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A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
Street Railway Company strike, 1917.
When the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRTC) refused to recognize the newly formed streetcar men's union, employees took to the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the fall of 1917 to fight for their civil liberties. The labor dispute challenged state jurisdiction and reached the White House before finding settlement the following year.
The streetcar drivers of TCRTC formed a union when the company's president, Horace Lowry, refused to meet their demand for better working conditions and a three-cents-per-hour raise for all employees. When the drivers threatened to strike, Lowry granted the raise but fired fifty-seven men identified as union agitators.
The streetcar men, angered by Lowry's anti-union stance, walked off the job at 1:00 a.m. on October 6. Rioting erupted in St. Paul that night with attacks on abandoned streetcars. Bracing for trouble, police in Minneapolis quickly deployed six hundred armed deputies of the Minneapolis Civilian Auxiliary to patrol the streets. Little damage occurred in that city.
The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety (MCPS) stepped in on October 9 to prevent a general strike across trade unions and ordered the streetcar men to return to work. The commission reviewed the cases of the employees discharged for participating in the strike. It directed the company to reinstate them, and eventually forty-nine men returned to work.
In defiance, Lowry organized the Trainmen's Cooperative and Protective Association for loyal employees. Members received special buttons. The union countered by increasing recruitment efforts and issuing its own buttons. The buttons heightened the hostility between factions.
The MCPS appointed a panel to review the union's complaints. The panel recommended a ban on the wearing of both union and nonunion buttons and that all union activity on company property should cease. TCRTC posted the recommendations on November 21 and threatened to fire all who failed to comply. An estimated eight hundred men saw this action as a lockout and sought mediation. When Lowry and Governor J.A.A. Burnquist refused to negotiate, the union appealed to the federal government.
On December 2, the St. Paul and Minneapolis Trades and Labor assemblies held a mass meeting in Rice Park. Labor leaders urged peaceful demonstrations, but an angry mob again attacked St. Paul streetcars. Windows were broken and fifty nonunion drivers were injured. City officials called in the Home Guard to keep order.
Two days later, G. W. Ames of the MCPS met with Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, acting Secretary of Labor Louis F. Post, and Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor in Washington to review the situation. They urged Governor Burnquist to suspend the MCPS order and reopen the case. There was growing concern that a wide-spread strike would impede the country's ability to meet wartime demands. Burnquist held firm, insisting that reopening the case would weaken the state's authority.
On December 5, as many as fifteen thousand people assembled for a protest meeting in Minneapolis. They postponed the vote for a general strike until December 11 while labor leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Gompers. Gompers brought the case to the attention of President Woodrow Wilson. The president, the secretary of labor, and the secretary of war refused to intervene, however, unless the situation spiraled out of the state's control.
E. G. Hall, President of the State Federation of Labor, was disappointed at the failure of the bid for federal intervention. He called for a general strike to begin at 10:00 a.m. on December 13. The strike lasted less than four hours. It was called off with the announcement that President Wilson's Mediation Commission was coming to Minnesota to conduct hearings. Union leaders agreed to retract the order for a general strike.
On February 14, the President's commission recommended that TCRTC reinstate all union men at their pre-strike status and wages. It tasked the MCPS with enforcement, but both Lowry and the MCPS refused to comply.
On June 12, the State Board of Arbitration (SBA) ordered TCRTC to follow the federal commission's recommendations. Lowry again refused, and the streetcar men appealed to the newly created National War Labor Board. The strike ended on October 8 when the national board ruled that settlement of the streetcar dispute should remain under state authority, upholding the SBA's order.
115.H.18.6F
Arbitration Case Files, 1909–1910, 1917–1921
Minnesota State Board of Arbitration
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Case files relating to disputes between employers and employees of various businesses and industrial firms.
"700 Car Men Vote to Strike but Delay Walkout; State Board of Arbitration to be Asked." St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 5, 1917.
"1,200 Armed Guards Ready to Curb Street Car Disorders." St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 4, 1917.
"All Cars Operate on Schedule Time; Second Day of Strike Passes Without Disturbance or Vandalism." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 9, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-10-08/ed-1/seq-1
A/. K18
Edward Karow Scrapbooks, 1917–1925
Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Edward Karow served in several military organizations during World War I. He was a captain in the Thirteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard. His scrapbooks include official correspondence, orders, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera.
Authier, George F. "Governor Ousts Ames From Safety Board; McGee to Be Retained." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 7, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-07/ed-1/seq-1
"Carmen's Strike Is Called; Takes Effect at 1 A.M." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 6, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-10-06/ed-1/seq-1
Clancy, James M. The Truth About The Streetcar Trouble. [St. Paul]: St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly, [1918?].
"Drop Sympathetic Strike Plan; Union Men Grant Federal Request in Car Dispute." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 20, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-20/ed-1/seq-1
"Eleventh Hour Efforts Being Made to Avert Walkout Today." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 13, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-13/ed-1/seq-1
"Five-day Truce Declared by Unions in Button Fight." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 6, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-06/ed-1/seq-1
"Five Thousand Riot in St. Paul Streets; Cut Trolley Wires." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 3, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-03/ed-1/seq-1
"Governor Refuses U.S. Intervention in Car Dispute." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 5, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-05/ed-1/seq-1
Hilton, Ora Almon. The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety in World War I, 1917–1919. Stillwater, OK: Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1951.
