PULLMAN: A SOCIAL STUDY.
Harper's Monthly1885by Richard
T. Ely
COMMUNISM, socialism, nihilism, are international words. Understood
by people of both hemispheres and of many tongues, and printed
daily in ten thousand journals, they are evidence of a momentous
social movement. They mean far more than the creeds which under
these names find a comparatively limited acceptance. They bear
witness to a widespread discontent with things as they are in
modern societya discontent which but rarely goes to the
extreme length of what is ordinarily designated by the generic
term socialism. The pretty dream of a perfect, natural order of
things brought about by the free play of unrestrained social forces
has vanished. It has given place on the one hand to pessimism;
on the other, and more generally, to a determination not to let
things go on of themselves, but to make them go in such manner
as may be desired. The conviction has become general that the
divine order never contemplated a social and economic world left
to itself. Material is furnished out of which man must construct
a social fabric according to his lights. This is what modern socialism
means, and for this reason it is practical, not romantic, and
leaving the dim, artificial light of the study, goes forth into
the broad sunlight, seeking immediate realization among the people.
This is what co-operation means. It is looked upon as a new social
form. For this reason it is preached as a gospel, and its spread
in England heralded with joy by men like Thomas Hughes. Finally,
for brevity's sake, passing over numerous manifestations of this
spirit in our times, this is what is meant by the many attempts
of "captains of industry" to step in between those they
lead and the unrestrained action of existing economic forces.
The variety of methods to which recourse is had is great. Insurance
of one kind and another, gratuitous instruction, amusements, reading-rooms,
participation in profits, rewards for special merit, occur at
once to the mind. Several employers have attempted more far-reaching
establishments which should embrace the home life of laborers,
and thus include wives and children in their beneficence. Interesting
examples are the "Social Palace" of M. Godin at Guise,
France, and the town of Saltaire, founded by Sir Titus Salt, on
the banks of the Aire, in England, both of which have been described
in the pages of this Magazine. Another instance is afforded by
the works of the Willimantic Company, at Willimantic, Connecticut.
But the most extensive experiment of this character is that now
in progress at Pullman, Illinois. It is social experimentation
on a vast scale, and this is its significance.
For this reason it challenges attention and discussion at a
time when dynamite bombs and revolutionary murmurings terrify
monarchs, when an enlarged human sympathy encircles the earth
with 'beneficent institutions, and when an eager interest in social
and economic facts more than atones for general indifference to
the dogmatic assumptions of classic political economy.
Pullman, a town of eight thousand inhabitants, some ten miles
from Chicago, on the Illinois Central Railroad, was founded less
than four years ago by the Pullman Palace Car Company, whose president
and leading spirit is Mr. George M. Pullman. Its purpose was to
provide both a centre of industry and homes for the employees
of the company and such additional laborers as might be attracted
to the place by other opportunities to labor. Simply as a town,
Pullman has not sufficient interest to justify a description of
it in a great magazine. Its natural beauties are not remarkable,
situated as it is on the low prairie land surrounding, Chicago,
and its newness makes such romances impossible as one can associate
with villages like Lenox, and Stockbridge, and other ancient towns
in New England. Like many other Western cities, its growth has
been rapid, its population having increased from four souls in
January, 1881, to 2084 in February, 1882, and to 8203 in September,
1884. A manufacturing town, it embraces the principal works of
the Pullman Palace Car Company, in addition to the Allen Paper
Car-wheel Company, the Union Foundry and Pullman Car-wheel Company,
the Chicago Steelworks, the Steel-forging Company, and numerous
less important enterprises.
Many of the
last-mentioned are connected with building operations in the town
of Pullman, or furnish commodities to its residents, and in many
cases they also supply customers elsewhere, such as the gasworks,
the ice-houses, the brick-yards, the carpenter shops, and the
large farm which receives the sewage of Pullman. The number of
men employed in the place is at present about four thousand, of
whom over three thousand are employed by the Palace Car Company.
The products of the various establishments are valued at many
millions of dollars. As all the Pullman enterprises are conducted
with what seems to the writer a needless air of secrecy, reliable
statistics are obtained with difficulty. However, the car-works
claim a capacity to turn out $8,000,000 worth of passenger and
freight cars per annum, and it is expected that they will be able
to manufacture forty of the latter per day hereafter. On August
18, 1884, one hundred freight cars were built in ten hours. The
Allen Paper Car-wheel Company claims a capacity of fifteen thousand
paper car-wheels a year. The brick-yards are large, and two hundred
and twenty thousand bricks is one day's work. Many of the men
who work in the brickyards in summer harvest ice in winter, and
it is expected to store about twenty-five thousand tons this winter.
The carpenter shops, which do considerable work in Chicago, have
employed at times as many as five hundred men. These are some
of the principal material facts of interest to the general reader.
