Chapter XXVI

. of this volume.

THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE OF 1894.

One of the greatest railroad strikes in this country occurred in the summer of 1894. Early in the spring of that year, the Pullman Car Company, whose works are near Chicago, notified their employes that they had to choose between accepting a reduction in their wages or having the works closed. They accepted the cut, although the reduction was from twenty-five to fifty per cent. of what they had been receiving.

When May came, the distressed workmen declared it impossible for them and their families to live on their meagre pay. They demanded a restoration of the old rates; but the company refused, affirming that they were running the business at a loss and solely with a view of keeping the men at work. On the 11th of May, 3,000 workmen, a majority of the whole number, quit labor and the company closed their works.

The American Railway Union assumed charge of the strike and ordered a boycott of all Pullman cars. Eugene V. Debs was the president of the Union, and his sweeping order forbade all engineers, brakemen, and switchmen to handle the Pullman cars on every road that used them. This was far-reaching, since the Pullman cars are used on almost every line in the country.

A demand was made upon the Pullman Company to submit the question to arbitration, but the directors refused on the ground that there was nothing to arbitrate, the question being whether or not they were to be permitted to operate their own works for themselves. A boycott was declared on all roads running out of Chicago, beginning on the Illinois Central. Warning was given to every road handling the Pullman cars that its employes would be called out, and, if that did not prove effective, every trade in the country would be ordered to strike.

[Illustration: ON THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILWAY.]

The railroad companies were under heavy bonds to draw the Pullman cars, and it would have cost large sums of money to break their contracts. They refused to boycott, and, on June 26th, President Debs declared a boycott on twenty-two roads running out of Chicago, and ordered the committees representing the employes to call out the workmen without an hour's unnecessary delay.

The strike rapidly spread. Debs urged the employes to refrain from injuring the property of their employers, but such advice is always thrown away. Very soon rioting broke out, trains were derailed, and men who attempted to take the strikers' places were savagely maltreated. There was such a general block of freight that prices of the necessaries of life rose in Chicago and actual suffering impended. So much property was destroyed that the companies called on the city and county authorities for protection. The men sent to cope with the strikers were too few, and when Governor Altgeld forwarded troops to the scenes of the outbreaks, they also were too weak, and many of the militia openly showed their sympathy with the mob.

Growing bolder, the strikers checked the mails and postal service and resisted deputy marshals. This brought the national government into the quarrel, since it is bound to provide for the safe transmission of the mails. On July 2d a Federal writ was issued covering the judicial district of northern Illinois, forbidding all interference with the United States mails and with interstate railway commerce. Several leaders of the strike were arrested, whereat the mob became more threatening than ever. The government having been notified that Federal troops were necessary to enforce the orders of the courts in Chicago, a strong force of cavalry, artillery, and infantry was sent thither. Governor Altgeld protested, and President Cleveland told him in effect to attend to his own business and sent more troops to the Lake City.

There were several collisions between the mob and military, in which a number of the former were killed. Buildings were fired, trains ditched, and the violence increased, whereupon the President dispatched more troops thither, with the warning that if necessary he would call out the whole United States army to put down the law-breakers.

The strike, which was pressed almost wholly by foreigners, was not confined to Chicago. A strong antipathy is felt toward railroads in California, owing to what some believe have been the wrongful means employed by such corporations on the Pacific coast.

There were ugly outbreaks in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento, the difficulty being intensified by the refusal of the militia to act against the strikers. A force of regular soldiers, while hurrying over the railroad to the scene of the disturbance, was ditched by the strikers and several killed and badly hurt. The incensed soldiers were eager for a chance to reach the strikers, but they were under fine discipline and their officers showed great self-restraint.

END OF THE STRIKE.

