The United States Since The Civil War by Charles Ramsdell Lingley

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From about 1830, when the rapid development of the use of mechanical
appliances began, to the late eighties and early nineties when the new
regime was meeting its sternest conflicts in the trust problem and the
militant labor unions, the army of the wage earner was growing faster
than the population. Between 1870 and 1890, for example, the
population increased 63 per cent., while the number of laborers
engaged in manufacturing increased nearly 130 per cent. By the latter
year, 6,099,058 persons, about a tenth of the total population, were
employed in transportation, mining and manufacturing.

It was noticeable, also, that the wage earners tended to concentrate.
The laborers engaged in manufacturing were to be found, for the most
part, in the Northeast, and especially in such leading industrial
cities as New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Furthermore, the
development of the factory system and the consolidation of many small
companies into a few great ones tended to localize the labor problem
still further--in a relatively small number of plants. The
concentration of industry in great factories where large numbers of
workers labored side by side ended the paternal care which the
old-time employer had expended upon his employees. With the
introduction of machinery, the danger of accidents due to the
ignorance or carelessness of fellow workmen increased. The use of
mechanical appliances also gave opportunity for the employment of
women and children, and thus raised the question whether any
restrictions ought to be placed upon the employment of these classes
of people. The construction of factories, their ventilation, sanitary
appliances, and safe-guards for health and comfort became subjects of
importance.

With the example of consolidation before them that was presented by
the railroads and the corporations, it was inevitable that the wage
earners should organize for their protection and advancement. Labor
organizations of wage earners have existed in the United States since
1827, and between that time and 1840 came a considerable awakening
among the laboring classes which was part of a general humanitarian
movement throughout the country. Robert Owen, an English industrial
idealist, had visited this country about 1825 and provided the
initiative for a short-lived communistic settlement at New Harmony,
Indiana. Similar enterprises were established at other points; the
most famous of these was that at Brook Farm in Massachusetts, which
enlisted the interest and support of many of the literary people of
New England. The expanding humanitarian and idealistic movement was
cut short by the Civil War, but the development of industrialism went
on uninfluenced by the spirit of social progress which might have
permeated it. After reconstruction was over, a new generation had to
become impressed with the evils which needed correction and to set
itself to the task which civil strife had thrust aside.

The need of a responsible organization of wage earners was indicated
by the career of the Molly Maguires. The Molly Maguires constituted an
inner circle of Irish Catholics who controlled the activities of the
branches of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in the hard-coal counties
of eastern Pennsylvania. During the war and immediately after it the
group gained a little power in local politics, and also undertook to
punish mine owners, bosses and superintendents who offended members of
the Order. Intimidation became common, and even murder was resorted to
until the region was fairly terrorized. It seemed impossible to combat
the Mollies because their activities were shrouded in secrecy.
Usually, for example, when a murder was to be committed, a member
would be brought in from an outside district in order that he might
not be recognized if discovered, and he would be aided in escaping
after the crime. Finally the president of the Philadelphia and Reading
Railroad procured a Pinkerton detective named James McParlan who went
into the region and remained for two years. During this time he posed
as a fugitive from justice and as a counterfeiter, became a member of
the Order, a confidant of the Molly Maguires, and collected evidence.
Armed with the knowledge acquired by McParlan, the officials were able
to arrest and convict twenty-four criminals, of whom ten were
executed, and the career of the Mollies came to an end.