Much could be said of Pullman as a manufacturing centre, but the
purpose of this article is to treat it as an attempt to furnish
laborers with the best homes under the most healthful conditions
and with the most favorable surroundings in every respect, for
Pullman aims to be a forerunner of better things for the laboring
classes.
The questions to be answered are these: Is Pullman a success
from a social standpoint? Is it worthy of imitation? Is it likely
to inaugurate a new era in society? If only a partial success,
what are its bright features and what its dark features?
Pullman as
an attempt to realize an ideal must be judged by an ideal standard.
The measure to be applied is the reasonable ideal of the social
reformer. What is this ideal? Is it not that each individual be
so situated as to participate, as fully as his nature will allow,
in the advantages of the existing civilization? This is a high
standard, but not so high as might at first appear. All those
who have more than this measure calls for are by no means included
in the class of nouveaux riches. The writer well remembers
a visit to some brassworks in Baltimore, where rude, uneducated
Welshmen were earning eighteen dollars a week. Society was doing
well by these men, and in their case there could be no serious
social question as far as wages were concerned. One needed to
be with the men but a short time to be convinced that their income
enabled them to participate in all the benefits of this nineteenth-century
civilization which they were capable of enjoying. Now what the
student of society wants to know is the nearness with which Pullman
approaches the social ideal.
Very gratifying is the impression of the visitor who passes
hurriedly through Pullman and observes only the splendid provision
for the present material comforts of its residents. What is seen
in a walk or drive through the streets is so pleasing to the eye
that a woman's first exclamation is certain to be, "Perfectly
lovely!" It is indeed a sight as rare as it is delightful.
What might have been taken for a wealthy suburban town is given
up to busy workers, who literally earn their bread in the sweat
of their brow. No favorable sites are set apart for drones living
on past accumulations, and if a few short stretches are reserved
for residences which can be rented only by those whose earnings
are large, this is an exception; and it is not necessary to remain
long in the place to notice that clergymen, officers of the company,
and mechanics live in adjoining dwellings.
One of the most striking peculiarities of this place is the
all-pervading air of thrift and providence. The most pleasing
impression of general well-being is at once produced. Contrary
to what is seen ordinarily in laborers' quarters, not a dilapidated
door-step nor a broken window, stuffed perhaps with old clothing,
is to be found in the city. The streets of Pullman, always kept
in perfect condition, are wide and finely macadamized, and young
shade trees on each side now ornament the town, and will in a
few years afford refreshing protection from the rays of the summer
sun.
Unity of design and an unexpected variety charm us as we saunter
through the town. Lawns always of the same width separate the
houses from the street, but they are so green and neatly trimmed
that one. can overlook this regularity of form. Although the houses
are built in groups of two or more, and even in blocks, with the
exception of a few large buildings of cheap flats, they bear no
resemblance to barracks; and one is not likely to make the mistake,
so frequent in New York blocks of "brown-stone fronts,"
of getting into the wrong house by mistake. Simple but ingenious
designs secure variety, of which the most skillful is probably
the treatment of the sky line. Naturally, without an appearance
of effort, it assumes an immense diversity. French roofs, square
roofs, dormer windows, turrets, sharp points, blunt points, triangles,
irregular quadrangles, are devices resorted to in the upper stories
to avoid the appearance of unbroken uniformity. A slight knowledge
of mathematics shows how infinite the variety of possible combinations
of a few elements, and a better appreciation of this fact than
that exhibited by the architecture of Pullman it would be difficult
to find. The streets cross each other at right angles, yet here
again skill has avoided the frightful monotony of New York, which
must some times tempt a nervous person to scream for relief. A
public square, arcade, hotel, market, or some large building is
often set across a street so ingeniously as to break the regular
line, yet without inconvenience to traffic. Then at the termination
of long streets, a pleasing view greets and relieves the eyea
bit of water, a stretch of meadow, a clump of trees, or even one
of the large but neat workshops. All this grows upon the visitor
day by day. No other feature of Pullman can receive praise needing
so little qualification as its architecture. Desirable houses
have been provided for a large laboring population at so small
a cost that they can be rented at rates within their means and
yet yield a handsome return on the capital invested. Rents are
probably about three-fifths what they are in Chicago, and, all
things considered, this seems not to be an unfair standard of
comparison. It is a mere matter of course that there are architectural
defects even in Pullman. The diversity is not quite all that could
be desired. What may be called the public buildings, that is to
say, the hotel, school-house, arcade, etc., are detached, but
no private house stands by itself, though there are quite a number
of detached double houses. Spaces have, however, been reserved
for a few detached private residences, which will improve the
appearance of the town. With the exception of the church and parsonage,
built of green serpentine stone from Philadelphia, all the buildings
are of brick. This is monotonous, and rather wearying to the eye,
but the slate roofs, and a large use of light stone trimmings,
and stripes of black across the houses, help matters somewhat.
