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INSTITUTE OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS,,

Illinois' Forgotten Labor History

By WILLIAM J. ADELMAN

I.N.At'T-rl 'TP COF INDUSTRIAL II APR 12 1985

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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'/ The Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations . . . was set up at the University of Illinois in 1946 to "foster, establish, and correlate resident instruction, research, and extension work in labor relations."

Graduate study . . . for resident students at the University leads to the degree of Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Labor and Industrial Relations. A new joint degree program leads to the J.D. degree in Law and the A.M. degree in Labor and Industrial Relations. Institute graduates are now working in business, union, and consulting organizations, government agencies and teaching in colleges and universities.

Research . . . is based on the Institute's instruction from the University Board of Trustees to "inquire faithfully, honestly, and impartially into labor-man- agement problems of all types and secure the facts which will lay the foundations of future progress." Current Institute research projects are in the areas of labor-management relations, labor and government, the union as an institution, the public interest in labor and industrial relations, human resources, organizational behavior, comparative and international industrial relations.

Extension ... activities are designed to meet the educational needs of adult groups in labor and industrial relations. Classes, conferences and lectures are offered. A wide range of subjects is available - each adapted to the specific needs of labor, management, or public groups.

Information . . . service of the Institute library furnishes data and reference material to any individual or group in reply to factual inquiries on any aspect of labor and industrial relations. Walter H. Franke, Director Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations 504 East Armory Avenue Champaign, Illinois 61820 Illinois Issues Humanities Essays (third series) By WILLIAM J. ADELMAN

Illinois' forgotten labor history

BARBARA NEWELL in her book, national unions - from clothing their collective rights. and the Labor Movement workers to meatcutters, from miners to But given the curricula of most pub- (University of Illinois Press, 1961), bookbinders, from restaurant workers lic schools in this state, most students writes about the uniqueness of the Chi- to teachers - were founded in Illinois. leave school without a sense of this rich cago and Illinois labor movement. Perhaps it was because the Welsh min- and important element in Illinois' his- Some of America's greatest labor lead- ers, the Jewish clothing workers and tory. Few could identify Lewis or ers, like John L. Lewis, Sidney Hill- the German carpenters brought with Jones or Debs, and not many more man, John Mitchell, and them from the Old Country a strong could tell you the significance of events Eugene V. Debs, got their starts in Illi- labor tradition. Perhaps it was because like Haymarket or Pullman. When nois, and this state has always provided of the situation on the East Coast, William Bork, now director of the La- leadership to the national labor move- where boat loads of new immigrants bor Education Division at Roosevelt ment. Before 1900 one out of every arriving daily were willing to work for University attended Washington High four organized workers in the United the lowest wages. The older immi- School on Chicago's south side, he was States lived in Illinois, and few if any grants who migrated westward to Illi- never introduced to labor history. Only states have contributed more to the nois, who had lost their jobs in the years later, while a student at the Uni- history of American labor than Illi- East, may simply have decided that it versity of Illinois, did he learn that his nois. was time to take a stand, and unions American History classroom at Wash- For a variety of reasons, dozens of were the only way they could fight for ington had overlooked the very field

I LLI NOIS This is the third of five original essays by distinguished This third series of humanities H O E S humanists to be published in Illinois Issues in this third is made possible in partar by COUNCIL series. No restrictions in regard to style, form or essays essaysosilei y O N .perspective have been placed on the authors. They have a grant from the Illinois Humanities 618 SOUTH been encouraged to use any one of a number of Council,CouNc, in cooperationparpationlwithw.tthe MICHIGANA Wpaoyapproaches including exposition, analysis, satire and National Endowment for the j A4I Reprints of these essays are available at no cost from the Humanities. IL I S6 Illinois Humanities Council, 618 South Michigan Ave., (312) 939-5212 Chicago, Illinois 60605. 22/May 1984/Illinois Issues where the Memorial Day Massacre of Louis Adamic's Dynamite (Harper, 1937 had taken place. Bork eventually 1931) and Matthew Josephson's The learned about this event and its signifi- Robber Barons (Harcourt, 1934) cance, but most Illinois students are brought labor history home to the pub- not so fortunate. lic. Josephson's book was dedicated to This lack of historical perspective Charles and Mary Beard. At the same borders on the disgraceful and danger- time, the Federal Theatre Project en- ous. Local, state, national and interna- couraged the writing of plays and radio tional news stories on labor issues ap- dramas with labor themes, and WPA pear daily in newspapers, and on radio art celebrated the worker and the farm- and television. Young people and er on the job. The original Illinois adults read about the PATCO, Grey- Guide (1939), which was written as hound and Continental Airlines part of the WPA's Federal Writers' strikes. They read and hear of Lech Project, was filled with this state's labor Walesa and the Polish Solidarity move- history. It is heartening that it has re- ment. Yet without a background in la- cently been reissued in paperback with bor history it is impossible for them to the same pictures and text as the origi- understand the true significance of any nal. of these events. After World War II the pattern of To rectify this situation, the Chicago the 1920s was repeated. The McCarthy and Illinois Federations of Labor have "" was also anti-union, and passed numerous resolutions over the union members, teachers and research- years, calling for the schools to teach ers remained relatively silent on labor about the contributions of the labor issues until the early 1960s. Historians movement to our state and national like Jesse Lemisch, who worked in the life. Yet despite these efforts most Illi- early 1960s at the University of Chica- nois students still remain unenlight- go, and Staughton Lynd, who was at ened about our rich labor heritage and Roosevelt University for a short time, its importance. There is a danger in this preached the gospel of history written ignorance. As George Santayana put from the bottom up, instead of from it: "Those who cannot remember the the top down. Instead of teaching only past are condemned to repeat it." about politicians, big businessmen or Our state and nation can ill afford even union leaders, these new histori- any repetitions of events like the tion of the event which condemned ans believed the story of the average Memorial Day Massacre, nor can we both Republic Steel and the Chicago citizen and worker should be empha- allow the distortions and inaccuracies Police Department. sized. This led to oral history projects that appear in the few textbooks that This pattern of action, reaction, dis- and new research by people like David even mention this event. Will Scoggins, tortion and correction mirrors the sta- Brody, David Montgomery, Herb Gut- a California professor who conducted tus of labor history in the schools over man, Phil Foner and Alfred Young, the a study of textbooks (Labor in Learn- the years. In the latter at Northern Illinois University. ing: Public School Treatment of the (1898-1917), the works of historians In 1967, a group of union members, World of Work, University of Califor- like Mary and Charles Beard, which labor attorneys, former Wobblies, ear- nia, 1966), found, for example, the fol- stressed the significance of labor ly CIO members, history buffs, labor lowing statement about the Massacre history, were elements of many educators and academics formed a in one U.S. history text: schools' curricula. By the 1920s, how- group devoted to correcting the inac- Swinging clubs, police advance upon ever, labor history had disappeared, curacies in the public's perception of nearly 2,000 steel strike demonstrators and labor history. At first they were inter- at the South Chicago plant of the Re- "The American System," a pam- ested only in correcting misconceptions public Steel Company in 1937. Ten phlet published in Chicago by anti-la- bor business about the , and they people were killed during the demon- groups, was supplied to called themselves the Haymarket Me- stration. The violence and bloodshed schools across the country. From this morial caused the public to turn against the publication, young people learned that Committee. By 1968 they had C.I.O. temporarily. unions were un-American and that the expanded their concerns, taking the Yet the facts of the matter were sig- "American Way" was for each worker name of the Illinois Labor History So- nificantly different. Only about 300 to bargain individually with his em- ciety (ILHS), and assuming the follow- pickets were in the area, for one thing. ployer, in keeping with the so-called ing goals: For the 10 were "Frontier It shall be the purpose of the Illinois another, people killed Tradition." Labor History Society to encourage the all shot in the back or side by the police With the coming of the Great De- preservation and study of labor history as they fled. Paramount newsreels of pression and Roosevelt's , materials of the Illinois Region, and to the event so shocked the public that the the story of the worker was again arouse public interest in the profound Senate conducted a special investiga- taught in the schools, and books like significance of the past to the present.

