Why did workers have to give back a rent check on payday in Pullman, Illinois?

In the company town of Pullman, Illinois, George M. Pullman required workers to immediately endorse and hand back their rent checks on payday to ensure the company collected its housing payments directly from their earnings.1

The Pullman Palace Car Company issued two separate checks to employees who lived in the town: one specifically for rent and another for the remaining balance of their wages. A paymaster would deliver these checks accompanied by a rent collector, ensuring that the company secured its revenue before workers could spend their pay elsewhere. While the town was designed to be a profitable enterprise, this practice became a source of significant tension during the economic depression of 1893. When the company reduced wages by 25 percent but failed to lower the high rents or other living expenses in the town, many workers were left with almost nothing to live on, ultimately leading to the Pullman Strike in 1894.12