The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-11

the matter Was dropped until two weeks
ago, when the unions put in . demand
that the non-union men be discharged. II
was refused, and then the trouble began
which eliminated in today's strike. Il
was . strike of labor leaders, and not .
strike of the men. The vast majority Of
the men were unwilling to strike. and
only went out when ordered by the walk
ing delegates. and most of them unwill-
ingiy. There were several quarrels and
numerous minor fights during the day, but
nothing of q serious nature occurred.
At the most critical time possible for the
Worlds fair. at the big exposition build
ing today, the first great strike was en-
countered. Five thousand union men in
the various building trades quit work. It
was the elimination of much controversy
over what is claimed to be an agreement
between the Worlds fair officials and rep
sentatives Of the labor unions, by which
all disputes between employers and EN-.
pioyes on exposition work were to be
settled by arbitration. The men
contended that some Of tho expos
ition officials have recently shown
disposition. now that the buildings
are nearly completed, to deny point blank
the case in the carpenter troubles, which
have been pending some time. The expo
sition authorities, it il alleged, have de-
clined to sign the scale proposed by the
carpenters' union for the new season. al
though q majority of the large contractors
in tho city have signed. Today was named
by the business agents Of the Building
Trades Council, otherwise known as the
walking delegates. as the final time at
which arbitration must be assehted to if .
strike was to be averted.
On behalf Of the exposition officials it
was claimed that the workmen were TAX
ing advantage of the last days of the hurry
in the completion of the work to squeeze
the exposition management and to vio-
late the agreement heretofore made by in
sisting that only union men be employed
on the grounds.
Pickets were placed at all the entrance
gates early to warn union men that the
strike was on. and to labor with
non-union men to join them. They Ia
bored assiduously and nearly all the union
men obeyed the order to strike. No threats
were used against the non-union men and
there was no excitement. but good humor
seemed to prevail everywhere. After the
hour for work to begin the delegates went
inside the grounds, visited the various
buildings, picked up 100 or more men and
conducted them out of the grounds. Then,
emboldened by numbers, they began to
cheer and get noisy, though it was no part
OF the programme to invite disturb
ance. BY 8 o'clock the number of
strikers had been increased to 1900 and
later 1,500 electrical workers quit. Then
the construction department decided to
take positive action, and the Columbian
guards were ordered TO eject any walking
delegate who openly endeavored to get
men to stop work. Soon came repeated
calls for tho patrol wagon, and officious
representatives of the strikers were
hustled out of the grounds. This made the
strikers outside Of the grounds mad and
they began to indulge in threats, and fin
ally began to attack non-union men who
refused to be persuaded not to 60 to work.
Occurrences of this sort soon became
numerous and squad of police was called,
who drove the strikers away from the
gates, not, however. without resistance, re-
sulting in several strikers getting cracks
over their heads. By O'Clock fully 1910
men were out, including probably over .
dozen trades. To make matters worse at
this juncture one-third of the employees of
the installation department, 200 in num-
Der. knocked off, They were teamsters
who had been getting $l.6O day. and de-
manded 81. which was refused. By 8
o'clock 5000 men had quit work.