The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-09-20
TO BUILD UP PORTLAND.
Maine Steamship Line and the drand
Trunk.

Trunk.
ARRANGEMENTS Made by the Companies
The Freight Handlers Thinking inc
Matter Over.
The situation In the strike OF tne
freight handlers at the Maine Steamship
company's wharf had not changed any
Saturday. The men were hard at "ork
ON the old schedule of prices, 80 cents an
hour, and were juggling freight as merrl'
| ly as of old. They have agreed TO WORK
until the officials Of the company at this
end of the line have time to receive COM
munications from New York. The strlk-
ers are firm in their resolve to quit WORK
for good If the present rates are not main
tanned. They can see no reason why the
company has reduced the price OF LABOR
and say that they will never submit to
the cut down.
At the company's offices dlHerent
side of the story was learned. 1t seems
that for many months the Maine Steam
ship company has been trying to come
into Intimate relations with the Grand
Trunk railroad so that it might be able
to handle the freight which this road
brings from the west and ship 1t to New
York. At last the arrangements were
| brought about and from the time that
these relations between the steamship
| company and the Grand Trunk were COM
menced the New York boats have been
| hauling more freight than ever before In
their history. Every trip of the New YORK
boats has been one in which every ton
of freight possible has been carried and
nearly all of this has been through freight
from the west. The return trips from
New York have also been big ones and
the line is now handling immense guam
titles of freight westward bound. The
boats land it here and on the arrival of
either of the steamers the freight bound
for Chicago and all points west is trans
ferred to special freight train of sixteen
or more cars and at half past four o'clock
on the morning after the arrival of this
New York boat the special train pulls out
for the west. And through freight from
Chicago and even further points ito the
west is brought here by the Grand Trunk
for New York and this is loaded into the
New York boats until they cannot carry
ton more and in "a hours the freight Is
In the great city. This is the kind Of
business the Maine Steamship company
and the Grand Trunk road are trying to
do. They have entered into an agreement
and both concerns are working In direct
competition with many of the largest and
best through railroad lines from the great
west. Their arrangement is exactly the
same as that which has been carried on
for years by the Old Dominion Steamship
company and the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad. The rates of this carrying trade
are necessarily low and the profit to the
steamship company comes through their
ability to handle immense quantities Of
freight at very low prices. In order to
do this and build up the immense carry
ing business which the Maine Steamship
company and the Grand Trunk have been
striving for the steamship company found
itself Obliged to retrench somewhere and
so cut of five cents an hour was made
in the pay of the freight handlers. The
company have many arguments to Justify
them in doing this. 1t is claimed that
the 80 cents an hour rate is higher than
is being paid by any of the big lines.
In New York all that the freight han.
dlers get for an hours work is II cents
The Old Dominion Steamship company
pays its men on both terminals IS cents
an hour and this is all that the freight
handlers for the Maine Steamship COM
pany at the New York end of the line are
receiving for an hours work.
Furthermore the company claims that
it will be able to give the freight handlers
more hours of work if it is able to carry
out its plans and combined with the
Grand Trunk can build up this immense
through freight business which is now
taxing the capacity of the company's boats
to the utmost. There will be more hours
of work for the freight handlers and work
for more men all of the year around 1t
is for the purpose of handling this i'm
mense through freight business that the
Maine Steamship company Is having built
the companion boat to the John Englls
and this will be put on the line between
Portland and New York next June. The
company will then have daily line of
steamers from this port to New York and
there will be six trips each way every
week. These points have all been ex
planned to the dissatisfied men and some
of them it is said are beginning to see
that they will be better off to go to work
for 25 cents an hour and aid the company
in building up the big carrying trade it
is striving for, than they will to stick to
their resolution of 80 cents an hour or
as the company is firmly convinced that
it can it will give employment to over 100
men all of the year around and as many
hours of work as the men choose to make
| it.
The combination between the Grand
| Trunk and the Maine Steamship company
will bring an immense amount of
business to Portland. 1t has already
strengthened the eastern section of the
Grand Trunk railroad as nothing else
could and Portland as terminal point
| for this great trunk line will become of
more Importance to the commercial world
than it ever has been before.
70 show how rapidly the Maine Steam
ship company and the Grand Trunk rail
road can handle through freight to the
west the following incident may we'll IL
| lustrate. A few weeks ago the Maine
Steamship company took on board one of
its steamers in New York consignment
of carpets for San Francisco. These car
pets were brought to Portland in "a hours,
| loaded onto two of the Grand Trunk cars
aud started on their long journey for the
Pacific slope. In 10 days these carpets
were at the Golden Gate and this is about