The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-13
STRIKE DECLARED.
CENTRAL RAILROAD OPERATORS
QUIT WORK.

for the Present-Places of Operators
Being Filled by Other Employees.
AS was anticipated in the MORNING NEWS
OF yesterday the operators on the Central
railroad are out on strike. The trouble
eliminated early In the morning when 5upt.
Wadley refused to have any further COM
n d lication either with the committee or
with Deputy Chief Tobie, who came here
for the purpose OF acting as mediator be-
tween the men aud the railroad authorities
AS has already been stated Mr. Tobie
directed communication to Mr.. Wadley
| Saturday asking for an interview on the
situation and e reply was received yester-
day morning. The answer was addressed
to Mr.. Tobie, as deputy grand chief of the
Order of Railway photographers.
MR.. wADLEY s IDEA OF 1T.
In 1t Mr.. Wadley said: ANY differences
| between the employees OF the company and
the officers can be smicably arranged be-
tween them as individuals without outside
interference, and consequently there is no
reason why should meet you to discuss the
situation
The reply was in a measure expeoted, but
still ths men had hopes that Mr. Wadley
would see their representative. But their
hopes were blasted by the short but positive
answer of Mr.. Wadley. Immediately after
the receipt OF Mr.. Wadley's note q CONSUL
tatton was held between the committee, Mr..
Toble and other operators in the city and
| the situation was viewed from every posi-
BILE standpoint. The men could come to but
one conclusion, they said. under the circum-
stances, and that was to strike, Accord =
ingly at O'Clock p. M, Mr.. Tobie
sent telegram to every OPP
orator on the line detailing the
circumstances aud ordering them to
quit work at once The operators all over
| the system have been daily expecting sue
an order and were. consequently, prepared
for IL. There are about $50 operators on
| the line, and nearly all of them are mem
bers OF the order and had previously
decided to go out unless their demands were
acceded to.
MR.. rOBIE WOULDN'T TALK,
Soon after the order to strike was issued
1t soon became noised abroad, and created
| general Comment as TO what the result
OH the business Of the railroad would be,
and what the outcome Of tue contest be-
tween the operators and the railroad would
come to. Mr.. Tobie and the leading mem
bers of the committee betook themselves to
their room in the Screven house
and refused to sec anybody.
A reporter for the MORNING News tried
to see Mr.. TOble, aud one of the committee
| volunteered to try TO gain an audience wit h
| him for the reporter, but to no avail. Mr..
| Tobie said that he was busily engaged in his
| correspondence and that ne had nothing to
! say.
The operators were feeling hopeful yes
| terday that they would eventually win.
They said that they were in the fight to q
| finish. They seem to think that the engi-
neers on the road will object to taking or
1 dare
| they will be involved In the contest. The
men are certain that they have the sympa-
thy OF the engineers, but whether that sym
| patty will take definite aud decisive shape
| must develop later. The situation would
certainly obtain a much more serious as
poet in case other employees should join in
the strike, but at present there Is nothing
to warrant an opinion that the contest will
assume any larger proportions than at
present.
MR.. wADLEY IS NOT AFRAID.
Mr.. Wadley is not afraid OF the outcome
evidently. He has not only discharged all
| of the committee on grievances which has
been In Savannah for the past two weeks,
| but one OF the first things be did yesterday
| morning after he got 70 his Office was to
| discharge the operators Of the dispatcher's
Office. They were A. D. Maxwell, II.
O'Brien, 9. A. Dixon and II. l.. Carpenter
Dispatcher Harris was allowed to resign
upon bis own request. One OF the dis
charged men said that AR. Wadley stated
to them that he had no fault to find with
their work, but that they were members OF
| the order that had been causing him trouble
| and he wished to have no more dealings
with them unless they were out OF 1t. These
men would have gone out any way when the
strike was ordered, 50 their discharge
worked no more Inconvenience than would
have occurred later In the day. They said
that Mr.. Wadley had one man to take their
place, Mr.. G. A. Rowe of New York, aud
that as soon as they left this msa began
| work at the key.
THE RAILROADS. SIDE OF IT.
Supt. Wadley was seen at bis office late
yesterday afternoon and talked readily OF
| the situation. He was asked If the strike
would seriously Inconvenience the railroad.
"The Inconvenience will be very slight, u
said Mr.. Wadley. "This move by the OPP
orators was anticipated by us this morning.
Orders were given for all trains to run by
schedule. Only schedule trains are on the
| line now. No special trains and no extras
have been sent out and everything is work.
| ing nicely. There are no trains tied up on the
line as reported. Our chief Inconvenience
at present is caused by operators leaving
their keys open and semaphore signals up
to stop trains, preventing the transmission
| Of messages and Interfering with the train
| service. As soon as we can get rid OF al
these fellows and get them clear away from
their offices we will be able to manage
everything without any trouble
| Shave many of the operators gone outr
Mr.. Wadley was asked.
| "Well, believe they have, pretty gener.
ally" was the reply. 'At the smaller
stations especially. There are good many
| agents who are operators who have not
| gone out. We have ten operators left be-
tween Savannah and Macon and five be-
tween Macon and Atlanta. so you see we
are not entirely helpless
| "Win you be able to operate a unsatisfactory
service by schedule" was asked.
Certainly" was the reply. THE Gen.
trial railroad OF Georgia was operated by
schedule entirely until 1889 when the tele.
graph service was introduced. There are
not many more trains running now thau
| then aud it will not take long to reintro-
duce the old system and have IL working
| satisfactorily"
| Mr.. Wadley said that he had numbers OF
applications from telegraph operators from
all directions who were willing to take the
places vacated by the strikers. 10 would
not take very long to fill all the places ne
said. The members of the Order of Rail
way TeleZraphers in the dispatoher's office
at Savannah were discharged yesterday
morning by Mr.. Wedley's orders.