Analysis: Senator Sherman on the Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was a significant labor dispute that arose in response to wage cuts and poor working conditions at the Pullman Palace Car Company, which coincided with a nationwide economic depression. The strike began when workers protested against layoffs and reductions in wages, while the cost of living remained high. This situation prompted the involvement of Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union (ARU), which garnered substantial public support for the strikers. However, political leaders were more focused on the disruptions to the railroad industry and ultimately sided with the management, leading to violent conflicts and the dispatch of federal troops to Chicago.
Senator John Sherman, a Republican from Ohio, expressed concerns about worker wages, particularly highlighting the plight of Pullman porters who often relied on tips to supplement their meager salaries. He argued that the necessity of tipping constituted a form of exploitation, as porters earned significantly less than conductors while performing the bulk of the work. Sherman's advocacy for fair wages and the elimination of tipping as a primary source of income for porters reflects broader themes of labor rights and economic justice during a tumultuous era in American industrial history. The Pullman Strike ultimately ended with the arrest of Debs and the restoration of normal operations at Pullman, but it underscored the tensions between labor and management that would continue to shape American society.
Analysis: Senator Sherman on the Pullman Strike
Date: July 7, 1894
Authors: John Sherman; Cleveland Gazette
Genre: article; interview
Summary Overview
In June of 1894, a strike at the Pullman Palace Car Company threatened to bring the American railroad industry to a halt. The strike was initiated in response to widespread layoffs of skilled workers, reduced wages, and the high cost of living. President Grover Cleveland secured an injunction that hastened the end of the strike, but the issue regarding worker compensation in an economy in the midst of a depression persisted. In an interview with the Cleveland Gazette, US senator John Sherman, a Republican from Ohio, commented on worker wages, arguing against tipping when employee pay remained too low.
Defining Moment
In the late nineteenth century, the United States experienced a number of major industrial changes. The railway industry continued to boom during the post-Civil War years, providing consistent work to skilled and unskilled workers alike across the country. The rail boom allowed George Pullman—who popularized the luxury sleeping car—to construct a town (Pullman, Illinois) in which his twelve thousand employees would live and work at his facilities.
However, in 1893, another industrial shift occurred—a major economic depression that would last five years. Industrialists like Pullman were forced to cut back on staff and wages in order to weather the economic storm. In the railroad industry, a large number of skilled workers who enjoyed considerable autonomy with regard to on-site practices were released from their jobs. Those who remained employed saw wage cuts, more regulations, and reductions in hours. Even wage structures were dramatically altered—Pullman’s company changed from paying employees by the day to compensating them for each completed task (“piece rate” wages), which Pullman’s managers believed would incentivize workers to increase production.
In Pullman, Illinois, wages and hours changed but the cost of living did not. Even the depression could not sway Pullman to lower rents or other expenses in his working community. This trend, coupled with the company’s wage and policy changes, led workers to walk off the job in 1894. Although Pullman’s managers did engage and negotiate with the striking workers, the two sides saw little common ground. Adding to the issue was the fact that Pullman was considered by the public to be a model employer. Therefore, the striking employees turned to the founder of the American Railway Union (ARU), Eugene V. Debs, to assist them in their efforts. During the strike, more than one-third of Pullman’s workers were members of the ARU.
Debs and the ARU brought nationwide support to the strikers. Although many (including Debs) were concerned that a boycott of the rails would foster a backlash, the ARU proceeded to call for one. To the surprise of many, the public’s response to the boycott was positive. Although public support was strong, political leadership was more concerned about the virtual shutdown of the railroads. Many mayors, governors, and legislators held their tongues on the Pullman strike, hoping to avoid garnering a negative reaction from organized labor, which was continuing to build strength in the latter nineteenth century. Violence and large-scale confrontations between the railroad managers and the ARU led President Grover Cleveland to dispatch the National Guard to intervene in Chicago.
Despite the sentiment in favor of the workers, Pullman’s company held fast in its refusal to work with the ARU and the striking employees. Even as Debs—who recognized the high improbability of success—called for arbitration, the company would not negotiate. Ultimately, the strike was put down, Debs was arrested for interfering with the US mail system, and the Pullman Company welcomed back workers who renounced Debs and the ARU.
