they would use the same room for eating and sleeping, and at night the
men would put their cots upon the tables, to keep away from the swarms
of rats.

But with all their best efforts, the packers were demoralized.
Ninety per cent of the men had walked out; and they faced the task of
completely remaking their labor force--and with the price of meat up
thirty per cent, and the public clamoring for a settlement. They made an
offer to submit the whole question at issue to arbitration; and at the
end of ten days the unions accepted it, and the strike was called off.
It was agreed that all the men were to be re-employed within forty-five
days, and that there was to be "no discrimination against union men."

This was an anxious time for Jurgis. If the men were taken back "without
discrimination," he would lose his present place. He sought out the
superintendent, who smiled grimly and bade him "wait and see." Durham's
strikebreakers were few of them leaving.

Whether or not the "settlement" was simply a trick of the packers to
gain time, or whether they really expected to break the strike and
cripple the unions by the plan, cannot be said; but that night there
went out from the office of Durham and Company a telegram to all the big
packing centers, "Employ no union leaders." And in the morning, when the
twenty thousand men thronged into the yards, with their dinner pails and
working clothes, Jurgis stood near the door of the hog-trimming room,
where he had worked before the strike, and saw a throng of eager
men, with a score or two of policemen watching them; and he saw a
superintendent come out and walk down the line, and pick out man after
man that pleased him; and one after another came, and there were some
men up near the head of the line who were never picked--they being
the union stewards and delegates, and the men Jurgis had heard making
speeches at the meetings. Each time, of course, there were louder
murmurings and angrier looks. Over where the cattle butchers were
waiting, Jurgis heard shouts and saw a crowd, and he hurried there. One
big butcher, who was president of the Packing Trades Council, had been
passed over five times, and the men were wild with rage; they had
appointed a committee of three to go in and see the superintendent, and
the committee had made three attempts, and each time the police had
clubbed them back from the door. Then there were yells and hoots,
continuing until at last the superintendent