May 1984/Illinois Issues/23 By 1983, the ILHS had assisted in the founding of 21 other such organi- Photo by the Illinois Labor History Society zations across the country. Now there is talk of founding an umbrella organi- zation: a National Labor History Soci- ety.

The educational potential At a time when educators recognize the artificiality of the boundaries be- tween traditional disciplines, the study of labor history offers unique and im- portant possibilities as an interdisci- plinary subject. Labor's story can be taught through music, poetry, film and photographs. Labor history can be ex- amined from the perspectives of pro- grams in black studies, ethnic and im- migrant studies, urban studies and wo- men's studies; and traditional pro- grams in economics, history and gov- ernment could readily use examples from labor studies to illustrate princi- ples. Programs in industrial arts and vocational training could be enriched by some attention to labor issues. District 1199 of the National Unions of Hospital and Health Care Employ- ees has pioneered in introducing "worker culture" into music, art and literature classes. Through its "Bread and Roses Project," this group has produced plays and musicals for hospi- tal workers and developed books and posters which tell labor's story. Its col- lection of art, quotations and poetry, entitled Images of Labor, includes an introduction by and a pre- face by Joan Mondale and would make "Home: The Miner" by Charles J. Mulligan- Division and California streets, Chicago an attractive supplement to any English classroom. Other resources abound, ready for early 1900s: Hollywood has again discovered the the alert and sensitive teacher to blend Toiling and toiling and toiling, worker in films as varied as Nine to into study units in a variety of courses. Endless toil, Five, Norma Rae, Silkwood and Har- Labor songs like those included on the For whom? For what? lan County, U.S.A.; and a new series classic record, Talking Union (Folk- Why should the work be done? of educational films, produced by Elsa ways, FH 5285), could enrich both I do not ask or know, I only toil, Rassbach and Public Forum Produc- I work until the day and night are one. music and history classes. The album tions, will soon be appearing on PBS. contains a booklet with the words of The poetry of is filled The first of these docu-dramas, titled the songs plus historical notes by Pete with labor history and labor themes The Killing Floor, will be aired this Seeger and Phil Foner. poems like "A Teamster's Farewell," spring. It is the story of the Chicago An article titled "Chicago's Singing "Blacklisted," "Working Girl" or race riots of 1919 in the stockyards Workers" by Josh Dunson appeared in "Chicago." "Memoir of a Proud when employers played black and the magazine Come For To Sing Boy" is about Mother Jones and the white workers against each other in (Winter, 1980) on how to use labor Ludlow Massacre. Poems like "Jol- order to break the union and pay the songs in the classroom. Among the iet," "Clinton South of Polk," "Hal- lowest possible wages. Teachers can songs was a long lost one titled "The sted Street Car" and "Blue Island In- prepare their students for this program Sweat Shop" which had been written tersection" tell the stories of working- by having them read 's at Jane Addams' Hull House in the class neighborhoods and cities. and Carl Sandburg's The

