St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-05-25
BROTHERHOODS IN SESSION.

Union neetlng Of the Railway En-
plOyes.-Reception at the Museum.
Secret and Public rleetlng on Sum
day. rlany Prominent Officers of
the Order In Attendance.
The union meeting of the brotherhoods
and auxiliaries in the railway train SER
vice was held here Sunday and was the
second meeting of the kind ever held in
Vermont. The six organizations repre-
sented here were the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Firemen, Order OF Rail-
way Conductors, Brotherhood of Rail-
way Trainmen, Order of Railway Teleg-
raphers, International Association of
Mechanics. Extra trains were run on
the Lake road Sunday and there was
large attendance of railroad employees
from both the Lake road and the
Passumpsic division of the Boston &
Maine. The Central Vermont was well
represented and the other divisions of
the Boston & Maine system sent some
delegates. Over 600 men were here at
the Sunday meetings representing 40 or
more lodges. For the first time in the
history of these meetings the secret meet
ings were not confined to members of the
order alone, but admittance was granted
to any and all railroad men. The B. Of
L. F. were well represented by their
Grand Chief, F. P. Sargent, OF Peoria,
ILL.,, and James O'Connell represented the
International Association of Mechanics
of which he is the able Grand Master
Machinist. These two gentlemen were
the best speakers and are worthy repre-
sentatives Of their orders. CHI. Wilkins
Of Chicago, assistant Grand Chief Of the
y. of R. c., Val. Fitzpatrick of Columbus,
third vice-president Of the B. of R. T., and
]. B. Finnan OF Baltimore, assistant
Grand Chief of the o. of R. T., proved
able representatives of their orders and
made many friends here during their
short stay. AS the Order of Locomotive
Engineers was in session at st. Louis
there were no grand officers from that
order present, though there were many
engineers present at all the meetings.
Though the majority OF the delegates
did not reach here until Sunday the grand
officers came Saturday afternoon, to.
gether with some of the delegates from
Massachusetts and Connecticut. The
first meeting of the session was the re-
ception at the Fairbanks Museum.
The Reception Saturday Evening.
On Saturday evening reception was
given at the Museum by the Board of
Trade. Quite large crowd of citizens
and trainmen gathered and were cor
daily welcomed by the reception com.
mittee. consisting of H. N. Turner, F. H.
Brooks, Arthur F. Stone, E. II. Blossom,
O. H. Henderson, c. A. Coburn, d. Y.
Comstock and U. S. Clark. Mr.. Turner
happily introduced Prot. Comstock, who
said that he supposed he had been chosen
to welcome them because he knew as
little about the mechanical parts of an
engine as any one in st. Johnsbury, but
| that he could assure them that the hearts
of all Vermonters were in the right place,
and that they would receive warm re-
ception from the people Of st. Johns
bury.
F.P. Sargent responded by thanking
the people of this place for their recep-
ton and saying that the reception OF
Vermonters was always warm, that one
Vermonter in particular had recently
made himself world famous by the
warmth of his reception far across the
sea.
lanes O'Connell then made short
address, stating that the union was or
gained to promote the welfare of the
workingman, and to cause better I'M
Outstanding between employer and
employee, and not to create trouble and
strikes as many supposed.
Prof. Comstock replied by assuring
him that the people of St. Johnsbury
understood and respected their work or
they would never have been received here
with open arms. Mr.. Turner then invited
all to mingle together and inspect the
Museum, which was done until late
hour.
The Orchestral Club furnished music
during the evening and the Museum was
handsomely decorated with flowers and
ported plants.
Sunday Meetings.
Secret meetings were held in the Howe
Opera House Sunday morning addressed
by the grand officers present. Railroad
men not members of the order were adj
mitted and a very profitable session was
held.
The public meeting in the afternoon