Let us recall the facts, not as they have been investigated and printed, but as they remain in our memories.
A large manufacturing company had provided commodious workshops, and, at the instigation of its president, had built a model town for the use of its employees.

After a series of years it was deemed necessary, during a financial depression, to reduce the wages of these employees by giving each workman less than full-time work "in order to keep the shops open." This reduction was not accepted by the men, who had become discontented with the factory management and the town regulations, and a strike ensued, followed by a complete shut-down of the works.

Although these shops were non-union shops, the strikers were hastily organized and appealed for help to the American Railway Union, which at that moment was holding its biennial meeting in Chicago.

After some days' discussion and some futile attempts at arbitration, a sympathetic strike was declared, which gradually involved railway men in all parts of the country, and orderly transportation was brought to a complete standstill.

In the excitement which followed, cars were burned and tracks torn up.