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Show f RAILROAD STRIKES. Hodera History That is of Current Interest to Everybody, Whether Eailroader or Hot, GKEATESTAMEEIOAlf'TIE-TIP" . in 1877 and Was Inaugurated on tin Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad The Southwestern. ypr Yoke, Sept 4 The greatest jjroad strike which this country ever ffas that inaugurated on the 16th of alTi 1877. a Camden Junction, on tho ialtimore and Ohio railroad. The causes jbich led to it are apparent enough air, although at the time they were so nsenre as to make the sudden uprising, hicb swept through the country like a ujie.amate of genuine surprise to ven the shrewdest observers. The rate and freight wars between tho TCat railroads and the enormous water-rjof water-rjof the stocks had produced two fao which called for a decrease in the Ti'eraticg expenses. The receipts were ea, while the capital on which inter-it inter-it was to bo paid was more. The various vari-ous roads had reduced their expenses, ad the discontent among the men was ery great. On the 11th of July the ;i!timore and Ohio announced the anal reduction 10 per cent. and the ecu protested. On the 16th the men rack at Camden Junction and Martins-org, Martins-org, W. Va., and within five days the -affic of the middle and western states ras paralyzed. The governors of West Tirginia and Maryland applied to Presi-int Presi-int Ha3'cs for United States troops, SShad,qUietlyPerfecte3 an or-an- SbVrirt f?M sent ont by the strict assembly striking all shore trairC!tTre P th9 S i S the r?f disCUS3tlle subi 1 with the management. For two davs 1 thWM veryatening, bu ! yielded and tho men resumed work. i vv aoash in the summer of 1SS3 and for throe weeks Scdalia, Mobe ly kTn-mbal kTn-mbal artd Kansas City hung on thetl gd edge of serious outbreaks. This strike was occasioned by an order posted n the shops of the company discrirninat-ing discrirninat-ing against the employment of members of the Knights of Labor. The Missouri ! mllltla wlre calld out and remained in j camp on the outskirts of Sedalia for sev-, sev-, end days. An effort was made to get ; the 'southwestern system" out in a j strike of sympathy, but the general executive ex-ecutive board of the Knights of Labor, to which the men of both roads belou-ed. refused consent. The strike finally wore itself out, both sides to the controversy being heavy sufferers and both claiming a victory. Another serious strike in 1833 was that of the employes of the Denver and Rio Grande railway. The company attempted at-tempted to force its employes to desert the Knights of Labor, and began a systematic sys-tematic discharge of men who were prominent in the order. The road was being operated by a receiver, and the United States courts of Colorado took a hand in the fight. Several engines were blown up with dynamite, one bridge was burned and a number of cars were destroyed. Of course the strikers j were charged with these depredations, 1 but they emphatically denied all knowl-; knowl-; edge of revolutionary tactics, and asserted as-serted that the Pinkertons, who were : getting $5 per day as special guards, were responsible for the damages, as j they wished to keep up the excitement. Some twenty of the strikers were arrested, ar-rested, chiefly on the charge of intimi-dating intimi-dating non-union men, and six of them were convicted and imprisoned for from three to twelve months each. This strike never was declared off by the Knights, but they were undoubtedly badly defeated. The next strike of any importance among tho railroad men was that on the Missouri Pacific in 1886. It came about in a curious way. The Texas Pacifio road was in the hands of a receiver appointed ap-pointed by the United States court, and a foreman named Hall was discharged. The Knights of Labor, under the leadership leader-ship of a man named Martin Irons, came to the conclusion that they could coerce the Texas Pacifio by striking the Missouri Mis-souri Pacific. Vice President Qoxie became be-came very angry, claiming that he had no power over a road in the hands of a court, and the fight became a bitter one. There was some rioting, the usual shooting shoot-ing of innocent people who had come to look on, and the usual employment of Pinkerton police. For a time St. Louis was isolated from the rest of the country, coun-try, but the strike finally petered out and many of the strikers were forced to find new places. This trouble lasted about two months and a half, and involved in-volved the Texas Pacific, the Missouri Pacific, the old Iron Mountain and the Missouri, Kansas and Pacifio roads. Over 40,000 men were thrown ont of employment em-ployment and about 14,000 were concerned con-cerned in the strike. A curious incident inci-dent in the strike was the bitter corre- Sating that their state volunteers were .ot sufficient to quell the riots which .ad followed the strikes. Within a week rom the initial refusal to allow trains o move riots had taken place in Balti-jore, Balti-jore, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chi-ago, Chi-ago, and the National Guards had been irJcred out in New York, New Jersey, 'ennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Indiana, ientucky, Illinois, Michigan and Mis-lonri. Mis-lonri. The commerce of the country was rarplr paralyzed. Not only were the railroad men on strikes but labor unions Jl over the land called their men out. Ms was not all. There were formidable formid-able riots and much loss of life and property. Pittsburg was the scene of the worst riots during the whole period of disturb-tnce. disturb-tnce. National Guardsmen had been sent from Philadelphia, and on their arrival ar-rival found that the sympathy of all tho people was with the railroad men. At a mass meeting of the trades unions held July 20 resolutions indorsing the strikers strik-ers were passed. On the 21st