You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Friday April 9, 1915
Chicago, Illinois - Pullman Porters & Conductors Fired for Union Organizing
Pullman Porters and Conductors
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Robert T. Lincoln, the son of President Abraham Lincoln, who now sits at the head of a corporation that refuses to allow its empoyes to organize, has, thus far, declined to appear before the
Commission on Industrial Relations. Chairman Walsh stated on Wednesday that the Commission would soon decide whether or not to compel Lincoln to testify.
Meanwhile, over the last fews days, the Commission has been listening to testimony given by R. W. Bell, secretary of the Federation of Pullman Conductors and Porters, as well as testimony from other Pullman porters and conductors. Mr. Bell testified on April 6th regarding his discharge from the Pullman Co.:
Mr. Bell. We had the application cards printed and visited the men and talked to them
and got their signatures to the application cards, and got their expressions; and
conducted it along that way, and we were, in turn, let out of the service, and a great
many of the men were very much in favor of the organization.
Many of the old men expressed themselves as being very much in favor of
organization, but they said they could not afford to sign up because they were getting
along in years and could not work at anything else, and they said if they did that meant
the termination of their relations with the company; and they expressed themselves as
being with us as soon as we could get to a point where they could come out openly. Chairman Walsh. You say you lost your position?
Mr. Bell. Yes.
Chairman Walsh. How many men were discharged?
Mr. Bell. Of the organizers, you mean?
Chairman Walsh. Yes, sir. Mr. Bell. There were three of us ; we were all discharged. Chairman Walsh. Who were the three men discharged? Have you got the list?
Mr. Bell. Mr. Stewart, Mr. Bernadickt, and myself.
Chairman Walsh. What reason was given for your discharge?
Mr. Bell. I asked the reason for my discharge, and they said they didn't know. Mr. Waite
discharged me, and I had gone down to the train to go out on my run, and I was sent
for to go back to the office; I was called in, and Mr. Waite was busy and said he would
see me in a few minutes; and he called me in the office and said that he was sorry, but
the company did not want my service any more. I asked him the reason, and he said
he didn't know. And I was given my discharge papers, and was told to see the chief
clerk and get my time, and we were afterwards told to stay out of the station. Chairman Walsh. Who was told to stay out of the station?
Mr. Bell. Mr. Stewart was, Mr. Bernadickt was, and I was, myself. And some of the men
working for the organization in the East were taken out by the police. That happened in
Jersey City. In New York, at the Pennsylvania Terminal, they were forbidden to go into
the Y. M. C. A. rooms.
Below the fold we offer coverage of the recent hearings before the Commission on Industrial Relations from the pages of the Chicago
Day Book.
From The Day Book, Noon Edition, of April 6, 1915:
LINCOLN AND SLAVERY QUESTION
AGAIN IN BIG U. S. CASE
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Abraham Lincoln's Son Robert Called to Stand to Testify
About Conditions in Pullman Shops-
Other Millionaires to Be Heard.
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Pullman Porters
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Robert T. Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, civil war president of the United States, is expected as a witness before the U. S. industrial relations commission, Hotel Sherman, this after noon.
A row of colored men sat listening to testimony yesterday. They heard about the new, up-to-date slavery which has its headquarters at Chicago. It's not chattel slavery. It's modern, like the sleeping car.
The Pullman Co. own the jobs. It doesn't have to own the man directly. It owns the man through owning his job.
This was the point made by R. W. Bell, president to the Federation of Pullman Conductors and Porters. Bell had a job two years with the company. He was kicked out of his job because he tried to organize a union. L. S. Hungerford, general manager of the company, admitted in his testimony that the record of Bell as a company employe was good and the reason for letting him out was "agitation."
Chairman Frank P. Walsh read letters. They were from Pullman conductors and porters. These men want more pay. They are against the 20-hour workday. To ride three days straight and sleep only four hours out of each 24, as they do on the trip form Chicago to Los Angeles, is wrong, they claim. On all the sleeping cars they go to bed at 11 p. m. and sleep only till 3 a. m. Sometimes there's nothing extra at all coming in from tips. So they wan't more than $27.50 a month. But they can't organize a union and present their demands jointly because the company has spotters and spies. The minute a worker is known as a union man, out he goes. This is the new slavery the colored men sat in a row listening to with keen interest.
