TARGET READING SKILL. Identify Main Ideas As you read, complete the chart below, filling in the successes and failures of the labor unions.

Transcription

1 4 READING FOCUS What impact did industrialization have on the gulf between rich and poor? What were the goals of the early labor unions in the United States? Why did Eugene V. Debs organize the American Railway Union? What were the causes and outcomes of the major strikes in the late 1800s? MAIN IDEA In the late 1800s, workers organized labor unions to improve their wages and working conditions. Setting the Scene The Great Strikes What shall the workers do? Sit idly by and see the vast resources of nature and the human mind be utilized and monopolized for the benefit of the comparative few? No. The laborers must learn to think and act, and soon, too, that only by the power of organization, and common concert of action, can... their rights to life... be recognized, and liberty and rights secured. Samuel Gompers Industrialization had lowered the prices of consumer goods, but in the late 1800s most factory workers did not earn enough to buy them. The successful entrepreneurs of the era had worked hard. Many, like Carnegie, had used their wealth to provide money for good works. Still, in hard times only the poor went hungry. Increasingly, working men and women took their complaints directly and forcefully to their employers. Gulf Between Rich and Poor In 1890, the richest 9 percent of Americans held nearly 75 percent of the national wealth. In the best of times, the average worker could earn only a few hundred dollars a year. Many workers resented the extravagant lifestyles of many factory owners. Poor families had little hope of relief when hard times hit. Some suffered in silence, trusting that tomorrow would be better. Others became politically active in an effort to improve their lives. A few of these individuals were drawn to the idea of socialism, which was then gaining popularity in Europe. Socialism is an economic and political philosophy that favors public instead of private control KEY TERMS socialism craft union collective bargaining industrial union scab anarchist Haymarket Riot Homestead Strike Pullman Strike Successes TARGET READING SKILL Identify Main Ideas As you read, complete the chart below, filling in the successes and failures of the labor unions. The Knights of Labor protect railroad wages from being cut in 1885 through the use of the strike. Labor Unions Failures The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 turns violent, giving the public and the government a bad taste for unions. VIEWING HISTORY Many wealthy industrialists enjoyed great personal wealth and luxurious comforts (left). In stark contrast, many workers lived in crowded boarding houses (right). Identifying Central Issues How did many workers respond to the contrast between the rich and poor? Section 4 The Great Strikes SECTION OBJECTIVES 1. Discover the impact of industrialism on the gulf between rich and poor. 2. Find out the goals of the early labor unions in the United States. 3. Learn why Eugene V. Debs formed the American Railway Union. 4. Study the causes and outcomes of the major strikes in the late 1800s. BELLRINGER Warm-Up Activity Have student pairs choose several possible courses of action in the following situation: Restaurant workers are told that unless they agree to work four additional evening hours each week for no extra pay, they will be fired. As students read, have them circle any option that uses collective bargaining. Activating Prior Knowledge Have students list reasons why labor unions came into being during the late 1800s to help them analyze the growth of labor unions. TARGET READING SKILL Ask students to complete the graphic organizer on this page as they read the section. See the Section Reading Support Transparencies for a completed version of this graphic organizer. Chapter 13 Section Teaching Resources Guided Reading and Review booklet, p. 57 Technology Section Reading Support Transparencies Guided Reading Audiotapes (English/Spanish), Ch. 13 Student Edition on Audio CD, Ch. 13 Sounds of an Era Audio CD The Electric Light Quadrille, 1889 recording (time: one minute, 30 seconds) Literature Activity Sister Carrie, found on TeacherExpress, introduces students to factory life in the late 1800s with an excerpt from Theodore Dreiser s novel. Prentice Hall Presentation Pro CD-ROM, Ch. 13 Viewing History Many turned to labor unions and some turned to socialism to seek justice. Chapter 13 Section 3 477

