Day tournament of the Duluth YMCA, in 1931 it won the Duluth and Midwestern Finnish League championship, and in 1934, it won the Duluth championship once more. This victorious progress came to an end in 1936, when the team was disbanded with Salo's inability to continue as its coach.

Strikes in Duluth and in Northern Minnesota: The study prepared by Arne Halonen 11 shows that it was natural for the Finns - who, unable to speak any but their own language were unable to get any but the worst of jobs in mines, forests and factories - to be forced into many labor disputes and strikes. In Minnesota, as well as elsewhere, these occurred with such frequency that they affected the daily lives of the Finns and their world orientation.

The rise of labor unions has already been discussed. In the 1880s, after their founding, several local strikes took place, giving further impetus to the growth of labor unions, even if the strikes generally did end in defeat for labor. By 1900, the AFL had begun a major effort to force through the 8-hour day, and it had brought partial results, but the coal miners' strikes in Pennsylvania began a reverse once more and a long series of defeats. The most serious strike directly affecting the Finns in Minnesota was the strike in Duluth in 1889, which began in the building trades with a demand for a 25c per day pay raise. Begun with no leadership, the Knights of Labor were soon at the helm, and more and more of Duluth's laborers began to remain away from work to protest their low wages - usually $1.50 the day - which even the Duluth Daily Tribune in an editorial on 3 July 1889 admitted was barely enough for subsistence for a single man and offered little to a family man, with local expenses being high, more than elsewhere in the state.

The strike became a particularly bitter one when all contact between workers and employers was cut completely. The employers were supported by the mayor of Duluth and the municipal authorities, and police and military were used to aid strikebreakers. Bloody incidents ensued in the city streets, and gatherings and meetings of workers were forbidden and were broken up by armed authority. In the street battles of July 7th, several workers were wounded and three lost their lives. Finns were not involved in the leadership in this strike, but they were given good lessons in how one had to fight for one's rights in America: two of the

11. Halonen, Arne. Minnesota's Help to Finland. Minneapolis, Minn., 1940

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