Sherman Service Company
The Sherman Service Company was based primarily in Eastern cities of the United States. While it aimed to "render service in bettering industrial relationships", in 1919 its advisory director, R.V. Phillips, was indicted in Cook County, Illinois, on the criminal charge of trying to incite a riot, and for "fraudulent and malicious intent to unlawfully, willfully and with malice aforethought kill and murder divers [sic] large numbers of persons." The Sherman Service Company was known to buy pages of the New York Times to proclaim its doctrines of harmony in industry, while its clout with the government was such that its employees were exempted from the military draft. Criminal indictment The Sherman Service Company of Chicago was hired by Illinois Steel Company during a strike. An operative was told by the official who was instructing him in the performance of his duties, "[t]here is enough ammunition stored in the plant of the Illinois Steel Company at South Chicago to shoot down every striker like a dog. It was done twenty years ago, it will be done this time. The minute any of them start toward the gate, they will be shot like dogs." The Sherman Service Company sent instructions to