2 LESSON PLAN Focus Explain to students that industrialization caused great inequalities in wealth in the late nineteenth century. Big business owners grew wealthy while workers toiled for low wages. Ask students how workers tried to improve their wages and working conditions. Instruct Discuss why workers resented the wealth of business owners. Ask how socialism, anarchism, and labor unions were different approaches to solving the problems of workers. Ask how socialism and anarchism promised to improve workers lives but ran counter to some American ideals. What did labor unions do to address workers problems? Ask students to describe public reaction to the strikes. What pattern of events did the Pullman Strike set in motion? Assess/Reteach Have students list the types of grievances experienced by workers that led to the development of labor unions. Interdisciplinary Though the cost of manufactured consumer goods dropped because of industrialization, working-class women had difficulty affording them. Women s wages and job opportunities were far below those of men. African American women were even worse off, being excluded from most factory positions until World War I. Consider the average earnings of a working woman and the price of consumer goods: factories paid the average woman worker $5 a week, department stores paid $2 a week plus 5 percent commission, and families paid domestic servants $3 a week plus board. A ready-made blouse cost $1, a skirt $2, and a pair of shoes $1.50. Carfare for sales clerks was a nickel each way, and a dormitory bed cost $2.50 a week. Meeting posters and labor union badges such as these appeared around the country as labor unions grew more popular. of the means of production. Socialists believe that society at large, not just private individuals, should take charge of a nation s wealth. That wealth, they say, should be distributed equally to everyone. Socialism began in the 1830s as an idealistic movement. Early Socialists believed that people should cooperate, not compete, in producing goods. Socialism then grew more radical, reflecting the ideas of a German philosopher named Karl Marx. In 1848, Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, wrote a famous pamphlet called the Communist Manifesto. In it they denounced the capitalist economic system and predicted that workers would one day overturn it. Most Americans opposed socialism. The wealthy saw it as a threat to their fortunes. Politicians saw it as a threat to public order. Americans in general, including most workers, saw it as a threat to the deeply rooted American ideals of private property, free enterprise, and individual liberty. The Rise of Labor Unions 478 Chapter 13 The Expansion of American Industry Technology Sounds of an Era Audio CD The Commonwealth of Toil, 1940s recording (time: 45 seconds) A small percentage of American workers became Socialists and called for greater government intervention in the economy. Far more workers, however, chose to work within the system by forming labor unions. Early Labor Unions The early years of industrialization had spawned a few labor unions, organized among workers in certain trades, such as construction and textile manufacturing. The first national labor organization was the National Trades Union, which was open to workers from all crafts. It survived only a few years before being destroyed by the panic and depression of Strong local unions resurfaced after the Civil War. They began by providing help for their members in bad times, but soon became the means for expressing workers demands to employers. These demands included shorter workdays, higher wages, and better working conditions. National unions also began to reappear at this time. In Baltimore in 1866, labor activists formed the National Labor Union, representing some 60,000 members. In 1872, this union nominated a candidate for President. It failed, however, to survive a depression that began the following year. Indeed, unions in general suffered a steep decline in membership as a result of the poor economy. The Knights of Labor Another national union, the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, formed in Philadelphia in The Knights hoped to organize all working men and women, skilled and unskilled, into a single union. Membership included farmers and factory workers as well as shopkeepers and office workers. The union recruited African Americans, 60,000 of whom joined. After 1881, the union also recruited women members. Under the leadership of former machinist Terence Powderly, the Knights pursued broad social reforms. These included equal pay for equal work, the eight-hour workday, and an end to child labor. They did not emphasize higher wages as their primary goal. The leaders of the Knights preferred not to use the strike as a tool. Most members, however, differed with their leadership on this issue. In fact, it was a strike that helped the Knights achieve their greatest strength. In 1885, when 478 Chapter 13 Section 4

