Pacific all went into receivership. The economic hard times led to more confrontations between the ORT and the railroads. A strike was declared against the Lehigh Valley Railroad on November 18, 1893, after the railroad refused to bargain with a joint commission composed of the ORT and the "Big Four" railroad unions, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Order of Railway Conductors, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen. The state Boards of Mediation and Arbitration of New York and New Jersey intervened and settled the dispute through mediation, a tactic that would be increasingly used by the ORT in later years. The strike was ended on December 6, 1893, and was considered to be a significant victory for the ORT when the railroad agreed to reemploy all those who had gone out on strike. The Panic of 1893 also had a negative effect on ORT membership, dropping from 18,000 in 1893 to only 5000 in 1895. When the ORT leadership refused to sanction a sympathy strike with the workers involved in the Pullman Strike of 1894, many members left the ORT to join the American Railway Union, formed by Eugene V. Debs in June 1893. Walker V. Powell was elected Grand Chief in 1894. Stability and growth, 1895-1900 The ORT organized its membership into a set of system divisions in the late 1890s, which improved communications and coordination of activities. A Mutual Benefit Department was added in 1898 to provide assistance for members who were ill or unemployed. The increased use of block signaling led to the admission of switch levermen as members in 1897. The ORT took on an international focus in 1896 through its support of a strike against the Canadian Pacific Railway, called on September 28, 1896, to protest the CPR's dismissal of union employees and the railroad's refusal to negotiate with the union on wages and work rules. The strike ended after nine days, with the railroad recognizing the right of the ORT to represent the railroad telegraphers in collective bargaining. This victory gave the ORT a foothold in Canada, and recognition as an international union. At about the same time, the ORT began to organize railroad telegraphers in Mexico. One result of this international focus was the appearance of district reports in the Railroad Telegrapher in French for the French Canadian operators, and Spanish for the Mexican operators. Headquarters of