Scrapbook of Indianapolis Street Car Strike, 1913

              Beginning   of  Strike.
The strike began at the appointed hour,.
and apparently proceeded along lines deliberately planned and carefully executed.
Many men abandoned their positions. Others in charge of the cars were pulled from
their places. Some were beaten and led
unwillingly to the Labor temple, where
they were forcibly initiated. A few
joined through fear of personal harm, and
many did so to retain their opportunity to
work. Cars were injured and the business
of the company was suspended. This was
Friday night.
On Saturday about sixty-five crews reported for duty and undertook the movement of the cars. In every instance this
was forcibly prevented by the strikers
and their sympathizers.
From the inception of the strike until
the evening of November 7, the opposing
forces were struggling for the mastery.
The employes were demanding the recognition of the union and redress of grievances, and were offering to submit the
controversy to arbitration. The company
refused to recognize the union, declared
there were no grievances to be redressed
and refused to submit to arbitration.
While this contest was raging the public was deprived of its usual means of
transportation. Strike breakers were imported. Mobs assembled in the highways
of the city, many men were injured, one
was beaten to insensibility, and one was
murdered. Windowless cars stood here
and there in the streets, grim reminders
of a momentary triumph of disorder.
Each contestant loudly protested that
it favored law and order. In the meantime the local authorities were apparently
bewildered, the law wras defied, and the
orderly course of business was suspended
by anxiety, force and fear. Neither
party appealed to the courts.
Under these circumstances the Governor
ordered to the city 2,200 soldiers, the entire military force of the state. Each of
the parties then began to realize that
organized government would be maintained and the law would be enforced.
Governor as Mediator.
At this juncture the company submitted to its employes, through the Governor as mediator, a plan for the arbitration of the questions in controversy.
Out of this effort came the instrument
in writing first set out in this report.
All of this occurred in 1913, in a great
city, in a great state. Let us hope that
out of this bitter strife some good may
come, some fruit may ripen that will
lieal the wounds that have been occasioned and prevent, at least in part the
recurrence of such conditions.
At the request of the employes and the
company, and with the approval of the
Governor, the members of the Public Service Commission' of Indiana, undertook
to arbitrate the controversy set forth in
the written instrument of submission.
More than 30 days have been diligently
employed in the 'task, two days were
given to the argument of counsel, 153
witnesses were examined, and a large
mass of documentary and statistical evidence was introduced. The record contains more than four thousand tvpe-
written pages.

Preparing work cars for use in moving cars, November 6,   1913.
Propecting work car against mob intending to use
in moving cars off streets.    November 6,  1913.