Organizer Eugene Debs calls a strike by the workers of the Great Northern Railway. The railroad had imposed three wage cuts despite profits of over five million dollars the previous year. As the strike progresses, other railroads—following the lead of the Great Northern in other strike situations—refuse to help company president James J. Hill move his stalled trains. On May 1 Charles A. Pillsbury negotiates an agreement between the strikers and Hill, who consents to restore 75 percent of the wage cuts made earlier.