The general character of the architecture is what has been called
advanced secular Gothic. This is skillfully varied, and in the
hotel particularly there is a feeling of the Queen Anne style.
But there ought to be some bold break in the general design. The
newness of things, which time will remedy, is a little distressing,
as is also the mechanical regularity of the town, and it is this,
perhaps, which suggests the epithet "machine-made."
The growth of shade trees will break into the sameness, and the
magnificent boulevard which divides the shops on the north from
the residences on the south, stretching from east to west across
the town, and bordered with double rows of elms, will, twenty
years from now, be a vast improvement. Great overarching trees
will hide one part of the town from another, and give opportunity
for pleasant surprises in nature and art.
The interior of the houses affords scarcely less gratification
than their exterior. Even the humblest suite of rooms in the flats
is provided with water, gas, and closets, and no requisite of
cleanliness is omitted. Most of the cottages are two stories in
height, and contain five rooms, besides a cellar, closets, and
pantry, as seen in the accompanying plan and illustrations. Quite
a large number of houses contain seven rooms, and in these larger
dwellings there is also a bath-room.
Outside of the home one finds other noteworthy provisions for
the comfort, convenience, and wellbeing of the residents in Pullman.
There is a large Market-house, 100 by 110 feet in size, through
which a wide passage extends from east to west. This building
contains a basement and two stories, the first divided into sixteen
stalls, the second a public hall. The dealers in meat and vegetables
are concentrated in the Market-house. The finest building in Pullman
is the Arcade, a structure 256 feet in length, 146 feet in width,
and 90 feet in height. It is built of red pressed brick, with
stone foundations and light stone trimmings, and a glass roof
extends over the entire wide central passage. In the Arcade one
finds offices, shops, the bank, theatre, library, etc. As no shops
or stores are allowed in the town outside of the Arcade and Market-house,
all shopping in Pullman is done under roofa great convenience
in wet weather, and a saving of time and strength.
The theatre,
situated in the Arcade as just mentioned, seats eight hundred
people, and is elegantly and tastefully furnished. The illustration
on page 456 of the Arcade includes a view of the boxes, which
are Moorish in design. It was intended to embrace in this theatre
many of the best features of the Madison Square Theatre, but the
scope of the present article does not admit of a detailed description
of them, exquisite and perfectly appointed as they are. Representations
are given by various troupes about once in two weeks. There is
nothing peculiar in the management. The company rents it to applicants,
but attempts to exclude immoral pieces, and admit only such as
shall afford innocent amusement and instruction. The prices for
tickets are thirty-five, fifty, and seventy-five cents, which
have been found to be the most profitable in Pullman, higher prices
keeping the people away, and lower ones not attracting enough
more to compensate for the diminished return on each ticket.
In the interior of the Arcade a balcony extends around the
passage in front of the rooms and offices of the second story,
which it thus conveniently connects. It produces a pleasing effect,
and affords a favorable position from which to view the busy throng
below. The library, which opens on this balcony, contains six
thousand volumes, the gift of Mr. Pullman, and numerous periodicals,
among which were noticed several likely to be of special importance
to mechanics, such as the Railway Age, the Iron Age,
Scientific American, and Popular Science Monthly. The
library rooms are elegantly furnished with Wilton carpets and
plush-covered chairs, and the walls are beautifully painted. Objection
has been raised to this luxuriousness by those who think it repels
the ordinary artisan, unaccustomed in his own home to such extravagance;
but it must be remembered that it is avowedly part of the design
of Pullman to surround laborers as, far as possible with all the
privileges of large wealth. The annual charge for the use of the
Public Library, for nothing in Pullman is free, is three dollarsrather
high for workmen in these days of free libraries. The management
of the librarian is most commendable, and every aid is given to
those who patronize it to render it as instructive and elevating
as possible. A special effort has been made to induce the subscribers
to choose a superior class of literature, but the record shows
that seventy-five per centum of the books drawn are still works
of fiction, which is about the usual percentage in public libraries.
The educational
facilities of Pullman are those generally afforded in larger American
villages by the public-school system. The school trustees are
elected by the citizens, and rent of the Pullman Company a handsome
building, which harmonizes in architecture and situation with
the remainder of the town.
There are no barns in the place, but a large building provides
accommodation for livery-stables, and a fire department sustained
by the Pullman Company. The hotel, the property of the company,
and managed by one of its officers, is a large structure, surrounded
on three sides by beautiful public squares covered with flowers
and shrubbery. It is luxuriously furnished, admirably kept, and
contains the only barroom allowed in Pullman, though there are
thirty, on the outskirts of the place in Kensington. However,
the temptation "to drink" does not constantly stare
one in the face, and this restriction has not entirely failed
to accomplish its end, the promotion of temperance.