3 unions linked to the Knights forced railroad owner Jay Gould to give up a wage cut, membership quickly soared to 700,000. Yet a series of failed strikes followed, some of them violent. Membership dropped off, and public support for the Knights waned. By the 1890s, the Knights had largely disappeared as a national force. The American Federation of Labor A third national union, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed in 1886 under the leadership of Samuel Gompers, a London-born cigar maker. Unlike the Knights of Labor, the AFL was a craft union. Rather than organizing all workers, the AFL sought to organize only skilled workers in a network of smaller unions, each devoted to a specific craft. Between 1886 and 1892, the AFL gained some 250,000 members. Yet they still represented only a tiny portion of the nation s total labor force. Few African Americans joined. In theory the AFL was open to African Americans, but local unions often found ways to exclude them from membership. Women, too, were not welcome in the AFL. Gompers opposed the membership of women because he believed that their presence in the work force would drive wages down. Gompers and the AFL focused mainly on issues of workers wages, hours, and working conditions. This so-called bread-and-butter unionism set the AFL apart from the Knights of Labor. The Knights had sought to help their members through political activity and education. The AFL relied on economic pressure, such as strikes and boycotts, against employers. By using these tactics, the AFL tried to force employers to participate in collective bargaining, a process in which workers negotiate as a group with employers. Workers acting as a group had more power than a single worker acting alone. To strengthen its collective bargaining power, the AFL pressed for a closed shop, a workplace in which only union members would be hired. The Wobblies The AFL s policies did not suit all workers. In 1905, in Chicago, 43 groups opposed to the AFL founded the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or Wobblies. The IWW, which focused on unskilled workers, was a radical union that included many Socialists among its leadership. A number of IWW strikes were violent on both sides. During World War I, many IWW leaders were convicted of promoting strikes in war-related industries. Reaction of Employers By and large, employers disliked and feared unions. They preferred to deal with employees as individuals. In addition, they feared that if they had to pay higher wages and meet the other demands of unions, their costs would go up and they would be less competitive in the marketplace. As a result, employers took measures to stop unions, such as 1. forbidding union meetings; 2. firing union organizers; 3. forcing new employees to sign yellow dog contracts, in which workers promised never to join a union or participate in a strike; 4. refusing to bargain collectively when strikes did occur; 5. refusing to recognize unions as their workers legitimate representatives. In 1902, George F. Baer, the president of a mining company, reflected the opinions of many business leaders when he wrote: The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God... has given control of the property interests of the country.... Labor Day The Knights of Labor sponsored the first Labor Day on September 5, 1882, as a tribute to the American worker. As the labor force grew, so did support for making this day an official national holiday. In 1887, five states passed laws giving Labor Day legal status. Finally, in 1894, days after President Cleveland sent troops to suppress the Pullman Strike, Congress passed the bill making Labor Day a national holiday. The workingman s holiday, celebrated the first Monday of every September, has now also come to be associated with the end of summer vacations, a return to school, and one last long weekend for family barbecues and outdoor picnics before the autumn months arrive. Sounds of an Era Listen to the IWW song The Commonwealth of Toil and other sounds from the period of industrial expansion. A CTIVITY Culture Direct students attention to the quotation from George F. Baer at the bottom of this page. In a class discussion, have students compare and contrast Baer s contention that God has given control of the property interests of the country to business owners of high moral principles with the central idea of social Darwinism, that the most fit would succeed and become rich. Ask: how are these two arguments similar and different? (Verbal/Linguistic) Connections to Today In the late 1800s workers injured on the job had no recourse. Yet as the country became more industrialized, worksite accidents became inevitable. Maryland passed the first state compensation law in 1902, but the Supreme Court declared that law, and all compensation laws of that era, unconstitutional. The first state compensation law to be held constitutional, that of Wisconsin, was enacted in By the end of that year ten states had passed workers compensation laws. Today, all states have programs, financed by employers, to provide injured workers with both medical and financial benefits. Chapter 13 Section CUSTOMIZE FOR Less Proficient Readers Have students create a chart that indicates some of the differences in the approaches of the American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor. Topics that might be included in the chart: Inclusion of Women; Inclusion of African Americans; Attitude Toward Strikes; Inclusion of Unskilled Labor. TEST PREPARATION Have students read this statement, then complete the sentence below. We know to our regret that too often are wives, sisters, and children brought into the factories and workshops only to reduce the wages and displace the labor of men the heads of families. Samuel Gompers Gompers dislikes women in the workplace because A they should be taking care of their homes. B they lower wages for the male employees. C they make more money than men. D he thinks they are not as capable. Chapter 13 Section 4 479

