In Brainerd, disagreements waged between men who did and those who did not believe in the strike. Some believed the strike was imperative, others were content to work at reduced pay as there were no other jobs available and there were families to support.

Men were shipped into Brainerd daily from points along the Northern Pacific lines to "scab" the Brainerd strikers. Many scabs, or strike-breakers, stayed on after the strike under a veil of resentment from Brainerd regulars who did strike and by friends of strikers left without jobs.

Carloads of scabs were dropped off at Brainerd and taken directly to work in the shops or escorted under a heavy railroad guard to fenced-in accommodations for sleeping and eating.

Some strike-breakers were union men themselves who did not approve of the strike. They came from towns along the railroad line to scab the Brainerd strikers. Brainerd men, in turn, "scabbed" fellow union workers in other towns.

There was a great deal of exchange between Brainerd and Livingston, Montana. One ex-NP worker in the shops at the time of the strike said the scabers didn't care how they got along with the strikers in Brainerd as they disagreed with the strike or grabbed at the opportunity for employment.

Street fights broke out nightly in Brainerd between strikers and non-strikers. Gangs of strikers waited for scabs to leave their quarters and fights broke out. Most scabs stayed about a week at the most as confined quarters were to much, especially for younger men.

The bloody fights, the rock throwing, the beatings were worse than most townspeople ever knew, said one former railroad worker involved in the strike.

J. P. Anderson, superintendent of the shops at the time, not wanting to alarm the townspeople, requested the Brainerd Daily Dispatch to minimize the strike and not to "play it like it is."

There were displays of guns, but not much shooting, said another former worker. Men took out their animosities with their fists instead. Strikers did on one occasion, it was reported, fire a few shots into the barracks of the scabs. There were no killings, however.

The gun carrying was against the orders of the Strike Committee that ran the strike in Brainerd.

Bad feelings continued long after the strike and many jobless Brainerd families left town. Strike-breakers stayed on defiantly and put up with the hard feelings toward them from their fellow workers.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE STRIKE

There are several men in Brainerd who recall how times were during the 1922 strike. Some of the recollections are as follows. Roy Warnberg, 74, 717 5. 5th St., who retired in 1958 after 40 years with the NP in the bridge and builders division, a non-striking group of about 18 men, said the railroad took back anyone who wasn't blacklisted, or near pension. But many in Brainerd were out of jobs, he said. Warnberg worked for David Rundquist, 1423 Quince St., who worked for the NP for 55 years retiring at the age of 78 in 1966. He was the painter fore- man for the bridge and builders division.

Warnberg who was in town putting a new roof on the machine shop said machinists in the east settled, but without the approval of the western unions and a controversy raged within the inner circles for years. "The strike was never settled," Warnberg said.

He said there were a number of Pequot Lakes men who scabbed the Brainerd shops. Embittered by Brainerd railroad strikers who took construction jobs in Pequot Lakes, the Pequot Lakes men scabbed the NP shops in Brainerd.

Warnberg said it was good to know the men who were striking. One night he and several others from the bridge and builders division found themselves surrounded by about 50 strikers who mistakenly thought them to be scabbers.

"We were on our way to the laundry," said Warnberg. A boiler-maker friend of Warnberg recognized the mistake and the attack was called off.

He said Brainerd businesses were boycotted. One that went out of business was a millinery shop owned by Mrs. Ernest Jones, wife of the assistant superintendent of the NP blacksmith shop, a non-striking official. Even after the strike, she could not get enough business to keep going and was forced out.

After the strike, there were no national unions in the Brainerd shops due to the split between the workers. However, a company union was formed until the settlement was reached.

Brainerd Mayor Frank Little worked in the shops and "he was in a ticklish spot," said Warnberg. Little, also a striker, did not go back to work in the shops; he later became sheriff.

Married in 1920, Warnberg's family has lived in Brainerd since that year. During his career with the NP, he worked the lines between Duluth to Grantsburg, Wis., to Taylor Falls, to Staples and Brainerd doing bridge and building repair work.

In talking with other Brainerdites, it was learned that Rudolph Creger, a boiler maker foreman, was threatened by strikers, who attempted to paint his home black. Creger, father of former Brainerd mayor Harry Creger, now deceased, had just gotten married the day before the strike started. Creger was an official and not subject to the strike.

James Alderman, Sr., 78, owner of Alderman's Hardware Store, 616 Laurel, remembers one night in particular during the strike when a carload of strike-breakers were dropped off in Brainerd.

"The town must have known they were coming," said Alderman. The streets were lined with angry strikers and others who were there for the excitement. Some had guns, but he said, there were no shots fired Scabs were walked under heavy guard while strikers shouted and threw rocks, down 8th St. and Front to shacks built for them by the railroad.

The businesses depended heavily on the railroad workers and the workers depended upon the businesses so most businesses were treated with respect, said Alderman.

Fred Eckholm, 86, was president of the machinists' union in Brainerd's NP shops at the time of the strike. He said the railroad workers were making 72 cents an hour at the time of the strike. The railroad wanted to reduce salaries to 70 cents an hour.

"The whole thing was over the proposed pay cut,"" said Eckholm. The strike lasted until the following spring and 1,400 men in Brainerd were affected. Those on strike included the black-smiths, the boiler makers, the machinists, the sheet metal workers, pipe fitters, carmen and all others in the shop trades.

"Some scabbed, but not very many from Brainerd," said Eckholm. Some strikers got cold feet and went back to work before the strike was over, but about 75 percent of the Brainerd NP strikers were still out at the end of the strike.

Some also scabbed the Milwaukee and Great Northern lines in St. Paul.

Eckholm also verified the fact that the strike was never settled. "The unions were too disorganized," he said. "We were just as militant then as unions are now, but we had no backing, and couldn't get anywhere," he said.

The nucleus of the workers kept their union allegiances and started the unions up again in Brainerd after the strike. Eckholm described the strike as "pretty peaceful?" since there were federal deputies patrolling all along the railroad lines.

He said he remembers that about 25 scabbers were beaten. There were daily meetings of the Strike Committee composed of representatives of the various unions including Eckholm. Union men for the most part went back to work without a contract and most members were paying their dues undercover as the strike drew to a close.

Most strong union men were left without jobs after the strike. Many were told that they would never again be hired by a railroad in the United States, said Eckholm.

Reproduced from the Centennial Edition of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch (1871-1971).