The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-08

the Ties of Friendship That He
Would Have Embrace All Rail-
road Operatives In u Clasp Like
Stce!.
There was an air of mystery about
a union meeting of railroad brotherhood
men that was held yesterday afternoon
! at Druids' hall, Seventh and Jackson
streets. that might be held to portend
something. The men VINO were pres
ent protested that there was nothing
OF Importance discussed at the meet
ing. AT the same time, that the meet
ing was warm enc was evident even
to the passers by ON Seventh street The
meeting was held behind closed doors
the important part of it. The gather
ing went into executive session at 2
| o'clock, and at 5 o'clock a reporter was
| invited in. ..
| A great portion Of the time taken UP
| by the executive session was occupied
by Grand Master F. B. Sargent, of
| the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire
men. in an address that was frequently
| pUnctuated with applause
! Ii has not been widely advertised that
| there has been for eight months CT
more a standing union committee COM
| posed of representatives Of the Broth
| CT VI 1CCOiuOulVe Engineers ana
| Firemen. of the Order of Railway Con-
ductors and Of the Brotherhood Of
Railway Trainmen. This union COM
| mittee has held seven meetings prior
to that of yesterday. The committee is
composed Of representatives Of these
brotherhood lodges in both st. Paul
and Minneapolis, and there is, it is
said. a complete understanding between
| all OF the unions 1t was said after
the meeting yesterday that the union
committee had general supervision Of
matters Of common interest to the
brothrhoods-alnd that was all the in
formation that was vouchsafed, be-
yond the announcement that the union
committee would hold its next meeting
in Minneapolis Sept. 4, and that al
railroad men, union or otherwise, would
| be invited to attend the meeting
| Walter A. Hammond, assistant state
| labor commissioner was in the chair
and L. Murphy acted as secretary
Of the meeting. The business to be
considered was at once brought up,
| and Grand Master Sargent at once
took the floor. His remarks were not
in the form Of a speech, but were to
| a great extent in the form of responses
to questions put him. He said later,
that he had simply discussed matters
Of interest to the brotherhoods, that
there was no large subject Of general
| thICICoI ISiheu dOOul GIlu CndCS ne CID
not know that there was any particular
matter in which all the men were in
terested any more than there is usual
| ly. Mr.. Hammond said that the ex-
ecutive session had been devoted SOLE
| ly to the talking over Of various things
having to do with the promotion of
union work and the securing of addi-
tional members. This, too, in spite Of
the fact that when the doors were
opened the grand master again took
the floor and went into this same SUBJ
| ject quite exhaustively. He pointed to
the necessity of making the sessions
Of the lodges entertaining, to the end
that they might be more largely and
enthusiastically attended
eff you will permit me to advise
| you," said Mr.. Sargent, IT would sug-
gest that at each of your meetings YOU
should have an arrangement made fer
some one of your members to discuss
some matters of interest to your union.
You have plenty Of men Of intellect in
your ranks, and If they were invited
to prepare papers and read them they
would undoubtedly be glad to do it,
You have men of musical genius among
you; you can make something Of a
musical programme, and If there is a
good declaimer in your lodge, why let
him tell stories or give recitations. You
will be astonished at the added interest
want to suggest is that the best way
to bind men together is through social
relations. 1t would be an excellent
thing to have open social sessions, to
which the engineers, conductors, fire
men and trainmen could bring their
wives and sisters. This idea Of caste
| that has crept into the ranks of labor
the assumption Of airs because one of
you has a home which includes lace
curtains in the parlor and an organ
While your fellow worker lacks these
things, has got to be banished. Let
the wife Of the engineer and the wife
of the trainman meet here socially, and
you VIII presently be bound together
by ties stronger than you think.
such social gatherings would help
many a man in the brotherhood. The
fellow who is careless would come ia
feel that he was getting into good So
c1ety, and it would be an in
centive to him to improve his oppor-
tunities and better his mode of life
These are only some details of broth
erhood work. but I warrant you that
there are no better means Of strength
en1ng yourselves" Mr. Sargent CON
tinued to point out the ADVANTAGES
that such sessions would offer to the
non-union man, as he'could be brought
within the radius Of the influence OF
the union, and, after attending such
meetings few times, he would find
IT rather good thing to be more in
timately connected with the men he
had met.
Just at the close Of the meeting II
| was moved that the union committee
whose term expired with the meeting
of yesterday, should be directed to con-
tinue to act-the motion being made by
brotherhood man who was not a mem
Der of the committee considerable
number Of these outside men being
present. The committee was continued
with the exception Of the secretary
Mr.. Murphy, who was unable to contin-
ue in occupation Of the office. 1t was I'M
derstood that at the next meeting an
other secretary should be named.
The meeting then adjourned
1t was said later by one Of the men
present that Mr.. Sergent had talked
to great extent about the necessity
for legislation in behalf Of labor Of ali
kinds. He spoke in particular of the
necessity for legislation to exclude
child and woman labor from some OF