St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-06
The STRIKE STILL ON
Cable Car E mployes Fiereely
Resolve to Stand for the
Increase.
A Meeting at Which Violence
Is Deprecated, but the
Men Firm.
The Drowned IntoXieant
Turns Out to Be Car
penter Sweet.
Lack Of Conductors on Street
Cars Censured by a Cor
oner's Jury.

Liz SldlcUl6HlS Iudl6 III Gli0 olJ0l-
noon papers yesterday that the diff
Guilty among the laborers on the Selby
and University avenue extension had
been practically settled, and that the
men had returned to work, was hardly
in keeping with the state of affairs de-
veloped at the meeting held last even
ing at 70 East Seventh street.
The time announced for the opening
of the meeting was s o'clock, and
by that hour fully 200 men were packed
into the hall. A hundred more had
squeezed in somewhere before the work
of the evening began, and on all sides
could be heard expressions of deter
mination to hold out to the end in this
fight against the company. 1t seems
that the incipient trouble, which began
in the refusal of the company to
allow it's laborers to ride home on
the cars from their work unless they
paid the regular fee, is destined to as
sumo unsupported proportions. Upon
the company's refusal to carry them
home from work the men changed the
form of their petition and made a de-
mand for S1,75 instead of the $1.50 per
day they had been getting. This was
refused, and hence the present trouble
and the stormy meeting last
night. William Gleason, whom
the companY'S agents accuse OF
being the chief inStigator and ring
leader of the present strike, was unani-
mOuSly elected chairman of the meet
ing. He opened the ball with an ad-
dress, in which he urged the men to
hold out Tor the pay demanded. and to
70 ind u0Q thn m work
ing for 81. so to join in the fight. EX-
President E. C. Ives, of the Topographic
cal union, took the stand and delivered
a sensible address. He urged the labor
ing men present to strike at the root Of
the evil rather than waste their energy
in an effort to lop off the branches.
1.-THE success of the older organized bodies
such as the cigarmakers' union, the IRON
workers union, and dozen others could
name,'' continued the speaker, us evidence
enough that organization Is essential to the
success of such fights against capital as this
one. Now. as far as l can discover, the de-
mand made of the street car company by the
men l see here tonight is a just one and
ought to be acceded to. l want to say
few words though, about the methods to be
adopted to caution you against any Demon
stration of violence Anything of that kind
does more harm than good-in fact, all harm
and no good. A determined attitude on the
part OF the men on strike, and legitimate
effort 10 induce others to maintain the de-
mand for better pay is the sort OF thing that
tells in the end. The sympathy of the pub
lie in such an event is with the men who are
asked to do the hardest kind of work ten
hours day for 81 so, and walk four miles to
and from the scene of their labor"
Ives was loudly cheered at the con-
clusion Of his speech, and, stepping
down, gave place toseyeral other speak
ers, who addressed the meeting in Nor
Hegian and Swedish. Lars Peterson,
one of the strikers, said in Swedish:
That the wages paid by the company
amounted to good deal less than 80 a
week in reality. He was man with rent to
pay and family to keep. II had cost him a
large sum the past winter for coal to keep his
little place warm, and at the present rate OF
pay he would not make enough all summer
to pay for his winters fuel. When
his time at the end of the week on account of
rain and time lost in other ways, he generally
had between seven and eight dollars due
him, and that would not pay his weekly bills.
He wanted every Swede in the meeting (and
there were 100 to remember that they were
men aud had to command the respect
OF the country by keeping their families
in q manner that should entitle them to the
respect of the community in which they
lived. They could not do it with the pay
they had been receiving, and it was their
duty to stand steadily together for the good
of the labor cause.
There were about dozen other
speakers, all of whom urged the men to
stand by each other and refuse to work
on the old schedule. Each speaker in
turn was applauded uproariously, and
frequent cries of Were with you"
''That's the stuff" ITO h with the
ScabS - were to be heard
All entrances to the hall we're care
fully guarded and each man as he en-
tered the hall was subjected to care
full scrutiny unless known. Several re-
porters who applied for admission were
not allowed to enter. The press of the
city was roundly abused by Gleason,
the chairman of the meeting, who de-
clared that there was not newspaper
in the city which would print a
true report of the condition of labor in
the town, nor of the proceedings of a
labor meeting. He stated that the men
proposed to run this affair themselves,
without the assistance of the news
papers, or the Misrepresentation which
had always marked the course of the
papers here in labor affairs. Gleason
is youth about twenty years
old, who as he addressed the
GLOBE representative struck an
attitude like that OF Ajax defying the
lightning, and looked as severe as a
Methodist deacon. 1t seemed that the
majority of the men present were of
foreign nationality, and fully half the
speeches were in the Swedish and Nor
Wegian tongues. A number Of resolu-
lions were passed, the senti-
ment of all of them being in
favor of holding out until
the demand for more men had been ac-
ceded to. At the conclusion of the
speeches committee was appointed to
wait on Supt. Scott this morning and
make formal demand for the increase
of wages. If the company refuses to
grant the advance the men will refuse
to go to work.
SWEETS SUICIDE.