion, when Mr. Vorkeller insisted
upon such a course, he was assaulted by an enthusiastic striker and was
"struck like a dog."
Wednesday, June 29th, the Master Masons' association held a meeting, and
by a vote of 41 to 30 decided to appoint a committee of arbitration, and
named George C. Prussing, Joseph Downey, George Tapper, William O'Brien
and Charles W. Gindele. After the committee was created it was
instructed to stand firmly by the code of principles of the Association
and to require their recognition by the Bricklayers before proceeding to
a settlement of differences.
The action of the meeting did not meet the views of all the members of
the Association, some of whom were fully determined that it was
impolitic to appoint an arbitration committee, even when its powers were
abridged by a demand for full recognition of the code of principles upon
which they had been standing for weeks.