Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1894-07-14
REVIEWED
Initial Cause of the Present
Railroad Boycott.
Why the Employees at Pullman
Went Out.
THEIR GRIEVANCES
Low Wages and High Rents
Among Them.
A Glance at the Company's
"Philanthropic" System.
Careful Account OF the Present
Great Railway Trouble From
Its Beginning. As View
ed by the Railroad
Officials.
A Glance at the Company's
"Philanthropic" System.
st. LOuis Republic.

st. Louis Republic.
| CHICAGO, Ill, June 30.-One of the
best known citizens said this morning
as he sat in his private Office reading
the accounts in the newspapers of the
great strike of railroad employees that is
now in progress here:
"The crisis through which the country
is now passing is, in my judgement,
second in interest only to one event-the
war of the rebellion"
Whether people will agree with this
view or not, certain it is that at the pres
ent time the eyes of pretty much all the
United States are on the great railroad
tie-up in the western country.
A good many people have been led to
consider that the Pullman Palace Car
company is responsible for the strike.
This is not wholly true, because it is
probable that the strike would have
taken place this summer if the Pullman
company had never been heard Of
Be that as it may, the conditions
which prevailed before and after the
strike at the town of Pullman, the state
of the workingmen and of their families
there and study of the Pullman system
are of special interest at this time. The
writer has found it necessary during the
last month to examine with some care
Just the condition of affairs that has
obtained in the past and which now
obtains at Pullman. The results which
have been arrived at are set forth here,
and an honest attempt has been made TO
give IN an unbiased way the situation
just as it is.
About ID years ago George M. Pull
man purchased $500 acres of ground in
the vicinity at Lake Calumet, about II
miles from Chicago. The city has
grown. and this entire tract is now en-
braced within the city limits Of Chicago.
When purchased this land was bare,
damp prairie. 1t was converted into
high and dry territory. Architects and
landscape engineers did their best to
change the order of nature. On this
tract of ground the Pullman shops were
built, on larger and more comprehen.
sive scale than any that had gone be-
fore.
A great deal has been written which
might lead people to suppose that the
town of Pullman was a philanthropic
enterprise. Until one rids ones mind
OF this idea it will be difficult to get any
real conception of what Pullman stands
for. The people who live in Pullman
work for living, and it is intended that
they should do so. But the object Of
the builder, he says, has been to give
people who are bread winners, with
small incomes, an opportunity to live
better and in more wholesome and elevat-
ing surroundings than they do else
where.
But with all this Pullman stands for
very shrewd investment, from the busi-
ness mans standpoint, of very large
capital.
The population of Pullman is about
$4,000. As matter of fact, about 65
per cent of the employees of the works
live in Pullman, although they are by
no means compelled to do SO. These
workers rent their homes of the Pull
man company. They pay considerably
less rent than they would be charged
outside of Pullman, and they live in
plain but wholesome and clean homes,
"cii cduiPPou Will eho oOH0sOiO SOA-
venience.
1t does not appear that much attempt
has been made to regulate" the people
of Pullman. They come and go about
as they like. They think as they like.
They look as they like. They do as
they like. And, so far as their wages
are concerned, workers at Pullman have
been paid as much rs they have been
boro md fhnra icl litfIa don hf
that they have had better homes for
less money than they could get else
| where.
The so-called factory town usually
carries with it an idea of CRIME and SCOT
and fifth and wretchedness. At Pull
man there is almost no fifth, and no
squalor; but, on the other hand, neat
ness and order prevail everywhere.
| OF course, since the strike set IL, and
since SO many people have been out of
work at Pullman, there has been there
some suffering. 1t is equally true that
even in prosperous business times,
among 1900 people, the idle and GRIMM
al and worthless element would be re-
presented.
But the main fact about the town of
Pullman remains. 1t is fact which, if
the reader can appreciate, will give him
the key to what Mr.. Pullman has at
tempted, This fact is that workman
who is givin surroundings of clean:
illness and order, paid good wages and
made happy and comfortable will tnrn
out more work and better work than
one who is placed where the opposite
conditions obtain. This is the Alpha
and Omega of the Pullman philsn-
thropy in respect to the construction oi
the town of Pullman. Every house ano
every fiat, down to the very cheapest il
rent, is equipped with modern con
veniences and internal sanitation. Supert
grounds for athletic sport have beer
made. Churches have been built. More
than 1000 scholars are in attendance
upon schoolhouse which is second Il
none in it's appointments. The wage
earners at Pullman have the use of I
library of 5000 volumes, A savings
bank has been established whi ch pays
good rate OF interest, and theater hal
been built which ls an artistic gem.