St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-24
STATES HIS POSITION
Chief Arthur, of the Engi.
neers, Addresses the
Public.
All Strikes Voted Upon ang
Ordered by the Mem
bepS.
Every Effort Made to Settle
the Trouble With the
Ann Arbor.
Secret Meetings Of the Broth
erhood Being Held at
Indianapolis.

CLEVELAND, o., March 23.-Chiei
Arthur, of the Brotherhood of iocomO
tive Engineers, has deemed it advisable
to set before the public ia all olficia
communication the position which the
brotherhood occupies in TIE Toledo
strike. MT. Arthur's statement is as
follows:
After reading the various comments
and criticisms in the different papers OIL
the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michi
gan strike and Judge Kicks decision,
feel compelled to state my side OF
the story In the first place,
| find it very hard 10 make
the public understand that / do not
order any stoppage Of work. and could
not if L wanted to. The men them
selves vote upon it, and if a majority
decides to stop work, of course. 1t is
done. In all cases where the engineers
and firemen have contract with rail-
way companies we have no trouble and
find il much the best way 20 do. The
great trouble has been on the small
roads. especially to take advantage OF
the men in making them work for less
wages and giving no pay for over time.
In the last case every honorable effort
was made to adjust the difficulty, but
without success. and here ii is said that
the men stopped work without giving
notice, which is not true. as ! myself
addressed letter to General Manager
Ashley. of the Toledo IL Ann ArbOr
road informing him that his engineers
and firemen
Had Determined 10 Leave
his service at 6 O'Clock a. m, Wednes-
day, March Is, thus giving him ample
time to decide whether he would grant
the reasonable request of his men or
not. II. w. Ashley, the general man
ager, when informed him that | would
appeal to his rather, the president, re-
marked very abruptly:
He is an old man; he does not
know whether | am paying two cents
mile or g. and must not be disturbed"
If there had been head to the Ann
ATbor road that believed in living and
letting live we would not have had
trouble; but so long as this grinding
process is carried out by the railways,
Just so long will there be trouble with
the companies. An engineers life is a
hard one at best; he must report for
duty many times when not able TO do
so or lose his situation, and if ne be
man of family IL Is not an easy thing to
do. Besides. many times the men
>
fy the petty spite of
perintendent or master mechanic,
and are removed on the slightest pre-.
text. 1t does not take some men long
to forget that they came from switch
mans to a superintendent position, or
from wiper to master mechanic. All
the engineers and firemen ask is fair
play, and there will be no trouble. If
men are not at liberty to quit work when
at any time it suits their convenience,
then certainly the same rule will apply
to railway company, and deny them
the right to discharge a man at any time
they choose without consulting his con-
yenIence or comfort. We are at any
time ready to subscribe To any rule that
will apply alike to employer and en-
plOye.
Had Left the Lake Shore.
TOLEDO. March 23.-Ths morning
the Lake Shore engineers were on tina
stand as witnesses for the defense in the
Ann Arbor trial. 1t was the intention
of their attorneys to show that when
they refused to handle Ann ArbOr ears
they were not Lake Shore employees,
having previously resigned. The en-
gineers all testified to the same thing
that they knew nothing of the
courts order, and were not aware that
there were any Ann Arbor cars in the
train they were asked to haul. On sew
eral occasions during the morning | h,
court room broke into applause VIII eu
witnesses stated thar they would not
become scabs. Judge Kicks a number
of times threatened to eject any one
making such demonstrations. WiRn
court reconvened this afternoon, the
illness ot-Frank Hurd, of counsel for
the engineers, was announced, and
court adjourned until Monday.