4 A CTIVITY History and Conflict To enable all students to understand the different perspectives of the parties involved in labor disputes of the late nineteenth century, assign them the following roles: Pinkerton, scab, anarchist, laborer, immigrant, business owner, union leader. Based on their reading, students should write a description of their roles and what they hope to achieve in an industrial dispute. (Verbal/Linguistic) Biography Many people remember President Hayes as the man who sent American troops to attack American workers. In reality, though, Hayes was something of a humanitarian. As President, he championed meritocracy within the civil service system. In retirement, he focused his energies on social causes, among them reforming prisons to make them less cruel, and advancing education for African Americans in the South. From the Archives of About the Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes ( ) seemed old-fashioned: he always wore a silk hat, frock coat, and black shoes. But in some ways, he was ahead of his time. He ended Reconstruction and turned away from the politics of the past. Declaring that the old spoils system should be abolished, he pleaded for a merit system instead. Though Congress didn t pass civil service reform under Hayes, reform would be the wave of the future. What s more, Hayes traveled more than any of his predecessors. He became the first President to see the West Coast. Source: Donald Young, Rutherford B. Hayes, The American Heritage Pictorial History of the Presidents of the United States, vol. 2, A steep cut in wages during a depression, combined with unsafe working conditions and an increased likelihood of layoffs. What prompted the railroad strike of 1877? 480 Chapter 13 The Expansion of American Industry Railroad Workers Organize The first major incident of nationwide labor unrest in the United States occurred in the railroad industry. The violent strike of 1877 touched off a wave of strikes and bitter confrontations between labor, management, and the government in the decades to follow. It also led to reform and reorganization within the labor movement itself. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 The strike began in July 1877, when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad announced a wage cut of 10 percent in the midst of a depression. This was the second wage cut in eight months. Railroads elsewhere imposed similar cuts, along with orders to run double headers, trains with two engines and twice as many cars as usual. The unusually long trains increased the risk of accidents and the chance of worker layoffs. Railway workers reacted angrily. Workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, were the first to declare a strike. When they tried to prevent others from running the trains, they clashed with local militia. Violence spread rapidly to Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities. After rioting strikers and sympathizers attacked railroad property, state governors requested assistance from the federal government. President Rutherford B. Hayes responded by sending in federal troops to restore order. A week later in Pittsburgh, soldiers fired on rioters, killing and wounding many. A crowd of 20,000 angry men and women reacted to the shootings by setting fire to railroad company property, causing more than $5 million in damage. President Hayes again sent in federal troops. From the 1877 strike on, employers relied on federal and state troops to repress labor unrest. A new and violent era in labor relations had begun. Debs and the American Railway Union At the time of the 1877 strike, railroad workers mainly organized into various brotherhoods, which were basically craft unions. Eugene V. Debs had taken a leadership role in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. He spoke out against the 1877 strike. The mission of the brotherhood, according to Debs, was not to antagonize capital. Although he was initially opposed to strikes because of their confrontational nature, Debs gained sympathy for the strike as he became more involved in the labor movement. COMPARING PRIMARY SOURCES Labor Unions In 1883, the Senate Committee on Education and Labor held a series of hearings concerning the relationship between workers and management. The committee heard these opposing views about the need for labor unions. Analyzing Viewpoints Compare the main arguments made by the two speakers. Testimony of a Labor Leader The laws written [by Congress] and now in operation to protect the property of the capitalist and the moneyed class generally are almost innumerable, yet nothing has been done to protect the property of the workingmen, the only property that they possess, their working power, their savings bank, their school, and trades union. Samuel Gompers, labor leader Teaching Resources Biography, Literature, and Comparing Primary Sources booklet (Comparing Primary Sources) On Labor Unions, p. 121 Biography, Literature, and Comparing Primary Sources booklet (Biography) Mary Kenney O Sullivan, p. 18 Testimony of a Factory Manager I think that... in a free country like this... it is perfectly safe for at least the lifetime of this generation to leave the question of how a man shall work, and how long he shall work, and what wages he shall get to himself. Thomas L. Livermore, manager of a manufacturing company 480 Chapter 13 Section 4