Author Biography
John Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on May 10, 1823. His father, an attorney, died when Sherman was six years old. Self-described as “troublesome,” Sherman attended public school before studying law under his brother, Charles, and his uncle, a judge. Sherman, then a Whig, was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1854. When the Republican Party formed, Sherman joined and rose through party ranks. He was elected to the US Senate, serving as Ohio’s senator from 1861 to 1877. He left the Senate to become secretary of the treasury, but returned to the Senate in 1881, holding the post until 1896. Among his accomplishments were the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890). After a year-long stint as President William McKinley’s secretary of state, Sherman retired in 1898. He died on October 22, 1900.
The Cleveland Gazette, a weekly newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio, between 1883 and 1945, was that relatively rare thing at the time of the Pullman strike: an African American newspaper. It was founded and run by Harry C. Smith (1863–1941), a strong advocate of civil rights and later (1926, 1928) Republican contender for governor. At the time of Smith’s death, the Cleveland Gazette was the longest-running African American newspaper in existence.
Document Analysis
Senator Sherman was known as an advocate for labor as well as an opponent of anticompetitive business practices. Four years before the Pullman strike took place, he had sponsored a landmark bill—the aforementioned Sherman Antitrust Act—which targeted monopolistic or otherwise anticompetitive corporate policies. Such policies, Sherman believed, resulted in cutthroat competition among the largest corporations, which frequently caused employee reductions, lower wages, and longer hours for workers.
Among the myriad issues involved in the Pullman strike was what Sherman sees as an imbalance in work and wages among the conductors and porters aboard a Pullman car. Porters (most of whom were black), Sherman says, earned wages that were barely enough to sustain themselves. Pullman customers would feel obligated to give a tip to the porters, given their knowledge of the relatively meager wages they earned.
When approached by the Cleveland Gazette in July of 1894, Sherman offered his thoughts regarding tips for porters. An occasional tip for good service, he says, was not the problem. Rather, the concern was the fact that tips were an integral part of the porter’s salary. Porters needed tips in order to simply attain a living wage, Sherman argues. The fact that they had to earn tips on every trip amounted to what he dubbed “extortion” by the railroad companies. If porters were paid a reasonable wage, Sherman said, passengers would not feel the need to supplement the porters’ income.
The Gazette article adds the suggestion that Sherman would also take issue with the wide disparity in wages paid to porters and conductors, particularly when porters seemed to perform the lion’s share of the work in the Pullman cars. Porters earned on average $10 to $25 per month. Those holding the position of conductor (which the article states was nonexistent only a few years earlier), on the other hand, were earning between $75 and $100 monthly. The article argues that the position of conductor should be abolished, as porters often performed the overwhelming majority of the conductors’ daily duties in conjunction with their own assigned tasks.
Such a change in policy would accomplish three goals. First, it would make possible an increase in wages for the woefully underpaid—in the eyes of Sherman—porters. Second, it would save the Pullman Company significantly by doing away with a largely redundant and expensive position. Third, it would eliminate the expectation that Pullman’s patrons should be responsible for paying a large percentage of porters’ salary by generously tipping these underpaid employees.
Bibliography and Additional Reading
Burgan, Michael. The Pullman Strike of 1894. North Mankato: Compass Point, 2007. Print.
“John Sherman’s Life and Career (1823–1900).” Shermanhouse.org. John Sherman House, n.d. PDF file.
Lindsey, Almont. The Pullman Strike: The Story of a Unique Experiment and of a Great Labor Upheaval. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1964. Print.
Papke, David Ray. The Pullman Case: The Clash of Labor and Capital in Industrial America. Lawrence: UP of Kansas, 1999. Print.
Schneirov, Richard, Shelton Stromquist, and Nick Salvatore, eds. The Pullman Strike and the Crisis of the 1890s: Essays on Labor and Politics. Champaign: U of Illinois P, 1999. Print.
“Sherman, John, (1823–1900).” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Office of the Hist., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.