The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-07-20
LATEST T'ELEGRAMS
THE BIG STRIKE,
Further Details of the Telegraph
ers' Proceedings.

New York. 19.-The executive
committee of the brotherhood, which
has been in session this morning,
sent letter to General Eckert this
morning. 1t said: On Monday, the
10th instant, "a committee of tele-
graph operators submitted to your
consideration a petition intrusted to
the men for presentation to you by
tie brotherhood of telegraphers.
You expressed your doubts as
to the authority that committee
had to speak for the en-
plOyees, Your company have
failed to respond to that petition,
and your letter to r. q. ClOwry,
general superintendent, discloses to
the public the fact that you were in
formed Of the nature Of your ems
plOyees' grievances before they were
presented. Under ordinary circpm-
stances it would require hut a short
time to arrive at a conclusion as to
what steps you would take, but
knowing, as we did, that this matter
had been thoroughly discussed long
before we waited on you, it was not
unreasonable to expect an early re-
ply. 1t is due to the interests you
represent, to our organization,
and particularly to she gen
.eral public, that these matters
be speedily adjusted, and: that the
responsibility of any future action
may rest where it properly belongs.
1t is with an earnest desire for a
harmonious settlement of these diff
ficulties and d regard for the social
and business interests of the people,
that we send this last appeal for a
recognition of the rights and re-
dress of the grievances, as your
employees.
I No reply was received to this ad-
dress. The committee which met
this morning at 1880 o'clock took no
action upon it, and it was. decided
only to hold preliminary meeting
this morning, and after short SEES
sion it adjourned. Nothing Was
done except to issue directions to all
heads of departments and chiefs in
the employ of the company to notify
operators under their charge to pre-
sent their grievances, if they had
any, to the committee, and that such
action would be taken az might be
thought pr0fesS
a sur vey of the field at i O'Clock
revealed some striking changes In
the state Of affairs. an unusual
number of people blocked the en-
tries to the building. This crowd
was composed of strikers and mes
senger boys in equal number. Many
OF the oIeR tors sought their head
quarters on COursland street, and
it being fine day, many went of
to the sea coast. 1t was a common
expression that they would take
their SIMMER vacation in the Cats
kills. In the general Offices on
the third floor, nobody was to be
seen save messengers and one or
two clerks. The reason Of this was
learned during a visit to the Operat-
ing room; there were found Jay
Could General Eckert, General
Superintendent Tinker, Assistant
General Manager Bates and others
of the general Cfflcs. They were
making tour of the room and Of
the gold and stock department.
They gave valuable aid and advice,
and expressed themselves much
pleased that the situation WAS no
worse. AS one of the officials 70 :
marked, 1t locked an hour ago as if
a Sleet storm had struck the
wires, but now itseems 10 have been
merely a rain storm. An actual
count of operators showed 156 at
work; of these quite number were
girls, and some were employ ees who
had not for some time served at the
wires. Few inquiries were ad-
dressed to these. The men who re-
manned elected the fact that many
Of them had been in the last strike
and did not care to hazard their
chances in another. The messenger
boys and girls remained and were
fitting about as usual, none having
left. a large majority of the Wheat
stone operators remained. Out of
10 ladies employed, Manager
Dealy estimated Fbout chow many p
had left their places. The
night force consisted of from eighty
to 100 opera tors, and 1t is expected
by the manager that less than forty
will appear for duty tonight. One
of the officers of the company who
has most feared the results of the
strike said, we shall have a hard
time, but we shall get through; so
far IL is much better than | antici-
pated
Boston, 10 The working force
of the Western Union telegraph
Office in this city now consists Of
about thirty operators. comprising
officials. clerks, office boys
who have been pressed into
the service, and two operators
who did not join the strikers.
Four wires are in operation between
Boston and New York and some
buSineFs is being done over the
othtr New England wires.