There is nothing so peculiar in these features of Pullman as
to require further description. It was necessary to make brief
mention of them to help the reader to understand the nature and
extent of the experiment called Pullman.
The whole is
the work of the Pullman Palace Car Company and the Pullman Land
Association, which are both under one management, and, to a considerable
extent, the same practically, although two separate legal persons.
Colonel James Bowen, who appears to have been one of the interesting
characters in the early history of Chicago, had long prophesied
that the true site for a great city was upon the shores of Lake
Calumetan expanse of water some six feet deep, about three
miles long, and a mile and a half wide, and connected with Lake
Michigan by the Calumet River. Having found a believer in Mr.
Pullman, he was commissioned by that gentleman to purchase quietly
four thousand acres in the neighborhood, and this has become the
site of Pullman. The entire town was built under the direction
of a single architect, Mr. S. S. Beman, an ambitious young man
whose frequently expressed desire for an opportunity to do a "big
thing" was here gratified. This is probably the first time
a single architect has ever constructed a whole town systematically
upon scientific principles, and the success of the work entitles
him to personal mention.. The plans were drawn for a large city
at the start, and these have been followed without break in the
unity of design. Pullman illustrates and proves in many ways both
the advantages of enterprises on a vast scale and the benefits
of unified and intelligent municipal administration. All articles
employed in the construction of the town were purchased at the
lowest figures, as orders were given for unusually large quantities,
and thus the outlay was far less than it would have been had each
building, or even each block, been built by a separate individual.
It is manifest, for example, that a man will obtain hinges at
the most favorable rates who orders twenty-five thousand pairs
at one time. An additional saving was effected by the establishment
of the carpenter shops and brick-yards, which enabled the company
to avoid the payment of profits on the wood-work and on the bricks.
The bricks were manufactured of, clay from the bottom of Lake
Calumet, and thus the construction of the town helped to deepen
its harbor and prepare it for the large shipping which is one
day expected there, for its proprietors prophesy that vessels
will yet sail from Pullman to London. Then, as there is no competition
at Pullman, and no conflicting municipal boards, gas, water, and
sewerage pipes were laid once for all, and the pavement, when
completed, not again disturbed. The money saved by this wise,
unified, and consequently harmonious action must be reckoned by
the hundred thousand.
There are over fifteen hundred buildings at Pullman, and the
entire cost of the town, including all the manufacturing establishments,
is estimated at eight millions of dollars. The rents of the dwellings
vary from $4.50 per month for the cheapest flats of two rooms
to $100 a month for the largest private house in the place. The
rent usually paid varies from $14 to $25 a month, exclusive of
the water charge, which is generally not far from eighty cents.
A five-roomed cottage, such as is seen in the illustration, rents
for $17 a month, and its cost is estimated at $1700, including
a charge of $300 for the lot. But it must be understood that the
estimated value of $1700 includes profits on brick and carpenter
work and everything furnished by the company, for each industry
at Pullman stands on its own feet, and keeps its own separate
account. The company's brickyards charge the company a profit
on the brick the latter buys, and the other establishments do
the same; consequently the estimated cost of the buildings includes
profits which flowed after all into the company's coffers.
The Pullman
companies retain everything. No private individual owns to-day
a square rod of ground or a single structure in the entire town.
No organization, not even a church, can occupy any other than
rented quarters with the exception of the management of the public
school, every municipal act is here the act of a private corporation.
What this means will be perceived when it is remembered that it
includes such matters as the location, repairs, and cleaning of
streets and sidewalks, the maintenance of the fire department,
and the taking of the local census whenever desired. When the
writer was in Pullman a census was taken. A superior officer of
the company said to an inferior, "I want a census,"
and told what kind of a census was desired. That was the whole
matter. The people of the place had no more to say about it than
a resident of Kamtchatka. All this applies only to what is generally
known as Pullman, which is in reality no political organization,
and is called a town or city simply in a popular sense for the
sake of convenience. Pullman is only a part of the large village
and town of Hyde Park, but the latter appears to have relinquished
the government of this portion of its territory bearing the name
of Pullman to private corporations, and the writer was not able
to find that a single resident of Pullman, not an officer of the
Pullman companies, was either in the board of trustees of Hyde
Park or in the staff of officers. The town clerk and treasurer
are both officers of the Pullman Palace Car Company, and the directory
of Hyde Park reveals the fact that with one exception every member
of the board of education of the Pullman school district is an
officer of the Palace Car Company or some concern which bears
the name of Pullman.
