Why unions had little success during the period 1871-1900 in improving the economic and social position of U.S. workers

From 1871- 1900, unions had little success. Unions in that time only organized a small group of workers. Not everyone wanted to be in a union, because unions did not always have a good reputation. Unions either accepted everyone, including immigrants-who people did not want to associated with- or they accepted only skilled white males, leaving out a good portion of the work force. The Unions that were in around at that time did not always agree on their goals. Some Unions, like the Knights of Labor, had very lofty goals. They wanted to make "every man his own master- every man his employer". The American Federation of Labor, on the other hand, had more specific, short term goals. They wanted higher wages and shorter work days. If the Union's had had the same goals, they could have worked together to achieve them. The big businesses had all of the power and money, and the Unions had no way to influence them or anyone that was afflicted with them. This "affliction" included the government, who only cared about the revenue form the businesses and not the workers. Unions also had a public relations problem. The strikes that usually happened because of the unions often resulted in violence, which made the people think that the Unions were radical. Also, many Unions were associated with anarchy and socialism, which instilled fear in many Americans. US workers were looked down upon by many people in the upper society. Some wealthy Americans thought along the lines of Social Darwinism, thinking that they were the upper class for a reason, and that they should stay in the upper class and the lower class should stay in the lower class, and not help them up the ladder. Workers had no say in any part of their job. They didn't get to argue for higher wages, less work hours, or safety on the job. From 1871 to 1900, Union had little success and workers were looked down upon.

Document #4 OPVL

Document #4, The Indian Ghost Dance and War ballad, is a primary source written by Private W.H. Prather. Pvt. W.H. Prather was a member of the Ninth Cavalry during the Indian War. IT was written during the Sioux Outbreak campaign of 1890.
While this document is a ballad, it exists to give a real, first account of the Sioux Outbreak campaign. Pvt. W.H. Prather created this work to inform the people of what really (in his opinion) happened during the battle. The document says that the Native American thought that they could win the battle because of a ritual that they did, but that didn't work and the Americans won.
Pvt. W.H. Prather fought in the Sioux Outbreak campaign, and was very proud of his fellow cavalry members in their fight. During this time period, the white and African American settlers were not fond of their Native American neighbors. From the piece, we can tell that the settlers of the West did not like the Native Americans, and would do anything to get rid of them. In this ballad, the author only relates the settlers side of the controversy, and doesn't give any information from the perspective of the Natives, which makes it clear that Pvt. W.H. Prather greatly favored the settlers.
While this is a great primary source, it does have its limitations. For instance, we can not tell any part of the story form the Native American's perspective. Also, Pvt. W.H. Prather purposely left out how the Native Americans must have felt about the battle. This document could be easily checked against other information about the same period in time.