THE PULLMAN STRIKE OF 1894

A Documentary Source Problem

In 1880 George M. Pullman, a successful railroad car manufacturer, announced his intention to build a model industrial town just south of Chicago, Illinois. He wanted to create a practical, efficient and productive utopian community for his workers. Pullman's experiment stimulated hopeful expectations at a time of degrading conditions in city slums and violent conflict between labor and management.

Pullman was well-known in the business world for his superb management skills. In 1880 Pullman wanted to expand his company by building a large, efficient factory in an area where land was cheap and where the evil influences of cities, like crime, alcoholism and poverty, would not affect his workers. He hoped to attract skilled workers and to improve their moral character by creating modern housing next to the plant that would produce self-respect, orderly living, and happiness for his workers.

The result was the town of Pullman, soon praised throughout much of the world as a model of enlightened industrial and civic leadership. It was seen as a great American landmark, showing the possibility of harmony between factory owners and workers, away from the harmful atmosphere of the corrupting cities.

The year 1893, however, brought one of the great economic depressions in U.S. history. Reacting to this crisis, George Pullman lowered his workers' wages -- but not their rents. By May 1894 the workers at Pullman went out on strike, followed by railroad workers nationwide. Most Pullman workers had joined the American Railway Union. Now the union called on its workers everywhere to boycott the Pullman Cars, to refuse to attach them to trains or to work on trains to which they were attached. Railroad owners united in the General Managers' Association, which retaliated against their striking workers by locking them out of the workplace, calling out special guards and militia, and getting court injunctions against the union. Mass violence erupted in Chicago, where several people were killed and hundreds of railroad cars burned. President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops to protect the mail on the railroads. Federal troops crushed the strike and the boycott. Eugene Debs, President of the American Railway Union, was jailed for contempt of court and interference with the mails. And George Pullman's image as a friend of the worker was destroyed.

In 2-1/2 pages, write an integrated account of the Pullman strike. Organize your history around a theme. Let your readers know what happened, why it happened, and what we should make of it. In describing and analyzing the events at Pullman, give attention to several of these issues:

1. In what ways was the town of Pullman a "success" or a "failure" even before the labor conflict? Was there unrest in the town because Pullman's original vision was not carried out? Or because it was?

2. Evaluate Pullman's and Wickes' arguments for a) refusing to lay off or reduce the salaries of managers while doing so to workers, and b) refusing arbitration (mediation of the conflict by outside negotiators).

3. What various interpretations are possible of Pullman's decision to bid for contracts at a loss to his company?

4. What do you think the Pullman Company found so obnoxious about the A.R.U?

5. How were wages, working hours, foremen's behavior, union recognition, and rents involved in the workers' grievances?

6. Was there a "flaw" in the Pullman experiment? If so, was the flaw related to on-the-job practices and employer bungling, to the workers' unwillingness to appreciate their good conditions, or to the basic concept of the Pullman experiment?

Rev. W.H. Carwardine, pastor of the Methodist Church in Pullman, The Pullman Strike, 1894.

"The Pullman strike is the greatest and most far-reaching of any strike on record in this country....The world was amazed, when, under such apparently favorable conditions, in the midst of a...great financial depression, the employees laid down their tools, and, on the 11th of May, walked out of the great shops to face an unequal and apparently hopeless conflict."

Interview with George Pullman, The Chicago Tribune, Aug. 16, 1881.

Pullman: We will not allow any saloons...in the town...It [is] to the employer's interest to see that his men are clean, contented, sober, educated and happy. They make better workmen, and they develop the employer's industries more. I shall try to benefit humanity where it is in my power to do so."

DOCUMENT #3

"A Visit to the States", The (London) Times, Oct. 21 & 24, 1887.

"The Pullman town, like the Pullman coach, is a model of neatness and elegance...There is a fine hotel, which is a model of artistic design and worthy of the largest city; and across the park, with its ornamental grounds and lake, are seen the extensive shops...

"There has been 1,500,000 pounds sterling invested ...and every penny is at the same time made to return an income [to Mr. Pullman]...

