Public Opinions
Public opinions toward the labor movement were mixed. People favored improved working conditions, but disliked violence that often followed government intervention. Media used yellow journalism to influence the public's opinion. Yellow journalism is "biased opinion masquerading as objective fact," which distorts and gives an exaggerated account of the story.
[Oracle Foundation]
[Oracle Foundation]
Bias in the media
The media used bias to get their point across. Harper's Weekly published a cartoon titled "King Debs", showing Debs wearing a crown reading, "American Railway Union" and sitting atop a bridge labeled "Highway of Trade", emphasizing his control of the union.
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AA Chicago Tribune article titled "Amazons Menace Holland Laundry Girls at Pullman" described a conflict in which enraged Pullman residents attacked the laundresses. Bias was evident in the phrase "Old hag claws her face", which portrayed the people of
Pullman in a negative light.
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Public Reactions- Short Term Effects
Editorials published soon after expressed negative feelings toward Debs. One in the New York Times called Debs a "lawbreaker at large, an enemy to the human race." Another, in the Chicago Tribune, called him "arrogant dictator Debs." An editorial in the Harper's Weekly stated that "... the nation is fighting for its own existence just as truly as in suppressing the great rebellion [Civil War]... Until the rebellion is suppressed, all differences of opinion concerning its origin, or the merits of the parties to the dispute out of which it grew, are irrelevant to the issue of the hour and must wait the future."
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This shows that the public was greatly influenced by newspapers that had previously published articles with bias and developed their opinions based on that.
Opinions today- Long Term Effects
Graph courtesy of Pew Research Center
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In recent years however, favorable views of labor unions and unionization have been rising, although membership in unions has declined. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that 51% of people interviewed had a positive view, up from 46% in 1985. 61% of people agreed with the statement “labor unions are necessary to protect the working person.” These show that labor strikes, especially Pullman, have made a considerable impact on the public. Although the strikers themselves were disapproved of, the cause they were fighting for was supported, even to this day. [Pew Research Center]
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