Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-19
MANY CARS BLOCKED.
The Strike on the P. Y. & c. Railroad
Growing Very Serious.
NO CARS 60 WEST VIA PORT PERRY
And the Railroad officials Fear the Strike
May Spread.
HOMESTEAD STEEL WORKS CRIPPLED

There are 600 cars blocked at Port Perry
as a result of tie strike of through freight
brakemen- on the Monongahela division OF
the Pennsylvania Railroad, assisted by the
freight handlers at Port Perry. The through
freight brakemen struck on Tuesday morn
ing and the freight handlers quit work yes
terday.
AS result of the strike there has not only
not been any freight shipped on the Pitts
burg, Virginia and Charleston Railroad, but
all Western freight from the Pennsylvania
Railroad which is usually shipped over the
Panhandle via Port Perry is stopped. The
regular crews on the Pennsylvania Rail-
road refuse to take the freight over the Mo-
nongahela division, as they are in sympathy
with the strikers. Yesterday afternoon the
Pennsylvania Railroad began to send west
bound freight through the city to reach the
Panhandle, but this is slow work and
freight trains are accommodating at a remark
able rate.
ID. NJ Watts, Superintendent Of the
Monongahela division of the Pennsylvania
Railroad. has spent two days out on the line
attempting to adjust the differences, but so
fa- his endeavors have proven unavailing-
THE MEMS DEMANDS.
The men insist that they should be paid
The same wages conceded to the yard brake
men or So 16 for day work and 81 % for
night labor.
They claim thev were promised this advance
and they will listen TO no plans for a settle
ment. which do not include the increase. While
there are but IS men engaged in the strike, yet
they alone can handle the cars as no yardlnen
or railroaders from other lines can be induced
to take their places. The strikers have simply
quit work and refuse to 60 near the line nor to
send committees to confer with the company.
Meanwhile, the railroad officials are becoming
alarmed, as they do not know but that under
the excitement of the Cleveland strike the men
on all the lines leading into Pittsburg may
strike if they feel that it is incumbent upon
Pittsburg is the great distributing center for
Eastern and Western freight and most OF the
freight consigned to Cleveland comes through
Pirtsburg. The men evidence decided
unwillingness to handle this freight for fear
that they would endanger the Cleveland yard
men in gaining their point. Another serious
phase to the strike which has presented itself
is the fear by the railroad officials that If the
Cleveland strike is settled by a concession of
the demands of the yardmen for the Chicago
scale, the local yardmen will insist that they
also receive the scale.
They were making 81 50 a day. and demanded
from s. 30 to 81 80 or the Chicago scale. Their
demands were finally compromised by the pay
ment OF from 81 l6 to 81 g per day. II the
Chicago scale be granted the Cleveland yard
men it is probable that the local yardmen will
level. This complication is puzzling the rail-
road officials who do not know now to act under
the circumstances
CRIPPLING CARNEGIE.
II the strike is not settled within day or
two Carnegie's Homestead mill will in all
probability have to shut down. The mill is en-
tirely at the mercy of the Pittsburg, Virginia
and Charleston road, and if the latter cannot
move cars into the mill yard the plant will have
Tr wifi onlv linitpd cTr
ply of stock on hand. and there is very little
coke on the sldings. The company owns num-
Der of shifting engines by which 1t can move its
own cars after the latter have been run into
the mill yard, but it is question whether the
shifters could go out on the road after the cars
or not. AT the time of the last Lake Erie
strike the shutters at divers mills were ordered
out on the road to get cars, but the men re-
The firm has a number of Government con-
tracts on hand and cannot afford to shut down:
The mill is turning out about 1000 tons of
cruiser steel each month for Cramps shipyard.
The company will also likely get the contract
cruiser, the largest war vessel ever built In the
world.
There are also a number of other mills along
the south shore of the Monongahela river that
depend on the railroad for an outlet for their
stuff If the mills cannot get their cars in and
out, they will have to close down until the
strike Is settled. One department of Carnegie
was closed down Tuesday on account of not
being able 10 get car OF machinery into the
yard. The railroad company could not deliver
it and the department had 10 close. --
LOSS ON PERIsHABLE FREIGHT.
Should the railway tie-up continue and ex-
tend to other cities there is a prospect not only
that many thousands of people will be put on
short rations Of green stuff, but that the rail-
way companies will suffer enormous loss on
perishable stuff Colonel Kilgore yesterday
Inspected and confscated 80 bushels of pota-
toes that had been shipped from Newbern,
NC.
Southern shippers of garden stuff and berries
are suffering greatly from irregular shipments
and extortiOnate prices charged on some short
lines. Where il is shown that delay is caused
by negligence the railway companies some-
times held responsible, but in the matter of
freights. some of the connecting lines charge
pretty much what they please. AWest Tennessee
shipper named Barnes cells shipping carload
of berries to Chicago and being charged as
much .eii~ l12-Inile- railroad the freight
amounted TO on all the rest of the road. Col
onel Kilgore tells of shipment of strawberries
from Columbia, Tenn, that consumed IA DAYS
in reaching this city. They were worthless
when delivered to the consignee.