New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-03-12
CHICAGO'S LABOR WAR.
GREAT DAMAGE BEING DONE TO THE
CTTYS BUSINESS
INDUSTRIES MOVING TO OTHER POINTS
THE CITY'S EXPERIENCE SINCE THE
ANARCHIST TROUBLES.

ANARCHIST TROUBLES.
Chicago. March II (speciaD-It is hardly
probable that any city in the world has suffered.
in material way. from labor troubles TO the
extent that Chicago has; for this. the CONNER
cial and manufacturing centre of the Western
section of the United States-only second to
New-York in the output of products of all kinds
has been the hotbed of labor unionism, and
chosen as the rendezvous of those agtators re-
sponsible for the ills that have been visited not
only upon the workingmen but the employers
OF labor in all fields of industry.
AT the present time it is possible that the con-
troversy between building contractors and other
employers of skilled and unskilIed labor may be
settled by arbitration or compromise, although
so far as the building contractors are concerned
the latter aver in the most positive manner that
no settlement car be arrived at the basis of
the existing rules and regulations governing
labor unions; but even should settlement be
made the damage already done to building in
terests and the losses sustained by the working
men can never be made good.
NEW BUILDINGS DELAYED AND INJURED.
Hundreds OF business and residence structures,
the latter including fat buildings well
houses. are in an incomplete state. and under
no circumstances can be finished by the first of
the month Of May, which means that the ma
jcrity of them may remain vacant for an entire
year, resulting in great loss to the owners.
Apart from this the fact that scores of these
buildings have been standing in incomplete
condition, exposed TO the weather, has meant
additional loss to owners and contractors, many
of the latter being bound by forfets to have
them ready for occupancy within six weeks from
the present date
So far as the striking artisans and workmen
are concerned, they have been in no condition,
financially TO stand long fight. and many of
them and their families have suffered and
suffering for the barest necessities OF life Some
have been evicted from the places in which they
lived while others are in daily terror of meeting
the fate. The unions to which they be-
long have little no money for their support;
fellow workrnen are by means flush with
ready cash. and altogether the outlook is dark
and dreary for the strikers
VAST CAPITAL TIED UP.
There is however a third side to the fight
now in progress. which interests more people
than those actively engaged in the struggle, and
this is the future Of building operations in Chi
cago. It is estimated that fully S100,000,O00
is tied up just because Of the pending con-
troversy, much of which is represented in the
structures now in course Of erection, and that
about seyenty-fve thousand persons idle
who are usually at work at this period Of the
year; also that this money is released
y
its owners will never put it into buildings Of
any sort in this city. It is not at all strange
that capitalists should fight shy of most real
estate investments in Chicago. for their expert
ence In the past. outside Of the immediate bust
ness centre. has been anything but satisfactory
profitable.
Many building contractors. and among them
men of much wealth and good business rating,
are outspoken in their opinion that the existing
.fair
ployers will have the effect Of practically kill
ing building operations in Chicago for at least
ten years to come. while owners Of large fac
tories viii take advantage Of the first opportu-
nifty remove their plants to other places. 1t is
= fact, although not extensively advertised in
the Chicago newspapers, that several great
manufacturing establishments, employing sew
eral thousand men in the aggregate have moved
from Chicago, some Of them to the West and
others far east as NewYork, New-Jersey and
Massachusetts,, because the proprietors could
never count with certainty upon being able to
run their plants the entire year. So far the
killing and packing of beef and hogs is con-
cerned, the leading packers at the Stock Yards
here, like Armour, the Cudahys and others who
really control the business. have for years been
transferring good part Of their operations to
Kansas City, Omaha and other Western points
where strikes among the employees are not SO
start strike at the Stock Yards. and such a
tremendous task to put a stop to ii when once
fairly in motion, that packers do not care to run
too many risks. The butchers at the yards are
hard customers to handle when thoroughly in
earnest, and the police authorities would be de-
lighted 10 see the whole concern moved bodily
TO some other town. for the twenty thousand
employees in Packngtown could keep ten thou
sand troops busy day and night if they felt like
exerting themselves.
THE ANARCHIST ELEMENT.
Chicago has such a heterogeneous population
that no effort has ever been made TO bring tbs
conflicting elements into state of coalescence.
Previous to the Haymarket massacre in 1886,
the Anarchists and Red Socialists made things
pretty lively taking advantage of every labor
disturbance to parade the streets and haunt
their crimson bunting in the faces of the police
authorities. the latter remaining quiescent, as
they could not determine exactly what their
powers were. However, just after the bomb ex-
ploded in Haymarket Square, telling three COM
panies Of police officers and causing the death
OF about thirty Of them. there was sudden
change in the management of affairs. Anar-
chist demonstrations were stopped, meetings Of
the Red Socialists suppressed, the main partici-
pants in the Haymarket gathering Of Anarchists
the night the bomb thrown were hanged,
several Of the lesser lights were sent 10 the
penitentiary. and the authorities, in compliance
with popular demand, took harsh measures
whenever the red flag followers attempted a
public demonstration. The great labor strike OF
1856. which led the Haymarket massacre,
ended with a suddenness that startled both en-
ployers and employed, and until the Debs out
break Of 1894 the situation was a comparatively
quiet one, only broken now and then by small
quarrel involving few hundred men.
hatv inc ypiU ned