the riots began, and the troops were driven into the round house, where they made a ftani On the 22d fires were started and burning coke trains wore run against the nrand house. The regiments thereupon fought their way out and left the city. The fires spread until in buildings alone over $4,000,000 worth of property had been destroyed, while the value of that burned in the freight trains has never been known. Nothing but the remonstrance of Secretary of State Evarts prevented the president declaring the state of Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania in insurrection and calling for volunteers vol-unteers to invade it. The attitude of the railroad kings was offset by the action of ihe executive committee of the Internationals Interna-tionals in St. Louis, who dictated to the mayor of that city and the governor of Missouri in a most lordly way, and for a time actually had their commands obeyed. From the Atlantio to the Rocky mountains the railroads were stopped and troops were on guard. The npondence between Mr. Jay Uould and Master Workman T. V. Powderly, in which there was some hard hitting on each side. In this year the men on the North Shore road struck because of the refusal of the officials to discharge eight nonunion non-union men. Tho strike was settled in six days by finding other work for the eight men. In December, 1887, the strike on the Reading road took place, which is worthy of a Hue because of the effect it had afterward. The Knights of Labor engineers began it, and men from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Engin-eers took their places, the strike being a failure in consequence. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers En-gineers has always beon considered one of the most conservative labor unions in the country. It was thought to be one of the most powerful until February, 1888, when it inaugurated what is known as the "C, B. and Q." strike. The men at the throttles of the engines on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Burlington and Missouri River, the Hannibal and St. Joe, the Kansas City, the St. Joe and Council Bluffs, and the Chicago and Iowa roads were members of the organization. The roads were paying them by trips and grading the pay so that the men on the branch did not get as much as those on the trunk lines for their work. The Brotherhood asked for pay per mile of run and equal pay to alL These being refused Chief Arthur ordered a strike. It was the opportunity of the Knights to et even with the Brotherhood for their defeat on the Reading. They fairly flocked to Chicago to take the place of the striking men and as fast aa a Broth-erhood Broth-erhood engineer went out a Knight of Labor stepped in. The strike was f ore-nmed ore-nmed to failure, and although Chief strike did not extend to tho south nor to tlie eastern states, but during its continuance contin-uance the middle and western states were almost at the mercy of the strikers. strik-ers. It was practically killed by its own Wends. The railroad men, who were fighting for a living rate of pay, and not for the destruction of the property of others, soon became tired of the communistic com-munistic element, and the riots changed pnhlic opinion, which had been at first favorable to the strikers. Vigilance committees were called into existence, 'sd they accomplished what neither the National Guard nor the regular troops had been able to. The citizens who believed be-lieved in law and order speedily separated separat-ed themselves from the destrnctionists, ud the latter found at once what a small proportion they really were. But the rtrike while it lasted was a memorable one, and the losses in property were 6im-P'y 6im-P'y frightful The wage earners gained it, for the companies were taught se-vely se-vely that there was a- point beyond hich they could not go. On the other tantl, the laboring men learned the dan-S dan-S to them and their cause which exited ex-ited in the anarchistic- element in society. so-ciety. - There were two strikes of the shop-mMi shop-mMi on the Union Pacifio railroad in On May 1 of that year notice was f'sted in all construction and repair 'hops, and at prominent places on the company's com-pany's premises, giving notice of a reduction reduc-tion in wages of from 10 per cent, to 25 lr cent., to take effect at once, and including in-cluding all employes excepting engineers i Arthur called the Brotherhood men from i the Reading he was unable to save it Ko violence was attempted except m one case where some men attempted to place dvnamite on the C, B. and Q. ! track for which they were duly punished, i The next T important strike was by ! KShts oFLabor on theNew York Cer,- twl railroad, the history of whichisill i current. i . wa firemen. With the exception or tte brotherhoods of firemen and engineers engi-neers there was an absence of, organization organiza-tion on the road at that time. But the Aopmeu quit work within three hours afor the posting of the notice, and they Were joined during the day by the sitcljvuen and trackmen. Denver seemed to take the lead, and temporary organization which was once formed there was recognized f the employes at other points as strikers' spokesmen. A committee is dispatched to Omaha to consult with e managers of the road, and all freight fruins were stopped. The hitherto un-0l?anized un-0l?anized men flocked into the tem-fary tem-fary unions, and within forty-eight 'ars the whole force of shopmen and trackmen was thoroughly united. The Ps remained shut down and freight tns tied up for four days, at the end tich time the company surrendered, 1113 the obnoxious notice of reduction n recalled. On Aug. 15 following a reduction af-,wig af-,wig the shopmen at Ellis, Kn., was ed and about fifty men in Denver, J0 W taken pronounced parts in the fls of May 1 .were discharged without Sanation, In the meantime the em- |