"Competent architects and landscape gardeners skilfully laid out the town and built the houses, so that it is a gem of artistic attractiveness, with lawns and shade trees upon its well-paved streets, all kept in the best order by the company...

"Nothing is free, however,...benefits got for nothing are not much prized...

"The people may live in the town or elsewhere, as they see fit...

"[The lack of alcohol], the excellent sanitary arrangements and the vigour of a working population largely composed of people in the prime of life, make the town an abnormally healthy place....The inhabitants of this model town ought to be supremely happy."

R.T. Ely, "Pullman - A Social Study", Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1885.

"Pullman is truly a philanthropic undertaking, although it is intended that it should be a profitable investment, and this is the argument used: If it can be shown that it does pay..,the example set by Mr. Pullman will find wide imitation...It is a great thing to have demonstrated the commercial value of beauty in a city of laborers..."

"Rents are probably about three-fifths what they are in Chicago....The wages paid at Pullman are equal to those paid for similar services elsewhere....Unskilled laborers...have a hard struggle to live, after the rent and water tax are paid....They are crowded together in the cheap flats, which are put as much out of sight as possible....[However,] the great majority at Pullman are skilled artisans, [who are] fairly well satisfied with their earnings..."

Jane Addams (Chicago settlement house leader), "A Modern Lear", 1894.

"The president of the Pullman Company doubtless began to build his town from an honest desire to give his employees the best surroundings. As it developed it became a source of pride and...power....Gradually, what the outside world thought of it became of importance to him and he ceased to measure its usefulness by the standard of the men's needs."

New York Sun, Oct. 11, 1885.

"The people of Pullman are not happy....They say that all this perfection of order costs them too much money and...they want to run the municipal government themselves, according to the ordinary American fashion. They secretly rebel because the Pullman Co. continues its watch and authority over them after working hours."

Ely, "Pullman - A Social Study", Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Feb. 1885.

"Change is constant in men and officers, and each new superior appears to have his own friends, whom he appoints to desirable positions...

"The resulting evil is very naturally dissatisfaction, a painful prevalence of petty jealousies,...frequent change in residents, and an all-pervading feeling of insecurity. Nobody regards Pullman as a real home...

"All the property in Pullman is owned by the Pullman Association, and every tenant holds his house on a lease that can be terminated [by the company] on ten days' notice..."

Carwardine, The Pullman Strike, 1894.

"Note for a few moments the library. It is a gem. It is one of the most complete of its kind in the United States...

"Employees...are expected to pay 25 cents a month or three dollars a year for the use of books, and one dollar per year for every child....With the immense wealth of the Pullman Co. they feel that they ought to have a completely free library....Very few of the men use it. It is too luxurious for the average working man..."

Rules governing Pullman tenants, Chicago Herald, Feb. 7, 1886.

"Tenants should always enter or leave the building quietly; always avoid entering the halls with muddy feet; never permit hammering, pounding or splitting of wood upon the floors...; avoid the use of musical instruments after bedtime; avoid all loud noises or boisterous conduct that might annoy others or disturb the sick and weary..."

Carwardine, The Pullman Strike, 1894.

"During the winter of 1892/1893...work was abundant, wages fair, and the force of employees increased to between five and six thousand. Then came the...depression...[and the] cutting of wages...with no corresponding reduction of rent....The men were being organized into local unions. Hearing of the success of the American Railway Union, and casting about for someone to champion their cause, these unions appealed to Mr. Debs...of the American Railway Union...

"Mr. Pullman refused...the demand of the employees for a restoration of the...wages for 1893....He agreed that none of the committee [of workers attempting to negotiate with him] should be discharged, and also stated that their grievances should be investigated....Mr. Pullman had given out that he had taken contracts for new work at a loss, because out of love for his employees he desired to keep the shops open....The men...thought that perhaps he was keeping the shops open, and taking work at a loss in order to get his returns in rent...

"On the morrow, three men who were members of the committee were 'laid off'...The discharge of these men was resented by the whole committee as a violation of Mr. Pullman's agreement with them."

DOCUMENT #11

Mr. Thomas Wickes, second Vice President of the Pullman Co., before the U.S. Strike Commission.

