1. The Pullman strike of 1894
Clark Bardman

2. The Pullman Car
George Pullman developed the first Pullman car after spending a very uncomfortable night in a sleeping car on a trip from New York to Chicago.
George Pullman was traveling from his native New York to Chicago to look for work.

3. The first Pullman Car was designed to be a luxury railroad car that was a day-coach that turned into a sleeper car at night.
The porter would pull the bed down for the passengers to get a good night’s sleep in a comfortable sleeping quarters.

4. The presidential railroad car
At first railroads where not interested in this new car as it was higher and wider than other railcars.
However when in 1865, a Pullman car was attached to the train carrying the body of assassinated President Lincoln, the car became very popular.
The presidential railroad car

5. In 1867, George Pullman incorporated the Pullman Palace Car Company.
Pullman was only 36 years old when he started his company.

6. He expanded his business to include dining cars, parlor cars, private cars as well as the sleeping cars.

7. A luxury Pullman Car
The cars included many luxuries such as gourmet meals, leather seating, chandeliers, and heating and air conditioning.

8. The town of Pullman
George Pullman’s ambitions spread also to developing a safe and clean place for his workers to live.
The town of Pullman was designed to be very efficient and friendly to its residents. The 12,000 residents had a post office, library and hotel.

9. The problem was that Pullman controlled everything in the town
He controlled which stores would be established, what religion would be practiced in the one church and did not allow alcohol to be served to the residents. Pullman said that the workers chose to live in the town, so he said his control of the town was not an attempt to control their lives.

10. 1893 Depression
Pullman did not allow the residents to own their homes and hired people to watch the residents for any inappropriate behavior.
To make matters worse,
a depression occurred
in the country in
Pullman decreased wages and cut productivity in the factory, but kept rent, utility and store prices at the same rate. The workers tried to talk to Pullman, but he refused to do anything which would hurt his profits.

11. American Railway Union
The Pullman workers joined this union in the spring of 1894, after George Pullman ignored their pleas
Eugene V Debs was elected president of the American railway union in The workers joined the union in protest of the lowered wages but not lowered rent.

12. The Pullman workers strike
The three representatives of the committee who met with George Pullman were laid off.
90% of the remaining workers voted to strike on May 11
The union members thought that the three workers were fired because they spoke up to Pullman. The workers felt they needed strike before more people lost their jobs. 4,000 workers went on strike.

13. The ARU supports strikers
ARU refuses to handle Pullman cars
The strike extended to encompass
all of the 24
rail lines out
of Chicago
The ARU attempted arbitration with the Pullman company, but this failed. By June 26th the ARU supported the strike and refused to handle any Pullman cars. Car inspectors, switchmen, and engineers would not do any of their jobs connected to the Pullman cars. Soon two-thirds of the country was affected by the railway strike.

14. Strike continues
As a result of the boycotts and accompanying strikes, the U.S. mail delivery by the railroad and interstate commerce is affected.
Federal troops are called in to help because of the mail stoppage.
The General Managers, a group of railroad owners, argued that they were breaking their contracts if the trains ran without Pullman cars. Therefore no trains could run at all, stopping the mail. The United States Attorney General received information about violence and seizure of trains. The Illinois Governor, John Altgeld, was furious that federal troops were getting involved. He felt that they were not needed and he did not request their help.

15. U.S. Marshals and Federal Troops
July 1st, injunction against Eugene Debs and American Railway Union
July 4th, President Cleveland sent federal troops to protect the Pullman factory
The injunction made it illegal for the union to encourage the railroad workers to stop working. They also could not stop mail trains, or any other trains of any kind, involved in interstate commerce. The federal government had sided with Pullman and the railroad managers.
Debs did not encourage violence of any sort, but things soon became nasty. Riots occurred which resulted in hundreds of burned railroad cars, even non-Pullman cars, wounded soldiers and civilians and six dead rioters

16. STRIKE ENDS!
Federal troops ended the blockade and trains began moving again
Debs is arrested
Strike officially ends as of July 12, 1894
14,000 police, militia, troops and federal marshals were involved and able to break up the strike. Eugene Debs and other strike leaders were arrested and jailed for conspiracy and contempt.

17. Significance of Strike
Was a “landmark in the history of relations between workers and factory owners in the United States” (Laughlin 12)
The strike proved that a large number of workers would be sympathetic to the plight of other workers to cause an interruption of a major service
Highlighted the ongoing dispute between states’ rights and federal powers

18. Works Cited
Hofstadter, Richard, and Michael Wallace, eds. American Violence: A Documentary History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Print.
Laughlin, Rosemary. The Pullman Strike of 1894: American Labor Comes of Age. Greensboro, North Carolina: Print.
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