St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-27
CHAIRMAN Lee REPLIES.
He Places All the Blame on the Railway
Management
AND ASKS SOME QUESTIONS.
No Change in the General Situation.
APriest Advises the Men to
Stay Out.

PoTTsvILLE, Pa, Jan. 26.-Chairman
Lee has just issued his reply to Presi-
dent Corbin, of which the following is
a copy:
MIR. Corbin'S statement of the railroad
troubles and what he calls facts, is
known to be an untrue statement to
mislead the public, as he attempted
to do in the miners case. but
failed. MIR. Corbin says the
employees of this company at
Port Richmond, in charge of
the switch engines, refused to trans
fer the elevator companies goods con-
signed to them, and for refusing were
discharged. Now we ask Mr.. COrbin,
was he not aware that the general
Superintendent, Mr.. Sweigard, had
entered into an agreement that none of
the employees of the company should be
discharged without fair and impartial
hearing. l will refer Mr.. COrbin to
article Is, of the agreement, signed by
Mr.. Sweigard. When the committee
waited on Mr.. Sweigard he
refused to comply with the
articles of agreement, and he further
refused to hold any conference with the
committee. The police and PinkertOn
men were sent to Port Richmond, and
were on the company's property intimi-
dating the employees before any strike
had taken place. This fact alone, Mr..
Corbin. juStitieS the people in saying
that this strike was premeditated by the
officials of the Reading Railroad COM
pany. Bear in mind, Mr.. Corbiu. your
SubOrdinateS discharged the men at
EliZabethport without acknowledging
the agreement between the COM
pany and its employees. We now
would like to call the atten-
on of Mr.. COrbin 10 the fact that the
company, or its representative, Mr..
Sweigard, has made objections TO labor
organizations, and so stated that they
would wipe out the Knights of Labor.
Finally on Saturday, the oath day of De-
cember, the general manager issued an
order that the names of such employees
as did not report for duty on the morn
ing of Tuesday, the 9th day of Deem
Der. would be stricken off the rolls. and
theu places filled by new men. That
was done. Right here, Mr.. COrhin, we
place our side of the case before the
people and say that was not done.
When our committee visited Mr.. Swell
gard on December Monday. the Goth,
llAC NOlilullllCC dSlGtu Will MI.
SWeigard TO make an unconditional
surrender to him for the discharge of
the five crews, together with Bernard
Sharkey and Ambrose Hede: and then
agreed To obey the order issued by Gen
eral Manager Mcleod, that the men
who did not report for duty would be
discharged. Now, right here, Mr. Cor
bin, we would like TO ask you, did the
company carry out the orders issued by
the general manager when the subordi-
mates under the general manager dis
charged all the prominent men along
the entire line of the road who complied
with his order OF Saturday. Dec. "a. and
did go into effect Tuesday, Dec. 27.Who
is at fault in this difficulty, the men who
Obeyed the order of the general man
ager. or the officials who diSreSpected
MIR. Mcleod and his order OF Dec. "a?
Mr.. COrbin says no man shall be OStra-
ciSed on this road because he belongs to
labor organization. All that is eX-
pected from our employee is to render
faithful service and obey the manage
ment. If Mr.. COrbin means what he
says and will act accordingly, there is
no good reason why he will not hear
our SIDE of the case, and when he
gets the mems side of this case, he can
not say they refused to obey the order
GERS have lost their heads and caused
this strike. why not shoulder the re-
spOnsibility where it belongs and start
your mines and railroad, and do not let
the public suffer any loss and incon-
Venience on account of the action of a
few stubborn officials over whom you
have absolute control. The trouble
was caused by them, and it is the opin-
ion of the general public that it is your
duty to end the trouble.
JOHN L. LEE,
Chairman of Executive Committee.
The general situation remains about
the same among the strikers.
ADVISED BY a PRIEST.
Special to the Globe.
POTTsvILLE, Pa. Jan. 26.-In contra
diction to his fellow-priests at Shenan-
doah. New Philadelphia and Po;tsville,
Father Mccullough, of Girardville, adj
vises the men to hold out and they are
bound to win. Very few GOLFERS of any
kind worked to-day on account of snow
blockadeS.