Back of this new slavery are Robert T. Lincoln, chairman board of directors Pullman Co.; Chauncey Keep, director Pullman Co. and Marshall Field estate trustee; J. Pierpont Morgan, who is on the Pullman board to speak for what the Morgan banking and railroad crowd wants.
Letters Walsh read to Hungerford said that June 4, 1912, and again June 23, 1914 a petition signed by 75 per cent of the conductors was sent to President J. S. Runnels of the Pullman Co. Hungerford said he had heard something about the petition but hadn't paid any attention to it. He said there is plenty of opportunity for a Pullman conductor or porter to work his way up in the world. While there are not many big jobs higher up to pass around among those who want to climb upward and onward, he said that workers on sleeping cars come into contact with a class of people that hire many men.
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[Photograph adde.]
From The Day Book, Noon Edition, of April 7, 1915:
TELLS HOW PULLMAN CO. IS WATCHING UNION MEN
Pullman Car, Interior
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Commissioner A. B. Garretson of the U. S. industrial relations body asked this question of H. L. Seawell, a former Pullman conductor, at the hearing in the Hotel Sherman yesterday:
"You believe Pullman Co. conductors are now making the same fight for the right of organization as that made by railroad trainmen many years ago?" "Yes."
"And the Pullman Co. keeps spotters and discharges men and maintains a black list with a view of preventing organization among the conductors?" "Yes."
Seawell said he worked for the company three years previous to March, 1912. His mileage was 10,580 a month most of this time, though one year he averaged 17,628 miles a month.
[Said Seawell:]
I was in favor of a union...The federation had not been organized yet. I was discharged. No reason was given for the discharge. The company has a way of sending a man a notice that he is let out of the service. That ends it. He can't find out why he is out. The causes of discharges are dishonesty, immorality, insubordination.
I was one of the first signers of a petition for higher wages. The petition was signed by 75 per cent of the employes. It was mailed to Pres. Runnels. Nothing more was heard about it. The men active in circulating it did not increase their popularity with the company.
My pay was $70 a month to begin. When I was let out I was getting $85. It cost me $30 a month to live on the road.
The conductors have their ideas about living decently. Their pay doesn't let them go as far as they would like. I know many conductors who don't think it dishonest to hold out money they get from seat sales to passengers.
Chairman Walsh: Does the practice of knocking down money this way exist to a wide extent?
Seawell: I should say it does.
John T. Bourke, gateman North-Western station, said he was a conductor five years. False charges were brought against him by two women, he stated.
[He further stated:]
I had been married only a few months and the charges nearly made me a nervous wreck...When I went to the Pullman officials for the names of the women who made the charges they refused to give me the names. My character was attacked. But they would not reveal my assailants. That was why I quit the Pullman Co.
Porters from crack railway trains testified their earnings were from $110 to $120 a month. They admitted the salary of $27.50 a month from the company must be added to by the traveling public.
[Said G. H. Sylvester of New York:]
You wouldn't be safe in a car with $2 in your pocket if we had to live on our salary alone...It wold be a degradation if we couldn't take tips.
[Photograph added.]
From The Day Book, Noon Edition, of April 8, 1915:
CLAIM LINCOLN AND RUNNELS TOO ILL TO TESTIFY
The two big men who head the Pullman sleeping car company are sick, so sick they can't think or talk, so sick they can't come to Chicago and answer questions before the U. S. industrial relations commission. That is what they say, and their doctors send certificates saying it. The two men are Robert T. Lincoln, chairman board of directors Pullman Co., and John S. Runnels, president.
Chairman Frank P. Walsh of the commission says it will be decided today or tomorrow whether the two multi-millionaires shall be compelled to come to Chicago. It is known that Lincoln plays golf every day, has attended meetings of the Pullman board of directors the past few years, draws a salary of $100,000 a year and has his brain and tongue in fairly good shape, so that he can testify if he wants to. It may be inconvenient, but it is not impossible for him to come to Chicago and explain why the son of President Abraham Lincoln is at the head of a corporation that refuses to let the workmen organize.
While the commission is quietly going ahead with a real hearing, digging into bottom facts, the Herald, Tribune and News are all delivering attacks on Walsh for his lack of "judicial poise." The hearings at Hotel Sherman are not enough of a polite, pleased-to-meet-you, parlor affair to suit these newspapers.
