Rousing Calls Lure Labor
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THE PLAIN DEALER . SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1998 5-D OURCENTURY 1937 ATA GLANCE City leads the way in public housing Rousing Dreams came true in 1937. Eighteen- hundred Cleveland families were able to move from rat-infested tenements or relatives’ spare rooms into gleaming new apartments at the Cedar Apartments, Outhwaite Homes and calls Lakeview Terrace, the first public housing in America. Dreams also came true for a 36-year-old council- lure man from Hough, then a middle-class neighbor- hood. Ernest Bohn had moved city, state and fed- eral governments — and, it labor seemed at times, the heav- ens, too — to create the Cleveland (now Cuyahoga) Strikes hit Bohn Metropolitan Housing Au- thority, also the first entity businesses of its kind in America. As a freshman councilman in 1930, the di- minutive Republican had talked his colleagues across Midwest; into setting up a special housing committee with himself as chairman. Its hearings turned violence reigns a spotlight on the wretched conditions in PLAIN DEALER FILE which thousands of Clevelanders lived. In By Fred McGunagle Strikers watch Corrigan-McKinney reopen from a bluff high over the Cuyahoga River. They were barred from 1933, he invited U.S. and world housing ex- gathering within 1,500 yards of the plant of the Republic Steel Corp. A maximum of 12 pickets were allowed at perts to a meeting in Cleveland, which drew ‘‘Organize!’’ John L. Lewis each gate. nationwide attention. shouted in halls across the Midwest, Bohn wrote legislation and pushed it his voice booming off the rafters. through the legislature. He got Sen. Robert Worker after worker took up the Republic’s Corrigan-McKinney S.E. and on that main thoroughfare it- Taft to help move laws through Congress. chant: plant on Independence Rd. had shut self, last night’s battle was unlike any (Taft, who would be known as ‘‘Mr. Republi- down, but the company announced it labor conflict this city has seen in can,’’ was called a Communist by private ‘‘Organize! Organize!’’ would reopen on July 6. The governor many years,’’ The Plain Dealer re- apartment owners.) When the courts threw out Akron listeners had responded in sent in 2,000 National Guardsmen ported. ‘‘Republic workers wearing Bohn’s legislation, he drafted new laws to take January 1936 with a spontaneous from southern Ohio; 384 of Cleve- white armbands as identifying marks its place. strike against the Goodyear Tire & land’s 1,400 police were detailed to and carrying clubs, pickhandles, 8- In 1935, he heard that President Franklin D. Rubber Co. Two months later, the strike duty and the sheriff sent 75 inch iron pipes and other similar Roosevelt had appointed a housing director company agreed to recognize the deputies and swore in 17 police ca- weapons sallied forth from the plant for the Public Works Administration. He took United Rubber Workers. That em- dets as special deputies to aid sub- from time to time. ... Strikers hurled the night train to Washington: When the man boldened workers across the country. urbs in keeping ‘‘invaders’’ out of the stones from the hillside toward the arrived at his office for his first day on the job, Their tactic was the ‘‘sit-down county. enclosure in which the workers were Bohn was waiting for him with plans under his strike,’’ in which they seized a plant Despite fears, the reopening was massed and stoned automobiles car- arm for a demonstration project. and dared the company and police to peaceful. The plant manager said rying workers to the plant, witnesses Bohn also was the first chairman of the City remove them. 1,688 men returned to work. The reported.’’ Planning Commission and the first president Workers reporting for the third of the National Association of Housing and Re- Lewis’ militancy didn’t sit well with strike organizers said the number was much smaller and many were not shift had told the second shift that the development Officials. By the time he retired the craft unions, which dominated the strikers were attacking those enter- in 1968, after 35 years as CMHA director, he American Federation of Labor, and in ‘‘real steelworkers.’’ Except for mi- nor vandalism, the city stayed quiet ing and leaving. Many of the second was known as ‘‘the father of public housing in August 1936, his Committee for In- shift decided to retaliate with forays the United States.’’ dustrial Organization, a group of 12 and the National Guard was sent home on July 16. from the plant, which drove the strik- industrial unions, was kicked out for ers back. • Nine days later, a striker was killed ‘‘dualism.’’ The bushy-browed United ‘‘A steady stream of men and For the first time in four years, the Indians Mine Workers president continued to by the car of a worker leaving the women with bleeding faces and blood PLAIN DEALER FILE scheduled 15 of their games in the Stadium, preach his gospel. plant. Strikers said the action was de- on their clothes came into nearby St. and they asked to play seven as the first night Spontaneous strikes against Gen- liberate. Police said the car went out Alexis Hospital,’’ The Plain Dealer Union organizer John L. Lewis at the games in American League history. The eral Motors Corp. broke out across of control when the driver ducked to said. ‘‘About 11:15, a crowd of nearly Hollenden Hotel in 1937. league turned that down. the country. In December, workers avoid bricks being thrown at him by 200 workers started up the hill to- The team had a new look. Gone, among oth- strikers. The next morning, another seized the Fisher Body Division plant ward Broadway, but turned back saw a woman thrown through a win- ers, was slugger Joe Vosmik. Roy Weatherly, on Coit Rd. The strike quickly spread striker was injured under similar cir- when some in the group protested who had batted .335 as a rookie, slumped to dow.’’ Furniture was broken, win- to other plants and effectively shut cumstances. Fights broke out at that there were hundreds of women .201 and was sent to the minors in midseason. Corrigan-McKinney and other Re- and children and curiosity seekers dows smashed and glass and debris Bob Feller, now 18, had a sore arm and won down the big automaker. public plants.A policeman was hit in among the 5,000 held in check at the were thrown into the food that was to only nine games, though he struck out 16 Bos- The bitterest strife was at the giant the face with a brick. Broadway end of Dille Rd. by about have been served to the strikers at 2 ton Red Sox in a game at League Park. Fisher Body plant in Flint, Mich. On At 10:30 p.m. on July 26, war broke 150 police.’’ a.m. Johnny Allen and Mel Harder each won 15 Jan. 11, 1937, the company turned off out. games; Allen’s 15 were consecutive, four short the heat in the plant and guards tried Another group of workers stormed ‘‘Fought in the valley in which the All city police on duty were sent to of Rube Marquard’s major league record. to block outside strikers from deliver- the strike headquarters at 4336 huge steel plant is located, on the the scene, but it took until 1 a.m. to Catcher Frankie Pytlak hit .315, while out- ing dinner to the 1,500 men in the Broadway. The strikers said company rocky hillside leading to Broadway police were among them.A reporter restore order. There was no count of fielder Moose Solters hit 20 home runs and plant (the women had been sent out). the total injured, but at least 60 were batted .323. Earl Averill and Hal Trosky both A battle broke out. Police shot tear- dropped under .300, but Trosky hit 36 homers gas canisters into the plant and the treated at hospitals. More than 100 and Averill 21. strikers replied with a barrage of automobiles were damaged. After a midseason slump, the team won 40 of stones and bottles. Police opened fire In the morning, police set up re- its last 60 games to finish fourth. But general with pistols and riot guns. When the stricted areas near the plant gates manager Cy Slapnicka wanted a manager who ‘‘Battle of the Running Bulls’’ was was tougher than Steve O’Neill. He found one over, 14 strikers and two bystanders and barred everyone but workers en- who would win a place in baseball history two had been wounded, but the union still tering or leaving. Strikers and sympa- years later: Oscar Vitt. held the plant. thizers staged a peaceful demonstra- • It was the beginning of the most tu- tion at Broadway and Independence, multuous year in labor history.A re- marching in circles with their hands A fan contest decided that the Cleveland on the shoulders of the marcher franchise in the new American Hockey cord 4,740 strikes cost 28.4 million League would be called the Barons. Owner Al worker-days. It also was a year of ahead of them. rapid labor gains. Under pressure Sutphin was determined that the team, the for- Gradually, calm returned, the re- mer Falcons of the International League, from Michigan Gov. Frank Murphy, would be a winner, and it was. So was the $1.5 GM gave in to most of the workers’ solve of the strikers wore down, and million, 10,000-seat Arena that Sutphin built demands. Two months later, Chrysler they returned to work without a con- for the team at 3717 Euclid Ave.