History

In the summer of 1894 the Pullman Strike occurred. The Pullman Strike was a strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company. The employees of this company went on strike because the town of Pullman was in deep depression due to the stock market crash that occurred in 1893. "Before the stock market crashed the Pullman workers had experienced a boom that allowed them to get full employment and high wages. The depression caused the Pullman Company to lay off many workers, cut wages by forty percent, and give rehiring preferences to workers who took up residence in Pullman town. The people over time became really upset and joined the American Railway Union in the beginning of 1894." (Bowman 52) "At first the strike started off as a friendly protest against a single Chicago employer. But uniquely combustible conditions in ignited it to explode into the first national boycott of more than twenty railroads and then into a violent confrontation between the federal government, the railroad companies, and American workers." (51)

As time progressed many newspapers began to report on the strike. The two newspapers that are going to be discussed is the Chicago Times and Chicago Tribune. "The Chicago Times was a republican newspaper that was strongly against the ARU. The Chicago Tribune was a democratic newspaper that was approved with the ARU." (57) Both newspapers had facts about what was going on but you could also tell they put there own opinions into their writing as well.

There were numerous facts that were collaborated in both papers throughout the articles. "The ballot was over by four thirty in the morning. The vote came up to forty-two in favor of the strike and four against. By the end of the day on the first strike there was only around eight hundred men left working by the end of the day. Mr. Pullman did offer to let them look at his books to prove to them that the company was doing business at a