The activities of the Molly Maguires were symptomatic of what might
occur throughout the ranks of labor during the confused period of
adjustment after the war, and yet they were temporary and local in
their effect on the development of the labor movement. The history of
the great labor controversies after the war properly begins with the
Knights of Labor, an association which originated in Philadelphia in
1869 as the result of the efforts of a garment cutter named Uriah S.
Stephens.[2] In the beginning, the affairs of the Knights were veiled
in dense secrecy; even the name of the society was never mentioned but
was indicated by five stars--*****. As the number of members increased,
however, all manner of disquieting and untruthful rumors spread
concerning its purposes, so that the element of secrecy was done away
with in 1881 and a declaration of principles was made public. The
fundamental purpose of the Knights was the formation of an order which
should include all branches of the wage earners and which should aim
to improve their economic, moral, social and intellectual condition.
Emphasis was placed, that is to say, on the welfare of the laboring
classes as a whole, rather than upon that of any particular trade or
craft. The organization was centralized and the interests of the group
were developed on a national scale. The growth of the association was
extremely rapid at times, reaching a climax in the middle eighties
when about 700,000 members, both men and women, made it a power in
industrial disputes. Some of the members taken in at this time were
extremists--European anarchists, for example--who urged a violent
policy and got almost if not quite out of control of the officers
during 1886. In the late eighties the membership dwindled rapidly,
owing to the failure of strikes instituted by the order, and its place
and influence were largely taken by the American Federation of Labor.

The latter body was the outgrowth of a convention held in Pittsburg in
1881, but it did not adopt its final name until 1886. Its purpose was
to group labor organizations of all kinds, leaving the government of
each affiliated body with the body itself. Each of the members of the
Federation is composed of workers in a given trade or industry, like
the International Typographical Union, the United Mine Workers, and
many others. The annual convention is composed of delegates from the
constituent societies. The growth of the organization was rapid and
continuous. Coincidently with the expansion of the Knights of Labor
and the growth of the American Federation came the great development
of the labor press. Professor Ely estimated late in the eighties that
possibly five hundred newspapers were devoted to the needs of the
labor movement. The numerous farmers' organizations, typified by the
Patrons of Husbandry, are other examples of the growing tendency
toward cohesion among the less powerful classes. Indeed, the Grange
originated only a year earlier than the Knights of Labor, and like it
was a secret order.

The wage earners, then, were rapidly becoming class-conscious. They
had found conditions which seemed to them intolerable, had formed
organizations on a national scale and had drawn up a definite program
of principles and reforms. The exact grievances which inspired the
Knights, the Federation and other less important organizations are
therefore of immediate importance.

In order to secure for the wage earner a sufficient money return for
his work, and sufficient leisure for the education of his intellectual
and religious faculties, and to enable him to understand and perform
his duties as a citizen, the Knights demanded the establishment of
bureaus of labor for the collection of information; the reservation of
the public lands for actual settlers; the abrogation of laws that did
not bear equally on capital and labor; the adoption of measures for
the health and safety of the working classes; indemnity for injuries
due to the lack of proper safeguards; the recognition of the
incorporation of labor unions; laws compelling corporations to pay
laborers weekly; arbitration in labor disputes; and the prohibition of
child labor. The Knights of Labor also favored state ownership of
telegraphs and railroads, as well as an eight hour working day. The
purposes of the American Federation scarcely differed from this
program, although its methods and its form of organization were quite
distinct.

At the present time, when most of these demands have been met in one
degree or another, it is difficult to see why there should have been
delay and contention in agreeing to a program which, so far as it
deals with labor problems pure and simple, appears both modest and
reasonable. But the state of mind of a large fraction of the nation
was not in accord with ambitions which doubtless seemed excessively
radical. Fundamentally a great portion of the propertied classes held
a low estimate of the value and rights of the laboring people, as well
as of the possibilities of their development, and feared that evil
results would follow from attempts to improve their condition. The
employment of children in factories, it was thought, would inculcate
in them the needed habits of industry, and the reduction of the
working hours would merely provide time which would be spent in the
acquirement of vicious practices. If, in addition, the employers
opposed such changes as the abolition of child labor and the reduction
of the working day to eight hours on the ground of the financial
sacrifice which seemed to be involved, their attitude was in keeping
with the ruthless exploitation of the human resources of the country
which was common during this period. It should be remembered, too,
that the lofty conception which most Americans held of the
opportunities and customs of their country stood in the way of a frank
study of conditions and an equally frank admission of abuses. For
decades we had reiterated that America was the land of opportunity,
that economic, political and social equality were the foundations of
American life and that the American workingman was the best fed and
the best clothed workingman in the world. In the face of this view of
industrial affairs it was difficult to be alert to manifold abuses and
needed reforms. To one holding this view of affairs--and it was a
common view--the laborer who demanded better conditions was
unreasonable and unappreciative of how "well off" he was. Hence the
blame for the labor unrest was frequently laid on the foreigner, who
was supposed to bring to America the opposition to government which
had been fostered in him by less democratic institutions abroad.
Undoubtedly immigration greatly complicated industrial conditions, as
has been indicated, yet essentially the labor question arose from the
upward progress of a class in American society and was as inevitable,
foreigner or no foreigner, as the coming of a new century.

