St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-15


buy labor if the terms demanded for 1t
do not suit him. The workingman has
right to refuse to sell his labor if the
price offered for it and the circum-
stances under which the offer is made
do not suit him."
"Then you contend the men have a
right to quit their engines when and
where they please?"
''Oh, no. | do not. The laws of Hi
nois provide that if any locomotive en-
gineer in furtherance OF any cOmblna-
ton or agreement, shall Wlllfully and
maliciously abandon his locomotive upon
any railroad at any other point than the
regular scheduled destination Of such
locomotive, he shall be fined not less
than $50, nor more than $780, and con-
fined in the county Jail, not less than
twenty days, nor more than ninety
days. Therefore engineers cannot quit
their engines at any time or place. They
must deliver the engines at their regul
scheduled destination"
''But can they quit them after bring
ing them to their respective places OF
destination, if the quitting shows on its
face that there was an agreement all
along line to do sop
Certainly. Another section of the
| law from which l have alread quoted
| (here Mr.. Sullivan turned to the Illinois
| statutes AGAIN. reads as follows: This
| act shall not be construed to apply to
cases of persons voluntarily quitting the
! employment of any railroad company OF
| such other corporation, firm or lndlvld-
ual, whether by concert of action or 9th
| erWiSe, except as is provided in section
l of this act''
"Butif the quitting shows ii is the re-
suit of conspiracy"
''If an unlawful combination is made
willfully and maliciously to injure the
property, business or employment OF
any person or corporation, those max
ing it are guilty of a crime and can be
! punished for such crime. 1t is matter
| of business. not of Sensiment or hatred.
| There will be no conspiracy entered
into by the engineers OF the brother
hood to injure the business or the prop
erty of the Quincy. The injury which
is being inflicted Oh its property is not
the work of the brotherhood"
"Why, who is injuring its property%'
''The incompetent engineers who
have taken the place of the Brother
ing its engines. The Brotherhood have
an affection for their old companions
| the engines. They always cared well
for them even at the peril Of their lives.
| They will never abuse them"
'The dispute is concerning wages.
The pretense about system of man
agement being interfered with is a
mere subterfuge. The question at is
sue is one of wages" The men do not
care whether the Quincy pays by the
mile or by the trip, providing it pays
them as much as other roads do for the
same service. If the trip from Aurora
| to GaleSburg were paid for at
the same rate paid by the
Wabash, Santa Fe, Rock Island, Alton
| and other roads, the passenger engineers
would receive $4.3714 in place of S3.75.
The Quincy managers say: we don't
want your interference in our system
We prefer it to the mile rate Very
WE'LL, say the engineers, make your
rate 1875 for an engineer on a pas
senger train from Aurora to Galesburg
and you need not say word about your
blessed system. Preserve that pet name.
Disregard the vulgar mile plan of COM
penSatiOn. But don't shave our wages
down as a cost of saving the SYSTEM
We have no objection to it; but we do
not regard il as luxury for which we
should be taXed.'"
SIS it not fact that the Quincy men
were satisfied and that they were
ordered by secret society to demand
greater pay than they were getting?
Did not Mr.. Arthur come here as the
representative of that secret society and
compel the Quincy men to striker"
sit is not true that the Quincy men
were satisfied. 1t is not true they were
ordered by a secret society to strike.
The Quincy men were so dissatisfied
that of their own motion they resolved
by twO-thirdS vote not to work at the
Quincy wages. After they so resolved,
Stone, manager of the Quincy, and en-
deavored to bring about settlement.
Mr. Arthur has no power to order the
Quincy men to strike. He has not the
power to order them to return to
work. His duty is to bring about
settlement if that be possible. He
has gone so far as to offer on behalf of
the men to submit the dispute to arbi-
tratiOn and to agree that all three of the
arbitrator shall be railroad managers
or presidents. The Quincy road refuses
arbitration. The conferences of the
engineers are no more secret than those
of the directors of the Quincy road.
Each body meets in private and deter
mines its course. Neither body holds its
meetings in public halls, in the presence
of the other or in the presence of the
representatives of the press. What
bOSh it is to speak of one as a secret
body and of the other as a public one.
is not only their right, it is the duty
of the engineers and fremen to keep
their own counsel and to admit no out
siders to their confidence. All prudent
business men pursue this course"
''Do you contend that there is no law
which will punish men for striking"
Certainly do, if the strike is law
fully conducted"
''rhen what may they do legally to
bring about striker"
1.-The statute | have already quoted
declares that the act of quitting employ
ment. whether by concert of action OF
singly, is no crime.
"They have no right to enter upon
the premises of an employer. Nor have
they right to interfere with men going
to or from their places of employment.
But they have a perfect right to
discuss with other WOrkingmen
the question of labor and the incidental
questions connected Herewith. And if
by reason, by argument, by the peace
full consideration of their mutual inter-
ests, they can convert other working
men to their economic view, they
clearly have the right to do so. 1t will,
therefore, be seen that under the law,
labor as we'll as capital can so organize
as to act in concert. The engineers and
firement are intelligent enough to do
IL