Two years after the military defeat of Twin Cities streetcar workers, St. Paul labor unions were again challenging the business leaders of the St. Paul Association. 

On the industrial front, the printing industry and the city's building trades were run primarily on a closed shop basis and the city's police and fire departments had been unionized. On the political front, William Mahoney, president of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly and editor of the Union Advocate, was campaigning for mayor. As state chairman of the Working People's Non-Partisan League, Mahoney advocated union recognition, an eight-hour day, the abolition of unemployment and public ownership and operation of railroads, banks, stockyards, grain elevators and all public utilities.

The final straw for the St. Paul Association came in February and March of 1920 when the Teamsters Union refused to haul "unfair" materials and demanded the closed shop. Once again "Crape Hanger" Davidson rose to defend the employers of St. Paul. The ex-Sheriff warned that the forces that precipitated the streetcar strike were "now endeavoring to gain control of our municipal government, which means our police power." If the men of the home guard and the civilian auxiliary would come forward again to face another crisis "we may succeed in putting down forever this propaganda which eventually means the overthrow of our government and our American institutions."

Galvanizing the business community
Davidson, frustrated for two years in his efforts to form an open shop employers association, now had a union threat to galvanize the business community. Backed by Oliver Crosby of American Hoist & Derrick and other veterans of the 1903 Citizen's Association of St. Paul, the open shop forces inside the St. Paul Association formed the Citizen's Alliance of Ramsey & Dakota Counties on March 19, 1920. Although the CA claimed to be primarily a defensive organization "to preserve and perpetuate individual freedom," its real intention was "to maintain St. Paul as an open shop city by preventing the extension of unionism to trades not now organized." CA leaders felt that they had to uproot the "tree of class consciousness" planted by unions if freedom and industrial progress were to be preserved. "Crape Hanger" Davidson was elected to run the anti-union campaign.

St. Paul CA President Davidson understood that two things were "absolutely essential to the success of the Open Shop Movement. One is influence and the other is money and both are based on a large membership." Although his goal of signing up every business concern in St. Paul was never approached, the St. Paul CA's Board of Directors included many of the city's most prestigious firms representing the financial, construction, manufacturing, transportation, real estate and other industries.

The Board of Directors included such leading businessmen as Charles W. Ames of the Public Safety Commission, E.S. Warner, one of the founders of the Minnesota Employer's Association, M.W. Waldorf of Waldorf Paper Products Co., W.O. Washburn of American Hoist & Derrick Co., C.G. Roth of the St. Paul Hotel, J.G. Ordway of Crane Co. of Minnesota, Frederick R. Bigelow of St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance and Leslie Gedney of Gedney Pickles. More important for paying Davidson's $12,000 salary and the $100,000 funding for the St. Paul CA's propaganda and employment operations was the membership on the Board of Cyrus P. Brown, President of First National Bank of St. Paul, and Richard C. Lilly, President of Merchant's National Bank of St. Paul, W.P. Kenny of Great Northern Railway and the financial contribution of Northern Pacific Railway Co.

To increase membership and strengthen the open shop, the St. Paul CA encouraged its members, who had to employ over 50 percent non-union workers, to do business only with other open shop businesses. By 1922 it would be clear that Davidson had recruited enough influence and money for the St. Paul CA to successfully combat labor unions.
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Seeking the 'open shop'
The establishment of the open shop in St. Paul, particularly in the building trades, required skilled workmen who simply weren't available in 1920-21. When union limitation of apprentices and the post-war building boom had created an acute shortage of bricklayers, the Citizens Alliances of the Twin Cities joined forces to create the Minnesota Building Trades School. Over 350 students entered the four- to six-month course held in the Midway District. When they reached a high enough level of competency, they were employed by open shop contractors in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

When a 40 percent shortage of plasterers began slowing open shop construction work in St. Paul, the St. Paul CA created the St. Paul Building Trades School. A free, six-week course in plastering was opened on Jackson Street in downtown St. Paul. When students had learned the rudiments of the trade they were quickly employed by open shop contractors for 50 cents per hour. When a serious shortage of skilled metal lathers and plumbers threatened to curtail the building boom in St. Paul, the St. Paul CA again created schools to train new open shop mechanics.

The success of these industry-supported trades schools in helping the Twin Cities maintain the open shop was noted and quickly copied across the country.

