Illinois History Unit 7

Labor-Management ViolenceThe Pullman Strike

Eagle that is ForgottenRiver that Flows Backwards

Riots

LABOR-MANAGEMENT VIOLENCE

Industrial Growth

Number of wage earning laborers increased dramatically after the Civil War

Employers believed that all decisions concerning wages, working hours, and working conditions belonged to management

Labor Unions

Early unions in Illinois date back to construction of the Illinois Canal

Immigrant workers from Germany introduced labor unions

A number of labor and trade unions formed in 1850’s and 1860’s

Strikes were virtually prohibited by law in 1863

Strikes and Riots

1877 – railroad workers staged strikes for higher wages

Strikers attacked RR’s and shut down mines Ill. Governor asked for federal troops to

interfere to protect private property Labor violence subsided

During the next few years, strikes were ended by intervention by the government

1886 – strikes were called to reduce working hours

A split developed among labor between native-born and immigrant laborers

Immigrant laborers tended to be more radical and anarchistic

1886 – strike called at McCormick Works in Chicago

Management called in strikebreakers 2 workers killed in fight w/ strikebreakers

Anarchist leaders call for meeting in Haymarket Square to protest

2-3 thousand attended When meeting was almost over, w/ only

about 300 still there, police moved in Someone in the crowd, threw a bomb,

killing 7 police, wounding 67

Public turned against labor Newspapers sensationalized event,

depicting anarchist and labor as a threat 8 anarchists arrested and tried Never proved that they threw the bomb or

were even at the event

Haymarket Riot

7 condemned to death; 1 to 15 yrs. in prison

4 were hanged, 1 committed suicide (with stick of dynamite)

Death sentence commuted on other 2; later pardoned

The Pullman Strike George Pullman was

the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car

                Pullman video

Built a model town for his workers south of Chicago

Pullman owned the town and managed it Rented homes to employees at higher

than usual rates

In the depression that began in 1893, Pullman cut his workers pay by 25%

refused to reduce the rents or the utilities in his Pullman village where his workers lived

workers could not pay for the housing and still afford the other necessities of life

Many workers belonged to the American Railway Union

Union ordered members not to handle trains with Pullman cars

Those who refused were fired by railroads

Railroad workers across the country went on strike and paralyzed transportation

Railroad managers went over the head of Illinois governor and asked for federal troops to be sent in

Union leader Eugene Debs defied federal injunction; imprisoned

Strike collapsed Workers across country

became bitter

Outcome

Workers believed government was on the side of big business

Labor still weak small number of American workers were

organized public feared labor violence

Eagle That Is Forgotten

John Peter Altgeld

Emigrated from Germany as a child

Studied law in Missouri

Became sympathetic to the plight of grangers

Moved to Chicago in 1875 Built a successful law and real estate

career Became sympathetic to the plight of labor

Became a Cook County judge, then ran for governor in 1892

Became 1st foreign born and 1st Chicago resident to become governor

On reviewing the records of the Haymarket defendants case, Altgeld became convinced that the defendants had not been proven guilty

Granted pardons to remaining defendants Criticized by most newspapers and accused of

being an anarchist

Initiated Reforms:

Better police courts for Chicago Raising taxes on corporations and

inheritances

Strong factory inspection legislation Limitations of child labor and the

employment of women

Pullman Strike

Altgeld sent state militia to keep order at several places

Altgeld did not allow the militia to be used as strikebreakers or to use violence on the strikers

Federal government sent troops in without a request from Altgeld

Altgeld protested but was ignored Became enemy of President’s party lost reelection in 1896

Legacy of Altgeld

pardoning the Haymarket prisoners opposition to federal intervention in the

Pullman strike Became hero for progressive reformers

The River That Flows BackwardsThe Chicago Sanitary Canal

Health Hazard Increasing amounts of human and industrial

wastes from the rapidly growing city of Chicago were being dumped into the Chicago river,which flowed into Lake Michigan, eventually causing a health hazard.

People were plagued by typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery.

in 1854, over 5 % of the population died of cholera

Waste was dumped into Lake Michigan, but the waste came back toward the city

Lake Michigan was the city’s water supply Pipes were extended out into the Lake to

provide fresh water During rainy season the water was

contaminated

Water Tunnels

A tunnel was proposed in 1863 to be built 2 miles out into the Lake to provide fresh water

Tunnel was 5 ft. wide lined with bricks

2 miners and 1 bricklayer could work in the tunnel at one time

Tunnel was built from both ends

Mules were used to remove clay and bring materials into the tunnel

Tunnel was completed in 1867

Although the water quality improved, by the 1880’s the sewage problems worsened

In 1885 Cholera and Typhoid killed about 12% of the city’s population

Public criticism led leaders to come up with a new solution

Solving the Problem

In order to carry the wastes away from Chicago, a 28 mile canal was to be dug linking the Chicago river and the Des Plaines river.