The course of all violent strikes is short. The savage acts repel whatever sympathy may have been felt for the workingmen at first. Few of the real sufferers took part in the turbulent acts. It was the foreigners and the desperate men who used the grievances as a pretext for their outlawry, in which they were afraid to indulge at other times. Then, too, the stern, repressive measures of President Cleveland had a salutary effect. Many labor organizations when called upon to strike replied with expressions of sympathy, but decided to keep at work. President Debs, Vice-President Howard, and other prominent members of the American Railway Union were arrested, July 10th, on the charge of obstructing the United States mails and interfering with the execution of the laws of the United States. A number--forty-three in all--was indicted by the Federal grand jury, July 19th, and the bonds were fixed at $10,000 each. Bail was offered, but they declined to accept it and went to jail. On December 14th, Debs was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for contempt, the terms of the others being fixed at three months.

On August 5th, the general committee of strikers officially declared the strike at an end in Chicago, and their action was speedily imitated elsewhere.

COXEY'S COMMONWEAL ARMY.

One of the most remarkable appeals made directly to the law-making powers by the unemployed was that of Coxey's "Commonweal Army." Despite some of its grotesque features, it was deserving of more sympathy than it received, for it represented a pitiful phase of human poverty and suffering.

The scheme was that of J.S. Coxey, of Massillon, Ohio, who left that town on the 25th of March, 1894, with some seventy-five men. They carried no weapons, and believed they would gather enough recruits on the road to number 100,000 by the time they reached Washington, where their demands made directly upon Congress would be so imposing that that body would not dare refuse them. They intended to ask for the passage of two acts: the first to provide for the issue of $500,000,000 in legal-tender notes, to be expended under the direction of the secretary of war at the rate of $20,000,000 monthly, in the construction of roads in different parts of the country; the second to authorize any State, city, or village to deposit in the United States treasury non-interest-bearing bonds, not exceeding in amount one-half the assessed valuation of its property, on which the secretary of the treasury should issue legal-tender notes.

This unique enterprise caused some misgiving, for it was feared that such an immense aggregation of the unemployed would result in turbulence and serious acts of violence. Few could restrain sympathy for the object of the "army," while condemning the means adopted to make its purpose effective.

The result, however, was a dismal fiasco. The trampers committed no depredations, and when they approached a town and camped near it the authorities and citizens were quite willing to supply their immediate wants in order to get rid of them. But, while a good many recruits were added, fully as many deserted. At no time did Coxey's army number more than 500 men, and when it reached Washington on the 1st of May it included precisely 336 persons, who paraded through the streets. Upon attempting to enter the Capitol grounds they were excluded by the police. Coxey and two of his friends disregarded the commands, and were arrested and fined five dollars apiece and sentenced to twenty days' imprisonment for violating the statute against carrying a banner on the grounds and in not "keeping off the grass." The army quickly dissolved and was heard of no more.

Similar organizations started from Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and different points for Washington. In some instances disreputable characters joined them and committed disorderly acts. In the State of Washington they seized a railroad train, had a vicious fight with deputy marshals, and it was necessary to call out the militia to subdue them. Trouble occurred in Kansas, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. The total strength of the six industrial armies never reached 6,000.

ADMISSION OF UTAH.

On the 4th of January, 1896, Utah became the forty-fifth member of the Federal Union. The symbolical star on the flag is at the extreme right of the fourth row from the top. The size of the national flag was also changed from 6 by 5 feet to 5 feet 6 inches by 4 feet 4 inches.

Utah has been made chiefly famous through the Mormons, who emigrated thither before the discovery of gold in California. Its size is about double that of the State of New York, and its chief resources are mineral and agricultural. It forms a part of the Mexican cession of 1848, and its name is derived from the Ute or Utah Indians. Salt Lake City was founded, and Utah asked for admission into the Union in 1849, but was refused. A territorial government was organized in 1860, with Brigham Young as governor. It has been shown elsewhere that in 1857 it was necessary to send Federal troops to Utah to enforce obedience to the laws. Polygamy debarred its admission to the Union for many years.