24/May 1984/Illinois Issues Chicago Race Riots with its introduc- Since the Illinois School Code re- gives an excellent history of indenture tion by Walter Lippmann. Both books quires the teaching of the contributions and the struggle of the apprentice to are readily available in paperback. of ethnic groups, the teacher has the win justice and rights on the job. Another film soon to be aired is The opportunity to point out the role that Industrial arts programs give the Gentle Crusader being produced by immigrants have played in the develop- teacher an opportunity to teach the stu- Film Boston Inc. It is the story of Jane ment of the American labor movement. dent what life is really like on the job. Addams and Florence Kelley and their The way in which some employers A number of years ago a teacher in fight in the early 1890s for the health played ethnic groups against each other Bensenville organized his industrial and safety of immigrant and native arts class into a union and had the sweatshop workers. students elect a shop steward to handle Old photographs can be useful tools their grievances. This introduction of in the classroom, especially historic Probably no single event the union into a practical course en- photos by Louis Hine, Jacob Riis and riched the classroom experience of Dorothea Lange. Two books filled has influenced the history these students in a way they would with such pictures are America and never forget. Lewis Hine (Sperture, 1977) and The of labor in Illinois, the The Illinois School Code recognizes Eye of Conscience (Follett, 1974). In United States, and even the value of educational tours. Why 1976 the ILHS took thousands of pho- not a trip to a union hall or an historic tos of workers across Illinois as a bi- the world, more than union site? Illinois is filled with such centennial project. These pictures were the Chicago sites. A few years ago I wrote an article put together in an exhibit which toured on this topic, "Labor History Through the state as well as in book form (On Haymarket Affair Field Trips," for the book Labor Edu- the Job In Illinois: Then and Now). A cation for Women Workers (Temple mini-version of the photo exhibit is still University Press, 1981), edited by Bar- available for rental by school or union bara Wertheimer. groups. to keep down wages has created many To explore more fully the available In women's studies the teacher can of the problems that are still with us to- resources and potential benefits of la- recount the story of Jane Addams and day. Many early labor leaders were im- bor studies in the curriculum, it might Ellen Gates Starr and their pioneer migrants or the children of immi- be best to focus on three specific events work with trade unions. Mary grants, including from Illinois' rich labor history: the McDowell, "The Angel of the Yards," (English), Sidney Hillman (Lithuan- Haymarket Affair of 1886, the Pull- organized a settlement house through ian), (Russian), John man Strike of 1894 and the work of the University of Chicago and helped L. Lewis (Welsh) and Eugene V. Debs Mother Jones who spent 59 years of Czechs, Poles, Lithuanians and other (Alsatian). her life fighting for labor's cause. ethnic groups find a better life in the Blacks have also played an important stockyards. A film, Packingtown part in the history of the American la- U.S.A. (University of Illinois Film Li- bor movement. A. Phillip Randolph The Haymarket Affair brary, 1969), tells the story of her work organized the Pullman Sleeping Car Probably no single event has influ- with the Amalgamated Meatcutters Porters and helped organize the great enced the history of labor in Illinois, Union. Agnes Nestor, who organized Civil Rights March on Washington, the United States, and even the world, the Glove Workers Union, went on to D.C. Civil rights leader Dr. Martin more than the Chicago Haymarket Af- become president of the Women's Luther King Jr. was assassinated while fair. It all began with a simple rally on League which fought trying to organize the municipal gar- May 4, 1886, but the consequences are against child labor and for the right of bage collectors in Memphis, Tenn. still being felt today. Although this women to vote. A small booklet, Labor and the Gov- story is included in almost all Ameri- The list of women who worked di- ernment (Cornell University, Bulletin can history textbooks, very few present rectly or indirectly with unions in the 56, ILR, April 1964) by Sayre and the event accurately or point out its fight for social change is endless. Two Rowland, can be used to introduce la- significance. excellent books give a more complete bor issues into a civics or government To understand what happened at list: We Were There: The Story of class. This gives the instructor the op- Haymarket, it is necessary to go back Working Women in America (Panthe- portunity to point out the democratic to the summer of 1884 when the Feder- on, 1977) by Barbara Wertheimer, and structure of labor unions and how they ation of Organized Trades and Labor The Roads They Made: Women in Illi- parallel the structure of local, state and Unions, the predecessor of the Ameri- nois History (Kerr, 1977) by Adade federal government. can Federation of Labor, called for Wheeler. For those who wish to take a The Illinois School Code also calls May 1, 1886, to be the beginning of a field trip dealing with women's history, for school districts to work with em- nationwide movement for the eight- Babette Inglehart of Chicago State ployers and unions as a part of voca- hour day. This wasn't a particularly University has put together an indis- tional education and pre-apprentice- radical idea since both Illinois workers pensable booklet: Walking With ship programs. A government pam- and federal employees were supposed Women Through Chicago History phlet, Apprenticeship: Past and Pres- to have been covered by an eight-hour (Chicago, Salsedo Press, 1981). ent (U.S. Department of Labor, 1977), day law since 1867. The problem was

May 1984/Illinois Issues/25 that the federal government failed to enforce its own law, and in Illinois, Photo by the Illinois Labor History Society employers forced workers to sign waivers of the law as conditions of em- ployment. With two years to plan, organized labor in Chicago and other parts of Il- linois sent out questionnaires to employers to see how they felt about shorter hours and other issues, includ- ing child labor. Songs were written like "The Eight Hour Day" (available on American Industrial Ballads, Folk- ways, FH 5251); everywhere slogans were heard like "Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Sleep, and Eight Hours For What We Will!" or "Shortening the Hours Increases the Pay." Although perhaps a simplistic solu- tion to unemployment and low wages, Inside the Cook County Courthouse during the Haymarket trial - the "Eight-Hour Day Movement" now the Hubbard Street Police Station, Chicago caught the imagination of workers across the country. Chicago with its nues. This attack by the police pro- darkness many shot at their own men. strong labor movement had the voked a protest meeting which was Eventually seven policemen died, only nation's largest demonstration on Sat- planned for Haymarket Square on the one directly accountable to the bomb. urday, May 1, 1886, when reportedly evening of Tuesday, May 4. Very few Four workers were also killed, but few 80,000 workers marched up Michigan textbooks provide a thorough explana- textbooks bother to mention this fact. Avenue arm-in-arm singing and car- tion of the events that led to Haymar- The next day martial law was de- rying the banners of their unions. The ket, nor do they mention that the pro- clared, not just in Chicago but unions most strongly represented were labor mayor of Chicago, Carter Har- throughout the nation. Anti-labor gov- the building trades. This solidarity rison, gave permission for the meeting. ernments around the world used the shocked some employers, who feared a While the events of May 1 had been Chicago incident to crush local union workers' , while others well-planned, the events of the evening movements. In Chicago labor leaders quickly signed agreements for shorter of May 4 were not. Most of the speak- were rounded up, houses were entered hours at the same pay. ers failed to appear. Instead of starting without search warrants, and union Two of the organizers of these dem- at 7:30, the meeting was delayed for newspapers were closed down. Eventu- onstrations were Lucy and Albert Par- about an hour. Instead of the expected ally eight men, representing a cross sec- sons. The beautiful and talented Lucy 20,000 people, fewer than 2,500 at- tion of the labor movement, were se- had been born a slave in Texas about tended. Two substitute speakers ran lected to be tried. Among them were 1853. She had some Indian blood and over to Haymarket Square at the last Fielden, Parsons and an ordinary spoke Spanish, and she worked for the minute. They had been attending a young carpenter named , Freedmen's Bureau after the Civil meeting of sewing workers organized who was accused of throwing the War. After her marriage to Albert, they by and her fellow labor bomb. Lingg had witnesses to prove moved to Chicago where she turned organizer, Lizzie Holmes of Geneva, that he was over a mile away at the her attention to writing and organizing Ill. These last-minute speakers were time. The two-month-long trial that women sewing workers. Her husband , just returned from followed ranks as one of the most Albert was a printer, a member of the Ohio, and an English-born Methodist notorious in American history. The , editor of the labor lay preacher who worked with the Chicago Tribune even offered to pay paper, , and one of the labor movement, Samuel Fielden. money to the jury if it found the eight founders of the Chicago Trades and The Haymarket meeting was almost men guilty. Labor Assembly. over, and only about 200 people re- Eventually, three of the men were On Sunday, May 2, Albert went to mained when they were attacked by sent to Joliet Penitentiary and five, in- Ohio to organize rallies there, while 176 policemen carrying Winchester re- cluding Parsons, were condemned to Lucy and others staged another peace- peater rifles. Fielden was speaking; death by hanging. Louis Lingg mysteri- ful march of 35,000 workers. But on even Lucy and Albert Parsons had left ously died when his face was blown Monday, May 3, the peaceful scene because it was beginning to rain. Then away by a dynamite cap while he was in turned violent when the Chicago Police someone, unknown to this day, threw a well-guarded cell and in solitary con- Department attacked and killed picket- the first dynamite bomb ever used in finement. In June of 1893, Gov. John ing workers at the McCormick Reaper peacetime in the history of the United P. Altgeld pardoned the three men still Plant at Western and Blue Island ave- States. The police panicked, and in the alive and condemned the entire judicial