The water from the Chicago River would then flow into the Des Plaines River and on down the Illinois waterway to the Mississippi.

New construction techniques and new machines were used

Channeling machines were used to dig out the sides and bottom of the canal

Cantilever hoists were used remove the rock

http://www.lindahall.org/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/civil/digging_techniques.shtml

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3810.html

Objections

Cities on the Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence River were afraid that taking water from Lake Michigan would lower the water levels in the entire Great Lakes system

They felt it would have a bad effect on shipping and the depth of water in harbors.

Communities downstream complained, but Canal was opened anyway

http://www.oprf.com/divide/page9.html

At a series of conferences the natural decline in water levels was blamed on natural causes rather than the Sanitary Canal

Chicago was given permission to continue taking water from Lake Michigan.

Springfield Race Riot

Springfield Race Riot 1908- Springfield had doubled in size

since Civil War Many immigrants and imported

southern blacks were competing for factory and coal mining jobs

Competition for jobs caused conflicts between groups

On night of July 4, a white man (Clergy Ballard) was killed by a black man, (Joe James) who had attacked his daughter Beaten by mob, rescued and put in

jail

In August, a woman (Mabel Hallman) accused a black man of rape George Richardson was arrested and

put in jail

mob formed outside the jail where James and Richardson were being held Sheriff had prisoners put on train and sent them to

Bloomington When the mob learned that the prisoners were

moved, they were enraged The local authorities were overwhelmed The governor activated the state militia

Over the next two days, mobs destroyed the black commercial area, known as the Levee, and set fire to homes in the black residential section, called the Badlands

1st victim was a barber, shot defending his business

William Donegan, an elderly black businessman, was dragged from his home and lynched in a schoolyard

About 5,000 militia arrived at the State Armory, fired into crowd to disperse

By end of rioting, 2 blacks, 4 whites killed, 70 injured Mabel Hallman admitted to making up rape

story; left town Joe James convicted, George Richardson

released As a result of the riot, the NAACP was

formed the following year to work for racial equality

Chicago Race Riot

A great migration of southern blacks to Chicago occurred in 1918

Blacks came responding to reports of available jobs in the packing plants and factories

The black population increased 148% from 1916 – 1918 (WWI)

Created a changing demographic in the city and in its wards

New black neighborhoods were created, shifting existing ethnic neighborhoods

Created a racially charged atmosphere July 1919 – a young black encroached on

swimming area marked off for whites Was stoned by whites until he drowned

Police ignored eyewitness reports and refused to make any arrests

Crowds of angry blacks gathered to protest

For the next 2 weeks, armed gangs roamed the streets, looking for someone to attack

People were dragged off streetcars and beaten

Snipers fired from windows, and white gangs shot at blacks from their automobiles

The state militia was called in to restore order

Over 6,000 militia responded 23 blacks and 15 whites were

killed Over 500 injured Hundreds of buildings torched

by rioters 1000 left homeless

East St. Louis Race Riot

1917 – touched off by fear of white working men by Negro advances in economic, political and social status

When the labor force of an aluminum plant went on strike in April, the company hired Negro workers

the union blamed the defeat of the strike on the black strikebreakers

A riot followed, during which mobs demolished buildings

Blacks were attacked and beaten

On July 1, some whites in a Ford drove through the main Negro district, shooting into homes

When a police car, also a Ford, drove down the street to investigate, the Blacks fired on it, killing two policemen

The next day, as reports of the shooting spread, a new riot began

Streetcars were stopped, Blacks were pulled off, stoned, clubbed, kicked and shot

was in flames and blacks were fleeing the city

official casualty figures were nine whites and thirty-nine Blacks dead

NAACP investigators estimated that between one hundred to two hundred Blacks were killed

Over three hundred buildings were destroyed

Police and state militia in many instances did nothing to stop rioters from committing violence upon the blacks

In the aftermath, 12 blacks were convicted of homicide of the 2 policemen

9 white men were convicted of homicide

29 others were charged with misdemeanors