One of Mr. Pullman's fundamental ideas is the commercial
value of beauty, and this he has endeavored to carry out as
faithfully in the town which bears his name as in the Pullman
drawing-room and sleeping cars. He is one of the few men who have
thought it a paying investment to expend millions for the purpose
of surrounding laborers with objects of beauty and comfort. In
a hundred ways one sees in Pullman to-day evidences of its founder's
sagacious foresight. One of the most interesting is the fact that
the company finds it pays them in dollars and cents to keep the
streets sprinkled with water and the lawns well trimmed, the saving
in paint and kalsomine more than repaying the outlay. Less dust
and dirt are carried and blown into houses, and the injury done
to walls and wood-work is diminished. For the rest, the neat exterior
is a constant example, which is sure sooner or later to exert
its proper effect on housewives, stimulating them to exertion
in behalf of cleanliness and order.
It should be
constantly borne in mind that all investments and outlays in Pullman
are intended to yield financial returns satisfactory from a purely
business point of view. The minimum return expected is six per
centum on expenditure, and the town appears to have yielded a
far higher percentage on cost up to the present time. Much of
the land was bought at less than $200 per acre, and it is likely
that the average price paid did not exceed that. A large part
of this now yields rent on a valuation of $5000 per acre, and
certain sections in the heart of Pullman are to-day more valuable,
and will continue to increase in value in the future, if the town
grows as is expected. The extreme reluctance of the officers of
the company to make precise statements of any kind renders it
impossible to obtain the accurate information desired. Yet there
seems to be no reason to doubt the emphatic assertion that the
whole establishment pays handsomely. A large part of Pullman belongs
to the Palace Car Company, which claims to have paid nine and
one-half per centum on its entire stock for the last three years,
and to have averaged about ten per centum since its organization
in 1867. As far as the Land Association is concerned, it is sufficient
to know that all its houses are rented at a high valuation, and
the land put in at twenty-five times its cost.
It pays also in another way. The wholesome, cheerful surroundings
enable the men to work more constantly and more efficiently. The
healthy condition of the residents is a matter of general comment.
The number of deaths has been about seven in a thousand per annum,
whereas it has been about fifteen in a thousand in the rest of
Hyde Park.
It is maintained that Pullman is truly a philanthropic undertaking,
although it is intended that it should be a profitable investment,
and this is the argument used: If it can be shown that it does
pay to provide beautiful homes for laborers, accompanied with
all the conditions requisite for wholesome living both for the
body and the mind, the example set by Mr. Pullman will find wide
imitation. If what is done for the residents of the town were
simply a generous gift, another might argue, "If Mr. Pullman
chooses to spend his money this way, very well, I have no objection,
but I prefer to keep a stable of blooded horses. Each one according
to his taste!" We may feel inclined to shrug our shoulders
at the philanthropy which demands a good round sum for everything
it offers, but certainly it is a great thing to have demonstrated
the commercial value of beauty in a city of laborers.
The wages paid
at Pullman are equal to those paid for similar services elsewhere
in the vicinity. In a visit of ten days at Pullman no complaint
was heard on this score which appeared to be well founded. Unskilled
laborersand they are perhaps one-fourth of the population
receive only $1.30 a day; but there are other corporations about
Chicago which pay no more, and Pullman claims to pay only ordinary
wages. Many of the mechanics earn $2.50 or $2.75 a day, some $3
and $4, and occasionally even more. Those who receive but $1.30
have a hard struggle to live, after the rent and water tax are
paid. On this point there is unanimity of sentiment, and Pullman
does comparatively little for them, and the social problem in
their case remains unsolved. They are crowded together in the
cheap flats, which are put as much out of sight as possible, and
present a rather dreary appearance, although vastly better than
the poorer class of New York tenements.
The great majority at Pullman are skilled artisans, and nearly
all with whom the writer conversed expressed themselves as fairly
well satisfied with their earnings, and many of them took pains
to point out the advantages of the steady employment and prompt
pay they always found there. The authorities even go out of their
way to "make work" for one who has proved himself efficient
and faithful.
There are many other pleasant and interesting features of Pullman,
to which it is possible only to allude here. One is the perfect
system of sewerage, similar to that which has been found so successful
in Berlin, Germany. The sewerage is all collected in a great tank
under the "water tower," and then pumped on to a large
garden farm of one hundred and seventy acres, called the "Pullman
Farm." This is already profitable, and it is hoped that in
time it will pay interest on the cost of the entire sewerage system
of the town, which was $300,000, It is worthy the careful study
of municipal authorities.
There are a thousand and one little ways in which the residents
of Pullman are benefited, and in many cases without cost to the
company. Considerable care is taken to find suitable employment
for those who in any way become incapacitated for their ordinary
work. A watchman with a missing arm was seen, and a position as
janitor was found for a man who had become partially paralyzed.
These are but examples. Men temporarily injured receive full pay,
save in cases of gross carelessness, when one dollar a day is
allowed. Employees are paid with checks on the Pullman Loan and
Savings Bank," to accustom, them, to its use and encourage
them to make deposits.
