The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-08-24


He Cannot Order Strike Of Firemen, SO
Grand Secretary Debs Says
Special to the indianapolis Journal
S TERRE HAUTE, Ind. Aug. 23.-Grand Sec
Rotary Debs, of the Brotherhood of Loco
motive Flrcmen. is out in an interview in
which there 10 great deal of signiticance
Nr. Debs 10 really the founder of the order.
and has been with 1t much longer than
Grand Master Sargent. Mr.. Debs Save his
opinion emphatically that there would be
no firemcn's strike; that there was abso-
lutely no con tingency. under the facts in
the case and the rules In the fire.
mons Organization. where flremans
strike could occur. Mr.. Debs said: II
notice in the interview with Mr.. Sargent
at Buffalo. 40 reported last evening. that
Mr. Sargent is made to talk about the
probability or possibility of his ordering
strike. and as consequence. great i'm
portsnce attaches to the probable action of
the grand master. There is certainly
mistake in this interview. and cannot
believe that Mr.. Sargent is correctly quoted.
In the first place it should be understood
that Grand Master Sargent nor any other
grand officer nor all of them combined, can
order strike under any conceivable cir
cumstances, and this is practically true of
the grand officers of all other ORGANIZATIONS
of railway employees"
"How can strike be ordAredP
I'm just one way can strike be author
the members on the whole system upon
which tho strike is TO he innugurated, and
- hen only by consent of the full protective
ssard, composed duf one representative OF
each lodge on the system and tho grand
master. This Is the only way strike can
be legally authorized and the only way q
strike can be declared of. The grand mas
ter has no more authority to declare
strike than you have to declare war against
Canada"
How about sympathy strike that is
talked of so muchf"
That is simply out of the question un-
der our present laws, and | think / should
know what the laws are, for, with the ex-
portsnce, / drafted them all. OuD laws
provide explicitly that only the grievance
of member Of our own order can be
considered, and that if strike
any other circumstances the members 80
offending shall be expelled. arm in full
and hearty sympsthy with the switchmen;
their cause is just and they ought to win,
but In my opinion 1t Will be the same old
story. 1t is not difficult to SEQ what the
outcome will be. Stripped of all extrane-
Gus matter. there is but . simple proposi.
ti0n involved, ard that Is the corporation
against organized labor, and with the or
aanizRtions going it single-handcd and
alone. each having to consult its own laws
and rumble along as best It's cumbersome
old machinery will permit, it does not re-
quire the pro ghetto vision of a seer to Fore
tell the result. Justice to labor will never
come. in my Judgment, until labor feder-
ates and wields its united power for the
good OF ALL"
"Then. the trcmen cannot engage in o
sympathy strike under the rules~
That is just 1t. There is no such strike
as sympathy strike under our rules. We
can only strike on the grievances of our
members and there arc none. Mr.. Sargent
did not go to Buffalo at the request of the
firemen. but In response to MIR. Sweeney's
invitation"
How about the engineersf
The engineers" said Mr. Debs. have
an existence of twenty nine years, and
during that time they have never struck
except when engineers were directly In
voIvod. That is the record OF tho engin-
eers. The four or five strikes they had in
their history were oil strikes in which the
engineers were the interested parties"
1T would seem, then, that oil the fire.
men can do is TO express their sympathy
That is all that can be done. Wo hope
the switchmen will win, but that 10 as far
as We can go. II lodge Of fireman were TO
go out on this strike at Buffalo. in the way
the matter stands, the lodge would be ex-
PEELED. You remember the session of the
Supreme Council here two years ago this
month, whom we were called together to
consider Mr.. Powderly's request that we
order sympathetlc general strike
in aid Of the knights OF Labor
Well, you remember oil the sensational
surmisas to which the public was treated
at that time respecting the meeting by the
newspaper correspondents. There never
was time during tho meeting when there
was shadow of reason or chance for or
dering strike. The result was lnevitsb bic;
our rries were plain. fet tho public was
kept in suspense tor week or moro by som
sational newspaper correspondents. The
situation now IN tho same. There 10 only
one result. so far as the fircmen are con-
cerned. and that 10 that they cannot strike;
that result in inevitable. Notwithstand-
ing this fact the public II kept alarmed by
these reports and surmises regarding
light was penetrating into tho darkness on
this subject"
Conductors ann Trainmen.
CHICAGO, Aug. 2a.-E. Z. Clark. of Cedar
Rapids Ia, grand master of the Order of
Railway Conductors. was here to-day on
his way to Buffalo In response to the re-
quest of Grand Master Sweeney to take
part in the proposed conference of the
chiefs of the various orGanizatious of rail-
way employees In an interview he said
that as far as he knew the conductors had
no grievance TO right. and added: "But
what may develop after l have arrived on
the scene / cannot predict. Unless our
men have grievances we will not go ont.
as we do not care to express cur sympathy
in that way. The most deplorable thing in
the affair Is that acts OF violence were re-
sorted TO by some one af tho start. This
has probably been the greatest canse for
prolonRing the strike. as otherwise it
would probably have been smicably set
tied"
At this point Grand Master wilkinson, of
the Order of Railway Trainmen, who came