The whole city was paralyzed by the strike of streetcar and elevated railway employees, and if a settlement had not been reached, each additional day of the strike would have caused losses going into millions of dollars. These losses would have had to be borne not only by businessmen, but also, and to the greatest extent, by the workingmen, who were put to all kinds of inconvenience by the strike. The stopping of all transportation in a city such as Chicago, having two million people, is an event which concerns, not merely one certain business or industry, but the whole population that depends on transportation to the centers of business and industry in the city. Any strike of long duration is bound to cause much inconvenience and financial loss, not only to the strikers and the owners of the companies, but through the stopping of streetcar transportation, loss of comfort and money for everybody. Thousands of people were deprived of the means of transportation Monday morning. They had to start out 2walking, take a railway train, hire or use an automobile or some other vehicle; and these emergency expedients cost more money, and did not offer any assurance that the riders would arrive in time at their places of business, to say nothing of the discomfort which our people were bound to feel, in spite of the fact that they are accustomed to poor transportation and that the average Chicagoan is used to, and can stand, a lot of abuse.

Railway companies running suburban trains had promised that they would take care of the transportation needs of hundreds of thousands of people, but it was evident during the strike that they were not in a position to handle such large multitudes, even if they really made an honest effort to satisfy the needs of the public. The transportation on suburban railways was beneath criticism during rush hours, and there appeared to be little hope that any substantial improvement could take place in case the strike should be a longer one. It seems absolutely impossible for the railways to replace the enormous net of streetcar and elevated lines, no matter how many trains are added to the normal ones.

The West Siders suffered most, as always. The needs of the North Side and the South Side are always taken better care of and the transportation there, while leaving much to be desired, was incomparably better than to the Northwest, West, and Southwest Sides. The only transportation available to our communities from Pilsen way down to Hawthorne, Morton Park, and Berwyn, was the Burlington Railroad, and that railroad did not put forth any special effort to add a sufficient number of special trains; it even refused to permit stops where they were most necessary.

To all these troubles and dangers of injury of various kinds, the immense financial losses that the businessman and the workingman had to suffer must be added.

Another thing, any prolongation of the strike would have increased the danger of serious riots and bloodshed. These could be easily caused by the transportation companies in case they should hire strikebreakers, scabs, to operate their streetcars and trains. The City Council, true enough, has passed an ordinance prohibiting the hiring of strikebreakers, but there was no certainty that the 4Mayor would sign it, or that if he did, a judge would not be found who would designate such an ordinance as unconstitutional. Another sign of danger was the preparation made by the police. These were hardly of a nature to promote quiet and peace, although it was maintained that they were made for the protection of lives and property. The circumstance that the Chief of Police asked the City Council for more policemen and, what is worse, for money with which to purchase 50,000 rounds of ammunition, was of a very disquiting character and liable to call forth clashes. The City Hall has refused such untimely and unreasonable requests, and that action deserves the approval of every sensible person.

Nobody was in a position to foretell that the strike would end so soon, and there were justifiable apprehensions that conditions would grow from bad to worse every day.

The Chicago public is definitely in agreement about the contention that the strike should never have been permitted to take place. It was up to the 5companies, and particularly to the city, which derives a profit from the streetcars that reaches the million figure, to prevent it. It is generally known that the wages of streetcar employees are lower than in any other comparable business, and that the companies make large enough profits to pay big dividends even after paying fifty-five per cent of their earnings into the city treasury. The elevated lines do not pay anything to the city, keeping all the profits to themselves, and thus they were in a still better position to raise their employees' wages. But they refused to do it, and no proving that the employees' demands were justified was of any avail.

In spite of the discomforts caused by the strike the public was in sympathy with the strikers. It was of the opinion that their wages should be raised, but also, and definitely, of the opinion that the strike should have been prevented. And prevented it would have been if the companies had been at all concerned about the needs and the benefit of the public. But such concern, after the experience the Chicago public has had with the companies, could hardly have been expected. For years the Chicago public has been endeavoring to get better transportation, 6but the companies have never given a bit more than they were forced to by threats or by courts. It is therefore unthinkable that they would have raised their employees' wages without being compelled to do so. Such an attitude is not likely to increase the companies' popularity, and this last strike has increased the public's hate of the streetcar monopoly. One result of this strike will be that the public will resume the demand for public ownership of the transportation facilities, a demand which has not been heard in recent times. That this would be the case was proved in the recent meeting of the Municipal Council, where a proposal was made that the city take over the whole transportation system and conduct it, under conditions favorable to the employees, until the companies have made up their minds to give the Chicago public their transportation back.

A proposal of so radical a character, while it would bring about a rapid ending of the strike, was not accepted, but it is a significant indication of the attitude of some of the Aldermen and certainly of a large portion of the public, 7which has the right to demand that the streetcar companies, for their big earnings, give the proper consideration to its needs.