Two illustrations will throw light upon some of the demands which the
wage earners frequently presented. Writing in August, 1886, Andrew
Carnegie, the prominent steel manufacturer, discussed the proper
length of the working day. Every ton of pig-iron made in the world,
with the exception of that made in two establishments, he asserted,
was made by men working twelve hours a day, with neither holiday nor
Sunday the year round. Every two weeks it was the practice to change
the day workers to the night shift and at that time the men labored
twenty-four hours consecutively. Moreover, twelve to fifteen hours
constituted a day's work in many other industries. Working hours for
women and children had almost equally slight reference to their
physical well-being.

The "truck-system" was a less widespread abuse, but one that caused
serious trouble at certain points. Under this plan, a corporation
keeps a store at which employees are expected to trade, or are
sometimes forced to do so. Obviously such a store might be operated to
the great benefit of the workman and without loss to the employer, but
the temptation to make an unfair profit and to keep the laborer always
in debt to the company was very great. A congressional committee which
investigated conditions in Pennsylvania in 1888 found that prices
charged in company stores ran from ten per cent. to 160 per cent.
higher than prices in other stores in the vicinity, and that a workman
was more likely to keep his position if he traded with the company.

The most insistent cause of industrial conflict was the question of
wages. Forty-one per cent. of all the strikes between 1881 and 1900
were for more pay; twenty-six per cent., for shorter hours. Between
the close of the war and the early nineties, industrial prosperity was
widespread except for the period of prostration following 1873 and the
less important depression of 1884. Not unnaturally the laborer desired
to have a larger share of the product of his work. The individual,
however, was impotent before a great corporation, when the wage-scale
was being determined; hence workmen found it advantageous to combine
and bargain collectively with their employer, in the expectation that
he would hesitate to risk the loss of all his laboring force, whereas
the loss of one or a few would be a matter of indifference.

In the meanwhile, a little ameliorative labor legislation was being
passed by state legislatures and by Congress. A Massachusetts law of
1866 forbade the employment of children under ten years of age in
manufacturing establishments, prohibited the employment of children
between the ages of ten and fourteen for more than eight hours per
day, and provided that children who worked in factories must attend
school at least six months in the year. In 1868 a federal act
constituted eight hours a day's work for government laborers, workmen
and mechanics, but some doubt arose as to the intent of part of it and
the law was not enforced. In many states eight-hour bills were
introduced, but were defeated in all except six, of which Connecticut,
Illinois and California were examples, and even in these cases the
laws were not properly drawn up or were not enforced. In 1869 a Bureau
of Statistics of Labor was established in Massachusetts which led the
way for similar enterprises in other states. It collected information
concerning labor matters and reported annually to the legislature. In
1874 a Massachusetts ten-hour law forbade the employment of women and
minors under eighteen for more than sixty hours a week, although
refraining from the regulation of working hours for men. In 1879, in
imitation of English factory acts, Massachusetts passed a general law
relating to the inspection of manufacturing establishments. It
provided that dangerous machinery must be guarded, proper ventilation
secured, elevator wells equipped with protective devices and
fire-escapes constructed. Other states followed slowly, but
legislation was frequently negatived by lack of effective
administration. In brief, then, agitation previous to 1877 had
resulted in the passage of a few protective acts, but even these were
restricted to a few states and were not well enforced. It was,
therefore, more than a mere coincidence that the first general strike
movement spread over the country in this same year, 1877.

