George W. Howard

George Washington Howard (c. 1848-19XX) was an American railway worker and trade union functionary. Howard is best remembered as the head of the Brotherhood of Railway Conductors (BRC), a rival to the Order of Railway Conductors (ORC) which was established in 1885 and absorbed into the older organization in 1891. Howard was also the Vice President of the American Railway Union from 1893 to 1894 and was an important figure in the failed Pullman Strike of 1894.

Biography

Early years

George Washington Howard was born about 1848.

As a young man Howard worked on railroads in a variety of capacities, running the gamut from the dangerous job of brakeman to general superintendent.[1] Among others, Howard worked on the Louisville, New Albany, and Chicago Railroad, the Ohio and Mississippi Railway, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.[1]

Brotherhood of Railway Conductors

In 1885, Howard was the leading figure behind the establishment of a new trade union, the Brotherhood of Railway Conductors (BRC), conceived as a rival to the long established Order of Railway Conductors (ORC), gaining election to the leading position of Grand Chief Conductor.[1]

After half a decade of disunity, the two railway conductors organizations combined in 1891, with the ORC swallowing its fledgling rival.

California streetcar lines

Howard was instrumental in the construction of the lines of the Coronado Beach Company, a transportation company that helped launch the city of Coronado, California, and was involved in the construction of the city streetcar system in neighboring San Diego.[1]

In 1890, Howard returned to the Midwestern United States to assume the role of master of transportation for the Mackey system of railroads in the state of Indiana.[1]

American Railway Union

Howard was elected Vice President of the American Railway Union (ARU) at the time of its formation in 1893.[2] He spent much of 1894 on the road speaking on behalf of the organization. One contemporary observer, upon hearing Howard speak at an ARU organizing meeting in Brazil, Indiana, remarked:

"Mr. Howard is a rapid speaker and has foiled the brightest stenographers who have attempted to catch the elegant language as it flowed from his lips. Mr. Howard is a short, heavy-set fellow, and is alert and active as a cat, and talks with lightning rapidity.... He claimed that the existing orders could not reconcile themselves to perfect federation, and consequently it was necessary to have an order large and broad enough to encompass all classes of railroad employees, thus bringing them closer together and eliminating the prejudices existing in the orders of today."[3]

In August 1894 Howard was called to give testimony on behalf of striking American Railway Union workers before the United States Strike Commission appointed by President Grover Cleveland.[4]

Later years


Death and legacy


Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 United States Strike Commission, Report on the Chicago Strike of June-July, 1894: With Appendices Containing Testimony, Proceedings, and Recommendations.'' Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1895; pg. 5.
  2. ↑ "American Railway Union Officers," Salt Lake Herald, vol. 47, no. 273 (April 18, 1893), pg. 2.
  3. ↑ Brazil Times, quoted in The Railway Times, vol. 1, no. 8 (April 16, 1894), pg. 1.
  4. ↑ United States Strike Commission, Report on the Chicago Strike of June-July, 1894, pg. 4.


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