Nationally, this is known as the year of railway strikes. East St. Louis railroad workers are forced to accept ten percent cut in wages. Eastern railroads are still suffering from the aftermath of the '73 recession. Local newspapers are critical of work stoppages and damage by striking workers, but are somewhat sympathetic to the plight of the labor class. On July 22, Eads Bridge railway and transit workers select a strike committee and stop all freight traffic and take control of the depot and rail yards. This is accomplished without violence or property damage. The socialist Workingmen's Party came in and took political control of the strike which also affected St. Louis. The strike spread to other ordinary workers but most craft unions did not join in the stoppage. Huge rallies were held and there was talk by radical speakers of mob action similar to the French Revolution. One Negro orator pleaded for support of Negro levee workers. Another speaker called for the nationalization of railroads. The squalor of shacks and tenements on the Island and in the south end stood in stark contrast to the ostentatious mansion on Ohio and Pennsylvania Avenues. Strikers ruled the streets for several days but by the weekend the strike had been broken.

Fortunately, the leaders of the Workingmen's Party did not believe in violence. Owners refused to make concessions and only river and levee workers made any gains. Strikers were restrained in their actions by the knowledge that eight companies of U. S. Infantry stood by at the federal arsenal in St. Louis.