ere were riots at various points in Missouri and Kansas, and
railroad traffic at St. Louis was completely suspended for some days,
but the strike was eventually broken. The Knights of Labor, however,
had received a blow from which it never recovered, and as a result its
membership declined. The order has since been almost wholly superseded
by the American Federation of Labor, established in 1886 through shrewd
management by an association of labor unions which had been maintained
since 1881. The Knights had been organized by localities with the aim of
merging all classes of working men into one body. The Federation, on
the other hand, is composed of trades unions retaining their autonomy--a
principle of organization which has proved to be more solid and durable.

To these signs of popular discontent the Government could not be blind.
A congressional committee investigated the railroad strikes, and both
parties in Congress busied themselves with labor legislation. But in
spite of this apparent willingness to cope with the situation, there now
followed another display of those cross purposes which occurred so often
during the Cleveland administration. The House had already passed a
bill providing means of submitting to arbitration controversies between
railroads engaged in interstate commerce and their employees. President
Cleveland now sent a special message recommending that "instead of
arbitrators chosen in the heat of conflicting claims and after each
dispute shall arise, there be created a Commission of Labor, consisting
of three members, who shall be regular officers of the government,
charged among other duties with the consideration and settlement when
possible, of all controversies between labor and capital." In spite of
the urgency of the situation, the Senate seized this occasion for a new
display of party tactics, and it Allowed the bill already passed by the
House to lie without action while it proceeded to consider various labor
measures of its own. For example, by June 1, 1886, the Senate had
passed a bill providing that eight hours should be a day's work for
letter-carriers; soon afterwards, it passed a bill legalizing the
incorporation of national trades unions, to which the House promptly
assented without a division; and the House then continued its labor
record by passing on the 15th of July a bill against the importation of
contract labor. This last bill was not passed by the Senate until after
the fall