Over the Labor Day weekend I was reading about the railroad workers strikes which led to the holiday, and I tried to find a book written from the business perspective to find out their thoughts on the matter. I was unable to find anything from a (admittedly, short) Google search. Does anyone know of any books online on the subject? Columns or editorials? I don’t recall in my entire life having read anything that didn’t describe the owner(s) of the business in a terrible light, which means I must only know one side of the story, and it’s bugging me. 
Too bad Margaret Mitchell didn’t write a book glorifying the brutal exploitation and dehumanization of workers in a slightly later era than her most famous work.
Unfortunately I don’t recall the book title, but it was an economics book, not a history of the era or of labor practices. A friend showed it to me because he was appalled – the book was clearly written from an extremelt pro-business, anti-labor point of view, and explained all occurrences as being driven by the business end, completely discounting any effect of the labor strikes and actions. Itt seems that it simply made more economic sense to start giving workers better working conditions, for instance.
You might try looking among economics books, rather than histories.
This period in history, and the history of the labor movement in general, has always been an interest of mine as well. The following may not be quite what you’re looking for, but do give a good overview of the subject; unfortunately the first two are not available online:
Homeland by John Jakes. A well-researched historical novel (and a good read, BTW), It is a work of fiction but with a fairly accurate portrayel of actual historical events and figures. Set largely in Chicago 1890-1900, includes descriptions of the Pullman Strike, the general labor strike, Eugene Debs and practices of labor agitation.
Big Trouble by Anthony Lucas. Historical account of the assasination of Gov. Frank Steunenberg and the trial of “Big Bill” Haywood and the Western Federation of Miners. Incidentally, this took place in the town where I grew up and is still talked about. A late friend of mine, a semi-professional historian and writer, claimed to have discovered during his research who was really responsible for the assasination (it wasn’t Haywood or the WFM), but his informationation was not conclusive and he died without ever having published his findings.
Wikipedia entry for James McParland A bit of googling will turn up a lot more material on this guy. Probably the number one anti-labor activist of the era. Rogue Pinkerton agent, infiltrator of the Molly Maguires, kidnapper of Bill Haywood and other WFM officials, probable lier, killer, perjuror, gunslinger and all-around hard case. McParland was the go-to guy for business leaders of the era who wished to bust the unions without dirtying their own hands.
Also, read up on Teddy Roosevelt and his rather schizoprenic approach to labor issues.
SS
Go to Google Books, enter a useful keyword like labor problem and then enter the dates you are looking for in Custom Range after the results appear.
You’ll need to spend some time going through the new list to find pro-business items but they are certain to appear. And everything before 1923 is in the public domain, so you can full them in full.
My guess: “It’s all about us!”
William Hutt’s book *The Strike-threat System: The Economic Consequences of Collective Bargaining * contains some critiques of the labor movement’s history though from an economics perspective not a business perspective. It also focuses on England but the basic critique is applicable to the US. A pdf version can be found here
Thanks for the responses. I found a trove of stuff in Google Books, and I have downloaded the .pdf for later reading.