5 Debs, however, never thought violence had a place in strikes. He believed that the violence of the 1877 strike had resulted in part from the disorganization and corruption that existed within the brotherhoods. As a solution to this problem, and in an attempt to avoid future violent strikes, Debs proposed a new industrial union for all railway workers. Industrial unions organized workers from all crafts in a given industry. The American Railway Union (A.R.U.), formed in 1893, would replace the existing craft brotherhoods and unite all railroad workers, skilled and unskilled. Its primary purpose would be to protect the wages and rights of all the employees. If fair wages [were] the return for efficient service, [then] harmonious relations may be established and maintained... and the necessity for strike and lockout, boycott and blacklist, alike disastrous to employer and employee, and a perpetual menace to the welfare of the public, will forever disappear. Eugene V. Debs Strikes Rock the Nation From 1881 to 1900, the United States faced one industrial crisis after another. Some 24,000 strikes erupted in the nation s factories, mines, mills, and rail yards during those two decades alone. Three events were particularly violent: the Haymarket Riot and the Homestead and Pullman strikes. Haymarket, 1886 On May 1, 1886, groups of workers mounted a national demonstration for an eight-hour workday. Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will, ran the cry. Strikes then erupted in a number of cities. On May 3, at Chicago s McCormick reaper factory, police broke up a fight between strikers and scabs. (A scab is a negative term for a worker called in by an employer to replace striking laborers. Using scabs allows a company to continue operating and to avoid having to bargain with the union.) The police action caused several casualties among the workers. Union leaders called for a protest rally on the evening of May 4 in Chicago s Haymarket Square. A group of anarchists, radicals who oppose all government, joined the strikers. Anarchists addressed workers with fiery speeches, such as this one by newspaper editor August Spies: You have endured the pangs of want and hunger; your children you have sacrificed to the factory-lords. In short, you have been miserable and obedient slaves all these years. Why? To satisfy the insatiable greed, to fill the coffers of your lazy thieving master! August Spies At the May 4 event, someone threw a bomb into a police formation, killing one officer. In the riot that followed, gunfire between police and protesters killed dozens on both sides. Investigators never found the bomb thrower, yet eight anarchists were tried for conspiracy to commit murder. Four were VIEWING HISTORY Eugene V. Debs was arrested following the Pullman Strike in While in jail, Debs gained an interest in socialism. He would later combine his energetic style and his belief in socialism to conduct several unsuccessful presidential campaigns as leader of the Socialist Party. Drawing Inferences What factors, including his core beliefs, ultimately led Debs to become a Socialist? What led to the riot in Haymarket? Chapter 13 Section A CTIVITY History and Conflict During the last 20 years of the nineteenth century, there were about 24,000 strikes in the United States. To give students a sense of just how widespread and persistent the labor disputes of the period were, have them calculate, on average, how many strikes were occurring on any given day during the 1880s and 1890s. (Logical/Mathematical) Connections to Today Soon after the Haymarket Square riot, a monument was erected to honor the police, dedicated by Chicago to her defenders in the riot of May 4, Another monument was also erected to honor the workers. It quotes August Spies last words before he was hanged: The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today. Over the years, both monuments have been vandalized repeatedly, and both have been the scenes of various protests. In some ways, then, the conflict at Haymarket Square is still ongoing. Union leaders organized a rally in Chicago s Haymarket Square to protest the McCormick Reaper Factory s use of scabs to replace striking workers. A group of anarchists enflamed the protesters with fiery speeches. Someone threw a bomb into a police formation, killing an officer and starting a riot that left dozens on both sides dead. CUSTOMIZE FOR Gifted and Talented Have students research August Spies, one of the anarchists convicted of inciting the Haymarket Riot. Then, have students write a diary entry from the point of view of Spies. Include his account of the riot, his arrest, and his feelings about the trial and his pending execution. Viewing History He believed in the value of industrial unions, which united workers of all skill levels in a given industry. Debs also seems to have felt that relations between workers and management needed to become less confrontational, with more planning and cooperation between the two sides. Chapter 13 Section 4 481