"It happened that in temporarily 'laying off' men for whom there was no immediate work, three men were included who were said to have been on the committee....The laying off was caused by nothing but the ordinary course of business."

U. S. Strike Commission Report, 1894.

EARNINGS OF CERTAIN EMPLOYEES AT PULLMAN, 1893-94.

[In 1893, Eugene Debs founded the American Railway Union, the first organization of railway workers to include unskilled laborers as well as skilled craftsmen. By 1894 its membership had reached 150,000, and it had defeated an attempt by management to lower workers' wages on the Great Northern Railroad. By the beginning of the strike in May, 1894, about 4,000 Pullman employees had joined the A.R.U.]

Statement by the Pullman strikers in Chicago, June 15, 1894.

"You all must know that the [immediate] cause of our strike was the discharge of two members of our grievance committee the day after George M. Pullman...had guaranteed them absolute immunity. [Also,] five reductions in wages, in work, and in conditions of employment swept through the shops at Pullman between May and December, 1893...and our rents had not fallen. We owed Pullman $70,000 when we struck May 11. We owe him twice that much today....He does not evict us...because he hopes to starve us out, to break...the back of the American Railway Union...

"We have been contributing to make a millionaire a billionaire...

"What we pay $15 for in Pullman is leased for $8 in [neighboring] Roseland...Water which Pullman buys from the city at 8 cents a thousand gallons, he retails to us at 500 percent...Gas which sells at 75 cents per thousand feet in Hyde Park, just north of us, sells for $2.25 [in Pullman].

"[Meanwhile,] George M. Pullman has caused to be paid in the last year, the regular quarterly dividend of 2 percent on his stock and an extra slice of 1-1/2 percent, making 9-1/2 percent [profit] on $30,000,000 of capital."

Statement by George Pullman to the workers' committee, The Chicago Herald, June 26, 1894.

"At the commencement of the very serious depression last year,...we were obliged to lay off, as you are aware, a large number of men in every department....I realized the necessity for the most strenuous exertions to procure work immediately....By making lower bids than other manufacturers, I secured enough work to gradually increase our force...to 4,200...

"If this company now restores the wages of the first half of 1893, as you have asked, it would be a most unfortunate thing for the men because...there is absolutely no possibility...of getting any more orders for work at prices measured by the wages of May 1893. Under such a scale the works would necessarily close down and the great majority of the employees be put in idleness...

"There has been some complaint made about the rents...They make a manifestly inadequate return upon the investment, so that it is clear that they are not, in fact, at an arbitrary high figure..."

George Pullman to U.S. Strike Commission, Aug., 1894.

"The investment for several years returned a net revenue [from rents] of...3.82 percent."

.......

Question to Mr. Pullman: Would it not have been a good business investment to have paid those men a little more wages and had the works continue, although for the time being the company might have been losing money -- exactly upon the same principle upon which you took those contracts?

Answer: No; the wages had been fixed, and when I talked with the men --

Question: Who had fixed them? .

Answer: The wages had been fixed between the managers at the shops and the men. They were to work at an agreed scale.

Question: Had the men agreed to work at those reduced prices?

Answer: They were working at them, yes, sir.

Question: Well, they were forced to?

Answer: No; they were not forced.

Question: They had to take that or quit?

Answer: Exactly...

Question: When this reduction of wages was made, was your salary reduced and that of the other officers?

Answer: No, sir.

Question: Were the salaries of the superintendents and foremen reduced?

Answer: No, sir...Because it is not easy for the manager of a corporation to find men to fill the positions...and they are able to command their salaries...

Question: Under the circumstances, don't you think that you ought to have, fairly and in justice to the other classes, attempted to reduce those salaries?

Answer: That might come; we cannot do everything at once, and we cannot tell how long this depression is going to last.

U.S. Strike Commission Report, 1894.

"The rents there are from 20 to 25 percent higher than rents in Chicago or surrounding towns for similar accommodations.

"The fear of losing work keeps [the workers] in Pullman...because the company is supposed, as a matter of business, to give a preference to its tenants when work is slack. The employees, believing that a tenant at Pullman has this advantage, naturally feel some compulsion to rent at Pullman, and thus to stand well with the management."

