Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1894-07-14

Mr.. Wickes said: "The company can
not recede from the position it has al
ready held"
This interjection aroused Alderman
McGillen and he eloquently portrayed
the situation in all it's bearings and the
inevitable consequences unless settle
ment were reached. Mr.. Wickes lis
tened attentively. He seemed touched
by the appeal, and when the spoSes-
man had concluded, retired with At
torney John s. Runnells, of the Pull
man company, for consultation. The
delay was of brief duration. When he
returned, every one present read in Vice
President Wicl<es' stern face the an
swer he would make. Addressing AL
derman McGillen, Mr.. Wiclxes said:
THE Pullman company has nothing
to arbitrate." Then there was a pain
full silence. Alderman McGillen seemed
paralyzed for a moment. "Am l to un-
derstand," he slowly said, that the
Pullman company refuses this slight
request made at so grave an hour, and
upon which so much depends?"
THE Pullman company has nothing
to arbitrate," reiterated Vice President
Wicl<es. Alderman McGillen said with
great impressiveness: Mr.. Wiclxes,
your company demands the police pro-
lection of the federal government, the
state of Illinois, the county of Cook
and the city of Chicago and yet you
utterly ignore fair request made by
the city, a request the fundamental
idea of which is the preservation of
peace. We have come to you as con-
servers of the peace, and you have as
sumed grave responsibility in thus re-
fusing the request we make-a respon-
sibility greater, perhaps, than even you
are aware.
There is principle involved in this
matter" said Mr.. Wickes, (which the
Pullman company will not surrender.
1t is that employers must be permitted
to run their business in their own way
and without interference from their
employees or from anybody else. We
shall not allow any one to tell us how
our business shall be conducted, and
we shall not consent to arbitration.
Our business is our own private affair,
and we want no interference from fed
eral, or state, or any other government. :"
There was nothing more to say. One
hundred thousand men will quit work
tonight. for an indefinite period, trust
ing that in their contest for the princi-
pie of arbitration they will win.
CHICAGO, July 11.-There is no dis
guising the fact that the situation to-
day in the labor troubles is more grave
than it has been at any time since the
A. r. U. issued it's boycott against the
rolling stock of the Pullman Car Com
pany. with the view of enforcing the
demands of the strikers at the town of
Pullman. This is not the view of an
alarmist or the biased idea of the radi-
Gals among the striking element. 1t is
the opinion entertained among all
classes of the community, which are
looking forward with greater appre-
hension to what another day may bring
forth. There was that same feeling of
unrest and fore eboding in the air that
those who have witnessed uprisings on
the part of the masses in England and
on the continent remember full well.
There were three times as many peo-
pie on the streets yesterday than were
to be seen on any day for many month
past. Nine-tenths of them, men and
women alike, displayed some emblem.
The majority wore the white ribbon,
emblematic of sympathy with the strik-
ers.
1t was significant also that the stars
and stripes were hoisted on scores of
flag poles both in the business and resi-
dence district that are generally bare
except on the Fourth of July, Decora-
tion day and similar national or local
holidays. The people on the streets
kept moving. There was no congrega-
tion of crowds except about the mill
tary camps on the lake front and the
government building and in the region
of the various headquarters of the la
Dor organizations. But as they walked
they talked and the present and future
of the labor situation was the engros-
sing topic So it was at the clubs, in
the restaurants, in the saloons and in
all other places of public resort.
In commercial circles there were
lamentations loud and deep, for retail
business of all kinds is in state of
paralysis and the wholesale trade is
faring but little if any better. Every
body agreed that affairs had been
wrought up to the highest tension and
that, to use the vernacular, something
or other must speedily drop" to bring
relief
Although to some extent it had been
anticipated, the arrest of President
Debs and his associates was the sensa-
tion of the day. The president of the
A. r. U. and his colleagues were
brought in quietly and without any of
the lurid fires or outbursts of popular
Indignation that sensationalists had
predicted. The federal grand jury,
composed almost entirely of out-of-
town, residents, occupied less time than
had been expected in reaching the de-
cision that the evidence presented for
it's consideration was sufficient to justi-
fly the return of true bills against the
leaders of the union.
No other result had been expected by
those who listened to the charge OF