St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-30

number of the strikers made remarks,
the substance of which was that other
| I.labOrers were getting S1.50 day and
| upwards, and they did not see why they
should not get the same. They
ALI. ADVISED A STRIKE,
saying that St.25 day was not enough
for any man to live upon. and they
would not lose much if they lost their
jobs. They apparently had no griev-
ance, except that they wanted 25 cents
day more pay. After some discussion
committee, consisting of Messrs. Kelly,
COnroy, Deal, Davis, Farmer, Foley and
Maloney, was appointed to go up and
ask Supt. Wise for an extra
quarter day. The committee left;
were made by J. F. Cronin, j. ID. .Cough4
lin and James Burns. These gentlemen
| all spoke in favor of the demand for in
| creased pay, and advised the men to
| keep away from saloons, to avoid gath
ering on the streets in groups, not to
4 Interfere with men working and to re-
| turn to their homes quietly after the
| man to be present at the meeting on
( Payne avenue last night and to meet
again at the hall at 10 a. m. to-day. The
! committee returned after brief alb
| sence with the report that Supt. Wise
! declined to give them any raise in
wages, but said that they could come
and get their time and wages whenever
they wanted it. The question whether
to ask for S1.i5 or S1.50 caused conSid-
cradle discussion, but it was at last
| decided to be modest in their demands
and only ask for the smaller sum. AZ
| show of hands was asked for of those
who would prefer to lose their jobs to
working for S1.25 a day. Every hand
went up and a big cheer shook the build
ing. AT precisely 6 p. m. the meeting
adjourned, and the perfume of that
chamber after the gang departed was
indescribabe. The air had been
breathed over and over again by over
1000 pairs of lungs, and vast clouds Of,
tobacco smoke had been added to it, so!
that it was trifie Stutfy when the meet
| ing adjourned. After the meeting
Messrs. Coughlin. Cronin, Burns. and
| several other prominent men in labOE
| circles were asked for an expression Of
| opinion on this second edition of th6
strike. Mr.. Cronin said:
| We had nothing 10 do with it, it took us
| entirely by surprise. as we had tried two
weeks ago to get these men to strike, without
I success. Had they struck when we did, it
| would have compelled the street car COM
pany to back down. 1 don't see how it VIII
| affect the first strike now. 1t will do 1t no
| harm, but can't see how it will help us
much. None Of US knew anything about it
| till we were told they had struck. OF courses
we offered them the use of the hall, as that is
| what 1t is here for, | don't see what the conn
| pany can do, as II will be harder for it to get
! men to take the jobs at S1.25 day than it
would have been to have filed the drivers,
places at $50. This latter they failed to do5
| and had to import men to run the cars
Mr.. CoughIn said:
We are only acting in our individual
| capacity in this strike. 1t is not Knights OF
Labor affair at all. as these men are entirely
| unorganized. We are not authorized by any
1ohn zatf T. hnlf h ic ctrt lN,,H
are simply doing it Of our own free will You
know it is reported that the street com!
| pany took the contract from the gas com:
| pany at $1.50 a day, and is only paying
| Sl25 OF course that is business but the
men do not propose to work for Sl.25 an(sf
| so far as we can learn, no men pre working
on similar work for less than Sl50. can't
see how twill affect the street car strike one
| way or the other. OF course it gives tha
company more trouble, but cannot see that
| 1t will help us. -
While this meeting was taking placa
| Supt. Cliff Wise was seated in his Dri-
vate office, over the Peoples bank, sur!
rounded by maps, plans and elevations
of 2. L. Barr's cable-car slots and pulS
| leyS. He did not seem much worried
about affairs. and talked freely about
the situation.
The cause of the strike" said he, sig
| simply this number of professional laboH
! agtators and some of the other strikers gOt
around among the men and persuaded them
| to strike OF course ii causes some tempor-
ary inconvenience, but we shall go on with
the work tomorrow just the same. NinetY
| per cent of the men who have struck, did itj
| through fear. | went around among themi
replied that they had nothing to complain Of
| either in work or wages. Not a single
man has ever applied to me for raise of
wages, or even intimated that they would
! like it. But when gang of rutfianS came
| down the street and forced some to quit the
| others were afraid to refuse. In many cases
men said they would not quit, but told them
| they had better do so for the afternoon, and
| report for work in the morning as usual
| don't believe that the majority of them are
/ fools enough to throw up their jobs, know
! ing, as they well do, that there are hundreds
| of others able and even anxious to take their
| places at once. You will find that the ma
jority of them will be working in the morn
| ing; If they are not some one else will, so
| that's all there is to it,
AT this point Col. Barr entered:
''Well, colonel said the reporter zap.
| parently your life is not happy one.''
| COL. BARR Is HAPPY.
| Perfectly happy replied Col. Barr, with
smile, the more trouble am in the hap
! pier am. A little thing like this does NOT
| bother me. Give them their time, Mr.. Wise,
as soon as ever, they want it. There are
don't propose to pay S1.5o when we can get
men for S1.25. This strike is just caused by
lot of good-for- or-nothing agitators who
walk around and persuaded some and
L
| all right i'll the morning"
Later in the evening Col. Barr said:
| Some of the men have come for theik
! checks, about twenty-eight in all, believe.
| A number of these have since returned thems
| expressing the intention of going to work iIA
the morning. We have hundreds of applica.3
| tons for work every day, and shall find no
| difficulty at all i'll filling the places of those
| who do not choose to go back. My impreS.
| sion is that these will be few; as the men
| must know that there are so many Others out
| of work and looking for jobs that it will only
| require a few hours to fill their places. We
| shall go on with that work just the same,
| either with the old men or with some others.''
"Do you expect any trouble with the new
| men on the cars when they are reduced to
| Sl.50 day.
| The only reduction 1 have heard of has
! been in the papers. and the only accounts Of
| our having ever paid more than that haves
! come through the papers from outside par
! ties. have seen 1t stated that we have been
| paying them So day, So a day, So a day and
| statement as 10 what we have been paying,
| and l am not going to, but there will be no
| strike on their part. AS for this new strike it
| does not amount to anything and does not
| those other strikers had nothing to do with
| this? They were at the bottom of the whole
| business They can deny it if they like, but,
| they are responsible. and if they say they
| don't see how it will benefit them that IS
| merely bluff. 1t keeps the agitation up in
| creases their numbers, and was intended as q
| blow at the car company. 1t will not hurt US
| at all, as we have all the men we can en-
ploy''
Supt. Wise also stated that there were
| thousands of men out of employment,
| and from the indications he would have
| no difficulty in filling the strikers,
| places. He did not expect to have to