26/May 1984/Illinois Issues system that had allowed this injustice. There are two excellent books deal- Ben Hecht, although not about Hay- While textbooks tell about the bomb, ing with the infamous trial. The first is market, is set in the same courthouse they fail to mention the reason for the Dyer Lum's reissued book, Trial ofthe and jail that housed the Haymarket meeting or what happened afterwards. Chicago Anarchists (Arno Press, martyrs. This story is about another Some books even fail to mention the 1969), which is a collection of trans- supposed "anarchist" who is about to fact that many of those tried were not cripts from the trial. The second, by be hanged on the same gallows used even at the Haymarket meeting, but Bernard Kogan, The Chicago Hay- during the Haymarket hangings. This were arrested simply because they were market Riot: on Trial (Heath, play makes a comedy out of the reac- union organizers. 1959), was written for use by English tion of the newspapers, government The real issues of the Haymarket Af- classes as a model for doing a research and the public. fair were freedom of speech, freedom paper. This book is filled with newspa- The Haymarket Affair took on of the press, the right to free assembly, per accounts of the trial, appeals to worldwide dimensions in July of 1889, the right to a fair trial by a jury of higher courts and statements by the when a delegate from the American peers and the right of workers to orga- presiding judge Joseph E. Gary, the Federation of Labor recommended at a nize and to fight for things like the attorneys and Gov. Altgeld. Classes at labor conference in Paris that May 1 be eight-hour day. Sadly, these rights Fenton High School in Bensenville set aside as International Labor Day in have been abridged many times in have used for many years a pamplet memory of the Haymarket martyrs and American history. During the civil titled Political Justice: The Haymarket the injustice of the Haymarket Affair. rights marches of the 1960s, the anti- Three (American Education Publica- Today in almost every major industrial Vietnam War demonstrations and the tions, 1972) by Vincent Rogers, in nation, May Day is Labor Day. Even 1968 Democratic National Conven- which the Haymarket trial is compared Great Britain and Israel have passed tion, we saw the most recent examples to the Chicago Eight trial. legislation in recent years declaring this of similar violations of our constitu- The poetry of Carl Sandburg in- date a national holiday. tional rights. cludes a poem, "Dynamiter," which For years, half of the American la- To date there is no educational film depicts a fictional German worker as a bor movement observed May 1 as La- dealing with the Haymarket Affair, al- warm and caring person despite "his bor Day, while the other half observed though this incident and its tragic af- deep days and nights as a dynamiter." the first Monday in September. After termath could make a moving story. Sandburg had to beg his publisher, Al- the Russian Revolution the May 1 date There is no play yet to dramatize one fred Harcourt, to include this in his was mistakenly associated with com- of the most unjust trials in American Chicago Poems of 1916 because of the munism, and as a protest against So- jurisprudence. But there are a number Haymarket controversy. And the play viet policy the May 1 date was first pro- of excellent books and poems as well as Front Page by Charles MacArthur and claimed Law Day in the 1960s. Today, monuments and historic sites that can the Illinois School Code calls for Illi- be visited as part of a field trip. nois Law Week to be observed in the The definitive book was written by Photo by the Illinois Labor History Society schools during the first week in May. Henry David, The History of the Hay- For a number of years New Trier High market Affair (Farrar & Rinehart, School in Wilmette has included the 1936). In 1976 the ILHS published story of Haymarket as a part of their Haymarket Revisited, a walking-driv- Law Day observances, capitalizing on ing tour book of sites connected with a perfect opportunity to teach about the Haymarket Affair. That same year this event and the effect it has had on the ILHS also published a marvelous world history. book about Lucy Parsons. This book The year 1986 will mark the centen- by Carolyn Ashbough, Lucy Parsons: nial of the Eight-Hour-Day Movement American Revolutionary (Kerr, 1976), and the Haymarket Affair. Folk singer traces Lucy's life from her childhood Pete Seeger and a group called "The as a slave in Texas to her tragic death in People Yes," named after Sandburg's a fire in Chicago in 1942. volume of poems by that name, are A novel that can be used in English planning a nationwide celebration, an classes is The Bomb by the colorful event which offers teachers a unique Frank Harris (University of Chicago opportunity to teach the facts about Press, reissued in 1962). Although pub- Haymarket and to correct the distor- lished as fiction, most of this story is tions and inaccuracies in our text- historically accurate, and students in books. English as well as history classes could benefit from it. Harris has the bomb thrower recounting the story on his Pullman: the company town deathbed as he admits being hired by The story of Pullman before, during management to throw the dynamite The Aligeld Monument and after the strike by Gutzon Borglum of 1894 offers the bomb in order to discredit the labor - Lincoln Park, Chicago teacher, student, citizen or union mem- movement. ber a unique opportunity to study the - A May 1984/Illinois Issues/27 operation of an early multinational used instead against Debs and the been restored. Unlike Williamsburg, corporation and the terrible mistakes it ARU. An injunction was issued, and however, Pullman is still a working made. Some of these same mistakes are 14,000 federal troops and special depu- community of small homeowners. This being made by corporations today. ties were sent to Chicago on July 2. is the perfect place for a field trip; yet In 1880, George Pullman commis- Debs was arrested and thrown into if you take a tour conducted by the sioned architect Solon Beman to begin the same cell at the Cook County Jail Historic Pullman Foundation, you will construction of a so-called "model" that had once held one of the Hay- hear little about the Pullman Strike, town for the production of his sleeping market martyrs. Another unjust trial Eugene V. Debs, Rev. Carwardine, cars and for the housing of his work- followed, and he was given a six-month Jennie Curtis, Clarence Darrow, Jane ers. A buffer zone was provided be- sentence but not in Cook County. Addams and others connected with the tween the town and Chicago so that the Chicago workers had threatened to labor side of the story. You will hear a workers would be separated from the tear down the jail and free Debs if he great deal about George Pullman and evil influence of the city. Workers were incarcerated there. Instead he was the architect Solon Beman and their so- hired were carefully screened to assure sent to McHenry County Jail in Wood- called "perfect" community. industrious, nondrinking, American- stock. When he was released after serv- In order to tell the labor side of the born workers, who were not union ing his time, a special train brought story the ILHS reissued in 1971 The members. him to Chicago and over half a million Pullman Strike (Kerr, 1894) by Rev. But even though the town was beau- people greeted him, wrapped him in an Carwardine. In 1972, the ILHS pub- tiful, there was nothing American American flag and carried him on their lished Touring Pullman: A Study in about it; it was more like a feudal state. shoulders through the streets. Company Paternalism, a walking-driv- Pullman always called his workers "my The entire nation took sides in this ing tour guide of the community. Al- children." They had no democracy in dispute: Those supporting the Pullman though this book is not sold by the His- their community or on the job. Al- workers and the ARU wore white rib- toric Pullman Foundation because of though there were walkouts and a con- bons on their lapels; those supporting its labor viewpoint, it is available from stantly changing work force from the Pullman and the GMA wore small the ILHS and the Chicago Historical beginning, serious problems developed American flags. Jane Addams came Society. By reading this book and then in 1883 when Pullman reduced wages out in support of Jennie Curtis and the taking an Historic Pullman Founda- from 25-54 percent without any reduc- other women workers of Pullman. tion tour, one can get both sides of the tions in the rents workers paid or in Clarence Darrow quit his lucrative job story. what they were charged for water and as an attorney for the Northwestern A number of other books are avail- gas by the company. When a commit- Railroad in order to defend Debs. Chi- able to those interested in the full story tee of workers asked to talk over their cago Mayor John P. Hopkins, who of Pullman. The classic by Almont grievances with management, the had once been a Pullman employee, Lindsey, The Pullman Strike (Univer- members were fired. Eventually the en- and Gov. Altgeld sided with the union. sity of Chicago, 1942), is still available tire town went on strike. George Pullman was forced to turn to in paperback as is a newer book by A young Methodist minister, the his powerful friends in Washington, in- Stanley Buder, Pullman: An Experi- Rev. William Carwardine, could no cluding President Grover Cleveland ment in Industrial Order and Commu- longer stand to see members of his and U.S. Atty. Gen. Richard Olney. nity Planning (Oxford, 1967). Pullman congregation starving. He Even a conservative businessman like Recently, two new educational films and Jennie Curtis, a teenage Pullman the powerful Marcus Hanna was on Pullman were released. When Mar- laundry worker, went to the conven- against Pullman because of the anti- tin Buechley, a young filmmaker, tried tion of the American Railway Union business attitude his actions had to get funding for an historic film on (ARU) in June of 1894 to ask for help. caused. Pullman, many groups turned him Against even the wishes of ARU Presi- Pullman died in 1897, still unaware down on the assumption that there dent Eugene V. Debs, they convinced that he had done anything wrong. By were dozens of films on this subject. the delegates to back the Pullman 1907, the Illinois Supreme Court had He had to prove to the funding agen- workers against the powerful Pullman ordered the Pullman Company to sell cies that except for a brief mention of Palace Car Company. The ARU the homes, stores, churches and every- the event in the Britannica film, Rise of agreed to refuse to move any train car- thing it owned that was not needed for Labor, absolutely no film on Pullman rying a Pullman car. the construction of sleeping cars. Even- existed. On May 20, 1983, Buechley's The General Managers' Association tually annexed to Chicago, the commu- Palace Cars and Paradise was pre- (GMA), made up of 24 railroads cen- nity was threatened with destruction miered. This beautiful color film, tering or terminating in Chicago, saw after World War II when the area was funded by the Illinois Arts and Hu- this as a battle to the death between la- proposed for a new industrial site. The manities councils, went on to win an bor and management. They came to people fought to save their homes, and award from the Illinois State Historical Pullman's aid by placing Pullman cars in 1973 the Pullman Community was Society in October 1983, and will soon on freight and mail trains, thereby cre- declared a National Historic District. appear on PBS. It is available for ren- ating a national emergency in order to Today it is a "Midwestern Williams- tal from the ILHS. force federal intervention. The Sher- burg" containing over 750 pieces of Another film on the Pullman Com- man Anti-Trust Law, passed to control property, and a number of the major pany is the recently completed Kartem- monopolies like Standard Oil, was buildings and many of the homes have quin Film, The Last Pullman Car