Encouraging words from superiors are helpful. One warm-hearted
official, to whom the welfare of the laboring classes appears
to be a matter of momentous concern, wrote a note of thanks to
the occupant of a cottage which was particularly well kept and
ornamented with growing flowers. In another case he was so well
pleased with the appearance of a cottage that he ordered a couple
of plants in pots sent from the greenery to the lady of the house,
with his compliments. The effect of systematic persistence in
little acts of kind thoughtfulness like these is seen in the diffusion
of a spirit of mutual helpfulness, and in frequent attempts to
give practical, even if imperfect, expression to the truth of
the brotherhood of man. Several ladies were especially prominent
in this way, and among them may be mentioned the librarian. When
the humbler young women see her home, which was designed for an
ordinary mechanic, they often ask: "Can this be the same
kind of a house we live in? Oh! how did you make all these pretty
things? Please tell us." And a ready response is always given
to their appeals. At a charming picnic, where a large number of
residents were met, the writer had the pleasure of making the
acquaintance of a great-hearted motherly German lady, the wife
of a manager of the shops, whose life is spent in good works among
the employees. The strangers are visited and brought into congenial
social circles, and the poor and sick relieved in their distress,
by this noble Christian woman. An interesting and successful experiment
was tried in connection with wallpaper. Great quantities were
bought at wholesale, and a man sent to the poorer houses with
a number of varieties, from which the tenant was requested to
select one, the company offering the paper at the very low figures
at which they purchased it, and agreeing to hang it without charge.
The architect assured the writer that this was doubtless the first
time many women had been called upon to exercise taste and consider
the beautiful in color in any matter pertaining to their dwellings.
Great interest was aroused in the selection of wall-paper, and
friends and neighbors were called in to aid in the discussion
of colors and in the final choice. The small charge made was only
beneficial, as it led the people to value what they had acquired.
These are the devices which, together with the constant example
set by the company, have awakened a very general desire in the
residents to adorn and beautify their dwellings. Everywhere, even
in a flat of two rooms in the third story, one sees prints and
engravings on the walls, Christmas and other cards, with cheap
bric-a-brac on brackets in the corner, or on some inexpensive
ornamental table, and growing plants in the windows. It is comparatively
a small matter that a highly developed aestheticism could not
approve of much that is seen, for it is only the beginning of
an education of the higher faculties, and better things will be
seen in the children.
In the way of material comforts and beautiful surroundings,
Pullman probably offers to the majority of its residents quite
as much as they are in a position to enjoy, and in many cases
even more. There are those who do not feel it a hardship to live
in a dark alley of a great city, and there are men and women at
Pullman incapable of appreciating its advantages. But they are
learning to do it, and many who go away dissatisfied return, because
they can not find elsewhere that to which they have become accustomed
there. The pure air and perfect sanitary condition of the houses
and of the entire city are more and more valued, especially by
mothers, one of whom exclaimed to the writer, in speaking of Chicago:
"I just hate the ugly old city." Pullman had taught
her better things than she formerly knew, and thus it is becoming
a great school, elevating laborers to a higher plane of wholesome
living. The Commissioner of Health of Chicago, who holds that
"healthy houses whose incumbency does not hint at the acceptance
of charity are the best, in fact the only, means of teaching sanitation
to the working classes," calls the emigrants from Pullman
"sanitary missionaries.''
But admirable as are the peculiarities of Pullman which have
been described, certain unpleasant features of social life in
that place are soon noticed by the careful observer, which moderate
the enthusiasm one is at first inclined to feel upon an inspection
of the external, plainly visible facts, and the picture must be
completed before judgment can be pronounced upon it.
One just cause of complaint is what in government affairs would
be called a bad civil service, that is, a bad administration in
respect to the employment, retention, and promotion of employees.
Change is constant in men and officers, and each new superior
appears to have his own friends, whom he appoints to desirable
positions. Favoritism and nepotism, out of place as they are in
an ideal society, are oft-repeated and apparently well-substantiated
charges.
The resulting evil is very naturally dissatisfaction, a painful
prevalence of petty jealousies, a discouragement of superior excellence,
frequent change in the residents, and an all-pervading feeling
of insecurity. Nobody regards Pullman as a real home, and, in
fact, it can scarcely be said that there are more than temporary
residents at Pullman. One woman told the writer she had been in
Pullman two years, and that there were only three families among
her acquaintances who were there when she came. Her reply to the
question, "It is like living in a great hotel, is it not?
was, "We call it camping out." The nature of the leases
aggravates this evil. As already stated, all the property in Pullman
is owned by the Pullman associations, and every tenant holds his
house on a lease which may be terminated on ten days' notice.
A lease which lies on the table before the writer reads: "From
to , unless sooner cancelled in accordance with the
conditions of the lease." It is not necessary that any reason
be assigned for the notice; "and it is expressly agreed that
the fact that rent may have been paid at any time in advance shall
not be a waiver of the right to put an end to the term and tenancy
under this lease by such notice." Furthermore, three-fourths
of the laborers in Pullman are employed by the Palace Car Company,
and many of those who do not work for it are employed in establishments
in which the company as such or a prominent member of it is interested.