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[Photograph added.]
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SOURCES
Industrial relations: final report and testimony
-United States. Commission on Industrial Relations,
-Francis Patrick Walsh, Basil Maxwell Manly
D.C. Gov. Print. Office, 1916
Volume 10: 9057-10,066
https://books.google.com/...
9601-R. W. Bell on discharge of union organizers
https://books.google.com/...
The Day Book
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Apr 6, 1915, Noon Edition
http://www.newspapers.com/...
-Apr 7, 1915, Noon Edition
http://www.newspapers.com/...
-April 8, 1915, Noon Edition
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
Pullman Porters and Conductors
http://projects.aljazeera.com/...
Pullman Porters
http://projects.aljazeera.com/...
Pullman Car, Interior
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
John S Runnells
http://www.gutenberg.org/...
See also:
9599-Testimony of R. W. Bell
https://books.google.com/...
9621-9662-Testimony of Pullman Porters & Conductors
https://books.google.com/...
Hellraisers+Pullman+JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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WHERE OH WHERE ARE LINCOLN AND RUNNELLS?
TESTIMONY OF P. B. DANIELS.
Chicago, Ill., Wednesday, April 7, 1915 — 10 a. m.
Robert T Lincoln
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Present: Chairman Walsh; Commissioners
Lennon, Aishton, O'Connell, Ballard, and
Garretson.
Chairman Walsh. Mr. Robert T. Lincoln. Is
Mr. Lincoln present?
Mr. F. B. Daniels. I should like to present a
communication from him.
Chairman Walsh. Very well. Are you Mr.
Daniels?
Mr. Daniels. There is an inclosure in that. I
am Mr. Daniels; yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. I will say, Mr. Daniels,
that we have a telegram from President
Runnells, saying he is also ill. So the
commission will take this up as a whole
and notify you later what action will be
taken. I will simply say this, that some
arrangement will have to be made for
taking the testimony of either Mr.
Runnells or Mr. Lincoln.
Mr. Daniels. I wish to say to your honor
that I understood from Mr. West that
you had-that the chairman had—accepted
Mr. Runnell's request in this matter, and he would not be required here now.
Chairman Walsh. That was done, but that was at the time a subpoena was served upon
Mr. Lincoln; and we were notified by the vice president here that Mr. Lincoln would be
here on Saturday. Now, I will say this, that the commission has concluded to put over
the further hearing of the Pullman matter on account of the intervention of the Illinois
Central matter until next Saturday morning at 10 o'clock; and I will call the commission
together, and they will take some action on this matter before that time. So that the
further hearing upon the Pullman matter will be postponed until next Saturday morning
at 10 o'clock. All the witnesses now in attendance will please report here at 10 o'clock
Saturday morning without further notice on subpoena.
(The hearing of this matter was thereupon continued until Saturday, April 10, 1915, at
10 a. m.)
Chairman Walsh. Mr. Daniels, I have another suggestion to make, and probably I had
better make it to you. We have received a communication from a committee of
conductors, who claim that they are all running, and they undertake to present their
own objections to their conditions, and it is done apparently in a very orderly way, and
I thought it might be proper and fair to submit a copy of this to you, so that you might
check it up, and upon next Saturday morning you might have whomsoever you may
select reply to that; and you may obtain a copy of that from Mr. Brown, the secretary,
after it is copied. It seems to epitomize that very briefly.
(See p. 9681 for Statement of Pullman Conductors.)
SOURCE
Industrial relations: final report and testimony
United States. Commission on Industrial Relations,
Francis Patrick Walsh, Basil Maxwell Manly
D.C. Gov. Print. Office, 1916
Volume 10: 9057-10,066
https://books.google.com/...
9662-"Is Mr. Lincoln present?"
https://books.google.com/...
IMAGE
Robert T Lincoln
http://rogerjnorton.com/...
See also:
9681-Statement of Pullman Conductors
https://books.google.com/...
9689-Manager Hungerford to Complaints of Pullman Conductors
https://books.google.com/...
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There Is Power In A Union-Billy Bragg
Now I long for the morning that they realize
Brutality and unjust laws can not defeat us
But who'll defend the workers who cannot organize
When the bosses send their lackeys out to cheat us?
The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union
-Billy Bragg
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