Declaration of the American Railway Union Convention, June 15, 1894.

"...unless the Pullman Palace Car Company does adjust the grievances before 12 o'clock Tuesday, June 26, 1894, the members of the American Railway Union shall refuse to handle Pullman cars and equipment on or after the date."

Thomas Wickes, Vice President of the Pullman Co., to the U.S. Strike Commission, 1894.

"In the matter of rents, comparisons have been made....The Pullman houses are built of brick with a thorough system of drainage, with modern improvements such as gas, water closets, faucets and sinks in every house...

"At the time of the strike less than one-third of the shop employees were tenants of the company...Living in the town of Pullman has [never] been made a condition of getting employment..."

.......

Question to Mr. Wickes: Has the company had any policy with reference to labor unions among its help?

Answer: No; we never objected to unions except in one instance....Our objection to [the A.R.U.] was that we would not treat with our men as...members of any union. We treat with them as individuals and as men...

Question: ...You think it would be fair to your men for each one of them to come before you and take up the question of his grievances...?

Answer: I think so, yes. If he is not able to do that, that is his misfortune.

Question: Don't you think that the fact that you represent a vast concentration of capital...entitles him if he pleases to unite with all of the men of his craft...?

Answer: As a union?

Question: As a union.

Answer: They have the right, yes, sir. We have the right to say whether we will receive them or not....They could probably force us to pay any wage which they saw fit, and get the Pullman Company in the same shape that some of the railroads are by making concessions that ought not to be made.

Question: Don't you think that...all your dealings with the men, as individuals, in case you sought to abuse your power, might enable you to pay to the men...just what you saw fit?

Answer: Well, of course, a man in an official position, if he is arbitrary and unfair, could work a great deal of injustice to the men; no doubt about that. But then it is a man's privilege to go to work somewhere else.

Question: Don't you recognize as to many men, after they had become settled in a place at work of that kind, that really that privilege does not amount to much?

Answer: The best of our men don't give us any trouble with unions or anything else. It is only the inferior men -- that is, the least competent -- that give us the trouble...

George Pullman before the U.S. Strike Commission, Aug., 1894.

Pullman: I could not agree to submit to arbitration....The question as to whether the shops at Pullman shall be continuously operated at a loss or not, is one which it was impossible for the company, as a matter of principle, to submit to the opinion of any third party....It would violate a principle.

Question: What principle?

Answer: The principle that a man should have the right to manage his own property...

Question: Does the company now make it a condition, in taking back any of those who were on the strike, that they shall surrender their card of membership in the American Railway Union?

Answer: We do.

Jane Addams, social worker and head of Hull House in Chicago, before the Strike Commission, 1894.

"The proposition I made...was that three men be appointed by the real-estate board...[to] make an estimate of the Pullman rents as to whether or not they were exorbitant; that the estimate be submitted to the company and to the men, and a readjustment be made on that basis. That was the proposition I made to the general strike committee at Pullman. They were anxious to have that done...They were ready to arbitrate any and all points..."

Question to Ms. Addams: You say it was impossible to come to an understanding [with the company]. Do you mean it was impossible to secure any arbitration or conference with them?

Answer: It was always possible to see them...but they insisted there was nothing to arbitrate.

Statement of George Pullman, The New York Tribune, July 14, 1894.

"What is the demand concealed under the innocently sounding word arbitration?...No prudent employer could submit to arbitration the question whether he should commit a piece of business folly...Can I, as a business man,...bind myself that I will, in any contingency, open and operate the Pullman car shops at whatever loss, if it whould happen to be the opinion of some third party that I should do so? The answer seems to be plain.

Jane Addams, "A Modern Lear", 1894.

"[For] those of us who lived in Chicago during the summer of 1894,...a quick series of unusual events had [shown] the ugliness of the industrial situation...The shocking experiences of that summer, the barbaric instinct to kill, roused on both sides, the sharp division into class lines, with the resultant distrust and bitterness, can only be endured if we learn from it all a great ethical lesson."