To handle the vital job of placing the newly trained open shop workers, the St. Paul CA opened the Free Employment Bureau in the Endicott Building on June 15,1920. W.H. MacMahon, the personnel director at American Hoist & Derrick, was recruited to run the Bureau. By September, 1920, over  1,000 placements were being made each month. The St. Paul CA, however, conceived of the Bureau as more than just a placement service. It was operated with a definite program of promoting an industrial relations policy that would lead to stable labor conditions and efficient production. The employment manager attended the meetings of the St. Paul Building Employer's Council to encourage their use of open shop workmen and to keep track of job opportunities. He also frequently visited the various construction projects across the city to check job progress and worker requirements, and maintain close personal contact with the workmen. "By showing the personal interest in the welfare of the men who patronize the Bureau, a spirit of appreciation and loyalty to the Employment Department is created that has a decided beneficial effect when labor difficulties are imminent."
 Propaganda campaign
A small magazine, the "Saint Paul Builder," listing every construction project over $10,000, was published and distributed to open shop workers to inform them of current and future job opportunities. The "Saint Paul Builder" also served "as a splendid medium to give the men a few 'hot shots' on the open shop." When construction slacked, the Bureau would try to temporarily place its workmen in nearby communities to maintain a solid base of available open shop workers. The St. Paul CA considered its Employment Department to be a "factor of tremendous importance in the maintenance of open shop conditions in the building trades."

Although the St. Paul CA structured its propaganda campaign after its Minneapolis ally, the tone and context of its message had to meet very different circumstances. Unlike Minneapolis, the St. Paul CA faced an entrenched and popular union movement. Its newspaper ads, instead of glorifying the open shop, concentrated a scathing attack on closed shop unionism.

The ads repeatedly stressed that the public sympathy for union labor was quickly waning "because the public knows that, in spite of high wages, labor has not delivered a fair day's work, even for a greatly increased wage."  "Radical labor agitators . . . have misled labor into a position that had forfeited public sympathy. The limitation of production in opposition to economic laws and common sense is dangerous to the public welfare." 

The St. Paul CA deplored the violence practiced by unions "attempting to prevent others from working." Although the St. Paul CA did not form an organization similar to Associated Business Organizations of Minneapolis, it did solicit 23 other civic organizations to endorse its ad campaign. An open shop endorsement by the St. Paul Association, the Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions clubs, the St. Paul Real Estate Board, Builder's Exchange and the St. Paul Chapter of the American Banking Institute all appeared below THE CITIZENS ALLIANCE at the bottom of newspaper ads.

The St. Paul CA's monthly bulletin, "The American Plan," targeted primarily at St. Paul employers, extolled the virtues of the open shop. Without the open shop a city "cannot hope to compete with its more successful and enterprising rivals."  "The three large cities in the U.S. that have had the greatest percentage of growth in the last decade are militant 'open shop cities.'"
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'Refrain' from the union label
News of specific strikes and actions taken or planned by the St. Paul CA were communicated to members through Special Weekly Bulletins. In its first issue on May 14, 1920, members were requested to "refrain from using the Union Label in any manner whatsoever, as this is the symbol of the closed shop." With the counsel and guidance of O.P. Briggs, the St. Paul CA had established the basic structure and functions of an effective open shop association. With businesses in the state's major cities organized, the Minneapolis CA could now lead a cohesive force against the state's labor unions.

With a unified business community behind them, Davidson and MacMahon led a devastating attack on St. Paul unions. Within two years the teaming and trucking industry and St. Paul foundries were working on an open shop basis. At the same time the Minneapolis CA, the Duluth CA and the Minnesota Employer's Association, combined with Davidson to attack the powerful and entrenched unions in the building trades and the printing industry across the state. St. Paul printers, backed by the CA, held out against a bitter 1921 strike for the 44-hour week. When the strike was over, one of St. Paul's largest industries was 90 percent open shop.

In the building trades, the combined strength of the state's employer organizations lowered wages by 20 percent.  When the Building Trades Council withdrew union men from St. Paul construction projects, the CA brought in replacement workers from outside the city and trained them in local trade schools. In the face of this assault, only the bricklayers and plasterers managed to briefly maintain the closed shop. By 1922 construction in St. Paul joined Duluth and Minneapolis in the open shop camp.

By 1925, the CA proclaimed that "St. Paul is now recognized from coast to coast as one of the leading Open Shop cities." "Crape Hanger" Davidson had reestablished the dominance of St. Paul employers over the city's workers.

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