Bad Old Days

A violent strike at Iowa Beef

The riots outside Iowa Beef Processors' slaughterhouse in tiny Dakota City (pop. 1,440), Neb., over the past two weeks recalled the labor wars of the 1930s. As union workers hurled railroad spikes and ball bearings at state troopers and strikebreakers, stinging clouds of tear gas and chemical spray swirled into protesters' eyes. Earlier, enraged members of Local 222 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union had spread nails across the highway. Then, screaming "Scab! Scab!" they threw rocks and bricks at newly hired workers trying to enter the plant. Republican Governor Charles Thone was finally...

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