28/May 1984/Illinois Issues she adopted the labor movement as her Photo by Bill Foreman/Silver Images family - especially the children who were forced to work in the mills and mines. For the next 59 years Mother Jones went wherever union leaders asked her to go. Leaders like Terence Powderly of the Knights of Labor and later John Fitzpatrick of the Chicago Federation of Labor could count on Mother Jones' help whenever there was a strike and workers needed inspiration. When she was angry, they say "her language was so colorful she could make a mule skinner hang his head in shame." She once told a group of striking miners to stay home and mind the kids while she led their mop-carrying wives to chase the scabs out of the mines. For a few years Mother Jones worked in Chicago with the Molders Union organizing workers at the Mc- Cormick Reaper Plant and Crown Stove, but by 1877 she was in Pitts- burgh for the Great Railroad Strike. Shocked by the Virden Riots of 1898, she stated then and there that when she died, she wanted to be buried next to those brave boys in the cemetary at Mt. Olive, Ill. Among her protege's were John Mitchell of Braidwood, one of the founders of the United Mine Work- ers (UMW) and its president from 1899 to 1908. When she became disap- pointed with Mitchell, she helped a young fellow from Panama, Ill., by the name of John L. Lewis, become presi- dent of the UMW - a post he would hold from 1920 until 1960. "The Coal Miner" by John Szaton - State In 1903 Mother Jones led a "Child- Capitol, Springfield ren's March" across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York in order to (1984). This film covers the history of In the early years of her marriage, force President Roosevelt to take a the company, including its final pur- her husband had been active with the stronger stand against child labor. In chase by another multinational, the Molders Union in Memphis, Tenn. But 1905 she sat on the platform in Brand's closing of the plant in 1982 and how it Mary Jones had four children to take Hall at Erie and Clark streets in Chica- has affected the workers and their fam- care of and little time for union activi- go next to Eugene V. Debs and Lucy ilies today. ties. In 1867, however, an epidemic hit Parsons at the founding convention of Memphis; within a few days she had the Industrial Workers of the World. lost her husband and all her children. In 1913 she was marching through the Mother Jones Trying to put the pieces of her life streets of Calumet, Mich., during the In Mary Harris Jones, known as together again, she came to Chicago Great Copper Strike to protest the kill- "Mother Jones," Illinois has an au- and opened a dress shop on Washing- ing of two workers and the injuring of thentic folk heroine. Although born in ton near Michigan Avenue, but that dozens by armed company guards. The Cork, Ireland, on May 1, 1830 (some was destroyed in the Great Fire of next year she was in Ludlow, Colo., to think she took this day for her birthday 1871. While camping in the ruins of St. protest the deaths of 11 children and because of Haymarket), and educated Mary's Church near State and Madi- two women who were burned when the as a teacher in Canada and Michigan, son, she heard singing from an adjoin- tent city of the miners was set on fire it was in Illinois that she began her ing ruin, and went to see what was hap- on orders from John D. Rockefeller Jr. work with unions and it was in Illinois pening. It was a rally of members of By July 5, 1917, she was back in Illi- that she chose to be buried. the Knights of Labor. From then on, nois again, this time to aid the transit

