The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-06
CHICAGO's vITAL QUESTION.

/
/ OF their city. The headlines Of the three
leading morning papers Of May read a.
! follows:
| PoLiCE HELPLESS: TROOPS MAY CONE.
CIVIL WAR IN CITYs STREETS.
| DEATH AND RIorING IN TRAIL or STRI KE
Those not on the ground we'll might infer
and perhaps do infer that ChloGgo's streets
arc empty and deserted except for the
occasional passage Of guarded wagons,
whose movement 10 frequently interrupted
/ by rioters, and whose route Is strewn with
| the dead and wounded. As a matter OF
/ fact the streets present their usual APP
l pearanoe so far as the number Of teams
( and general activity is concerned. The
I Teamsters Union claims a membership Of
about 30 900. and this does not include all
Of the drivers In the city. The president Of
the union has declared his purpose to limit
the number Of strikers to 500. 1t is doubt
full If more than per cent. Of the various
teams and wagons Of the city are out OF
use to-day, and their absence is entirely
unnoticeable
The situation is interesting rather than
| particularly exciting. There Is local ex-
element occasionally, but II is les frequent
and less awful than might be supposed
| AAblAA lilp hNbOuub3 bubLllAbhpAs 4hN ahAAHN
| is now at the close Of It's fourth week. A
death reported on Tuesday made the third
which has been caused by riots and civil
war 1t is true there have been many
cuts and bruises. Tuesdays list Of in
! jured included more than sixty names.
But that was q record breaker, and the
casualties we're attributable in the greater
| number Of cases to assaults made upon
he L. - strila hHao Eare
In some cases the strike breakers appear
to have been the aggressors II not the actual
assailants. More than twenty Of the injured
were negroes and nine we're policemen.
A few were bystanders.
The strike is a mistake and it will be
failure. Public opinion is strongly against
the strikers. On Dec. IS, 1904, nineteen
garment workers employed by the firm OF
Montgomery Ward d Co. disagreed with
their employers and quit their jobs, as they
had every right to do. -Four months later,
on April o, the teamsters employed by that
| firm struck because the house refused to
arbitrate the case Of the garment workers.
The strike Of to-day is based ON the ohen-
sive and untenable unionist policy Of the
sympathetic strike NominRlly grounded
in the loyalty Of class TO class, and actually
/ DdSeu upon a Idlbe CCuttJllOu VI biOAhHA-
hood, It Is at best no more than club used
by group for the purpose Of striking the
community. The refusal Of the employers
to arbitrste the claims Of the garment work
ers on the demand Of the teamsters led to
the second false step. This brought into
the case the even more offensive and more
questionable policy Of the boycott 1t was
declared that no goods should be delivered
! A hat
goods should be delivered by them.
For few days the fire smoldered, then
it spread and burst into flame. The En-
poyers' Association took cognizanoe Of it,
and seeing in the situation principle for
which they knew they must fight sooner
or later they decided 10 meet the issue
squarely and fight it out 1t is doubtful
If any other group Of wage earners holds
such power as do the teamsters and the
drivers Of delivery wagons 10 throttle
city's industry. They can empty coal bins
and close down every shop and factory.
They can almost literally prohibit dis
tribution 10 or from those establishments
through which the public does and must
obtain its dsily supplies. The Chicago
teamsters, melted by their leaders, have
grown arrogant. Minor contests have oc-
CURED in the city from time to time, and the
Teamsters' Union has been rapidly acquir-
ing an undue belief in its power. The mer-
chants Of the city lived at all times under a
menace. The commercial and industrial
wellbeing Of the city was threatened by
small minority Of men subject to the orders
OF the officials Of their union
This was the situation faced a few days
ago by the Employers Association. The
question was not general, it was specific.
Do the streets of a city belong to the cit-
zens OF 70 a labor union? II the union
could at any time suspend traffic, the union
il the master Of the streets as a result Of it's
power to say that they shall not be used
for purposes Of transportation except by
consent Of the union The Employers
Association holds that the streets shall be
open TO all, freely and without restriction.
1t faced the situation. Acting as individual
firms or corporations, the boycotted con-
Germs would doubtless have settled their
own cases after the usual manner, by yield
ing TO the demands made upon them or by
compromise. As individuals they we're
quite az the mercy Of the unions. The En-
ployers' Association seeks the establish
ment Of a principle. 1t attempted the
transpoI tation Of the merchandise Of the
bONCOtted concerns IN wagons uuQeI us
own control, and called on the authorities
for police protection.
This, in a way, creates an artificial situa-
ton, forced for the purpose Of reaching
a definite end. The association Ia disposed
to GO a step further and at any time may
take that step. Declaring the present pro-
lection inadequate, as shown and proved
by the reported ar suits and riots and by the
casualty list, it may peremptorily demand
the calling out Of the State troops RRd per-
haps the Federal troops. The State troops
are in readiness and their commander
says that he can put 5000 armed men on
the streets at two or three hours notice.
This, then, is the situation in Chicago
A powerful organization Of the commercial
and industrial leaders Of the city declares
that merchandise shall be carried through
the streets and delivered anywhere with
out molestation under the charge Of drivers
who do not belong TO the Teamsters' Union
as well as Of those who do. They feel that
the merchants must fight and fight now,
or go on with their business at all times
liable TO interruption or stoppage by the
fat OF a labor leader They are clearly !