A  R  U
Channel: Stephen Griffith
Date: 12/07/2020

Day 118 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series

Sandburg writes: "The American Railway Union strike of 1893, led by Eugene V. Debbs, paralyzed traffic on  railways of the Northwest. As the concerted stoppage of work began, not a wheel moved on thousands of miles of right-of-way; it was a terrific tie-up, a red chapter in American transportation  history.

"The railway managers blacklisted A. R. U. men; strikers drifted to other railroads, got  jobs under new names, were detected, dropped from the pay rolls, and again put "on the hog,"  riding hog and cattle cars. These drifters made a song out of their grief.

"C. W. Loutzenhiser of  Chicago met a brother A. R. U. man in the Illinois Central switchyards at Macomb, Mississippi;  they held a little songfest; one song has verses flinging a switchman's gauntlet into the face of Fate.  It is a gay-hearted tune asking Lady Luck, in plain railroad slang, not to be too hard. "Go screw  your nut," in rail talk means, "Be on your way." Railway lines alluded to here can be located at  any railway station information desk; also hotel porters are ready to assist. R. W. Gordon gave  me the verses in Darien, Georgia, and sent me to Loutzenhiser in Chicago for the melody.

"A good  man, with a brick-dust face and invincible Irish eyes, is Loutzenhiser. In the course of our acquaintance he made the casual remark, "The fellows that sing the songs I know have all gone where the  Woodbine twineth and bejeez maybe I ought to go too." He seemed a serene, self-contained soul,  once laughing after singing a sweet Irish ditty, "I sing these songs to keep from goin' bugs."

HISTORICAL REFERENCES:

June 20, 1893 - Socialist Eugene Debs (1855-1926) organizes the A.R.U. (American Railway Union)

June 27, 1893 - A severe decline in the stock market leads to the Panic of 1893. The next year will see severe labor troubles as workers try to survive the economic contraction

May 11, 1894 - The Pullman Strike. The Pullman employees have been squeezed by the company to the point where they can no longer survive

June 26, 1894 - Eugene Debs calls the A.R.U. strike to support the Pullman workers. Roughly 60,000 workers go off the job.

July 2, 1894 - Attorney General Olney, who works with railroad interests, convinces President Cleveland to break the Pullman Strike. Cleveland orders Debs to call off the strike on the grounds that it interferes with the U.S. mail. (Pullman cars, however, do not carry mail.)

July 6, 1894 - Troops fire on the railroad strikers in Kensington, IL

July 10, 1894 - Debs is indicted for defying President Cleveland's injunction (on Dec. 14 he will be sentenced to six months in prison)

Aug 3, 1894 - The Pullman strikers give in (from The Traditional Ballad Index)