It will be remembered that the great railroad strikes of that year
extended over many of the northern roads but caused most trouble in
Martinsburg, West Virginia, Pittsburg and other railway centers. Much
property was destroyed, lives were lost, and the strikers failed to
obtain their ends.[3] Other effects of the controversy, moreover,
made it an important landmark in the history of the labor question.
The inconvenience and suffering which the strike caused in cities far
distant from the scene of actual conflict indicated that the
transportation system was already so essential a factor in welding the
country together that any interruption to its operation had become
intolerable. The hostility of some of the railway managers to union
among their laborers and the rumors that they were determined to crush
such organizations augured ill for the future. The hordes of
unemployed workmen and the swarms of tramps which had resulted from
the continued industrial depression of 1873 insured rioting and
violence during the strike, whether the strikers themselves favored it
and shared in it or not. The destruction of property which resulted
from the strike caused many state legislatures to pass conspiracy laws
directed against labor; more attention was paid to the need of trained
soldiers for putting down strikes, and the construction of many
armories followed; and the courts took a more hostile attitude toward
labor unions. Equally important was the effect on the workmen
themselves. When the strike became violent and the state militia
failed to check it, the strikers found themselves face to face with
federal troops. President Hayes could not, of course, refuse to
repress the rioters; nevertheless his action aligned the power of the
central government against the strikers, and seemed to the latter to
align the government against the laborers as a class. Of a sudden,
then, the labor problem took on a new and vital interest; workingmen's
parties "began to spring up like mushrooms"; and the laboring men saw
more clearly than ever the essential unity of their interests.

Industrial unrest increased rather than diminished during the
prosperous eighties; for the first five years of the decade, strikes
and lockouts together averaged somewhat over five hundred annually.
The climax came in "the great upheaval" of 1884 to 1886.[4] In the
latter year nearly 1600 controversies involved 610,024 men and a
financial sacrifice estimated at $34,000,000. Early in May, 1886,
occurred the memorable Haymarket affair in the city of Chicago. The
city was a center of labor agitation, some of it peaceful, some of it
in the hands of radical European anarchists whose methods were shown
in a statement of one of their newspapers, _The Alarm_, on February
21, 1885:

Dynamite! Of all the good stuff, this is the stuff. Stuff several
pounds of this sublime stuff into an inch pipe ... plug up both
ends, insert a cap with a fuse attached, place this in the
immediate neighborhood of a lot of rich loafers ... and light
the fuse. A most cheerful and gratifying result will follow.

On May 1 strikes began for the purpose of obtaining an eight hour day.
During the course of the strike some workmen gathered near the
McCormick Reaper Works; the police approached, were stoned, and
retorted by firing upon the strikers, killing four and wounding many
others. Thereupon the men called a meeting in Haymarket Square to
protest against the action of the police; in the main they were
orderly, for Mayor Carter Harrison was present and found nothing
objectionable. Later in the evening, when the Mayor and most of the
audience had left, remarks of a violent nature seem to have been made,
and at this point a force of 180 police marched forward and ordered the
meeting to disperse. Just then a bomb was thrown into the midst of the
police, killing seven and wounding many others. The entire nation was
shocked and terrified by the event, as hitherto anarchy had seemed to
be a far-away thing, the product of autocratic European governments.
The thrower of the bomb could not be discovered, but numerous
anarchists were found who themselves possessed such weapons or had
urged violence in their speeches or writings. Eight of them, nearly all
Germans, were tried for murder on the ground that the person who threw
the bomb must have read the speeches or writings of the accused
anarchists and have been thereby encouraged to do the act. The
presiding judge, Joseph E. Gary, was of the opinion that the
disposition in the guilty man to throw the bomb was the result of the
teaching and advice of the prisoners. The counsel for the accused
declared that since the guilty person could not be found it was
impossible to know whether he had ever heard or read anything said or
written by the prisoners, or been influenced by their opinions.
Eventually seven anarchists were convicted, of whom four were hanged,
one committed suicide, and three were imprisoned. In 1893 the Governor
of Illinois, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three prisoners, basing his
action mainly on the ground that no proof had been brought forward to
show that they were in any way acquainted with the unknown
bomb-thrower. The result of the conviction was the break-up of the
radical anarchistic movement and also the temporary discrediting of the
general agitation for an eight hour day, although neither the Knights
of Labor nor the Federation of Labor had any connection with the
anarchists, and both deprecated violence.

