The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-10

u
| made them laugh and set them az their
/ ease We discussed the subject for an
Z hour. The radicals wanted 10 tie up his
/ Cd streak OF iron rust good and ught
/ for him, right away. Their counsel didn
/ pFevad-it never dos.
When the excitement cooled OF 2 Dit
/ old Ezra Bassford engineer Of the steam
I boat train. called q halt You boys are
l getting ratified SOS ~ What good
| would IL do ye 20 sITike. even IL ye Won?
| The hull road amt hardly worth a months
I pay, the shape its IN now. What We
| want is to get our money, and you'n new
/ er do that by striklng-cause strikes al
/ ways fail; put that in your pipe and smoke
/ Il, Now continued the old man, earnest
/ ~, every eye being hxed upon him. I
1 propose that We appoint committee
| and I'm willing 70 serve on ito cali on
| the general manager and make a demand
| for our pay and a 70 per cent raiser
| How the boys yelled al that! You
| would have thought their troubles were
all over now. When the noise quoted
down Bit. Ezra continued:
/ What in tine are you feilers hOl-
| lerin' about? Dent think you're a-goin'
/ TO get It. do ye2 Never on your life You
! make the demand for a raise so as 10 give
| him something TO compromise on. They
/ never grant everything. You need 10 ask
/ for about twice as much as you expect
I to get, and then you may get something.
I
! but let's give him a chance TO-
! 'Ezra's advice was so sensible that but
! little argument was required to adopt it.
| A committee was quickly elected. consist
| ing of me. as chairman. Old Ez' and
/ couple of conductors. Next day, at 10
| O'Clock, we called on Mr.. Harnden His
| private secretary notified him that
| committee of employees were in waiting,
| and out he came. He stood in the mid
die Of the anteroom, with his feet wide
/ apart and his hands clasped under his
/ coat tails. He surveed US moment, over
his sPectacles. and then snapped out:
| Well. what DO you want%
| i took a step in advance of the others
and respectfully preferred our request
! As proceeded, I saw his face flush, he
| glared at me Ike a wild beast, and, before
l was through, he interrupted me savage
! ly with:
You come here and ask me to raise
your wages. when the road isn't paying the
| interest on the mortgage? You must be
| crazy! Where 90 you suppose the money
is to come from? Earnings falling of ev-
cry day. and operating expenses contin-
| ually increasing. Pay raised. hey? You
may think yourselves lucky if you don't
get New Years present Of a 10 per cent.
reduction. No indeed, there'n be nobody's
pay raised, 1 can tell you that.
q" Wen said what about our ar
rears sir; we only got half months pay
| later
e. don't know really can't say-I
won't promise anything at present, saying
which. he revolved on his heel and re-
| turned to his office, leaving US In a state
| Of mind
| I'VE returned aud reported total fail
ure. Our report was ike oil on fire. Men
who had been the most conservative now
| developed into fireeaters. They seemed 20
have lost all hope OF better things to come
| Old Harnden had cleansed their minds of
any such decisions. They demanded thar
we quit work at once, in body, and dis
able the engines 50 that any scabs Harm
den might import, should be unable 60
run them.
Another meeting was called at once.
Great enthusiasm and perfect unanim-
ity prevailed. The committee were per-
emptorily ordered to call on old Harnden
again and give him twenty-four hours in
which 10 start out the pay car to pay up
all arrearages.
THE committee met next day at my
house, preparatory to calling on the gen
eral manager and delivering our body
blow. Ezra was the last 10 arrive You
fellers seen the latest on the bulletin
board?' he asked as he came in.
=" No said l. What is ii, anything
Important?
q" Well, sh'd say so. Mr. Andrew D.
Plummer has been appointed general man
ager vice Mr.. William Harnden. retired.
Retired mind They've fired old Harnden-
didn't even let him resign"
After some conversation In regard to
this unexpected move on the company $
part the quest ton was asked who knows
this Plummerg
:" I've heard Of him. says Ezra He's
from out west somewhere. He's a sharp,
bright feier, and shcker than a mink.
He's a new broom, an you can bet your
life heir dig the cracks clean, but what
hen pay dividends.
" 4 suppose wen have our pay reduced
now, sure? said the brakeman.
6 i dunno, he'll make the road pay div
blends; you can bet On that
Wen said an old gray bearded con
ductor. let's go on over and have ID out
with him. We may as wei tackle him fist
as last.
But 1 wasn't quite sure that or in
| structiOns warranted US in having il out
with him 50 suddenly. l maintained that
we were directed to see Mr.. Harnden and
certainly that wasn't Mr.. Plummer 1 was
accused Of hair-spliiting by some of the
others, but Ezra said l was right After
considerable wrangfing among ourselves,
we dec ded TO cali another meet ny. aud
submit the ques ion TO committee of the
whole. 1t took forty-eight hours to set The
men together again, and when they met
| they were red hot.
"Harnden or Pummer, ID was all one to
them. The man who represented the COM
pany, no matter what his name, was the
one they wanted their committee to take
by the horns, anu bS lively about il. II
this fellow had come on here from the
west TO try any of his funny business, the
sooner we Set him know what we had s;old
all we were egOing to. the better
IAN right! The committee were not at
all backward, we only wanted to b. sure
! OF our backing. Over we went next morn
, ing TO the office. We were shown directly
into the holy of holes. As we entered |
noticed the last of a file Of Clerks passing
out at another door, carrying books and
papers. He had apparently interrupted
his work to receive us.
1T was a scowling, ugly committee that
l marshaled into the gentlemans office
If he wanted fight we were the boys VINO
would give ii to him. We were received