The Strike Files of the U.S
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A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of RESEARCH COLLECTIONS IN LABOR STUDIES General Editor: Melvyn Dubofsky The Strike Files of the U.S. Department of Justice Part 1. 1894-1920 UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of RESEARCH COLLECTIONS IN LABOR STUDIES General Editor: Melvyn Dubofsky THE STRIKE FILES OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Part 1.1894-1920 Associate Editors: Randolph Boehm and Gregory Murphy Guide compiled by Martin Schipper A microfilm project of UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA An Imprint of CIS 4520 East-West Highway • Bethesda, MD 20814-3389 LCCN 92-39073. Copyright® 1990 by University Publications of America. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-55655-219-X. TABLE OF CONTENTS Scope and Content Note vii Source Note x Editorial Note x Abbreviation List xi Reel Index Reels 1-3 RG 60•Classified Subject File Casefilel6-1 1 Reel 4 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-1 cont_ 6 Casefilel6-2 7 ReelS RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-4 8 Casefiles 16-7 and 16-7-0 8 Casefile 16-8 8 Casefile 16-9 8 Casefile 16-10 8 Casefile 16-16 9 Casefile 16-19 9 Casefile 16-19-0 9 Casefile 16-20 9 Casefile 16-22 9 Casefile 16-23 9 Casefile 16-24 10 Casefile 16-25 10 Casefile 16-26 10 Casefile 16-26S-0 10 Casefile 16-28 , 11 Casefile 16-29 11 Casefile 16-30 11 Casefile 16-31 11 Casefile 16-32 12 in Reel 6 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-32 com. 12 Casefde 16-32-1 13 Casefile 16-34 13 Casefile 16-35 13 Reel? RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-36 13 Casefile 16-37 13 Casefile 16-37-0 13 Casefile 16-38 13 Casefile 16-39 14 Casefile 16-40 14 Casefile 16-41 14 Casefile 16-42-0 14 Casefile 16-43 14 Casefile 16-43-0 14 Casefile 16-45 14 Casefile 16-49 15 Casefile 16-51 15 Casefile 16-52 15 Casefile 16-55 15 Casefile 16-57-0 15 Casefile 16-63 15 Casefile 16-64 16 Casefile 16-64-1 16 Casefile 16-66 16 Casefile 16-67 16 Casefile 16-69 16 Casefile 16-71 16 Casefile 16-72 16 Casefile 16-75 16 Casefile 16-76 17 Casefile 16-77 17 Casefile 16-79 17 Casefile 16-80 17 ReelS RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-82 17 Casefile 16-82-1 18 Casefile 16-83 18 Casefile 16-85-1 18 Casefile 16-87 18 Casefile 16-94 18 Casefile 16-99 18 iv Caseffle 16-101 19 Casefile 16-105 19 Cásenle 16-106 19 Casefile 16-108 19 Caseffle 16-110 19 Caseffle 16-111 19 Casefile 16-112 19 Caseffle 16-113 20 Caseffle 16-114 20 Caseffle 16-115 20 Caseffle 16-116 20 Reel 9 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-121 .- 20 Caseffle 16-122 21 Caseffle 16-124 21 Caseffle 16-125-19 21 Caseffle 16-125-26 21 Caseffle 16-125-30 21 Caseffle 16-125-32 21 Caseffle 16-125-42 21 Caseffle 16-125-46 22 Caseffle 16-125-57 22 Caseffle 16-125-58 22 Caseffle 16-125-59 22 Caseffle 16-126 22 Caseffle 16-129 22 Caseffle 16-130 23 Reels 10-14 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-130 cont 23 Reel 15 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Caseffle 16-135 30 Caseffle 16-135-65 31 Caseffle 16-135-75 31 Casefile 16-137 31 Caseffle 16-138 31 Caseffle 16-140 31 Caseffle 16-142 32 Caseffle 16-143 32 Reels 16-17 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-145 32 Reel 18 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-145 cont 34 RG 60•Straight Numerical File Casefile 181092 34 RG 60•Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-145 cont 34 Casefile 16-147 36 Casefile 16-148 36 Reel 19 RG 60•Enclosures to Classified Subject File Casefile 16-130 36 Reel 20 RG 60•Enclosures to Classified Subject File cont. Casefile 16-130 cont 37 Subject Index 39 Appendix•List of Omissions 59 VI SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE Development of Federal Intervention Policy UPA's microform publication, Strike Files of the U.S. Department of Justice, Part I. 1894-1920 documents the changing policies of the federal government in labor disputes from the Pullman Strike in 1894 through 1920. The general policy was one of federal intervention in strike situations only if interstate commerce or the operation of the mails were affected. In certain basic industries, such as railroads or coal mines, this rationale for intervention became particularly compelling. In other cases, where the judgment as to whether a stricken industry affected interstate commerce was less clear, federal officials debated among themselves whether to intervene. With the advent of World War I labor policies, the federal government's role in labor disputes was significantly broadened to encompass the large category of war production industries. During the postwar era covered by this