The power of Bismarck in Germany is utterly insignificant when
compared with the power of the ruling authority of the Pullman
Palace Car Company in Pullman. Whether the power be exercised
rightfully or wrongfully, it is there all the same, and every
man, woman, and child in the town is completely at its mercy,
and it can be avoided only by emigration. It is impossible within
the realm of Pullman to escape from the overshadowing influence
of the company, and every resident feels this, and "monopoly"
is a word which constantly falls on the ear of the visitor. Large
as the place is, it supports no newspaper, through which complaints
might find utterance, and one whose official position in the town
qualified him to speak with knowledge declared positively that
no publication would be allowed which was not under the direct
influence of the Pullman Company. A Baptist clergyman, who had
built up quite a congregation, once ventured to espouse the cause
of a poor family ejected from their house, and gave rather public
expression to his feelings. Shortly after his support began to
fall away, one member after another leaving, and it has since
never been possible to sustain a Baptist organization in Pullman.
It is indeed a sad spectacle. Here is a population of eight thousand
souls where not one single resident dare speak out openly his
opinion about the town in which he lives. One feels that one is
mingling with a dependent, servile people. There is an abundance
of grievances, but if there lives in Pullman one man who would
give expression to them in print over his own name, diligent inquiry
continued for ten days was not sufficient to find him.
One gentleman, whose position ought to have exempted him from
it, was "warned" in coming to Pullman to be careful
in what he said openly about the town. It required recourse to
some ingenuity to ascertain the real opinion of the people about
their own city. While the writer does not feel at liberty to narrate
his own experience, it can do no harm to mention a strange coincidence.
While in the city the buttons on his wife's boots kept tearing
off in the most remarkable manner, and it was necessary to try
different shoemakers, and no one could avoid free discussion with
a man who came on so harmless an errand as to have the buttons
sewed on his wife's boots. This was only one of the devices employed.
The men believe they are watched by the "company's spotter,"
and to let one of them know that information was desired about
Pullman for publication was to close his lips to the honest expression
of opinion. The women were inclined to be more outspoken.
An evil worthy of attention is the neglect of religion. There
are scarcely accommodations for one-eighth of the population in
the halls where religious exercises are conducted on Sunday. There
is but one church building in Pullman, and that, the property
of the company, is unoccupied because no denomination can pay
the rent. The Presbyterians offered $2000 a year for it, and this
was refused. The company, owning all the property of the place,
does nothing for the support of religion. The Presbyterians receive
$700 a year from the Presbyterian Board, and pay $600 of it over
to the company for rent. The Methodists and Episcopalians also
support small organizations with difficulty. The men say: "The
company care nothing for our souls. They only want to get as much
work as possible out of our bodies;" and forthwith they begin
to neglect the provision others have made for their spiritual
welfare. This may be illogical conduct, but it is human nature.
The town-meeting of New England has ever been regarded by writers
of the highest authority on American government as one of the
bulwarks of our liberties. The free discussion of local affairs,
and the full responsibility for what is done and not done, have
ever been held to be an education of the mind, a means to develop
the qualities most useful in a citizen of a republic and a training
for larger public duties. People of other countries are striving
after a nearer approach to this in an improved local self-government,
and the renowned German publicist Gneist is perhaps chiefly esteemed
for what he has done to promote the movement in Germany. Yet in
Pullman all this disappears. The citizen is surrounded by constant
restraint and restriction, and everything is done for him, nothing
by him.
The desire of the American to acquire a home is justly considered
most commendable and hopeful. It promotes thrift and economy,
and the habits acquired in the effort to pay for it are often
the foundation of a future prosperous career. It is a beginning
in the right direction. Again, a large number of house owners
is a safeguard against violent movements of social discontent.
Heretofore laborers at Pullman have not been allowed to acquire
any real property in the place. There is a repression here as
elsewhere of any marked individuality. Everything tends to stamp
upon residents, as upon the town, the character expressed in "machine
made." Not only are strikes regarded as the chief of, social
sins, a view too widely disseminated by works like Charles Reade's
Put Yourself in His Place, but individual initiative even
in affairs which concern the residents alone, is repressed. Once
several of the men wanted to form a kind of mutual insurance association
to insure themselves against loss of time in case of accident,
but it was frowned down by the authorities, and nothing further
has been heard of the matter. A lady attempted to found a permanent
charitable organization to look after the poor and needy, but
this likewise was discouraged, because it was feared that the
impression might get abroad that there was pauperism in Pullman.