May 1984/Illinois Issues/29 workers of Bloomington in their fight Folklorist Archie Green, author of On- president of the West Virginia Labor against the owner of the city transit ly a Miner: Studies in Recorded Coal- History Association. McLean is also an system, who also happened to be a Mining Song (University of Illinois active member of the Coal Miners Re- U. S. senator. Through the help of Press, 1972), played songs connected search Association and has worked Mother Jones, they won their fight. with Mother Jones and a wreath was with the students of North Cambria In 1919 she assisted a young Phillip laid on her grave. Today, Mother High School in preparing a book called Murray, future head of the CIO, dur- Jones has been rediscovered. Her grave Out of the Dark: Mining Folk, which ing the Great Steel Strike in South Chi- is listed in the Register of Historic has given the students a pride in their cago. In 1922, Nation magazine voted Sites, and the Jo Davidson bust is now mining heritage. In Charleston last her one of the greatest women in in the National Gallery of Art. In 1974, year she worked with the West Virginia America. In both 1920 and 1924, she Dale Fethering published a new biog- Children's Theatre to produce a play was a major speaker at the Ashland raphy, Mother Jones: The Miner's about Mother Jones called There is an Auditorium in Chicago at the conven- Angel (Southern Illinois University Old Woman. tions of the Farm-Labor Party, which Press, 1974). A magazine now bears In 1980, the ILHS issued in booklet supported Robert LaFollette for presi- her name, and in 1978 a play about her form The Union Miners' Cemetery dent in 1924 and polled nearly five mil- toured the country. (Kerr) by John Keiser, formerly ofSan- lion votes nationally. In 1925 at the age Books and pamplets about Mother gamon State University. This booklet of 95 she was busy writing her autobi- Jones are available at every grade level. tells the story of Mother Jones and all ography. A beautifully illustrated book, Three the other union men and women buried Mother Jones' impact on the labor Cheers for Mother Jones (Holt, Rine- in this, the only union-owned cemetery movement can be measured by the na- hart, and Winston, 1980), by Jean in the nation. It is located just off In- tional mourning at her death, at age Bethell is available for students at the terstate 55 at Mt. Olive. Also buried 100, in Silver Springs, Md., on Novem- second grade level. Another book by there are the victims of the Virden ber 30, 1930. A funeral train bearing Rhoda and William Cahn, No Time Riots of October 12, 1898. When the her body retraced the route of Lin- for School, No Time for Play (Jullian Chicago-Virden Coal Company re- coln's funeral train, traveling from fused to abide by a decision of the Illi- Washington, D.C., to Chicago, nois State Board of Arbitration regard- Springfield and then on to the little It is filled with fascinating ing pay rates, the company decided to mining town of Mt. Olive where, ac- break the union, composed mostly of cording to her wishes, she was buried. old photos, including one English, Welsh, German and Slavic The entire nation listened to the radio of a group of children miners, by bringing in nonunion black as WCFL broadcast the funeral, and a workers from Alabama. As might be Gene Autry recording, "Death of carrying picket signs expected, terrible rioting and blood- Mother Jones," sold thousands of rec- shed resulted. A local minister, sympa- ords and helped establish Autry as a and demanding the right thetic to the company, even refused star. Six years later, with 50,000 people to go to school burial in the church cemetery to the present, a monument was dedicated at union men. The miners then bought her gravesite, and in Washington, their own land for a cemetery to bury D.C., a bust of Mother Jones by the Messner, 1972), is available for stu- their dead union brothers. sculptor Jo Davidson was placed in the dents in the fourth and fifth grades. But if the memory of Mary Harris foyer of the newly completed Depart- This book is not only the story of Jones is honored in Mt. Olive as the ment of Labor Building. Mother Jones but deals with the entire mother of the American labor move- By the early 1970s, Mother Jones question of child labor in America. It is ment, it can also be said that the had almost been forgotten. Even the Jo filled with fascinating old photos, in- founding fathers of organized labor Davidson bust had been removed - it cluding one of a group of children car- came out of the Illinois coal fields. The was finally found again in the mid '70s, rying picket signs and demanding the nation's first miners union, the Ameri- broken and discarded in the corner of a right to go to school. can Miners' Association, was organized subbasement closet. In 1972, the ILHS A book for junior high school stu- at a meeting in Belleville in 1861. Soon reissued The Autobiography ofMother dents is Mother Jones: The Most Dan- the "Miners' Hall" became, next to Jones (Kerr, 1925), and a letter was gerous Woman in America (Crown, the church, the most important build- written to the U.S. secretary of the in- 1978) by Linda Atkinson. A pamphlet ing in small mining towns throughout terior requesting that the Union Min- for adults by Priscilla Long, Mother the state. Here miners met to lobby for ers' Cemetery and the Mother Jones Jones: Woman Organizer (Red Sun laws to protect their lives. Coal was monument at Mt. Olive be given land- Press, 33 Richdale Ave., Cambridge, basic to the industrial development of mark status. The reply from the secre- Mass.), is also available. Illinois, and from the very beginning tary was: "Who is Mother Jones?" Several groups honored Mother the miners and their unions helped The ILHS then launched a campaign Jones in 1980, the 50th anniversary of shape labor relations in the state as well to restore her name to its rightful place her death, but one of the most exciting as legislation dealing with hours, wages in Illinois and American labor history. programs was "The Mother Jones and and workmen's compensation. The ILHS twice held its annual meet- the Miners Festival" organized in Employers tried to break the laws ings in Springfield and Mt. Olive. Charleston, W. Va., by Lois McLean, and the power of the unions by pitting

