Tanner achieved national notoriety with his position on labor disputes at a time when they were characteristically numerous and violent, particularly in the Illinois coalfields. His position was non-partisanship, the first governor to make it a state policy. When violence broke out, he was quick to send state troops to quell the violence, and he was adamantly opposed to the importation of armed men by either side, using troops to enforce state laws against it. The most notable incidents of the day were at Virden (where imported armed men had fired on Illinois strikers), at Pana (racial strife between white and black coal miners, with the governor siding against the position of the white miners), and Carterville (where unarmed African Americans were shot by white miners, an incident vehemently condemned by the governor).