The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-04-09
MAYOR OF: CHICAGO ON ::
!. :uAp !! Al. lIB0Rlh|D;S STRIKES
WINDY CITY Is CENTER OF
STRIFE BETWEEN LABOR
AND CAPITAL.

WINDY CITY Is CENTER OF
STRIFE BETWEEN LABOR
AND CAPITAL.
Value Of Trade Unions. Employers
Who Would Shoot to Kill. City Ia
Not SO Wicked as Described. Vast
Floating Population Needs Skill
full Managing. Mayor Harrison
Says He Does NotsWant to be Pres
ident Of the United States
chicago, April lit is an odd thing
that only one family should carry a
big Democratic city like this in it's
inside pocket. It is 81 years since
Chicago was Incorporated, and more
than one fourth of that time it has
been ruled by the Harrisons. Some
OF its most turbulent days were pass
ed under Carter H. Harrison, the elder
and for the past seven years it has
thrlven under the iron hand of Car
ter H. Harrison, the younger. 1t is
growing bigger broader and richer
Notwithstanding it's strikes, it's COM
| munities of Socialists and Anarchists
and it's holocausts of fire.
1 like these Harrisons. They have
an honest ring on the counter of mu-
nicipal and national politics. They
all come from the same stock. Carter
Harrison's great great great grandfat tn
er was the father Of Benjamin Harri
son, who signed the Declaration OF
| Independence, and whose son, Will
lam II. Harrison, was the ninth presi-
dent of the United States.
Young Carters reat-grandfather
was the first cousin Of John G. Brock
| inridge and also of President Benja-
min Harrison; and his own father was
! a stateman of radical ideas and nc
aversion to using the machinery OF
politics to carry him out.
The present mayor of Chicago is
a chip Of the old block. He is a poll
tician, practical and SAFE He is q
| friend of the working man, but is
ready to enforce the laws when the
business interests are attacked; an6
as such he today forms a part ct the
grist which is being here ground Out
! between the upper and neither mil
stones Of capital and labor. Indeed
it may be because the grinding is 81
hard that he is tired Of the job. A
least he tells me that he is so ant
want to retire.
! The governing Of Chicago is no small
matter and it's worries have begun
to sprinkle the mayors hair will
gray. This is no goody-goody Sunday
school town, and it's 100000 peopl,
need careful supervision. The cit,
covers "a vast area. It has 1900 mile!
Of street, 1000 miles OF sewers and i
costs about a$32,oo0,0oo a year to pa.
its running expenses. The mayor
| has $4,000 employees under him, ant
| there are also the city council ant
subordinate officers, but 1t is Garter
Harrison who does the thinking ant
acting, and it is also he who gets til,
blame
Chicago the Great Strike Center.
/ The reason of my call WAS Ito =asl
about the labor situation. ;begAr
| with: 'Mr. Mayor, why is Chicago
the strike center Of the United States
| There are more labor troubles here
try"
"is that We do more business thai
any other place, and also that ,ou
| business is more diversified. Chicago
u.s. perhaps, the manufacturing center
| of the United States. 1t has great fac.
tories and factories of almost every
kind. Pittsburg, for instance, leads tn,
country in iron making, but We haV,
| the Illinois Steel Company here
| which is one of the largest in TIN
world. We do more packing than an.
! other city, and we have car works
furniture works. and, in fact. almos
every kind of works. The result i
! that If there is "a strike in any brancl
of business the Chicago branch of tina
| business strikes in sympathy. Thi
gives us a variety of strikes, which
| are .magnified by some of the newspa
pers, whose sensational reports ar
| telegraphed all over the country"
Then Chicago is not as bad as 1t i
! painted ~ said I.
mo; it is not, replied Mayor Har
rison. 1T is not an angel City, butt
is far from being the devil city tina
| some people who have never been her
think it to be. On the whole it i
! about as good a city as any in tn
| country and just about as full o
| Christian charity, common decenc
| good orr Ter and brotherly love-
But you certainly have many VIC
lent 1laboring men, Mr.. Mayor. Hoy
about this stopping funerals and sta
.tioning pickets about the houses O
the dead to keep >no 9 ~ q men fror
| aiding in their interment."
"Most of these stories ,sare lies,
said Mayor Harrison. 1.-The .unio
drivers did not refuse to drive hears
es, as has been alleged: They woul
not drive the carriages but 1T wa
the liverynen who held back tn
hearses, saying they would not lie
them go out without the carriage
went, too. All such statements wer
exaggerations. AS to picketing til
dead, as soon as I heard there wa wa
any danger of such a thing I ordere
the police to see that no straggle
or persons with evil intent were al
lowed to 1inger about within .tw
blocks OF any house in which there wa
a death or within that distance Of :.
church We're a funeral ceremont wa
! being held.