6 A CTIVITY Culture Have students create charts that summarize the Haymarket Riot and the Homestead and Pullman strikes. Their charts should consist of three columns, each headed by a name of one of the events, and six rows, respectively titled Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. The bodies of the charts should answer appropriate questions about each event. (Visual/Spatial) Biography The Pinkertons was the name commonly used to identify members of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Allan Pinkerton, who had emigrated from Scotland, established the agency in Pinkerton was originally a cooper (barrel maker), and it was while working in 1843 near Chicago that he accidentally discovered and later captured a gang of counterfeiters. He was rewarded with an appointment as deputy sheriff. He resigned from official police work to establish his detective agency. For 30 years, Pinkerton and his agency enjoyed a series of great successes, from capturing train robbers to stopping an assassination attempt against President-elect Abraham Lincoln. After the Civil War, the Pinkertons became famous to some and infamous to others as strikebreakers. Pinkerton reflected on his colorful life in a memoir, Thirty Years a Detective. The town was made just for workers, with recreational areas, schools, and a pleasant environment. However, many workers thought Pullman exercised too much control over their lives. For example, he banned alcohol in the town. Viewing History It hurt the union cause because the public came to associate unions with violence and radicalism. VIEWING HISTORY The violence of the Haymarket Riot, depicted here, troubled many Americans. Recognizing Cause and Effect What were the effects of the incident at Haymarket on the union cause? What were the benefits and drawbacks of Pullman s town? 482 Chapter 13 The Expansion of American Industry Teaching Resources Units 5/6 booklet Section 4 Quiz, p. 7 Chapter 13 Test, pp. 8, 11 Guide to the Essentials Section 4 Summary, p. 71 Chapter 13 Test, p. 72 Other Print Resources Chapter Tests with ExamView Test Bank CD-ROM, Ch. 13 hanged. Another committed suicide in jail. Governor John P. Altgeld of Illinois decided later that the convictions resulted from public outrage rather than evidence. He pardoned the remaining three anarchists. The press and the public blamed the Knights of Labor for the Haymarket Riot, although the union s involvement was never proved. Public disapproval contributed to the decline of the Knights of Labor after Much of the American public came to associate unions in general with violence and radical ideas. Homestead, 1892 In the summer of 1892, while Andrew Carnegie was in Europe, his partner Henry Frick tried to cut workers wages at Carnegie Steel. Carnegie knew about the contract negotiation and had left Frick to handle it. The union at the Carnegie plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, called a strike. Frick had a plan for defeating the union. On July 1, he called in the Pinkertons, a private police force known for their ability to break strikes. Under cover of darkness on July 5, some 300 Pinkertons moved up the Monongahela River on barges. In a shootout with strikers on shore, several people died and many were wounded. At first Americans generally sympathized with the striking workers. Then, on July 23, anarchist Alexander Berkman tried and failed to assassinate Frick. Although Berkman was not connected with the strike, the public associated his act with the rising tide of labor violence. The union called off the Homestead Strike on November 20. Homestead reopened under militia protection. I will never recognize the union, never, never! Frick declared. Carnegie claimed that he believed in unions. However, Carnegie Steel (and its successor, U.S. Steel) remained nonunionized until the late 1930s. Pullman, 1894 Like the strike of 1877, the last of the great strikes involved the railroad industry. Inventor George Pullman had developed a luxury sleeping car that was slightly larger than existing railroad cars. Known as Pullman cars, they were so successful that Pullman needed a steady source of labor to meet growing demands. He believed he could attract a solid, dedicated labor force by constructing a town made just for workers. Built in 1880, twelve miles south of Chicago s business district, the town of Pullman provided its workers with everything they could possibly need: parks, a miniature lake, schools, a theater, a church, and paved sidewalks lined with shade trees. Pullman also maintained remarkable health and sanitation conditions, athletic programs, and a military band. However, Pullman held his town to high standards, which workers sometimes viewed as unfriendly. Many workers felt that Pullman exercised too much control over their lives. Pullman s ban on alcohol in the town, for example, angered many residents. While these factors did not directly cause a strike, they provided a tense backdrop for the events about to occur. Conditions in the town took a turn for the worse after the Panic of Pullman laid off workers and cut wages by 25 percent. Meanwhile, he kept rent and food prices in his town at the same levels. In May 1894, a delegation of workers went to him to protest. In response, Pullman fired three of the workers, an act that led the local union to go on strike. Technology ExamView Test Bank CD-ROM, Ch. 13 Social Studies Skills Tutor CD-ROM 482 Chapter 13 Section 4

