The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-08-25
John u. Egan Tells the Strike Commits
siOners that Licensing of Employees
Would Prevent Trouble.
ADMISSION By MR.. WRIGHT
The Labor Commissioner Says He
Travels on a Pullman Pass.
He Is a Warm Personal Friend of the
Car Magnate-Glass Workers Scale
Accepted by Two Firms.

CflCAGO, Aug. Zt-deleTdl Manager f.
St. John, of the Rock Island road, was re-
called by the strike commission to-day.
Mr.. ST. Johns testimony of yesterday re-
garding the blacklist had. apparently, not
satisfied the commissioners, and he was
closely questioned regarding it.
You have said" said Commissioner Ker-
nan, that your road has no blacklist.
Now. is it a fact that the General Mana
gers Association has a Blacklist"
mo such thing as a real blacklist exists
among the railroads to my knowledge"
was the answer. There was. however, 1
believe, a list Of names prepared for the
General Managers Association. 1t con
tanned the names of the most active of the
strikers, and has been. L think, submitted
TO the various roads by the association. 1t
cannot properly be called a blacklist, how
ever"
Mr.. st. John was asked to tell what he
knew of the story that all railroads had
adopted a uniform scale of wages.
the rumor is untrue he said.
HAS no such scale been prepared?"
well. 1 believe something of the sort
was submitted to the General Managers
Association, but was not universally
adopted. In fact, it was rejected by all
but one road, and on that line was put
only into partial effect. There is absolute
" no truth in the statement that the roads
represented in the General Managers As
ISOLATION have adopted a uniform scale"
John NJ. Egan, strike manager of the
General Managers Association, succeeded
Mr.. st. John on the stand. Mr.. Egan. was
questioned regarding his duties during the
strike, and said it was his duty TO receive
reports from the various roads of the pro-
gress of the trouble and to submit the
same to the association. After preliminary
questions, Commissioner Wright asked Mr..
I,gan if. in his professional capacity, he
had made any effort to settle the strike
peaceably.
Il did not" answered the strike man
"Is it the policy of the railroads to settle
such troubles by force
I'm this case, at least, 1t was, the VIII
The Commissioners then asked the witness
for his views regarding measures for the
prevention of strikes.
Mr.. Egan said that he thought all rail-
way employees above common laborers
should be licensed and be compelled to
wear uniforms, plainly indicating the po-
sitions they hold. Such means, he be-
lieved. would tend TO put. reliable, level
headed men in service. and would prevent
such troubles as those of the present sum-
mer.
Commissioners Herman, by a shrewd Sc
ries of questions, succeeded in badly mixing
up the witness and his theories, and Mr..
Egan finally admitted that even with a
system of licenses conditions mlSht arise
that would necessitate outside assistance
or arbitration.
MIR. Egan." said Commissioner Wright,
"a witness has stated before us that YOU
used railroad money and employed men 10
burn and otherwise destroy railroad prop
erty during The strike. Is this true?"
The witness grew evidently angry, and,
Strengthening up i'm his seat. said emphatic
ally: ''Considering the source from which
that testimony came. it seems TO me that
it should be apparent that it is the most
foolish rot. L Will, however, enter a gen.
eral denial to any and all such stories. 1
never employed men for such work, and can
state, aUthoritatively, that no one else con-
nected with the General Managers AssOci-
alton hired or commanded any one TO burn
or destroy railroad property. The story is
In the afternoon superintendent Dunlap.
of the Rock Island, was called and testified
briefly regarding the alleged blacklist,
which. he said. had no existence.
superintendent Of Police Brennan was the
next witness. He was asked TO tell how
the disorder growing out of the strike was
handled. He said: con June 20 the Mayor
directed me to use the entire force to pro-
tect property and prevent violence. Until
the arrival of the TROOPS. on July 3, the
force had handled it without any great Vio-
lence and practically no destruction of prop
erty."
complaints were made that policemen
did not do their full duty in REFRESHING law
lessness. How about that" the Chief was
."The Mayor directed me to discharge i'm
mediately any policeman who was luke
warm or inefficient. Indeed, we did suS-
pepd several officers on complaints, but
when we came to investigate we could
find no responsible author. In one case we
did find an officer had been overZealous in
compelling railroad companies 10 keep
tracks clear"
The Chief said many of the complaints
made against the police were made by
deputy marshals. who were more in the
way than Of service.
IL. Doty, when called as a witness, said
no was in the employ Of the Pullman Com
pany as a civil engineer, and also as
statistician and historian. He had been
with the company since 1850. and was IA
miliar with the construction of the town
of Pullman. He testified that the Pullman
rents were rot high. and that houses which
could be secured at the same rentals in adj
Joining territory were inferior to those in
| Pullman.
Other witnesses. all of whom gave unim-
poitant evidence. testified before the adj
ionrnmpnt-