The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1894-11-24
ON THE BIG STRIKE.
REPORT OF LABOR COMMITS
SIONERS MADE PUBLIC.
General Managers Association 10 Con-
demncd and tho Methods of the Pull
man Palace Car Company Not APP
proved Of--The President Uphold.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13.-Thc United
States government report on the great
railway strike in connection with the
Pullman trouble was made public yes
terdoy The report is addressed to
President Cleveland and abounds in
passages which will attract wide at
tention, particularly the portion re-
ferring to the now famous General
Managers association" the organiza-
ton of high railway officials that en-
comprised the memorable defeat OF
the American Railway Union.
The report says the capitalization of
the twenty-four railroads directly rep
resented in the General Managers as
ISOLATION was 81, los, 552,6l7. The num-
Der of employees was 221,o07. The COM
mission continues:
The formation of this association
brought the employees sharply face to
face with the fact that in questions as
to wages, rules, etc, each line was
supported by twenty-four combined
railroads. AS the result, during 1893
it being then well understood as to
wages, etc, it was an incident of the
General Managers association to assist
each road in case of trouble over such
matters, one form of assistance being
for the association to secure men
enough through its agencies to take
the place of all strikers-rcduction
were here and there made on the
different roads, the tendency and
effort apparently being to equalize the
pay on all lines"
OF the association itself the report
says: III Is q usurpation of power not
granted. If such an association is
necessary from business or economic
standpoint the right to form and main
tain it must come from the state that
granted its charter. In theory corpor
atoms are limited to the powers granted
either directly or by clear inference.
granted in either way in this case.
1.-The association is an illustration of
the persistent and shrcwdly devised
plan of corporations TO overreach their
limitations and to usurp indirectly
powers and rights not contemplated in
their charters and not obtainable from
the people or their legislators. An OK
tension of this association as above
suggested and the proposed legislation
of pooling would result in an aggrega
ton of power and capital dangerous to
the people and their liberties,
as well as to employees and
their rights. The question would
then certainly arise as to which
shall control, the government or the
railroads, and the end would newt
ably be government ownership. Unless
ready for that result and all that it
implies the government must restrain
corporations within the law and pre-
vent them from forming unlawful and
dangerous combinations. At least, so
long us railroads arc thus permitted to
! combine to fix wages and for their
| joint protection, it would be rank in
! justice to deny the right of all labor
| upon railroads to unite for similar pur-
| poses.
at should be noted that until the
| railroads set the example n general
| union of railroad employees was never
/ attempted. The unions had not gone
| beyond enlisting the men upon differ
| ent systems in separate trade organi-
! cations. These neutralize and check
! each other to some extent, and have no
such scope or capacity for good or evil
as is possible under the universal com
bination idea inauguratcd by the rail
roads and followed by the American
Railway Union. The refusal of the
General Managers association to rec
| ognize and deal with such combina-
ton of labor as the American Railway
Union seems arrogant and absurd, when
we consider its standing before the
! law, its assumptions, and its past and.
obviously contemplated future action"
Taking up the subject of the Pull
man Palace Car company the report
first condemns the system under which
the town of Pullman is conducted, and
compares it to the truck" system
] which every state in the Union has at
| tempted to 90 away with. Of the
causes leading up to the strike it says:
THE demand of the employees for
the wages of June, 1893 was clearly
unjustifablc. The business in MAY,
1894, could not pay the wages of June.
! 1898. Reduction was carried to ex-
cess, but the company was hardly more
ut fault therein than were the en-
ployes in insisting upon the wages of
June, 1893. There was little discus
sion as to rents, the company main
tanning its rents had nothing to do
with its wages, and that its revenue
from it's teIemcnts was no greater
than it ought to receive. Some slight
! concession in this regard would proba-
| bly, have averted the strike, provided
| the promise not to discharge men who
served upon the committee had been
more strictly regarded" The action
/ of tho strikers at Pullman in refrain
ing from acts of violence is highly
commended by the commission.
AS TO the great railroad strike
proper the report says:
/ ut is apparent the readiness to
strike alphabetically was promoted
by the disturbed and apprehensive
condition of railroad employees, result
ing from wage reductions on different
lines, blaclSlisting, etc, and from the
recent growth of the General Man
ngers' association, which seemed to
them a menace"