30/May 1984/Illinois Issues one ethnic group against another. Min- pioneered in oral history interviewing ers from Italy were brought into the of union members, has written a book- mines around Benid in Macoupin let entitled Preserving the History of County. Attempts were made to break Local Unions. In Michigan, the Walter the militancy of the Braidwood miners, Reuther Library of Labor Affairs, in who were all originally Welsh and cooperation with the UAW has pub- Scotch, by bringing in Czech, German, lished Writing Your Local Union His- French and Irish miners. But employ- tory. ers were surprised when the miners of But if our labor heritage is to take its Braidwood regardless of ethnic back- rightful place in the hearts and minds ground began to work together. John of Illinois citizens, then teachers, union Mitchell of Braidwood would bring members and other concerned citizens miners together in the UMW, and later must work together to bring about the it would be John L. Lewis who would needed recognition. The most impor- About the author: organize the Congress of Industrial Or- tant thing that must be done is to get a ganizations (CIO) which organized un- strong amendment to the Illinois skilled workers of every racial and eth- School Code providing for the teaching nic background during the late 1930s. of labor history. At present, section 27-21 of the code, which provides for the teaching of United States history, Celebrating the heritage lists among its goals a knowledge of the The materials and resources avail- contributions blacks and other ethnic able on labor issues suggest the vast groups have made in the history of this educational potential of this proud country. To these goals should be add- chapter in Illinois history. And across ed a knowledge of labor history. Such the state, various groups and individ- an amendment would not force schools uals have begun to retrieve and cele- into unwanted or expensive changes in brate labor's contributions to our the curriculum; rather - as has al- economy and culture. Since 1978, for ready been done in the fields of black example, the Chicago Metro History history and ethnic history - it would Fair (60 W. Walton) has encouraged give encouragement and impetus to in- high school students in the metropoli- terested teachers and communities. We tan area to research their family and have amendments providing for Arbor community histories. For the last two and Bird Day, Leif Ericson Day and years, the winners of the $1,000 grand American Indian Day. Each year the prize have been students who have governor declares Black History Month written on labor themes. and Women's History Week. An Illi- The first Danville History Fair was nois Labor History Week could focus William J. Adelman is a professor of scheduled for April, and Danville's la- labor and industrial relations at the attention on the struggles of Illinois University Illinois and coordinator bor history was an important part of workers for everything from the eight- of of that the Chicago Labor Education Program. celebration. The Will-Grundy hour day to the founding of the UMW He is vice president of the Illinois Labor Counties Trades and - Labor Council and from John L. Lewis and the History Society and one of its founding has sponsored an art and labor show CIO to the grass-roots fights of indi- members. He is the author of a number with paintings by Kathleen Farrell, an vidual workers for democracy in their of books on Illinois labor history, art teacher at Joliet Junior College. workplaces and their communities. including Touring Pullman (1972), Part of the program was a slide show Haymarket, Pullman and MotherJones Haymarket Revisited (1976) and Pilsen titled "Roll the Union On: Will Coun- should become part of what students and the West Side (1983). ty Labor History." The Bloomington- know about the complex and impor- Normal Trades and Labor Assembly, tant past of the state in which they live. in cooperation with Illinois Wesleyan We should take seriously the words University, has begun an oral history of Hubert Humphrey, a member of a project that will include interviews with teachers' union and a friend of labor, retired workers from the Chicago-Al- who spoke these words in his last pub- ton Railroad shops which played such lic address shortly before his death: an important role in the early history of this area. The history of the labor movement Efforts like these can serve as models needs to be taught in every school in for other labor groups in the state who the land.... America is a living testi- wish to retrieve and preserve their his- monial to what free men and women, tory. And there is more help available. organized in free democratic trade un- ions can do to make a better life.... A list of sources for classroom Alice Hoffman at Penn State, who has We materials ought to be proud of it! El is provided with the reprint of this essay. May 1984/Illinois Issues/31 Where to write for labor history AFL-CIO Collector Records Scoggins, Will Education Department 1604 Arbor View Rd. SW Labor Studies Association 815 16th Street, N.W., Rm. 407 Silver Spring, Md. 20902 El Camino College Washington, D.C. 20006 * Joe Glazer Sings Labor Songs Via Torrence, Calif. 