The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-03-15
NCHIEF ARTHUK.

The head of the Brotherhood OF Loco
motive Engineers, Mr.. P. NJ. Arthur, by
his prominence in encouraging the
strikes on certain western railroads ID
provoking search into his entire career
as an advocate of the rights OF LABOR
The New York Nation says of him:
1.-THE public has been for some years
in fact, for nearly as long as people IN
our time remember any news of the day
which does not concern them personally
accustomed to hearing Mr.. p. M. Ar
thur and the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers spoken of as very conserva
tive. prudent and public spirited body,
forming a marked contrast in their man
agement of their affairs to the other
trades unions. This view of them, too,
has been fully justified by their course
during the past ten years, and no Journ'
al has been more careful to take 1t than
the Nation has been. We have refrained
from any alusion to the hot headed and
demagogic beginnings of Arthur's ca
reer as a labor astator, But now that
he seems disposed to repeat his old fol-
lies, and convert every trade dispute in
to an attack on the whole community.
and to try to paralyze the business OF a
whole nation, in order that few hun
dred men may force a corporation to
employ them at rates fixed by them
selves, it seems time to recall his earlier
performances as a labor manager.
HE succeeded in 1878, as head of the
Brotherhood, a very conservative man
named Wilson, who refused to counte-
nance a strike on the leased lines of the
Pennsylvania Company in that year.
When he took office, he was full of fight,
and began policy Of steady striking on
the New England roads. His strikes, be-
ing novelties both to the public and the
roads, were mostly successful. The
roads succumbed because public opinion
was in that early, rudimentary stage in
which everything that Labor did or
said seemed rig. His plan of opera.
tions at that time was 10 decide on a
strike secretly and give secret instruc
tons to the engineers as to the hour at
which the strike was to take place. Two
hours notice, and only two hours no
tice, was then given to the company,
and when the time came every engineer
stopped his train wherever it happened
to be, and stood by the engine for two
hours more to give the company an op,
portunity to give way. If by that time
it had made no concession. he took him
self off, though we believe it was not
uncommon for him to detach the loco
motive and convey himself to the near
est station, leaving the train standing in
the middle of the track, no matter how
many passengers it contained. or what
was the season of the weather. One OF
Arthur's strikes, and the most atrociou'
of all, was carried out in this manner on
the Grand Trunk Line, in December. in
the midst of Canadian snow and ice; and
trains containing women and children
were abandoned on the track, far from
towns or houses and men who were SEN
to work the engines were actually
mobbed and driven off by the ruflians o
the Brotherhood, acting under his direc
lions.
cat last, however, the companies wer
reused into resistance by Artbur's grow
ing audacity. He had carried through
five strikes in six months and had boast
ed at a meeting of his followers in Fan
euil Hall, that he had only 'to raise hi
hand to stop every railroad running on
of Boston, This impudence was NOR
than the community could stand, 8
when he made an onslaught on the Bos
ton and Maine road early in 1877, he wa
collared and subdued, His, formal de
mands in this case were small-ten cent
day increased pay to sixty-seven men
but the real question involved wa