The True Story Of How One Man Shut Down American Commerce To Avoid Paying His Workers A Fair Wage
The True Story Of How One Man Shut Down American Commerce To Avoid Paying His Workers A Fair Wage
by Ian Millhiser Posted on September 1, 2014 at 9:20 am Updated: September 1, 2014 at 7:39 pm
Note: The following is adapted from the authors forthcoming book, Injustices: The Supreme Courts Nearly Unbroken History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.
In 1894, Chicago was the Midwests gateway to the rest of the United States. Twenty-four different railroad lines centered or terminated in Chicago, covering the nation in over forty thousand miles of rail. Farmers, merchants, craftsmen and factories hoping to bring their goods to the rest of the nation and potentially, to the rest of the world had to first bring those goods to Chicago to begin their journey down one of the citys many rail lines. Without Chicagos railroads, much of the country lost its access to the nations commerce and was essentially plunged back into a pre-industrial economy.
On May 11, 1894, a strike began just outside of Chicago in a company town run by one of the wealthiest Americans who has ever lived. By the strikes bloody end, up to a quarter of a million workers joined together in solidarity with the strikers. Two federal judges, working in close collusion with federal officials who were themselves very much in league with Chicagos railroad executives, would place the full power of the federal judiciary on the side of union-busters. President Grover Cleveland, acting on the advice of the railroad attorney he placed at the head of the Justice Department, would eventually send federal troops to Chicago. At the height of the conflict, Harpers Magazine claimed that the nation was fighting for its own existence just as truly as in suppressing the great rebellion of the Confederacy.
And all of this happened because of two decisions made by just one man, George Mortimer Pullman, founder of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The first was the decision of Pullman and his company to cut its payrolls by nearly 40 percent, even as he increased the stock dividends his company paid to himself and its other shareholders. The second was Pullmans utter refusal to deal with the union that represented his workers. In an America with no modern labor laws requiring management to come to the bargaining table with their workers, Pullmans workers had no option other than a strike. And that strike would eventually escalate into a conflict that brought Chicago and the nations entire economy to its knees.
A Long Time To Spend On A Train
The Pullman Palace Car Company made train cars that offered passengers an almost comic degree of opulence. One early Pullman sleeper featured chandeliers, marble washbasins and a black walnut interior. Pullmans dinning cars offered steak, oysters and a choice of wines. By the 1870s, a train equipped with a full complement of Pullman cars included a barber shop, multiple libraries, a smoking room and a fully functional organ for passengers who wanted to entertain themselves by playing music.
More:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/01/3477726/the-true-story-of-how-one-man-shut-down-american-commerce-to-avoid-paying-his-workers-a-fair-wage/
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)In graphic terms; why capitalism sucks and what to do about it.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)That Sinclair can write like a bastard too. Just plain fire on the page.
Sparhawk60
(359 posts)The scenes in the slaughter house were jaw dropping.
phantom power
(25,966 posts)Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)Comparing notes with my coworkers previous work experiences over the past 25-30 years has made that clear. Lots of references to previous employers that vowed to shut down their whole operation if a union was voted in. In every case, including in my own, it was small companies with a shitheel authoritarian redneck asshole running the show.
It's all about control, not so much $$.