Part 14 (1/2)

Mr. Lovejoy: ”Strikes often fail to accomplish the particular end in view, but I believe on the whole their tendency is toward a betterment of the conditions of the men. The strike we have just pa.s.sed through has demonstrated to the working people of this country that they must get together as one solid body before they can win. They have found out that when they undertake to a.s.sert their rights they have no friends but themselves. The press, the judiciary, the ministers and office holders are all against them.”

Secretary Kelliher of the American Railway Union was next to testify. He promised to furnish the commissioners with certified copies of any of the proceedings of the convention, and the correspondence which occurred during the strike. In answer to questions by the commissioners he considered government owners.h.i.+p of railways the only solution to strikes. While he favored arbitration, he did not think compulsory arbitration would be satisfactory to the men.

Thomas J. Heathcoat, a resident of Pullman, and one of the strikers, was the next witness examined. He testified to the condition of Pullman prior to and at the time of the strike and gave a full account of the strike and the causes that brought it about. He gave in detail the scale of wages paid prior to June, '93, and the constant reductions since.

Mr. Heathcoat, in answer to Commissioner Kernan asking him to explain the mode adopted by the Pullman Company in cutting wages for piece work, said:

”Take, for instance, that desk behind which you sit. Suppose it were given to me to make. I figured that I could do the work for $20.00, and took it at that price. As a good mechanic I could make $4.00 per day at it. For the next one the foreman would allow me $18.00. Being anxious to make good wages, and being a good mechanic, I would use extra effort and still make $4.00 per day. The next one the foreman would allow me only $16.00 for. Yet, by extraordinary effort I could still make $4.00 daily.

The next one the foreman would allow me $12.00 for, and with my utmost endeavors I could make only $3.00 per day. As a good mechanic I would refuse to take any more at that price and the work would be given to an inferior workman who could make only $1.25 per day. This is the way the Pullman Company has worked its piece work system.”

Commissioner Wright: ”Did the cuts in other departments average as much as in yours?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”They averaged the same though they were not alike. The new men in the freight car department suffered more than we did and there were others in some of the departments that were making pretty good wages at the time of the strike.”

Commissioner Wright: ”You have spoken of asking the company for a reduction in rent. What rent do you pay, and what did you get for it?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”Up to the beginning of the strike I paid $17 a month rent and 71 cents per month for water. Gas I did not use. Could not afford it. The company charged $2.25 per 1,000 feet. My house had five rooms, cellar and back yard.” Commissioner Wright: ”What would similar houses rent for elsewhere?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”I know of eight and nine room cottages with front and back yards, in every way more desirable than the house I live in, that can be rented for $8.00 and $9.00 per month.”

Commissioner Worthington: ”What, in your opinion, would it cost to build houses such as you live in?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”I should like to take the contract for building them at $600 apiece.”

Commissioner Kernan: ”What other accommodations do you get for the rent you pay, say in the way of paved streets?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”There are cheap wooden sidewalks in front of the house and the company keeps a force of men on the street picking up paper and hauling away garbage. That's all I know.”

Commissioner Wright: ”Have you applied to the Pullman company for work since the strike?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”No, sir. I understand that I am blacklisted. They have a blacklist, you know. I have one in my pocket now.”

Commissioner Wright: ”Will you let me see it?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”Yes, sir. Here it is.”

Commissioner Wright: ”Have you any objection to telling us where you got this?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”Yes, sir. I got it from a friend of one of the clerks in the Pullman office and I would not like to tell the name of either, as it would cost the clerk his position.”

Commissioner Wright: ”Have you any other evidence of the existence of a blacklist?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”Yes, sir. One of the men who applied to Mr. Childs at the Rock Island shops for work. He was asked his name and the same being found on one of their lists he was told that he was a Pullman striker, consequently could not get work. I understand the Pullman company's blacklist was sent to all the railroads so that others besides myself can never get work in the railroad shop again.”

Commissioner Wright: ”Do labor unions ever blacklist non-union men?”

Mr. Heathcoat: ”The American Railway Union does not. That is the only labor union I ever belonged to.”

Commissioner Wright: ”What was the feeling of the employes toward Mr.

Pullman previous to the strike?”