edition, a new range of questions as to the appropriate role of the federal government in labor disputes presents itself. Types of Documents Letters between the head office and local U.S. Attorneys show the development of federal policy. Letters and reports from U.S. Marshals detail the minutiae of federal involvement ranging from names and occupations of federal deputies, to incidents of unrest, mob violence, and intimidation. In this class of documents are also communications relating to the payment of accounts. Letters from business, community, and labor leaders lobby for or against federal intervention according to their perceptions of the merits of the strike. Public opinion was particularly vociferous when basic industries such as the supply of coal for home heating were affected. Letters from ordinary citizens urge federal intervention to protect their access to a basic commodity or service or urge nonintervention to protect the rights of labor. In cases such as lock-outs, these positions were often reversed. In some cases there are groundswells of public opinion for both sides. Types of Cases The genesis of the strike file (and the first strike presented in this publication) was the Pullman Strike of 1894. In this strike, the government stepped in bodily guarding railroad property, coordinating nationwide efforts to put down the strike, and prosecuting Eugene V. Debs and other leaders of the American Railway Union for interfering with the U.S. mails and interstate commerce. The second strike receiving attention is the Anthracite Coal Strike in Pennsylvania. In this case the government contemplated action against both labor and business as vii President Theodore Roosevelt and his administration were beset by waves of public opinion on each side. There follows a host of small cases involving railroads, mineworkers, longshoremen, and manufacturing in the period leading up to the First World War. Most noteworthy among these, perhaps, are the Lawrence, Massachusetts, Textile Strike of 1912 and the Paterson, New Jersey, Silk Workers Strike of 1913, as well as other strikes in which Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) influence was alleged. The Bache-Denman Coal Company Lockout (Fort Smith, Arkansas), dating from 1914, offers a very in- depth look at some of the problems confronting mineworkers during this era. Also potentially significant is a small file on the International Harvester Plant strikes of 1941, found here because of a quirk in the Department of Justice filing system. During the World War I era, efforts to avert strikes were more generally successful, as the Department of Justice took a more active role in cooperation with the U.S. Board of Mediation and Conciliation and the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as obtaining injunctions against labor disputes. In these years pro-German matters and allegations of espionage became particularly sensitive as were continued efforts to eliminate the IWW. Upon the close of the war, there was a series of strikes involving telephone workers, coal miners, railroad yardmen, marine workers, and manufacturers. The Bituminous Coal Strike of 1919 shows the operation of the Department of Justice under A. Mitchell Palmer and includes substantive material on violence in Logan and Mingo Counties, West Virginia. The National Railroad Yardmen's Strike of 1920 shows cooperation between the railroads, the conservative railroad brotherhoods, and the government in putting down a strike by the radical yardmen's organization. Filing System Documents are filed in folders in reverse chronological order. Each document or group of documents has a binder showing any subsequent action or correspondence relating to the subject. In the major cases there are subfiles for virtually every state and territory, as well as special topics including government agencies, members of Congress, or other issue-related correspondence. With the exception of one file, this entire publication is part of the Classified Subject File, in which Class 16 signifies the Strike File. The exception is a Straight Numerical File case concerning the exportation of coal in 1920, which is interfiled with the National Railroad Yardmen's Strike. Due to the Department of Justice numerical filing system, some casefiles are dated much later than the 1920 cutoff date for this publication. In some cases files were simply kept open for many years while litigation was carried forward. In other cases, the numerical filing system causes cases from the 1930s and 1940s to be interfiled with those of earlier years. Thus we find Casefile 16-7 and Casefile 16-7-0 interfiled, although the first refers to the San Francisco Street Car Strike of 1907, while the second refers to the U.S.