Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-03-08
The C h. &. o Strike

A resolution has been passed, by the |
two great brotherhoods of locomotive |
engine men, that il the trouble on the |
Chicago. Burlington and Quincy road is
not settled by the 18th day of March "al
brotherhood men on the connecting lines
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
system should resign; third, that if this
does not gain the just demands of the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy engineers
and firemen, the entire organization in
the States, Canada and Mexico join in
universal demand for such justice,
said general movement to take place
not before March 80, in order to incon-
venience the travelling and business
public as little as possible" This is
bold plan but will probably fail of bold
execution. The movers in this coup d.
etat. wisely give themselves a pretty
good margin to run on, and before
March 30th the probability is that the
striking engineers and firemen on the
c. B. &. Q. road will be glad to resume
their old positions, on the old basis.
1t was rank folly for these men to go
out as they did on a trumped up griev-
ance. These striking engineers aud
firemen were paid good wages, fairly
proportional to the amount of response
bility and the intelligence and expert
ence of those who assumed these re-
sponsibilites. The whole trouble arose
from the refusal of the Burlington &.
Quincy Company, to pay engineers and
inexperienced men, on the small branch
roads, the same rate of wages that the
experienced engineers on the main lines
were receiving. The brotherhood bus
mess is being run into the ground whe n
men who are getting generous wages
for doing good duty, are willing to leave
their employers and inconvenience the
public traffic, for the sake of abetting
brother engineers in an unreasonable
demand to be paid for light work what
they themselves were getting for far
more onerous duties. These absurd de-
mands have been met by other lines
but it is fatal precedent to establish
and there no reason in nature why such
principle of compensation should be
adopted. 1t would be as sensible to
say that the man who mends your shoes,
shall be paid the same wages as the
man who cuts and fits your clothes.
Skilled labor ana responsibility ought
always to command better pay than
less skillful. The public has been long
suffering but if the resolution we have
quoted be carried into effect and the
men on other lines strike, not because
they have any complaint, but to help
their brothers out, the people will array
themselves on the side of the railroads.
The strikers SO far have not gained their
point and they are not likely to. If they
should gain it, how are they going to
make good the losses incurred during
this period of idleness? The under paid
men are the only ones who will get in
creased wages, if their demands are
met, and itis'nt likely that they will go
shares with their brothers to compen-
safe them for their devotion. 1t is a
principle they are fighting for, and
principle that is wrong. If the organi-
cations for brotherly support cling to
perverted ideas and are ready to go to
the stake for convictions that are obvi
ously false, they will work nothing bur
harm. Where they support the true
principles of labor rights they will be
successful.