Early Labor Broadside

(RAILROAD LABOR STRIFE). (B[ROTHERHOOD] OF L[OCOMOTIVE] ENGINEERS). A Man Killed! Notice! To the Traveling Public & Shippers Through the West. [Caption title]. Large 4to broadside. [Chicago: ca. 1865-70]. Some staining where once mounted along verso edges, but very good. $750.00

A rare early anti-management broadside produced by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers against the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad, running from Chicago to Toledo. Not in Chicago Ante-Fire Imprints.

The railroad has had a change of management, replacing the old with tyrants, who wish to reduce the number of engineers. The work laod became unbearable and no redress was offered, but the advice to quit, which the engineers did, as a body. "The Company made this demonstration upon the Engineers, for the purpose of crushing the Brotherhood, and they have been paying a bonus of $500, for incompetent Engineers, men who they would not dare trust the lives of Passengers with, were they not compelled to do so by thus undertaking to crush one of the Noblest Associations in existance [!]."

The B.L.E, established in 1863, was the first of the four great railroad brotherhoods. Its reputation was in the early years not that of a militant union, but of a benevolent association, highly unlikely to strike.

This broadside urges men to buy tickets and ship stock and freight over the Michigan Central or Fort Wayne Railroads, "until the difficulty is amicably settled with the Engineers and Michigan Southern Railroad Company."

We date this broadside very early, front internal sources. First, it is reported that "They [the company] have bought all the papers in Chicago, except the Working Man's Advocate. The Chicago Tribune, Republican, Journal and Times..." The Working Man's Advocate ran from 1864-77, and the Chicago Republican ran from 1865-72. Perhaps more to the point, the text reads in part: "And we now appeal to all men that are interested in the good and welfare of the rising generation, and the country, in which so much noble patriotism has been exhibited for the last four years..." This infers a date of 1865 or 1866, and makes this an extraordinarily early organized labor appeal, asking travelers and shippers not to patronize the line.