Good morning.
It’s thunderstorms ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of eighty-three degrees.
There’s a meeting of the Police Commission tonight, at 6:00 p.m., in both a closed and later an open-session. The agenda is available online.
On this day in 1934, labor strife left two dead in Kohler:
Two killed, 40 hurt in Kohler riot; National Guard occupies town
On this day, the “model industrial village” of Kohler became an armed camp of National Guard cavalrymen after deadly strike-related rioting. The July 27th violence, which killed two Sheboygan men and injured 40 others, prompted the summoning of 250 Guardsmen to join the 200 special deputy village marshals already present. After striking workers became agitated and began to destroy company property, deputies turned to tear gas, rifles, and shotguns to quell the stone-throwing crowd, resulting in the deaths and injuries. Owner Walter Kohler blamed Communists and outside agitators for the violence, while union leaders blamed Kohler exclusively. Workers at the Kohler plant were demanding better hours, higher wages, and recognition of the American Federation of Labor as their collective bargaining agent. Not settled until 1941, the strike marked the beginning of what was to become a prolonged struggle between the Kohler Company and organized labor in Wisconsin; a second Kohler strike lasted from 1954 to 1965. [Source: Capital Times 7/28/1934, p.1]
(Item from the Wisconsin Historical Society.)