The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-07-17
COST OF THE STRIKE
CAREFUL ESTIMATE MAKES THE
AGGREGATE FULLY S13,6I2,OOO.
Railroads Lose s5.3I2, 900 and the Men
Who Took Part Have Lost Another
$1,000, OOO-Uncle Sans Loss.

New York Advertiser.
Debs was expensive. His strike cost the
railroads, in loss of business and destruc-
ton of property, about S5.312.000
1t cost railroad employees, those who
struck and thousands who were laid off on
account of a strike with which they had
no sympathy, about $5,00O.OOO
1t cost wage earners forced out of work
in industries dependent upon the railroads
and other wage earners who struck in
sympathy with the American Railway
Union about S1,l50,0O0.
1t cost the United States government ST.
100000.
1t cost for the maintenance of State mil
itary forces about $4,000. And the Pull
man employees, who had lost about S2OO,OOO
through their own strike before Debss or
ganzation took up the fight for them, have
simply lost 10000 more 1t was Pullman
employees VS. Pullman; then Debs VS.. Pull
man. Debs VS.. the railroads, Debs VS.. the
United States.
The total cost of this sympathetic, four
part affair is in the neighborhood of Sl3,-
$4,000 up to date, aside from the S,OcO,ooo
or s4OO0OO0 of pershable goods-meat,
fruits and the like-lost by delay in transit
in consequence of the refusal or the
railroads to accept freight for shipment.
his does not include Deus DIT
rate of $1,000 year, nor the salaries or
the secretary and vice president OF the
American Railway Union at $1,000 each,
nor of the six directors at Sl,5OO each nor
of the seventy organizers at 81 a day, nor
of the ten clerks at 81 TO 81 a day, nor the
$500 daily bill for telsgraphing, nor the 80
600 day for sending out speakers and mir
ing halls, nor the monthly rental Tor head
quarters in Chicago
Those things together hardly amount to
drop in the bucket. The strike cost those
directly concerned in it. for the time ii was
actually in effect, fully Sl,OD,O0 day. To
that should be added, if il could only be
calculated, the loss occaSioned 10 the gen
eral business interests of the country. ali
affected TO a greater or less degree by the
paralysis of the railroads
These aggregates take no account OF the
killed and wounded. No estimate can be
made to cover the disastrous moral effects
OF the continued defiance of law, State and
federal.
Organized labor is another sufferer. Aside
from the A. r. L. and the h. of l., the
older and more conservative orders of rail-
way employees were undetermined and
weakened by the sudden growth of Debs's
union and that erratic young mans domi-
neerng policy. The of the A. r. L.
was finally the head of great railway
order says, as directly against these older
organizations as against the railroads
The railroads centering at Chicago lost
$4,000 day during the strike. Fire Chief
Sweenie says that the reports of losses by
iDcendiariSm were exaggerated. His own
estimate is that the cars burned on all the
roads there amounted to not more than
100000. and that the damage in the yards
and terminals amounted TO only $4,000 more.
Destruction of railroad property elsewhere,
including bridges burned and tracks torn
up aggregates fully as much more. The
losses through the interruption of railroad
business aside from the roads centering
at Chicago, and included in the estimate
Of $3.50, 000 can safely be put at not less
than 100000 a day for a period of ten days.
This would make the total loss of the rail-
roads, through loss of business and de-
struction of property, over $5,OO0OO0.
AS to what the employees lost The Pull
man strikers cut off their payroll of $1,000
a day on May II. They have lost, there
fore. over 100000. Taking Debs's estimate
as to the number of men out on twenty-one
ROADS on July Z. and making an additional
estimate for the number out on southern
phis and Birmingham, and averaging their
wages at 81 day, the losses by railroad
employees who went on strike amount to
fully s., 600. Most of the men quit with
out having at hand food enough to last
their families week. They relied blindly
upon the promises of assistance made by
the union, which had money in the
treasury and was expecting for itself the
support of public sympathy. The strike of
out of work men, and even women, who had
no sympathy with them. Ia Chicago alone
stock-yards, 1,500 at the Polk sugar re-
finery and 1900 at the Illinois steel works,
while $500 more were laid off at various
manufacturing establishments. In other
cities this same effect was felt because the
railroads were not hauling ice or coal or
raw material for the factories. Averaging
these salaries at 81 a day, the total is
easily over 81, 100000.
There still other wage learners who
lose by the strike. On July ;. for exam
pie, the Chicago & Northwestern issued an
Greer laying off all men except those il
was absolutely necessary TO keep in the
motive power and car department shops,
leaving of the track forces only n fore
man and man on each section. Car
reparerS, cleaners, freight warehouse
men, checkers yard clerks and office forces
were suspended and all gangs of laborers
along the line were reduced. This single
order laid off ten thousand men. and many
of the other roads made similar reduc-
tions These were railroad employees who
had not struck and had no intention of
striking. The aggregate of these losses Is
impossible to estimate accurately. Some
employees were laid off for few days only,
others were continued On reduced salaries.
The amount lost in wages in this way
must have equaled that lost By the strikers
themselves, or about g, 10000 In the par
ticular case cited, the Northwestern, eco
strikers threw out 10000 other employees by
tying up the road
Finally there are to BE considered the
sympathetic labor strikes, the bulk of tie
loss following upon the p 900 who Welt
out at Chicago on July IL AID L..
The cost of keeping the militia of the
several States in active service has already
| amounted TO about $3.50 30.
The cost to the federal government for
| moving and supporting its regular troops
and to pay the deputy marshalS IS esti-
| mated officially at Washington To be about
| Il 100000.