The constitution of the State allows women to vote, hold office, and sit on juries, and a trial jury numbers eight instead of twelve persons, three-fourths of whom may render a verdict in civil cases, but unanimity is required to convict of crime. The constitution also forbids polygamy, and the Mormon authorities maintain that it is not practiced except where plural marriages were contracted before the passage of the United States law prohibiting such unions.

It has been said by scientists that the power which goes to waste at Niagara Falls would, if properly utilized, operate all the machinery in the world. The discoveries made in electricity have turned attention to this inconceivable storage of power, with the result that Niagara has been practically "harnessed."

In 1886, the Niagara Falls Power Company was incorporated, followed three years later by that of the Cataract Construction Company. Work began in October, 1890, and three more years were required to complete the tunnel, the surface-canal, and the preliminary wheel-pits.

The first distribution of power was made in August, 1895, to the works of the Pittsburg Reduction Company, near the canal. Other companies were added, and the city of Buffalo, in December, 1895, granted a franchise to the company to supply power to that city. The first customer was the Buffalo Railway Company. November 15, 1896, at midnight, the current was transmitted by a pole line, consisting of three continuous cables of uninsulated copper, whose total length was seventy-eight miles. Since that date, the street cars have been operated by the same motor, with more industrial points continually added.

[Illustration: A GOLD PROSPECTING PARTY ON DEBATABLE LAND IN BRITISH GUIANA.]

While our past history shows that we have had only two wars with Great Britain, yet it shows also that talk of war has been heard fully a score of times. Long after 1812, we were extremely sensitive as regarded the nation that the majority of Americans looked upon as our hereditary foe, and the calls for war have been sounded in Congress and throughout the land far oftener than most people suspect. That such a calamity to mankind has been turned aside is due mainly to the good sense and mutual forbearance of the majority of people in both countries. England and the United States are the two great English-speaking nations. Together they are stronger than all the world combined. With the same language, the same literature, objects, aims, and religion, a war between them would be the most awful catastrophe that could befall humanity.

The last flurry with the "mother country" occurred in the closing weeks of 1895, and related to Venezuela, which had been at variance with England for many years. Until 1810, the territory lying between the mouths of the Orinoco and the Amazon was known as the Guianas. In the year named Spain ceded a large part of the country to Venezuela, and in 1814 Holland ceded another to Great Britain. The boundary between the Spanish and Dutch possessions had never been fixed by treaty, and the dispute between England and Venezuela lasted until 1887, when diplomatic relations were broken off between the two countries.

Venezuela asked that the dispute might be submitted to arbitration, but England would not agree, though the territory in question was greater in extent than the State of New York. The United States was naturally interested, for the "Monroe Doctrine" was involved, and in February, 1895, Congress passed a joint resolution, approving the suggestion of the President that the question should be submitted to arbitration, but England still refused. A lengthy correspondence took place between Great Britain and this country, and, on December 17, 1895, in submitting it to Congress, President Cleveland asked for authority from that body to appoint a commission to determine the merits of the boundary dispute, as a guide to the government in deciding its line of action, insisting further that, if England maintained her unwarrantable course, the United States should resist "by every means in its power, as a willful aggression upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands, or the exercise of governmental jurisdiction over any territory, which after investigation we have determined of right belongs to Venezuela."

There was no mistaking the warlike tone of these words. The country and Congress instantly fired up and the land resounded with war talk. Congress immediately appropriated the sum of $100,000 for the expense of the commission of inquiry, and two days later the Senate passed the bill without a vote in opposition. The committee was named on the 1st of the following January and promptly began its work.

But the sober second thought of wise men in both countries soon made itself felt. Without prolonging the story, it may be said that the dispute finally went to arbitration, February 2, 1897, where it should have gone in the first place, and it was settled to the full satisfaction of Great Britain, the United States, and Venezuela. Another fact may as well be conceded, without any reflection upon our patriotism: Had England accepted our challenge to war, for which she was fully prepared with her invincible navy, and we were in a state of unreadiness, the United States would have been taught a lesson that she would have remembered for centuries to come. Thank God, the trial was spared to us and in truth can never come, while common sense reigns.

