The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-28
ARALLY OF RAILROAD MEN
First Joint Meeting Of the Big Organ
izatiOnS.

The Orders represented Are the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers, the Railway Telegraphers,
the Locomotive Firemen, the Order
of Railway Conductors, the Brother
hood of Railway Trainmen, the
Switchmen's Mutual Aid Assccia-
tion and the Brotherhood of Railway
Car Inspectors.
New York, May 27:-The largest con-
vention of railroad men ever held in this
country was called together this morning
at the Lenox Lyceum. 1t was the first
joint meeting ever held by the big organ
izations of railroad men, and it is ex-
pected that the results of the conven-
tion will be decisive and far
reaching. The organizations which are
represented in the convention are the
Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers,
the Order of Railway Telegraphers, the
brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, the
Order of Railway Conductors, the Broth
erhood of Railway Trainmen, the Switch
mems Mutual Aid Association and the
Brotherhood of Railway Car Inspectors.
THE DELEGATES PRESENT.
There was not over 400 delegates pres
sent at the opening session this morn
ing, although fully 9G0 had been expected.
Many, it is thought, will come tomorrow.
When the convention was called TO order
by G. e. Weiss, of the Order of Railway
Conductors, there were present on the
stage K. e. Clarke, grand chiefsconductor
of the Order of Railway Conductors :;
Frand Arnold, grand secretary, of the
Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers ;
E. e. Greeley, assistant grand secretary
of the Order Of Railway Trainmen; Chas
+. Wilkens, assistant grand conductor of
the Order Of Railway Conductors p. II.
Morrissey, assistant grand master of the
Brotherhood of Railway Traiumen, and
| Charles A, Wilson, grand chaplain of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen.
e. p. Sargent, grand master Of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Eiremen,
came in at the end Of the address of vel
come, which was delivered by State Sen
ator Q. Sullivan.
LEGISLATION NEEDED.
P. H. Morrissey replied to the address
of welcome. He said that the time had
come to renounce the old trades unions
methods so long in use and to make the
fight for their rights and liberties in the
legislatures of the states and in the halls
of congress. What was needed more than
arbitration was legislation.
THE PERMANENT CHAIRMAN.
At the conclusion of these remarks,
Mr.. Weiss suggested that E. Z. Clarke
be made permanent chairman, and Mr.
Clarke was elected. On taking the chair
he called for the nomination of a secre-
tary. Fifteen men rose simultaneously
and nominated fifteen different candi-
dates. Then the fifteen nominees
rose as one man and declined to serve.
! For ten minutes the convention
tried without success to get some one to
serve. Finally, in desperation, the chair
man was authorized to appoint a secre-
tary. p. f. Doyle of the Brotherhood of
| Locomotive Engineers and a member of
the New Jersey state board of arbitration,
was named, with p. H. Morrissey and f.
w. Arnold as assistants.
BILL KNOCKED OUT.
AS soon as the secretary was installed
| he walked to the edge of the platform
and said that he wanted to read bill
which he had succeeded in getting onto
the statute books of New Jersey. It was a
bill imposing fine of $500 on any person
or corporation that forced its employees to
renOunce allegiance to any association or
| brotherhood as a condition of their re-
tanning their employment. Everybody
| thought that this bill solved the
marked that the law was not worth the
| paper upon which it was printed, so long
| as it was operative in only one state. 1t
would be easy, he said, for any road, the
! Pennsylvania, for instance, to employ all
its men either in New York or Pennsyl-
vania and then send them into New Jer-
sey to work This was clearly a new idea
to Mir Doyle, who looked as if he had
lost his best friend.
ROUGH ON THE LEGISLATORS.
Mr. Morrissey then suggested that the
legislators needed watching, and that in
! his opinion it would be wise to appoint a
committee in each state to watch the
| legislature. There should be also a
standing committee at Washington
| to look after the government
| of the United States. At this
! point so many people had suggestions to
| offer that the chair decided TO appoint a
committee to receive them, and to present
those worthy of hearing to the cOnven-
tion. The committee was appointed and
a recess taken for an hour. At 2 O'Clock
| the convention was again called to order,
and at once went into secret session.
WANTS A UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD.
Very little was accomplished at the
| afternoon session. The men talked over
| the situation and planned the work to be
done during the con nyention. Grand Master
| Sargent was the principal speaker. He was
| earnest in his desire to have the utmost
! harmony prevail, and expressed himself
| strongly in favor of union of all the as
soclations. The public meeting tonight
was but slimly attended. The chief
speaker of the evening was Grand Master
! Sargent. He spoke of the unparalleled
hard times, when there had been no fail
ure in the crops or any other great
natural calamity He said: "This
is the greatest nation on the face
of the earth, and yet want and starvation
! stalk the land. Some one is responsible
for this and some day some one will have
to answer for it, either here or above.
But is there no remedy for this at all2
There is a remedy for every evil. That
remedy does not lie in anarchy or REBEL
ion, but in education
The real work Of the convention will
begin tomorrow,
PARIsIAN BICYCLE RACES.