If I were to ask you to name a time period in America where the one of the country's largest industries fell into ruin due to the failed speculation of a few people, leading to an economic disaster that saw massive protest movements boil over in the coming years, along with a decline in real wages and growing frustration of the populace with corrupt business and a government that seems unable to do anything to help regular Americans... you might guess that I'm talking about 2007. Or maybe 1929. But, in fact, I'm referring to what became known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
Reckless speculation in the railroad market led to a financial panic in 1873 called, appropriately, the Panic of 1873. In the years that followed, wages declined, businesses were forced to cut back, and a rising tide of resentment began to sweep away the American public. Congress, firmly in the back pocket of big business due to blatant graft and bribery, saw no issue with what was happening in America, as it was merely an extension of what was making America an industrial, economic powerhouse following the Civil War. With a broken social contract, no Congress to listen to them, and no safety net to help them, the people of America had finally had enough by 1877.
Noted social historian Howard Zinn describes the scene:
"At the Baltimore & Ohio station in Martinsburg, West Virginia, workers determined to fight the wage cut went on strike, uncoupled the engines, ran them into the roundhouse, and announced no more trains would leave Martinsburg until the 10% [pay] cut was cancelled. A crowd of support gathered, too many for the local police to disperse. B&O officials asked the governor for military protection, and he sent in militia"
America, as Zinn also notes, was in the midst of a Depression. In fact, ever since the days of George Washington, America had suffered major economic panics, collapses, recessions or depressions on a regular basis. With businesses left to their own, they naturally tried to snatch up as much as possible, and routinely crashed the economy in the process. In 1877, poor working conditions and wage cuts led to out and out revolt. Zinn, again:
"In Baltimore, a crowd of thousands sympathetic to the railway strikers surrounded the armoury of the National Guard... The crowd hurled rocks, and the soldiers came out, firing. The streets now became the scene of a moving, bloody battle. When the evening was over, ten men or boys were dead, more badly wounded, one soldier wounded. Half of the 120 troops quit and the rest went on to the train depot, where a crowd of two hundred smashed the engine of a passenger train, tore up tracks, and engaged the militia again in a running battle.
By now, 15,000 people surrounded the depot. Soon, three passenger cars, the station platform, and a locomotive were on fire. The governor asked for federal troops, and Hayes responded. Five hundred soldiers arrived and Baltimore quieted down."
There is only so far you can go with the American people. When times get too hard, when belts can no longer be tightened, people will turn to anyone and anything promising a change to a better life. It was only through the work of unlikely Presidents (both Roosevelts: one Republican, one Democratic) that business was reigned in, the banks contained, and the country kept from plunging into the darkness of extremism, whether it is Communism on the extreme left or Fascism on the extreme right. Social changes must take place, such as TR breaking up big business and FDR breaking up big banks. Social programs must be reinstated or expanded, because America became the greatest country on earth when it adopted a hybrid socialist-republic formula following the Great Depression. If there is not action to stem the frustration seen in Occupy, Black Lives Matter, the Tea Party, or in Trumpism, then those railway depots will be burnt again.
We must take every step imaginable to prevent this. We are running out of time before the fire ignites.
At Your Service,
Doremus Jessup
