The Delta independent., 1888-03-06
[To BE CONTINUED
A BURLINGTON STRIKE.

The Engineers and Firsmen of the
c. b. q Q. Stop Work.
CHICAGO, Fob. 76.-Tour O'Clock
Monday morning was the hour officially
strike on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
railroad. Between.11 and IL O'Clock this
morning s. c. Hoge, chairman of the griev.
ance committee Of the Brotherhood of Lo.
connective Engineers on the Burlington sys-
tenn. and J. H. Murphy, chairman of the
grievance committee of the firemen, called
on General Manager Stone at the company's
Offices and gave him verbal notice that un.
less their demands were acquiesced In, the
men would strike at 4 o'clock tomorrow
morning. Mr.. Hoge briefly stated what the
men wanted.
Mr.. Stone heard them through and asked
IL that was an ultimatum. They said 1t
was. They told him that they, with Chief
Arthur, could be found at the Grand Pacific
hotel until O'Clock in the morning If he
desired to communicate with them. The in
terview was over and the committeeman re-
tired.
In order that the public may understand
the difficulty" said Mr.. Arthur, 81 will say
this: A committee representing the national
organization Of engineers and nremen have
been in Chicago for three weeks trying to
adjust the difference between US and the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy.
"They were put oh with promises and
finally they saw Mr.. Stone, General Man.
ager, but they were unable to effect any set.
tlement Then they sent for Grand Master
Sargent, of the Firemen's Brotherhood, and
myself and we arrived here yesterday morn
ing. We saw Mr.. Stone, Vice President
Peasley and Mr.. Merrill of the company.
We discussed several propositions until
finally the subject of wages was reached.
We then asked for 81 cents per mile for
eight-wheel passenger engines and ~ cents
per mile for six-wheel connected engines.
This Mr.. Stone would not concede.
"Then we conceded the 81 cents and asked
for So cents Per mile regardless of the class
of engines. That is what the Chicago & Al
ton and the Santa Fe systems granted, but
Mr.. Stone would not listen TO 1t. We told
him then that II his engineers and fremen
determined to quit work, we would sane
tion 1t and we retired.'
of engineeIs?"
at will involve every engineer. passen-
ger and frei ght on the Chicago, Burling-
ton & Quincy system. When It occurs the
public will know 1t, but no train will b.
left standing on the track"
Mr.. Arthur said that the present case is
the first instance in ten years that the
Brotherhood Of Engineers failed to settle q
difficulty with railroad company withou
resorting to the extreme measure .of a
strike. There is no fixed rate of wages on
the Chicago, Burlington 4 Quincy, he said,
and all that the men asked was the same
miiage that Is paid by 20 per cent. of the
railroads In the country. The only ques-
ton that was reached in the conference
was that of the wages of passenger engin-
eers. and that Is the only question that will
be involved in the strike.
To a representative Of the Associated
Press Mr.. Stone said tonight there were
about 1 900 engineers and firemen In their
employ. How many OF them belonged to
the brotherhood he did not know, but pre-
sumed they all did.
What Is your programme for tomorrow"
asked the reporter.
I'VE will not attempt to move any freight
trains," he replied. "Our object Is TO run
most Of our suburban and through passen-
ger trains rs usual. Our FIRST endeavor
will be to get in our suburban passengers
and take care Of all passengers for points
not covered by competition. There are n
large number OF men In our employ capable
of running engines, in addition to yard
fOremen and road fnremen, who nearly all
are old engineers.
'.At Aurora we have laboratory where
a large number Of young men are engaged
who have all learned the art of rnnning 10
comoti5es. Ali these will be pressed into
service tomorrow"