![]() Farmers reacted with milk strikes, and the protests often turned violent. “The strikers won the skirmish, dumping the milk and driving the deputies to cover by throwing back their own tear gas bombs,” the Milwaukee Journal reported.Īs the Great Depression took hold in the late 1920s, many farmers saw their milk prices drop and by 1933, prices were less than half what they had been just three years prior. In Shawano County, 30 people were injured when National Guardsmen, sworn in as sheriff’s deputies and charged with keeping the roads open, “engaged in a pitched battle” in front of a dairy plant. When nothing improved, farmers called for another action in May. This one had more backing and tempers flared quickly. The strike ended in an uneasy truce on Feb. When farmers' demands weren't met, creameries and cheese factories across the state were vandalized and pickets nearly succeeded in blockading Milwaukee's dairy plants. But they lost ground as milk shippers found alternate routes and other farmers' groups failed to throw in their support. "After that, if we are not successful, watch out.” “There is to be no picketing during these five days," he said. 15. Strikes had already been launched in other states, including Iowa, where 3,000 farmers marched on a jail in Council Bluffs demanding the release of their fellow strikers. Singler called for five days of withholding milk from all markets in Wisconsin, beginning Feb. Singler, president of the Wisconsin Cooperative Milk Pool, told The Milwaukee Journal: “Farmers are just waiting for some organization that has the guts to take action, and they will flock to it.” Yet no year was worse than 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression.Įarly that year, Walter M. Hundreds of farmers, emotionally and financially depleted, have left the business. But dairy farmers are struggling with a down cycle in milk prices that has lasted nearly five years. The dairy industry through the generations has been marked by volatile prices, staggering losses, even violence. Today, there are no strikes, no blockades. ![]() None of the three could have imagined what they were getting into. A former candidate for sheriff, he had chosen not to participate in any of the strikes, but his sympathies were with the farmers.Īround 8 p.m., he, Andrew and the friend packed some coffee and food for the pickets, some of whom had been on the line since 5 a.m. Image courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel archives.įelland had lived all of his 60 years in the Town of Burke and served two terms on the Dane County Board of Supervisors. Officials called in the Waukesha Fire Department to control the crowd with water hoses. freight yard in Waukesha with the intention of dumping a trainload of milk headed to Milwaukee. A crowd of several hundred milk strike pickets are shown in 1933 crashing the gate of the Electric Co. ![]()
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