River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-07-21
FAIL TO AGREE
ON PEACE TERMS
BITTER WAR IS ON IN THE MEAT
INDUSTRY.
CONFEREES SPLIT ON TERMS
Hitch on Question of Reinstatement of
Strikers - Sympathetic Strike
Threatened in Chicago--A
Riot in st. Paul.

Chicago, July 1S.-Chicagc and the
entire United States now face one of
the greatest industrial strikes in his
tory. Peace negotiations in the great
stockyards strike are at an end, and
the packers and their $4,000 employees
are preparing for prolonged struggle
in the nine cities in which strikes have
beer called. The break came in Chica-
go Saturday afternoon, when at the
end of a three hours joint conferences
it was announced that basis for ar
bitration could not be agreed upon.
Hitch on Reinstatement.
The reinstatement of the men now
on strike was the rock upon which
the negotiations went to smash. Pres
ident Donnelly and his associates in
sisted that all of the strikers should
be reinstated within seven days. The
packers replied that they could not
agree to discharge the men who have
been employed to take the place of the
strikers. All other details for arbitra-
ton had been arranged when this OBJ
stacle arose
Sympathetic Strike Threatened.
Now that arbitration negotiations
have been abandoned it seems only a
matter of time till $4,000 other en-
ployes of the stocllyards houses go
on sympathetic strike. The central
body of the mechanical trades en-
ployed at the yards voted to strike
when asked to do so by President Don
nelly of the butcher Workmen.
Prices Continue to Advance.
Prices of meat continue to go up, al
though the packers insist that there is
plenty on hand and that there will be
no appreciable shortage. Fulton mar
ket commission men say that if the
strike continues they can supply the
Chicago market with 60 per cent. of
the normal consumption of meat.
Thousands Eager to Work.
Applications for work have been re-
ceived from thousands of men and
women in Chicago, and in other pack
ing centers In Chicago $500 new
men have been employed and put to
work, Of whom 655 were added to the
total yesterday. The employers believe
they have already beaten the union,
They look for wholesale assertions
from it's ranks the coming week. The
officers of the labor organization fear
the same outcome if the struggle is
prolonged. Practically the entire mem
bership of the union is on strike. No
strike benefits have been paid, nor
will be, as there is no large fund Of
money on hand The men can remain
idle only SO long as their individual
savings hold out. A large part of the
membership consists of workers of
foreign birth, who cannot speak the
English language and who come from
races that have not been noted Tor
sticking" on a strike.
Called to Chicago.
Peoria, ILL.,, July 18.-All the employees
of the local branch of the Cudahy Pack
ing company were Saturday called to
Chicago, except the bookkeeper and one
driver. They were not notified as to
the purpose of the call, but the pre-
sumption is they are to be used in the
packing house there. AT the Armour
plant it was stated their men are be-
ing called in from all over the country,
though no orders had been received at
the Peoria branch yet.
Riot at st. Paul
ST. Paul, Mimi, July 18.-Strikers
and sympathizers resorted to rioting
and fist fights Saturday in IN effort to
paralyze the packing houses in South
ST. Paul. AS result Gov. Van SAINT
may call out the state troops. He
has held two consultations with the
sheriff and announced that If the coun-
ty officials ultimatum, delivered to the
strikers after the riot had been sup
pressed, is not effective, he will order
the militia to dispense the mobs sur
rounding the packing houses and to-
remain on guard till the strike is
over.
The riot started at Swift e. Co. S
plant A bowling mob of strikers
formed a Gordon about the packing
houses when Sheriff Grisim, after an
early conference with Gov. Van SAINT
tried to lead a company of % nom
union men into the packing house.
The strikers massed in front of the.
official. Grisim charged the mob and
called on his followers 10 keep close
to him. Within five minutes the sher
iff was fighting for dear life. The mob
pummeled the sheriff and beat most of
the nonunion men. But the sheriff
succeeded in taking his whole party
into the hacking plant where the non