Dear Diary,
My daddy has had really bad luck with finding a job with good conditions and with people who treat him nice. Two years ago in 1862 my daddy worked for Carnegie Steel Company. My daddy was a very hard worker and a very skilled worker. He deserved the job that he had. What happened was that the steel company replaced him with unskilled union workers due to their new machinery such as cranes, hoists, charging machines, and buggies. So my daddy and the other skilled workers had the Homestead Strike. Unlike most other strikes though, I saw that this strike was very organized and productive.
After that whole ordeal my daddy was a worker for the Pullman Palace Car Company. I remember him always coming home so sad and upset because he was treated horrible! But sadly everyone who worked for George Mortimer Pullman was treated that way. Daddy had to live in a certain place called Pullman City and I remember overhearing him talking to mommy about another pay cut. He kept saying that there was nothing he could do about it; he was expected to accept it and not criticize the workloads. I once told daddy that he should read a book because my teacher was talking about it, and he was charged money for using the library! That’s ridiculous!
Back in 1893 there was a depression and the factory wages at the company fell about 25%, but the rents George Pullman charged did not decrease. My daddy began to go into debt because of the cutbacks and on top of that the heartless Pullman just took what my daddy owed out of his paycheck. It was hard to live at that time.
A few months ago, May 11,1894, three thousand Pullman workers went on a "wildcat" strike, that is, without authorization of their union. My daddy wouldn’t let me be around when that happened, but I heard all about it. Many of the strikers belonged to the American Railroad Union (ARU) founded by Eugene V. Debs. Debs, who was from Indiana, had moved to Chicago where he became a railroad fireman. He became aware of the working conditions of his fellow laborers. He saw men working for low wages, some of whom were injured or killed because of unsafe equipment. He was determined to make things better. Today I was able to witness when some ARU members refused to allow any train with a Pullman car to move, except those with mail cars. Debs did not want federal troops to get involved, and he knew that if the U.S. mail was tampered with, the troops would be there immediately. It was amazing how everyone banded together to get justice!
How am I so lucky to get this amazing picture that truly captures the strike?
