The Press: Chicago Showdown

One night last week, reams of copy piled up alarmingly in the composing room of Marshall Field's tabloid Chicago Sun. Deadlines came & went, but the battery of Linotypes stood silent. The printers were holding a marathon "chapel meeting," and the union was in no rush to adjourn. When the Sun went to press, nine hours late, it was in makeshift dress: lacking type, it ran pages of photo-engraved typewriting.

Such slowdowns (usually over trumped-up reasons) had harassed Chicago's dailies for weeks, since their contracts with the powerful International Typographical Union had expired. The I.T.U. was trying to pressure Marshall Field—and other...