In looking over all the facts of the case the conclusion is
unavoidable that the idea of Pullman is un-American. It is a nearer
approach than anything the writer has seen to what appears to
be the ideal of the great German Chancellor. It is not the American
ideal. It is benevolent, well-wishing feudalism, which desires
the happiness of the people, but in such way as shall please the
authorities. One can not avoid thinking of the late Czar of Russia,
Alexander II., to whom the welfare of his subjects was truly a
matter of concern. He wanted them to be happy, but desired their
happiness to proceed from him, in whom everything should centre.
Serfs were freed, the knout abolished, and no insuperable objection
raised to reforms, until his people showed a decided determination
to take matters in their own hands, to govern themselves, and
to seek their own happiness in their own way. Then he stopped
the work of reform, and considered himself deeply aggrieved. The
loss of authority and distrust of the people is the fatal weakness
of many systems of reform and well-intentioned projects of benevolence.
Pullman ought to be appreciated, and high honor is due Mr.
George M. Pullman. He has at least attempted to do something lasting
and far-reaching, and the benefits he has actually conferred upon
a laboring population of eight thousand souls testify that his
heart must be warm toward his poorer brother. Mr. Pullman has
partially solved one of the great problems of the immediate present,
which is a diffusion of the benefits of concentrated wealth among
wealth-creators.
Pullman is still in its infancy, and great things are promised
in the future. On an adjoining tract lots are now offered for
sale, and workmen will be aided in the purchase of these, and
encouraged to build houses thereon. Other manufacturing establishments
are expected soon, and a more extended and diversified industry
will render the laborers less dependent. Mr. Pullman has also
at heart numerous plans, the purpose of which is to give employment
to women and young people. It is further proposed to establish
a manual training school, and the inevitable Western university
is talked about. It is to be hoped that what has been begun at
Pullman will be continued in a larger spirit, and that a grander
structure will arise on foundations already laid. It is especially
to be desired that means, should be discovered to awaken in the
residents an interest and a pride in Pullman. It is now thought
a praiseworthy thing "to beat the company," which phrase
in itself points to something radically wrong. It is quite practicable
to develop a democracy, or at least what might be called a constitutional
monarchy, out of the despotism of Pullman. It is not more than
has been done elsewhere, as, for example, by M. Godin, at Guise,
France, where the affairs of the "Social Palace" are
managed by committees of laborers elected by laborers. Some cooperative
features might be added, which would be a move in the right direction,
and every great philanthropic enterprise ought as soon as possible
to be placed on such a footing as not to be dependent upon the
life of any one individual. Not a few have ventured to express
the hope that Pullman might be widely imitated, and thus inaugurate
a new era in the history of labor. But if this signifies approval
of a scheme which would immesh our laborers in a net-work of communities
owned and managed by industrial superiors, then let every patriotic
American cry, God forbid! What would this mean? The establishment
of the most absolute power of capital, and the repression of all
freedom. It matters not that they are well-meaning capitalists;
all capitalists are not devoted heart and soul to the interests
of their employees, and the history of the world has long ago
demonstrated that no class of men-are fit to be intrusted with
unlimited power. In the hour of temptation and pressure it is
abused, and the real nature of the abuse may for a time be concealed
even from him guilty of it; but it degrades the dependent, corrupts
the morals of the superior, and finally that is done unblushingly
in the light which was once scarcely allowed in a dark corner.
This is the history of a large share of the degeneracy of manners
and morals in public and private life.
No; the body is more than raiment, and the soul more than the
body. If free American institutions are to be preserved, we want
no race of men reared as underlings and with the spirit of menials.
John Stuart Mill and others have regarded the relation of master
and servant, employer and employed, as unworthy of the highest
attainable average type of manhood and womanhood, and have prophesied
the abolition of such relationship, and the establishment of some
kind or another of co-operation, where men will work for and with
one another. Perhaps that may seem Utopian, but it is possible
to strive for it as an ideal, and it is the goal toward which
the wisest philanthropists are pushing. Shall we turn about and
forge new bonds of dependence? Is not a tendency to do this observable
as one of the signs of the time? Are we not frequently trying
to offer the gilded cage as a substitute for personal liberty?
When John Most, in an address to the laborers of Baltimore, sneered
at this much-vaunted American liberty, and asked, "Of what
value is it? Has any one ever been able to clothe himself with
it, to house himself in it, or to satisfy with it the cravings
of his stomach?" did he not give a gross expression to a
kind of materialism which is becoming too common? It is idle to
deny the spread of luxury, and numerous defalcations and embezzlements
bear witness to wide-extended extravagance, an overvaluation of
material comforts, and an under-valuation of the higher ethical
goods. So when we see such splendid provision for the body as
at Pullman, we clap our hands and stop not to ask how all this
is to effect the formation of character. And the impassioned pleas
for liberty which moved Americans mightily one hundred years ago
fall to-day on the ear as something strange and ridiculous. Such
thing are straws floating on the stream of social life. Have we
reason to be pleased with the direction in which the current is
setting?
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