IS ORGANIZED AGAINST ITSELF, AND CANNOT HOPE TO COPE ON A FOOTING OF EQUALITY WITH SOLIDLY ORGANIZED MONOPOLY. Mr. Estes contended that since capital, irrespective of the nature of its business, was always ready to combine with capital in order to present a united front to labor — so LABOR, REGARDLESS OF TRADE OR OCCUPATION, SHOULD UNITE AND CO-OPERATE WITH LABOR, IN ORDER TO PRESENT A SOLID AND INVINCIBLE FRONT TO CAPITAL.
Mr. Estes undertook to demonstrate the truth of his theory by calling into existence the United Brotherhood of Railway Employees.
This union particularly affected the Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the Harriman lines. Every employee of this rpad, regardless of calling, was invited
i88 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
to become a member, and hundreds responded to the call, so that in a short time a number of strong local unions were established in different cities of California. The order was especially strong in Sacramento, the local union in that city having a membership of over seven hundred.
The Southern Pacific Railroad regarded the new brotherhood with suspicion and fear. They realized that an organization of this kind could tie up the entire road in an hour if any demands it might make were not properly considered; and the prospect of such a thing was heart-rending to the railroad officials. They commissioned the Pinkerton Agency to do its best to disrupt and destroy this dangerous union.
The Agency, nothing loth, took up the matter, and detailed a machinist operative to work as a mechanic in the Southern Pacific shops at Sacramento. Soon the operative became a member of the United Brotherhood of Railway Employees, and directly began to hammer away at that union.