Labour Movement Dbq

During the late 1800s, the public and the government felt that the labor movement was becoming too violent. Both the public and the government took steps toward the reduction of violent activity. During the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, it seemed labor unions were conducting riots and strikes to show their dissatisfaction with their working conditions. The United States government seemed so concerned that it would do anything to stop these outbreaks.
Some better known instances of these uprisings are the Homestead plant strike of 1892 and the Pullman Strike of 1894. In 1894 a Washington Post editorial describes the lawlessness and violent disorder in Chicago due to the labor strikers protesting the wage cuts by the Pullman Company. (Document D). The Pullman Palace Car Company was deeply effected by the depression.
Some workers went too far in their protests such as the Haymarket Square bombing on May 4, 1886. Several dozen people were killed or injured in a labor strike. The increase in violent actions demonstrated how certain individuals began to lose sight of the real goals of the labor movement. In 1894, several headlines from The Chicago Inter Ocean (Document C) and the Chicago Tribune (Document B). illustrated this. They described the riots, mobs, and the destruction they caused. Because of this disorderly conduct, the American public began to despise the labor movement. In The New York World in 1894 an article describes the strikes as "a war against the government and against society...." (Document A). In The New York Times in 1894 the writer of an editorial expressed his feelings concerning Debs, the leader of the Pullman Strike. The writer felt that his bad teachings and influences should be squelched. (Document E). These documents illustrated the disapproval the majority of the Americans had for the labor