Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-07-06
THE PULLMAN FIGHT.
HOW PERSONAL GRIEVANCE TIES UP
ALL CHICAGO.

\ brief history Of how the greatest
strike which has threatened Chicago
since the historic conflict. brought about
b. the engineers of the Chicago, Bur-
lingtOn & Quincy road, has come about
shows to what a pass things have come
in this western country, says Chicago
correspondent of the Boston Transcript.
About two months ago the employees
of the Pullman Palace Car company
struck. They had numerous complaints.
One was that a reduction in wages was
threatened. Others were; bad treat
ment of employees by bosses. foremen
and heads of departments, and alleged
high prices for water, gas, and the com
modites of life in Pullman. The COM
pany met Its employees in a friendly
spirit and began an investigation of all
grievances. While this investigation
was pending the men suddenly struck
In all about 5000 men and women quit
work. With regard to the merits of the
case it is not proposed to treat here at
length. TO the lay mind it looks very
much as if there was great deal of
fault on both sides. The men unques-
tionably had grievances. People who
know what the Pullman "system" is
have very little sympathy with it. Mr..
George NJ. Pullman has built up mag
niiicent manufacturing town on the out
skirts of Chicago and has given it his
name, But so thoroughly "Pullman-
zed'' has the place become that the
worhingman who lives in it finds it
hard to maintain his sef-respect. He
rents his house of Pullman he buys his
gas and water of Pullman; he is obliged
to live in Pullman; the bread he eats.
the milk he drinks, the clothes and shoes
and hat he wears are bought at stores
owned by Pullman. And so it goes. TO
what extent the employee has been cheat
ed or indeed Whether he has been cheated
at all, it is impossible to tell. He insists
thar for years he has been swindled and
gives figures to prove it, The Pullman
company is equally positive that he has
never been robbed of a penny and gives
figures to.prove it. Whose figures are
correct it is hard to say.
The strike ran along for about a
, month. , The works were simply shut
+ down, and theEmen lay idle. The COM
pany is an enormously rich corporation.
1t added last year several million dol
, lars to its surplus fund. Times were
hard anyway and there was not much
business, so the shutdown did not af-
feet the company much. Indeed Mr..
+ Pullman recently made statement that
l fbr the last six months he has run the
works attain actual loss in order that he
+, might keep the men at work. The
! shutdown did not come easy to the
= men, however. Still general sympathy
existed tor them, and large amounts of
food land clothing were given them.
The mayor of Chicago gave them $1,000
g out of his own pocket. But every day
r made the situation harder to endure Tor
!, the men. The company all along main
g tanned an lmpassive attitude. Oyertures
e of arbitration were made to it and de-
j. clined. There is nothing to arbitrate,
was the invariabe reply. ave have
v no quarrel with our men. They left
T. us and we were obliged to shut down
= When they wish to return under previous
q arrangements, we are ready to open VI
n agan.k But we Will NOT discuss will
= anyone how our business shall be con
t ducted."E 1t is known that some OF thC
. leading Fcitizens OF Chicago have gone
:, to Mr. Pullman and be gged him to sub
+ nit differences to arbitration He re
g fused, courteously, but very intelligibll
and persistently. After about month
1t of idleness, the men became FESTIVE. an(
II about this time there appears upon the
i scene the American Railway union
: This organization is the one which hat
II Just fought out great strike on the
z Great Northern railroad to II successful
l. issue, so far as the strikers were con
"a cerned. The union held convention
10 in Chicago and at it the Pullman strik,
l. was discussed After debate, lasting
~ some DAYS, it was decided To help tn,
!. men who were out of work at Pullman
5 The means adopted were briefly these
d a notice was sent to general manager
I of various railroads entering Chicag,
that on and after noon of June p the,
II must refuse to couple Pullman cars t,
% their trains. If they used these ear
: after that date there would be whole
= sale strike of their employees. TO thi
Is the railway man again replied that tn
/ fight was none OF theirs and that thei
d men were not interested in it. The,
had longtime contracts with the Pull
man company which could not be abro
gated. They must continue to use Pull
man cars. a boycott was thereupol
inaugurated, which began this morning.
=. Unsupported Sources of Disease.
i Recent Investigations have brough
out the fact that there are many case