October 4- Birthdate of Rutherford B. Hayes- 1822

"Strikes and and boycotting are akin to war and can only be justified on grounds analogous to the those which justify war, viz., intolerable injustice and oppression."

Rutherford B Hayes, 19th President, 1877-1881, from his diary April 6, Volume04, Chapter44, http://ww2.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/hayes/ Hayes, from Ohio, was a lawyer by trade before he entered politics and was no stranger to tumultuous times before and after the Civil War in the mid 1800's. As President, one of the first (of many) crises Hayes faced was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. After the war, railroads expanded partly with subsidies from the federal government. The railroads became the largest employer outside of agriculture in the United States. Thirty three thousand miles of track were laid and warehouses and factories were built to service the growth. Unfortunately, there was too much growth and with no immediate return on the investments, employee's wages were cut several times in 1877. Subsequently, workers organized strikes and protests first in Baltimore, Maryland, then workers from the New York Central, Erie, and Pennsylvania railroads also went on strike. Hayes called out Federal troops in an attempt to prevent riots. Strikes continued to spread to Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago. No one was killed by Federal troops but but many people died in clashes between the public and state militias and police. Eventually the confrontations ended and workers returned to their jobs, but the railroads were blamed for the strikes and violence. By necessity they improved working conditions and for the most part, stopped cutting wages. The immediate catastrophe had ended but Hayes was concerned about the great disparity of the workmen's wages and the great wealth of the railway owners. Not only did he write in his diary, Strikes and and boycotting are akin to war and can only be justified on grounds analogous to the those which justify war, viz., intolerable injustice and oppression., he also saw the other side of the situation. At a different time he wrote, "The strikes have been put down by force; but now for the real remedy. Can't something [be] done by education of strikers, by judicious control of capitalists, by wise general policy to end or diminish the evil? The railroad strikers, as a rule, are good men, sober, intelligent, and industrious.", and " The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few...who represent or control capital...Hundreds of laws of Congress and the state legislatures are in favor of these men and against the interests of the workingmen."- from "Rutherford B. Hayes: the American Presidents Series", by Hans Trefousse, 2002, Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York, New York.