New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-21

The strike of the telegraph operators was
continued yesterday with no change on either
side. Conflicting statements were made in re-
gard to the number of men at work in the
various offices and the amount of business
done. The strikers held meeting, received
number of encouraging messages and were as
sured by the leaders that success was certain.
At the Western Union Office last night it was
stated that twO-thirds Of the usual amount Of
business had been done.
POSITION OF THE WESTERN UNION.
BUSINESS SAID TO BE DONE WITH REASONABLE
RApIDTY.
At the Western Union office, at Broadway and
Dey-st., there were hardly any outward evidences
yesterday Of the struggle between the company and
Its employees, which has partly paralyzed the busi-
ness of the country and brought some of it to o
standstill. The placards of warning against delays
remained in the office. One policeman sat all day
upon settle in the thrd-foor corridor within call
of any of the executive offices, and another sat
at the entrance to the operating-room. These were
the only signs of an unusual and abnormal condi-
tion of affairs. Comparatively few men land they
mostly curiosity hunters hung about the doors OF
the building The striking operators and their en-
thnsiastc sgmpathizers were gathered
in the vicinity of Caledonia Hail,
at Eighth-ave. and Thirteenth-st, where
they exchanged words of mutual comfort and en-
couragemont The officers of the Western Union
Company were In their places all day, with fewer
marks Of anxiety and excitement upon their faces
than marked them on Thursday, though it was
plain that they were being crowded with work, and
great loads of responsibility were accumulating ON
their backs.
NO SIGNS OF YIELDING.
IN, ati IL. <bara ~ b
ening in the position taken. The strikers
were enthusiastic in their expressions
of confidence in their within .
week; the Western Union officers protested,
whenever asked. that there could be only one out
come to the struggle and that the unqualified
capitulaton of the strikers On the part of the public
there was lively interest in the contest. the over
whelming Importance of which to commercial Life
was brought home to hundreds of business men
before the strike was half day old. There were
few departments of business that did not feel the
brakes upon their wheels, notwithstanding thae
the Western Union Company had trained
every nerve to supply the wants OF
those branches whose activity depends almost
wholly upon prompt telegraphic communication.
In the Exchanges the situation was considerably
better yesterday than on Thursday, but it was not
difficult to fiud merchants who were dis
gusted and indignant at the delays incurred in
their business Tbs extent of this delay (which
was not denied by the Western Union officials) was
an unknown quantity for which vain search waa
made all day by newspaper reporters.
CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS.
The statements on this point made BY
| the persons interested were widely di-
vergeut. Press Agent Somerville, who is to
be looked upon as the official mouthpece
of the Western Union, said at noon yesterday that
there had been during the forenoon average de-
| lay of two hours on all business and that at 645
a. m., when the night force went off duty, the
| hooks were cean-n other words, the
| company had caught up with the public.
Opposed to this was the statement of person who
| was employed in the operating room during the
night. According to his story the wires at a. m.
were twelve hours behndhand on Boston business.
and from six to ten hours on all other
business. Merchants clerks growled ill-bumoredly.
that they had been waiting since the afternoon OF
the day before for to dispatches sent then,
and some put the delay of their communications at
twenty-four hours Their tempers were not i'm
proved by the doubts that were forced upon
them as to whether their messages were reposng on
| the hooks of the telegraph offices or serenely
| journeying toward their destinations by
expedited mail routes. Under the sup
| Elementary contract between the public and
the company there was good deal of vagueness OF
understanding IN the public mind to the obliga-
tlons of the company in this regard
TALK OF SUITS AGAINST THE COMPANY.
| Some of the doubt and Indignation found express.
sion in talk about suits against the telegraph COM
pany to compel performance of duty in the ante
strike manner, and this led naturally to tho
| suggestion that the Board OF Trade snd
Transportation might become factor in tai
| fight by applying for such mandamcs
| against the telegraph companies as thsy
had tried to secure against the railway companies
when the freight-handlers strike was pending last
year.
! Against one phase of the legal complication
which would result from such proceeding the
Western Union Company fortified itself By requir-
ing each sender of a message to siga an agreement
stamped upon the back of the message that 1t was
| subject TO delay. With end further
| to limit its responsibilities and increase
| its general efficiency the company sus-
pended tho money -order business, refused
all collect messages and closed 1877 of Its branch
offices in this city, The only offices open were
those at the Fifth.Avenue Hotel, at Harlem Manhat-
tanville, No. 20 Broadway, No. Al Broad-st., the
Windsor Hotel, the Grand Central Depot, No. o39
Fifth-ave. No. 395 Third-ave.. Carmansville and
the Stock Produce. Mercantile and Cotton Ex-
changes
HOW MANY OPERATORS WERE AT woRKf
Reports contradictory as those touching tho
| tardiness of the company were also common as to
| the number aud character Of the operators who
were nj work for the Western Union Company. On
this point Mr. Somerville said: "Our whole working
| force before the strike began was 473 men and
| women. We have now 160 working on regular
| hours and our combined day and night force num-
bers about 210 of whom eighty ninety are women
| and the remainder men. We have all the managers
of the branch offices which We have closed at work
now in the head Office and they are all skilful men
Out of all our operators about seventy ara recruits
who came to us when the members Of the Brother
hood left u.s. As matter of fact, we have greater