Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-04-30
BREAD RIOTS START
IN CHICAGO STRIKE
Bakers WaIkout Brings Fam
inc in Foodstuffs in Parts
of Windy City.
100000 LoAvEs SHORT

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO. ILL.,, April 3o.-Rioting In
the West Side ghetto district and a
bread famine in many sections of the
city today marked the bakers strike
in Chicago, which was called Saturday
In the ghetto hundreds of strike sym
pathizers. many of them women, spoiled
hundreds of loaves by throwing kero-
sene into shops and bread wagons. Riot
calls were sent in and special details of
mounted police scattered the rioters.
The tremendous significance of the
strike. which has cut a bread supply
estimated at 100000 loaves a day,
dawned upon the city this morning
when families dependent on the large
bakeries found they must get along on
stale crusts or no bread. Groceries and
delicatessen stores that had not their
fast rolls, no coffee cake, no doughnuts.
Many morning meal had to be
abridged.
Restaurants Hit, Too.
Many restaurants were without rolls
this morning. and some were without
bread. The famine in breadstuffs gave
concern not merely to householders. but
to governmental authorities, and va
rious bodies set desperately to work
early in the day to bring the bakers
back to work.
According to Sol Westerfield. head of
the Retail Grocers' Association, the
small stocks of flour carried by the
grocers will be exhausted in two days
by the rush of housewives who can
bake bread.
The big bakers declare that their
principal objection to the demands of
the bakers union is not the wages
asked, but the insistence OF the union
that all foremen in the bakeries shall
be employed on the approval of the
unions. and shall be dismissed on de-
mand of the men working under them.
Authorities Take Hand.
Municipal, state and federal authori-
ties today joined in an attempt to ad-
just the strike.
Fear that a protracted strike would
result in actual suffering prompted
Mayor Thompson to call conference
of strike leaders and representatives
of the bakeries, and hope was ex-
pressed that some sort of a settlement
would, be reached within the next
twenty-four hours.
In addition, members of the state
board of arbitration are here to offer
their services and agents Of the federal
government kept closely in touch with
the situation. especially as it affected
the bread supply of the United States
naval training station at Great Lakes,
ILL.,, and the United States hospital
here.
Fifteen of the largest bakeries and
about seventy smaller ones were closed
today as a result of the, strike and
were unable to supply their customers
with their regular daily quota of nearly
SOC, 900 loaves. The strikers generally
ask shorter hours. increased wages and
improved working conditions.
Navy Insta1ls Ovens.
Hundreds of the smaller restaurants
began laying in supplies of crackers
for use as a substitute for bread. The
majority of the larger downtown hos
tells, however, whose bakers are mem
bers Of the Progressive Culinary Asso-
citation. not allied with the strikers,
were not affected.
Housewives who hoped to solve the
problem by buying -four at SIS q bar
rel and baking their own bread found
that few grocers carried large stocks
of flour.
To assure a bread supply for the re-
crufts at the great lakes naval train
ing station, the Navy Department to-
day authorized the installation of two
bake ovens at the station. The ovens
will have combined capacity of 5000
pounds of bread day.