The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-26
Of All the Conductors in the
Country One Third
Must Go.
HE NOW PULLS THE STRING.
How the Head of the Wall.Street
Banking Firm Has the Rail.
roads at His Beck.

so many of its conductors lately is now
given up to the light. 1t has been made
public by the Order of Railroad Con-
ductors itself. This organization stood by
the Southern Pacific Company during the
strike OF the American Railway Union.
One of the members of the o. R. c. went
into an attorneys office yesterday after
noon and told what he believed to be the
secret of his discharge in a few words. He
has family to support and has been a
railroad man for eleven years. Railroad
ing being the only business, he said that
he knew anything about, he begged that
his name be not made public, as he thoped
to get back to work some time or other"
and feared that 1.-The railroads will black
list him.
Harry Knox of the American Railroad
Union says he "has been blacklisted him.
self = blacklIsted almost to starvation"
and Harry Knox has family. Ex-Sec-
rotary Craig of the A. r. U. says he has
been bIackisted. Craig has a family.
There are others who have been black
listed, they say. Ex-President Marlatt of
the A. r. q. thinks he has ''lost the good
graces of the company" The story of the
man Sibley, who said he. with his family,
was blacklisted from place to place until
Southern Pacific, was made public few
| weeks ago, when his pleadings were filed.
Attorney George Monteith saws he has
been blacklisted. Therefore, when the
member OF the o. R. G. told his story and
begged that his name be withheld, his re-
quest was granted.
And this is the story he told: "That
| j. Pierpont Morgan, the head of the bank
| ing-house of Drexel, Morgan & Co., Wall
street, New York; the negotiator of Presi-
| dent Cleveland's bond scheme; the king
of finance and agent of the great Roth
schild family, is at the head of the Ameri-
| can Railway Association, and has in
vented plan that has driven terror into
| the hearts of the railroad conductors of the
country"
And the plan? According to the in
| formant sit is to have one-third of all
these conductors discharged, brakemen
| promoted to fill their places, and men
succeed the exalted brakemen; which
| would mean" explained the ex-conductor,
that when the strike of next Septem Der
| shall threaten the traffic and travel of the
| Nation with paralysis the railroads may
rely upon All army of worKmen greater by
two-thirds than its present host" Greater
| by two-thIrds, because of the one-third
| gained by Morgan's great stroke of policy
and the eligibles which must naturally
| follow on the application list and the one
third laid off, which by that time it is ex-
pected will be so impoverished by idleness
as to be willing to go to work at any cost "
| The American Railway Association Is
the successor of the General Managers
Association. There are nine presidents in
| it who are the active spirits, according to
| the statements he gave. These he partly
enumerated-as follows:
"Collis P. Huntington of the Southern
Pacific is one, and James J. Hill of the
| n iS
are George J. Gould of the Missouri Pa
| cific, Marvin Hughitt of the Chicago ard
| Northwestern, Roswell Miller of the Chi
cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, George B.
Roberts of the Pennsy lvania system and
| Chauncey Depew of the New York Cen
trail. These are the leading spirits, and
DR.. William Seward Webb, the son-in-law
of a successful sire-in-law, William H.
| Vanderbilt, frequently acts as proxy Tor
| DR.. Depew.
Behind this association J. Pierpont
Morgan is the power that pulls the string
and makes the mechanism move. He
| floats bonus and capitalizes roads. There
| fore he has the railroad system of the
country just where he wants it." He con-
| tinued:
"Morgan has made the industrial ques-
ton study and his manipulating intellect
has suggested novel plan for increas-
| ing the industrial strength of the rail
road companies. He and his railroad
presidents have been observing the
resurgent character of the American
| Railway Union and its tendency to
grow numerous. The opportunity came
| to him to be heard, and a suggestion,
| couched in seemingly jocular terms was
| flashed over the wires from the Drexel
| Morgan 81 Co. office to the New York Cen
trail ottice-for they do everything by tele-
graph-and an acting railroad president
| was invited to nav Mr. MORGAN a visit at
his convenience. The thing was talked
| over, and in due time a telegram, reading
| like this, was wired simultaneously to
several railroad headquarters:
/ How would it do to let few of the con-
ductors go-say about onc-third? Brakemen
could be promoted to fill the vacancies made
by their discharge, and new men could be put
into the vacant places left by the brakemen
promoted.
''The hint was enough and discharges of
conductors followed soon; and General
| Manager Kruttschnitt's return to San
Francisco was opportune."
Such is the story as it came Yesterday
are employees the world over he ex-
planned, whether conductors or clerks.
Clerks will not tell anything to reporters,
! but little condolences are exchanged by
| them on the quiet with conductors"
One such clerk, he said, had talked
with him. 1.-THE clerk had seen the tele-
gram" to quote the man, con one of the
sheets of yellow, fiimsy paper that are
| used for copying the typewriter dis
| patches"
One thing let fall from the lips of the
member of the Order of Railway Con-
| ductors is a surprising bit of intelligence.
This is the "strike of next September"
What it means only those in the inner
most councils of the American Rail