The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-11-14
Answer of the Railway
People.
SOME CHARGES OF BIAS.
Cleveland'S Commission Accused
of UnfairneSS.
ONLY ACTED IN SELF.DEFENSE.
1t Is Claimed That Railroad Laborers
Combined Before the Companies
Themselves Did.

SHICAGO, NOV. 13,-Ibe halfway age
in its next issue will contain reply to the
report of the United States Strike Commits
sloners, addressed to those gentlepen. 1t
says in part:
The personal opinions as conveyed in the re-
port OF the Federal Strike Commission are In.
vested with unwOnted interest TO the pubic at
large from the fact of the official standing of the
commission and tine dignity with which they
have been clothed. All good citizens must OF
necessity be interested in the Commissioners
official conclusion, and IL appears 10 be tue
part OF citizenship 10 call attention TO and, II
possible, correct any oversghts or misstate-
ments OF facts into which the Commissioners
may have fallen.
The report says: 1T should be noted that un-
I'll The railroads set the example general
union CT railroad employees was never at
tempted. The union had not then gone beyond
enisting men upon different systems In sepa.
rate trade organizations"
This statement Is wholly false. The report
says In another place: THE order OF the
Knights of Labor. with an estimated member
ship OF from 10000 to $4,000, has always
advocated the solid fication of labor" The his
Tory oil railway labor organizations Tor the last
twenty years is Ian gey made up of what the re-
port says was never attempted. Again and
again have efforts been made TO consolidate
led crate or absorb various orders into one.
Again and again have the different classes Of
labor on the same road and the same classes
of labor on different roads stood together.
Again and again has the allied labor of several
companies been called on to enforce the de-
mand OF one class of labor against one COM
pany. The ignorance of ais fact and OF the
further fact that IL was the rep ated experience
OF 1t which at length drove the railways re-
luctantly TO unite also in seIfdefense is 10 any
one al all familiar with The history of labor al
most incomprehensible. The misstatemenis
are made all the more gross by the importance
which the commission seems 10 attach to its as.
sertions.
The report, speaking OF the Pullman phase Of
the trouble. says: "The cut in wages during
this period averaged about % per cent" This
Is not true. The amount OF the reduction was
placed In evidence before the commission In
great detail and with eXactitude. The average
reduction in wages for journeymen mechanics
was 22.S per cent. ana the average reduction
Tor ali other shop employees was 111a. The
average reduction for all shop employees was 10
per cent.
Again the report saws: Under The contracts
between railway companies and the Pullman
Company the railroads have paid since 1877
cents a mile for each mile run by Pullman
cars" This is not fact, nor from the one
form Of standard" contract placed In evidence
before the commission was 1t justified In con-
Guiding 1t TO be fact. TIE contract speciti-
cay provides for exceptions to this rate OF pay
ment which inter- so largely in the aggregate
business of tile company with the railways as
to totally falsify the generalization which is
made.
eOn page 1858 the report says: Throughout
the strike me strife was simply over handling
Pullman cars, the men being ready to do their
duty otherwise" This is not only un rue, but Is
radical and gross INSTRUMENTATION OF the en-
tire circumstances OF the strike. 1t is only
necessary to point out that the strike extended
among other roads 10 the Michigan Central,
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern and
Wabash companies. on which no Pullman cars
were In operation. The statement quoted
shows an amazing and almost Incompetent
sble msunders anding OF the essential ele.
ments OF the strike.
Further on the report says In reference TO
the Pullman tenants: "As the bank is rent col
lec;or II presses for the rent, and Is aided In
collecting IL by knowledge on the part OF the
tenant that by arrears ne may loose his job"
On what was knowledge based? During all
the years there never has been an rmplOye who
lost his "job' for this nou- payment OF rents and
the employees had knowledge of it. How is the
statement recOncilable with the very sentence
"At the time of the strike $4,000 of unpaid
rent had accumulated" and the debtors still
were In pOssessi' n Of their jobs.
Further on the report says: at Is In EVIL
dence and uncontradicted that no violence or
destruction of property by strikers or sympa-
thZers took place at Pullman, aud that until
July no extraordinary protection was had
from the police or military against even an:ici-
pated disorder" 1t was not until July that
the service OF the military was called for, even
IN Chicago itself. The commission omits to
mention the s.eYfra0rdInarv Drofectionv nf In
221 guards Of the Pullman Company who were
In ser vice before the end of June and who Qhe
danger OF anticipated disorder being so greaD
were increased to $50 in the first week 10 July.
Moreover, there was violence at Pullman
ply steal assaults upon person. who attempt d
80 return to work. When the military were put
IN the field they were used at Pullman longer
than anywhere else. Nowhere did the police
have more difficulty than In protecting from
violence those who wished 10 resume work at
Pullman. Some or all of these acts were
clearly In evidence before your commission.
Later the report says: "There is no evidence
before the commission that The officers OF the
American Railway Union at any time partici-
patcd in or advised intimidation, violence or
destruc lion OF property" The evidence before
the commission not only included testimony as
TO specific speeches In which the vice. pres ident
OF the union amid much grossly violent Ian.
Ruage recommended the use OF coupling pins
as method OF argument. but the vice-presi-
dent himself stated to your commission that
the language which he used on those specific
occasions he had also used at hundreds Of other
places. The errors In the report range all the
way from the inaccurate quotations of COM
Daratively trivial figures to false generaliza-
lions. There are many other minor points in
your report In which criticism and correction
would be easy. 1t would be equally easy to pill
Tory the cheap evity with which the commission
treats the educational institutions and the
estbetic and sanitary features OF Pullman.
But these thIugs-errors OF taste or fallacies in
tbeory-wilI be apparent enough to the general
reader. The curious accident that the mis-
statements of facts are all on the same side
all ending to throw discredit upon The cor
porations and 10 increase the bitterness Of the
laboring classes against capitals an accident
from which one would prefer TO draw no infer
ences.
one conclusion only may be drawn. which Is
That no matter on what side the errors are, the
mere existence of sucn errors, though MANY
and OF such enormty. alone suffices to max
the report entirely worthless and dlscreditable
as public document, discreditabe TO tile COM
mlssioners themselves and the country.
nERC MIIf-H nj CEN