[Illustration: COUDERT. WHITE. BREWER. ALVEY. GILMAN. VENEZUELAN COMMISSION. Appointed by President Cleveland, January, 1896, to determine the true boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela.]

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1896.

The presidential election in the fall of 1896 was a remarkable one. The month of September had hardly opened when there were eight presidential tickets in the field. Given in the order of their nominations they were:

Prohibition (May 27th)--Joshua Levering, of Maryland; Hale Johnson, of Illinois.

National Party, Free Silver, Woman-Suffrage offshoot of the regular Prohibition (May 28th)--Charles E. Bentley, of Nebraska; James H. Southgate, of North Carolina.

Republican (June 18th)--William McKinley, of Ohio; Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey.

Socialist-Labor (July 4th)--Charles H. Matchett, of New York; Matthew Maguire, of New Jersey.

Democratic (July 10th to 11th)--William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska; Arthur Sewall, of Maine.

People's Party (July 24th to 25th)--William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska; Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia.

National Democratic Party (September 8th)--John McAuley Palmer, of Illinois; Simon Boliver Buckner, of Kentucky.

[Illustration: WM. JENNINGS BRYAN. Democratic candidate for President, 1896.]

As usual, the real contest was between the Democrats and Republicans. The platform of the former demanded the free coinage of silver, which was opposed by the Republicans, who insisted upon preserving the existing gold standard. This question caused a split in each of the leading parties. When the Republican nominating convention inserted the gold and silver plank in its platform, Senator Teller, of Colorado, led thirty-two delegates in their formal withdrawal from the convention. A large majority of those to the National Democratic Convention favored the free coinage of silver in the face of an urgent appeal against it by President Cleveland. They would accept no compromise, and, after "jamming" through their platform and nominating Mr. Bryan, they made Arthur Sewall their candidate for Vice-President, though he was president of a national bank and a believer in the gold standard.

In consequence of this action, the Populists or People's Party refused to accept the candidature of Mr. Sewall, and put in his place the name of Thomas E. Watson, who was an uncompromising Populist.

There was also a revolt among the "Sound Money Democrats," as they were termed. Although they knew they had no earthly chance of winning, they were determined to place themselves on record, and, after all the other tickets were in the field, they put Palmer and Buckner in nomination. In their platform they condemned the platform adopted by the silver men and the tariff policy of the Republicans. They favored tariff for revenue only, the single gold standard, a bank currency under governmental supervision, international arbitration, and the maintenance of the independence and authority of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Bryan threw all his energies into the canvass and displayed wonderful industry and vigor. He made whirlwind tours through the country, speaking several times a day and in the evening, and won many converts. Had the election taken place a few weeks earlier than the regular date, it is quite probable he would have won. Mr. McKinley made no speech-making tours, but talked many times to the crowds who called upon him at his home in Canton, Ohio. The official vote in November was as follows:

McKinley and Hobart, Republican, 7,101,401 popular votes; 271 electoral votes.

Bryan and Sewall, Democrat and Populist, 6,470,656 popular votes; 176 electoral votes.

Levering and Johnson, Prohibition, 132,007 popular votes.

Palmer and Buckner, National Democrat, 133,148 popular votes.

Matchett and Maguire, Socialist-Labor, 36,274 popular votes.

Bentley and Southgate, Free Silver Prohibition, 13,969 popular votes.

Despite the political upheavals that periodically occur throughout our country, it steadily advances in prosperity, progress and growth. Its resources were limitless, and the settlement of the vast fertile areas in the West and Northwest went on at an extraordinary rate. In no section was this so strikingly the fact as in the Northwest. So great indeed was the growth in that respect that the subject warrants the special chapter that follows.

[Illustration: CORNER AT TOP OF STAIRWAY NEW CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D.C.]

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