Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-11-12
AN IMPORTANT MOVE.
A Disruption Among Train
men Threatened.
THE CONDUCTORS DISSATISFIED
They Talk of Having a Separate
Organization West of the
Missouri River.

A movement is said to be on foot
among the railroad conductors in this
section, that if carried out will create a
big sensation for all the trainmen in the
country.
Among the rules laid down for obedi-
ence by members of the order OF Rail
road Conductors is one that says that on
no condition whatever is a strike to be
made by members of the organization.
This clause has for some time past been
a bone of contention between
the "Cons" east and west of
the Missouri River, but as the lines
east of the river have the ruling vote,
owing to their numerical strength it has
always been upheld in spite Of strenuous
opposition from this side. As a result
the western conductors are, it is said,
secretly dissatisfied among themselves at
the ruling of the chief officer of the Or
ganization, who, by the way, gets $4,000
for attending to their affairs, and a pro-
Ject is now on foot to break away from
the general body and establish a separ-
ate order for lines west of the river which
will run independently of the pres
ent organization. The matter is
being kept very quiet, but HERALD
man has received information that within
the next two weeks the conductors of
Southern California will send delega-
tion to Denver, where conference is to
be held regarding the matter. The sub.
iect has been brought up now through the
recent strike on the Santa Fe road. The
brakemen, through the strength of their
organization, with which, of course, the
company did not care to engage in war,
succeeded in gaining nearly all the points
they demanded, and this made the con.
ductors a little envious when they re-
membered a little incident that hap
pened some two years ago. Last
fall the Santa Fe brakemen sent
in a request to headquarters for bet
ter pay, which, although it did not take
the form of demand, was looked on as
such, for refusal would have been fol-
lowed by strike. The company ac-
ceeded to the requests presented, and as
result the brakemen on that road are
now the best paid of any men doing that
work in the country. This set the Santa
Fe conductors to thinking. They were
not receiving as much remuneration as
their confreres on the Southern Pacific,
for on that road freight conductors get
from 800 to 500 month and
passenger conductors 500 to $115
| whereas the Santa Fe men do moi
reach those figures by several dollars
They decided to ask the company tc
place them on the same financial footing
with their equals on the opposing line
and they sent a neatly worded petition tc
that effect. They waited and waited,
but like another ofttold of missive, "the
letter that they longed for never came, +"
and they gave up all hopes of ever re-.
ceiving it. This has since that time
been source of discomfort, and but for
the restricting clause in the organization
a strike would probably have oc-
Cured among them long ago.
If the threatened disruption in the
order takes place the railroad
companies this side Of the river
will find themselves confronted with
possibilities of strikes from an organiza-
ton that has heretofore always been re-
lied on TO keep at work. The Santa Fe
conductors have no complaint beyond
this financial one to make regarding the
company. They are we'll treated and
we'll officered and they swear by their
road with as much enthusiasm as the
old Guard did by the name of 1.-The little
Corporal"
CHAT WITH "CoN."
ga conductor occupies the most un.
certain position on the road," said q
ticket-puncher to HERALD scribe yes
terday afternoon. "It requires men with
a good deal of tact to keep their places
because they are always subject to
the supervision of spoilers and if
these gentlemen make any charges
against them they have no chance to
clear themselves. When spotter sends
in report against conductor the
trainman few days later receives doc
ument from headquarters informing him
that his services are dispensed with on
account of cause and this is the only
excuse that is offered for removing him
from his position. At one time the dis.
charge papers contained more lengthy
excuses, saying that the discharge was
made for dishonest returns, but one or
two suits were brought against the rail.
roads for defamation Of character by the
e,-officials, 80 the roads adopted that lit
tie word cause which has been used ever
since and always implies that it is the
result OF spoilers report. A conductor
can never tell when he is being watched
for the identity of the spoilers is not
known, or else, Of course, their services
would be valueless. The boys caught on
to one short time ago and gave each
other the tip all over the coast, the re-
suit being that the individual in ques-
tion had to speedily change his residence
to more Eastern cline. A spotter gets
about SIS day from the company he
works for and is generally a
man without principle at all and
is recruited from outside channels, for
no railroad man, no matter how
broken down he might be, would
ever take such position. As result Of
the policy of these individuals many an
innocent man is let out through their
scurrilous work for if they sent in reports
OF honest men all the time the company
would think they did no work, and their
positions would soon be vacant. Some
people imagine that knocking down is
characteristic of every conductor, but
can tell you that we have Just as many
men of principle and honor in our ranks
as in any other business. To be sure
there are a whole lot of black sheep, but
the old adage give man enough rope
and he will hang himself applies won.
derfully well, for they all trip up sooner
or later"