The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-18
AMONG RAILROAD MEN.
Suit Filed in U. 8. Circuit Court
at Omaha.
Men on the Union Pacific Want
Another Decision
From Judge CaIdweIl-OtherR Railroad
News of General Interest.

A suit has been filed in the United
States circuit court at Omaha which
is likely to demonstrate just how great
permanent benefits the men on the
Union Pacific are to reap from the fam
Gus wage schedule conference held be-
fore Judge Caldwell in March, 1884
Among the other results of this fam
Gus conference, in fact the result it was
called to accomplish, was the adoption
of a wage schedule and code of rules
which was to govern the relations of
the men and the receivers. Among
these rules was one which provided
that no man should be discharged with
out just cause, and another was that
the schedule of pay fixed upon at that
time was not to be altered except by
order of the court.
The men in the telegraph branch of
the service allege that both of these
provisions have been violated, and on
this the issue will be Joined in a case
which was fled yesterday in the United
States circuit court. In this case ].
T. Weybright, l. NJ Tudor L. ROsen-
baum and N. A. Smith, representing
the Order of Railway Photographers,
members of the joint protective board
of the employees of the Union Pacific
system, appear as plaintiffs.
The petition recites the order entered
by Judges Caldwell and Riner at the
conclusion of the hearing in March,
1894 and the conference leading up to
it. They then proceed to state that
the following rates of pay for telegraph
operators were fixed by the order:
Rogers. S62 per month; Benton, S67;
Aida S62; Boone, S45: Rockville S45.
and in violation of that order, the petit
ton states. the wages at these stations
have been reduced as follows: Rogers
to $35, Benton to S25 Aida to S35, Boone
the court that the wages of the men be
restored to the amount named in the
schedule and the difference between
that and the amount they have received
since the reduction be paid to them.
By far the most important portion of
the petition is contained in the next
paragraph In it the petitioners alIege
that the managing officials of the COM
pany are hostile to organized labor,
particularly to the Order of Railway
Photographers, and that systematic eff
fort has been made to weed out the
leaders of the order by Summar1ly dis
charging them without cause. Among
these are cited F. z. Gilliland and +.
r. Dresback.
The telegraphers have another griev-
ance which will be brought to the at
tentiOn of the court in a petition which
will be filed tomorrow. 1t has been the
custom on the Union Pacific for a long
time to deduct from the pay of each
man on the system the sum of 40 cents
per month for the maintenance of hos
pitfalls on the system. The telegraphers
alleEe that they receive no benefit from
the hospitals except in case of those
who reside at the place where they
are maintained. They complain they
are not given any accounting of the
expenditure of the money collected for
this purpose from the men, which they
allege amounts to about S1O00 per
year. and if they must pay they are en-
titled to know what becomes of the
money. They will also allege in the
petition that at the present time the
Union Pacific does not maintain any
hospitals, simply having the use of a
small number of cots in hospitals con-
Quoted by private parties or associa-
lions, and that the expense attached
thereto is not sufficient to warrant the
collection of the amount of money that
is at present taken from the employees.