In the meanwhile, Congress had concerned itself slightly with the labor
problem. In 1884 a Bureau of Labor had been established to collect
information on the relation of labor and capital. Two years later, just
before the Haymarket affair, President Cleveland had sent a message to
Congress in which he adverted to the many disputes which had recently
arisen between laborers and employers, and urged legislation to meet
the exigency. Considerations of justice and safety, he thought,
demanded that the workingmen as a class be looked upon as especially
entitled to legislative care. Although Cleveland deprecated violence
and condemned unjustifiable disturbance, he believed that the
discontent among the employed was due largely to avarice on the part of
the employing classes and to the feeling among workmen that the
attention of the government was directed in an unfair degree to the
interests of capital. On the other hand, he suggested that federal
action was greatly limited by constitutional restrictions. He
accordingly urged that the Bureau of Labor be enlarged and that
permanent officers be appointed to act as a board of arbitration in
industrial disputes. The legislative branch was not inclined to follow
Cleveland's lead, although he returned to the subject after the
Haymarket affair, for it was commonly felt that his suggestion was too
great a step in the direction of centralization of government. Two
years later, in 1888, a modest act was passed which provided for the
investigation of differences between railroads and their employees, but
only when agreed to by both parties, and no provision was made for the
enforcement of the decision of the investigators. The practical results
were not important. Similar action had already been taken in a few
states. By 1895 fifteen states had laws providing for voluntary
arbitration, but the results were slight in most cases.

Very little progress was being made in the states in the passage of
other industrial legislation. In Alabama and Massachusetts in the
middle eighties acts extended and regulated the liability of employers
for personal injuries suffered by laborers while at work.[5] At the
same time the attitude of the legislatures and the courts in some
states toward strikes underwent a slight modification. In many states
where the legislatures had not passed definite statutes to the
contrary, it had been held by the courts that strikers could be tried
and convicted for conspiracy. In a few cases, states passed acts
attempting to define more exactly the legal position of strikers. A New
York court in 1887, for example, held that the law of the state
permitted workmen to seek an increase of wages by all possible means
that fell short of threats or violence. Before the close of Cleveland's
second administration, considerable progress had been made in state
legislation concerning conditions and hours of labor for women and
children, protection of workers from dangerous machinery, the payment
of wages, employer's liability for accidents to workmen, and other
subjects. On the other hand, in some cases unreasonable or
ill-considered actions on the part of the unions or their active
agents--the "walking delegates"--turned popular sentiment against them.
Particularly was this true in cases of violence and of strikes or
boycotts by unions in support of workmen in other trades at far distant
points.

During the presidential campaign of 1892 a violent strike at the
Carnegie Steel Company's works in Homestead, Pennsylvania, arose from a
reduction in wages and a refusal of the Company to recognize the Iron
and Steel Workers' Union. An important feature of this disturbance was
the use of armed Pinkerton detectives by the Company for the protection
of its buildings. Armed with rifles they fell into conflict with the
workmen, a miniature military campaign was carried on, lives were lost
and large amounts of property destroyed. Eventually the entire militia
of the state had to be called out to maintain peace.