There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America By
Philip Dray Hardcover, 784 pages List Price: $35 There was no
work, and New York City's unemployed were desperate for food,
coal, the means to pay the rent and provide milk to the
children. The trouble had started a few months before, in
September 1873: a sudden ﬁnancial panic. The brokerage ﬁrm of
Jay Cooke and Company went ﬁrst, then all of Wall Street
collapsed, taking with it banks and investments, fortunes, jobs.
On the chilly morning of January 13, 1874, they huddled ﬁfteen
thousand strong in Tompkins Square to demand government relief
and public jobs. Stamping their feet to stay warm, they smoked
and waited. Speeches were to be made. Mayor William Havemeyer,
who knew of their difficulties, had agreed to address them. But
something was wrong: police on horseback had appeared at the
edge of the square, sent by city officials worried about the
large number of people who'd recently taken to marching in the
streets. Fear had been stoked by the