90506 * One Hundred Years of American Labor * Down in a Coal Mine * Labor in Learning: Public School * Labor in the Schools: A Guide for Local * Union Train Treatment of the World of Work Central Bodies * Write for a complete list of albums. * "The Anti-Labor Bias in Schoolbooks" * How Schools are Teaching About Labor: (reprinted from Dec. 1967 American A Collection of Guidelines and Lesson Illinois Department of Labor Federationist). Write to the AFL-CIO Plans 910 S. Michigan Education Department for reprints of this * A kit of materials for teachers is available. Chicago, Ill. 60605 Scoggins article. * A list of films that can be rented is * Important Events in Illinois Labor available. History, Publication No. 403 UAW Education Department Solidarity House Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Illinois Labor History Society 8000 East Jefferson Union (ACTWU) 28 E. Jackson Blvd. Detroit, Mich. 48214 Paperback Library Chicago, Ill. 60604 * High School Labor Studies, Publication 15 Union Square * Write for list of books, films, records, and No. 450 New York, N.Y. 10003 video-tapes available. * This Union Cause: An Illustrated History * A wide selection of labor books at one- * Write for list of 21 state and regional of Labor Unions in America, Publication third off. Write for complete list. labor history societies. No. 376 * Posters (28), $4.25 per set American Federation of Teachers McLean, Lois * Writing Your Local Union History Editorial Department West Virginia Labor History Association 11 DuPont Circle, N.W. Beckley, W. Va. 25801 U.S. Department of Labor Washington, D.C. 20036 * For information on the play, There was Office of the Secretary * Reprint: "Teaching About American an Old Woman Washington, D.C. 20210 Labor History" * For information on the Coal Miners * Labor Firsts in America * Working in America: A History of the Research Association * Apprenticeship: Past and Present U.S. Labor Movement, $4 * The American Labor Movement in Rounder Records United Steelworkers of America Modern History and Government 186 Willow 1500 Commonwealth Building Textbooks Somerville, Mass. 02143 Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222 * Poor Man, Rich Man with Gene Autry * Preserving the History of the Local Union, Bread and Roses singing "Death of Mother Jones" Pamphlet No. PR 212 National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees District 1199, Cultural Center, Inc. 310 W. 43rd Street New York, N.Y. 10036 * Write for a catalog of books, records, posters, post cards and other materials available. PUBLICATIONS BY INSTITUTE FACULTY Research Volumes Available from the Publisher Economic Development and the Labor Market in Japan, by Koji Taira (Columbia University Press) Collective Bargaining and Productivity: The Longshore Mechanization Agreement, by Paul T. Hartman (University of California Press) The Measurement of Satisfaction in Work and Retirement: A Strategy for the Study of Attitudes, by Patricia Cain Smith, Lorne McKendall, and Charles L. Hulin (Rand McNally and Co.) The Analysis of Subjective Culture, by Harry C. Triandis (John Wiley and Sons, Inc.) The Steward's Role in the Union, by Herman Erickson (Exposition Press, Inc.) Only a Miner: Studies in Recorded Coal-Mining Songs, by Archie Green (University of Illinois Press) Comparative Labor Movements: Ideological Roots and Institutional De- velopment, by Adolf Sturmthal (Wadsworth Publishing Co., Inc.) The International Labor Movement in Transition: Essays on Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America, edited by Adolf Sturmthal and James G. Scoville (University of Illinois Press) Workers and Employers in Japan, edited by K. Okochi, Solomon B. Levine, and Bernard Karsh (Tokyo University Press and Princeton University Press) Income and Ideology, by Joan Huber and William H. Form (The Free Press) Blue-Collar Stratification, by William H. Form (Princeton University Press) Interpersonal Behavior, by Harry C. Triandis (Brooks/Cole) Equal Pay in the Office, by Francine D. Blau (Lexington Books) Public Sector Labor Relations: Analysis and Readings, edited by Peter Feuille, D. Lewin, and T. A. Kochan Preparing and Presenting Your Arbitration Cases: Manual for Union and Management Representatives, by Allan Harrison (Bureau of National Affairs) An Outline of Japanese Economic History 1603-1940, by Koji Taira and Mikio Sumiya (University of Tokyo Press) The Story of a Steward, by Terrance Connors (Burford Press) Developing an Interdisciplinary Science of Organizations, by Charles L. Hulin, K. H. Roberts, and D. M. Rousseau (Jossey-Bass) Unwanted Workers: Permanent Layoffs and Long-term Unemployment, by Walter H. Franke and R. C. Wilcock (Octagon Books) reprinted 1980 Diary of a Strike, by Bernard Karsh (U. of Illinois Press) reprinted 1981 Left of Center, by Adolf Sturmthal (U. of Illinois Press) Recent Reprints Order from: Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations Editorial Office 504 East Armory Avenue Champaign, IL 61820 No. 298. Working-Class Divisions and Political Consensus in France and the United States, by William Form No. 299. Managing Safety and Health, by Allan J. Harrison No. 300. The Wage Impact of Job Search, by Lawrence M. Kahn and Stuart A. Low No. 301. Worker's Compensation: Should the Law Be Renamed "Insurers' and Attorneys' Compensation Act?" by Allan J. Harrison No. 302. The Relative Effects of Employed and Unemployed Job Search, by Lawrence M. Kahn and Stuart A. Low No. 303. Psychometric and Substantive Issues in Scale Construc- tion and Validation, by Fritz Drasgow and Howard E. Miller No. 304. Self-Employed Manual Workers: Petty Bourgeois or ? by William Form No. 305. Biased Test Items and Differential Validity, by Fritz Drasgow No. 306. Presidential Address, by Milton Derber No. 307. Sociological Research and the American Working Class, by William Form No. 308. Cost-of-Living Clauses in Union Contracts: Determinants and Effects, by Wallace E. Hendricks'and Lawrence M. Kahn No. 309. Strikes, Arbitration, and Teacher Salaries: A Behavioral Analysis, by John Thomas Delaney No. 310. Women, Men and Machines, by William Form and David Byron McMillen No. 311. Job Search and Unionized Employment, by Francine D. Blau and Lawrence M. Kahn No. 312. Unionism, Seniority, and Turnover, by Francine D. Blau and Lawrence M. Kahn No. 313. Unemployment, Inflation, and "Guest Workers" Com- parative Study of Three European Countries, by Adolf Sturmthal No. 314. Determinants of Certification and Decertification Activ- ity, by John J. Lawler and Greg Hundley No. 315. The Effect of Collective Bargaining on Production Tech- nique: A Theoretical Analysis, by Lawrence M. Kahn No. 316. Representation Elections in Higher Education: Occur- rence and Outcomes, by John J. Lawler and J. Malcolm Walker. No. 317. An Empirical Model of Employed Search, Unemployed Search, and Nonsearch, by Lawrence M. Kahn and Stuart A. Low. No. 318. The Use of Transfer Payments by Immigrants, by Francine D. Blau

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