7 Pullman refused to bargain and instead shut down the plant. Badly needing help, the workers turned to the newly formed American Railway Union and Eugene V. Debs for support. One month earlier, the A.R.U. had achieved success when they supported striking workers on James J. Hill s Great Northern Railroad. Following that victory, membership in the union rose to over 150,000 members, 3,000 percent more than the previous year. The A.R.U. s triumph led many railway workers to feel optimistic about their cause. Although Debs was hesitant to join this strike, the delegates of the A.R.U. voted to support the strike and called for a boycott of Pullman cars throughout the country. Widespread local strikes followed. By June 1894, some 260,000 railway workers had joined in the Pullman Strike. Debs instructed strikers not to interfere with the nation s mail, but the strike got out of hand. It completely disrupted western railroad traffic, including delivery of the mail. Railroad owners, organized as the General Managers Association, turned to the federal government for help. By arguing that the mail had to get through and citing the Sherman Antitrust Act, Attorney General Richard Olney won a court order forbidding all union activity that halted railroad traffic. The American Railway Union, he argued, had formed an illegal trust and was restraining free trade. Two days later, on July 4, President Grover Cleveland sent in 2,500 federal troops to ensure that strikers obeyed the court order. A week later the strike was over. The Pullman strike and its outcome set an important pattern. In the years ahead, factory owners appealed frequently for court orders against unions. The federal government regularly approved these appeals, denying unions recognition as legally protected organizations. This official government opposition helped limit union gains for more than 30 years. READING COMPREHENSION 1. Why did socialism appeal to some Americans in the late 1800s? 2. How did early labor unions in the United States differ in their organization and in the methods they used to achieve their goals? 3. Why did the railroad strike in 1877 prompt Eugene V. Debs to create an industrial union? 4. How successful were labor unions at the end of the century? 4 Assessment CRITICAL THINKING AND WRITING 5. Making Comparisons Compare socialism and the labor movement as two different responses to the growing gulf between the rich and the poor. How did their goals differ? 6. Writing a Letter Write a letter to President Hayes regarding the strike in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in Try to persuade the President either to send troops in to stop the strike or to refuse to intervene. VIEWING HISTORY Angry railroad strikers look on as federal troops ride in to restore order. Synthesizing Information Why did the government intervene in the Pullman Strike? Why did the government side against labor unions? PHSchool.com For: An activity on labor unions Visit: PHSchool.com Web Code: mrd-5134 Chapter 13 Section Section 4 Assessment Reading Comprehension 1. The gap between rich and poor was vast. Socialism seemed to offer a political and economic philosophy which favored the public at large, rather than a few wealthy individuals. 2. Organization: inclusion of skilled or unskilled workers; by trade, or including all trades. Methods: collective bargaining, strikes, boycotts. 3. He disliked the violence of the strike. He felt that separate railway unions were too fractured, and that one union for the entire railroad industry would be efficient and effective. 4. Labor unions had only limited success at that time. They brought many of labor s pressing issues to light, but often met with violence and government opposition during strikes. Critical Thinking and Writing 5. Socialists hoped to see all Americans share equally in the nation s wealth. The labor movement worked mostly within the free enterprise system, attempting to attain fair treatment for workers. 6. Letters requesting federal troops might stress that the strikers had defied the state militia. Letters opposing intervention might say that the use of federal troops would only increase the violence. PHSchool.com Typing the Web Code when prompted will bring students directly to detailed instructions for this activity. Viewing History The government was sympathetic to big business at the time. The government also felt that rail transport was a vital industry that must not be interrupted, particularly since railroads carried the nation s mail. Chapter 13 Section 4 483