"Labor 'Convention' Tomorrow Hinges on Capital Conferences." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 10, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-10/ed-1/seq-6
"Labor Rows Must End to Win War, Says W.B. Wilson." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 19, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-19/ed-1/seq-1
"Lawson Attends Meeting of the Local Assembly." Duluth Labor World, November 17, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1917-11-17/ed-1/seq-6.pdf
"Manahan, Keller, McGrath Indicted on Rioting Charge; Action Result of Talks Made Just Before Car Riot." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 22, 1917. http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-22/ed-1/seq-1
Millikan, William. A Union Against Unions: The Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and Its Fight Against Organized Labor, 1903–1947. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.
M535
Jean E. Spielman papers, 1901–1936
Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/m0535.pdf
Description: Correspondence; minutes; reports; legal documents; financial records; pamphlets, broadsides, and other printed materials created and compiled by Jean E. Spielman, labor organizer in Minnesota, author, and Minnesota state printer.
"Peaceful Parade Is Staged Here by the Striking Car Men." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 9, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-10-09/ed-1/seq-2
"Street Car Controversy Laid Before President; Wilson May Hear St. Paul Case Today." St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 6, 1917.
"Street Car Strike is on; Men Hold to Demands." St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 6, 1917.
"Strike Called Off; U.S. Body to Investigate." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 14, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-14/ed-1/seq-1
"Strike Ended by Order of Safety Commission; Walkout Over, Men to Return to Work Today." St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 10, 1917.
"Street Railway Strike Ended by Board of Safety; State Body Orders Men to Return and Company to Reinstate Them." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 10, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-10-10/ed-1/seq-1
"Union Advocates Call Meetings of Carmen Tomorrow." St. Paul Pioneer Press, September 26, 1917.
"Union Leaders Call General Strike in Twin Cities." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 12, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-12/ed-1/seq-1
"Union Men to Hold Series of Meetings as Aid to Carmen." Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, December 9, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-09/ed-1/seq-10
United Press. "St. Paul Men Strike Tomorrow." Bemidji Daily Pioneer, October 5, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-10-05/ed-1/seq-1.pdf
United Press. "Street Car Strike Agitator Still Active." Bemidji Daily Pioneer, October 11, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-10-11/ed-1/seq-6.pdf
United Press. "Street Railway Men Asking Arbitration." Bemidji Daily Pioneer, October 8, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-10-08/ed-1/seq-1.pdf
"U.S. Board Hears Trolley Dispute From Both Sides." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 18, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-18/ed-1/seq-1
"War and Labor Heads Take Hand in Car Dispute." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 4, 1917.
http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83016772/1917-12-04/ed-1/seq-1
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On December 13, 1917, a general strike is called off after less than four hours when President Wilson's Mediation Commission agrees to hold hearings on the ongoing streetcar labor dispute in Minneapolis, meeting the union's request for federal intervention.
Twin City Rapid Transit streetcar workers call in an organizer from the Minneapolis Trades and Labor Assembly to help them unionize.
Streetcar workers, disgruntled over their newly formed union not being recognized by Twin City Rapid Transit Company owner Horace Lowry, walk out at 1:00 a.m.
Other local unions threaten a sympathetic strike in support of the streetcar men.
The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety steps in to end the strike by ordering the men back to work and the streetcar company to reinstate them after rioting and vandalism by strike supporters continues. TCRT complies.
The Duluth Labor World reports that Lowry and TCRT broke their agreement with the Commission of Public Safety by unfairly dismissing some union men.
The Home Guard and fifteen hundred special deputies mobilize to quell violence that erupts in St. Paul as five thousand rioters take to the streets following a rally in Rice Park, cutting trolley wires, injuring streetcar drivers, and damaging property.
An estimated fifteen thousand people assemble in St. Paul for a protest meeting. The vote for a sympathetic strike across unions is postponed for several days.
Local labor leaders meet with federal officials and Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor in Washington, D.C., to encourage federal intervention. Governor Burnquist refuses to sanction federal interference, citing the strike as a state issue.
When the federal officials refuse to step in, a strike is called to begin at 10:00 a.m. the following day by E.G. Hall, president of the State Federation of Labor.
The strike lasts less than four hours, with many unions refusing to participate. Workers return to their jobs, and the Home Guard is dismissed.
President Wilson's Mediation Commission arrives in the Twin Cities to meet with state and labor officials to gather information on the labor dispute for the president.
The strikers agree to an unconditional withdrawal of the order for a general sympathetic strike in compliance with the request of William B. Wilson, U.S. Secretary of Labor.
The President's Mediation Commission recommends that all TCRT union men be reinstated. Nine hundred seventy-five men are involved. Lowry refuses to comply.
The Minnesota State Board of Arbitration orders TCRT to reinstate workers. When Lowry refuses, employees appeal to the National War Labor Board.
The National War Labor Board rules that the streetcar labor dispute is a state issue, upholding the order of the State Board of Arbitration, and the strike is declared over.
Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.
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