WESTWARD EXPANSION INDUSTRIALIZATION URBANIZATION 1870 1900
IMMIGRATION IN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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It was an unusually violent strike.
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It targeted only trains that had Pullman cars on them.
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It was the first successful strike in some time.
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It involved interstate commerce and mail movement.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Why did the Pullman workers go on strike? Responding to falling revenue during the economic depression that began in 1893, the Pullman Palace Car Company cut more than 2, 000 workers and reduced wages by 25 percent.
Detailed explanation-2: -Back in Pullman, the Pullman Company strikers’ plight had been overshadowed on the national stage by the boycott. Fighting between the military and workers at rail yards in the Chicago area left dozens dead and more wounded. The injunction led to the jailing of key leaders, weakening the ARU and the strike.
Detailed explanation-3: -The troops also acted as Pullman Company enforcers and attacked union offices. The people were striking because of 16 hour work days compounded by a wage reduction that made it difficult for them to pay rent for their company housing (there were around 12, 000 workers), which the Pullman Company would not reduce.
Detailed explanation-4: -During the summer of 1894 members of the American Railway Union representing the strikers succeeded in paralyzing the American railroad network west of Chicago by refusing to handle the popular Pullman cars. A federal judge’s injunction against the Union boycott turned the strike’s tide in favor of the Pullman Company.