The Strike of 1916

Title: Crossing the Picket Line
Type: Newspaper
Date: June 30, 1916
Source: Duluth News Tribune

Description: This article describes how some strikers treated workers who chose to keep working.
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Activities:

1. Why do you think the strikers would choose to take dinner pails rather than doing something else against the strikebreakers?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Taking the dinner pails is a less violent way to get their idea across and encourage workers to stay home.
2. Why would "extra energy" be needed at this time to care for the picket routes and make sure they were not violent?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The strike had been in effect for awhile and tensions were running high. The strike organizers needed to be extra careful about the needs of the strikers or the stress and strain on them could cause them to resort to violence.
3. The fact that the police were there to supervise changes in shift tells us a couple of things about the situation. What information does this fact give us about work at the time of the strike?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Because police were there to supervise, there must have been some fear that the strike might turn violent. The other information we learn from this is that since the police wagon was there at 6 A.M.and 7 P.M. to protect workers changing shifts, we can assume that workers had 12-or 13-hour shifts in the mines, which is one of the reasons they were on strike.
4. What effect might the council's decision to protect workers have on the strike and the strikers?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: This decision might make the strikers very angry because they felt that they had a right to go on strike. With the strikebreakers protected by police and able to go to work, the strike would have less impact on the mining companies and therefore weaken the strikers' position in negotiations.