New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-07-23
TWO DECADES OF STRIKES
AMBITIOUS EFFORTS OF sTREETCAR MEN
TO BETTER THEIR LOT.
SOME WERE SUCCESSFUL AND SOME FAILED
MANY MORE THAN REcUR TO THE MEM


The recent ambitious attempts to support
strike movements Of magnitude first in Brook
Ign and then in New-York. by the employees Of
the Brooklyn Rapid Transit system and the
Metropolitan Street Railway, respectively to-
gether with the foreshadowed defeat Of the
men, make a retrospective glance at streetcar
strikes in Brooklyn and Manhattan since 1880
not without interest at this time. The number
OF them will surprise many persons who were
impressed at the time they occurred only by the
really great strikes which caused them incon-
venience.
The verb ito strike" used in this sense is OF
American invention. and It's origin is given by
the dictionaries as modern. Its etymology Is
obscure but II is doubtless abbreviation OF
the phrase Ito strike work." meaning Ito cease
work"
In 1880 Carroll d. Wright Chief Of the Bureau
of Statistics for Massachusetts, published an in
teresting pamphlet entitled "A Statistic on
Strikes" which gave the history of strikes in
Massachusetts from 1880 to 1880. Mr.. Wright's
figures tended to show that only about one
strike In seven brings any advantage to the
workingman, which led him to make the COM
ment that strikes generally prove powerless to
benefit the condition Of the wage class, and
further, that strikes lead to improvidence and
/
man"
on June q, 1880 the car drivers on the Sec
ond-ave. and Thrd-ave lines struck for higher
wages They received only 81 - for fourteen
hours work and wanted 50 They were UNI
able however to stop travel on the Third-ave.
line. Rioting occurred on Second-ave.. and the
police reserves were called out. The men lost,
! the strike dying gradually of hamilton
WHEN THE MEN WERE SUCCESSFUL
Six years elapsed and then. on FeKuary 4.
! 1886 the conductors and drivers Of the Fourth
| ave. Sixth-ave. and Seventh-ave lines went
/ out on orders from the Empire Protective Asso-
! ciation an organization connected with the
/ knights of Labor The law then stated that the
working day must not exceed twelve hours. and
! the contention here was that the schedule Of
: runs OF the various companies involved made
! IL impossible to adhere to this law. 1t was de-
| manded that these schedules be changed. The
men apparently chose their time we'll, for In
| twenty-four hours the companies captulated,
and the men returned to work.
on February IS the Fourth-ave. drivers and
conductors again went out. asserting that the
schedules had not been changed as agreed mat
their claim had justice was shown by the sur
: render of the company in exactly fifteen hours
and seventeen minutes. The success attendant
q upon this strike led TO others on the same lines
and on March 3 the men of the Dry Dock, East
) Broadway and Battery Company went out. The
following day the strike spread to Brooklyn, and
involved the lines OF the Atlantic Avenue Rail-
, road Company, then the second largest company
! in Brooklyn. The strikes were fought out with
bitterness on both sides, and on March III the Ia
hor ORGANIZATIONS tied up every street railroad
on Manhattan for a space Of ten hours John
! ODonnen settled the strikes by arbitration. IN
/ favor Of the men. 1000
The next strike was on April II. 1886, when
the employees OF the Third-ave. line went out,
they as they said, on account of the wage scale.
/ The company asserted that 1t was because IL
would not discharge certain other employees who
were not members Of the Knights or LABOR. IL
was stubbornly contested by both the company
| and the men, the strikers being supported by
! enforced contributions from the employees OF
other roads. The strikers however gradually
lost ground until June &, when the labor leaders,
! in order to deal an effective blow, ordered gen
eral tie up of all the lines Of the city. This
/ proved big mistake. 1t aenated the sympa-
! thy of the public and the strike fell into mort
bund condition, and gradually petered out. Inc
men lost.
SOME STRIKES ON LARGE SCALE.
On August %. 1886. a new time table led to
tying up both the Broadway and the Belt lines
| REPRESENTATIVES of the men and the company
had conference. which resulted in both sides
giving way, and the strike ended on August -.
road. Of Brooklyn, was the next sufferer. The
reason was that the men wanted sixteen to
! eighteen minutes for breakfast, whereas they
received from ten TO twelve. They also insisted
on the transfer or discharge OF an obnoxious IN
| spector They struck July !, 1885, ana their
! demands were granted.
on January %, 1880, a strike occurred In
Brooklyn the ten hour law me COM
! panies paid by the trip, and while they ex-
pressed a Willingness to comply with Il the law
/ said they would be able to pay only 81 IL IN
stead of 81, the previous rate The men IN CON
sequence went out. but utterly falled OF their
! purpose . g. 1000
caused the tie up Of every surface road IN New
! York on January % 1889. except the Blocker
Ct and Thlrd-ave lines Between five thousand
and six thousand men were involved. The
strikers were badly defeated
on Nav 20 1894 another strike occurred in
BROOKLYN on account of an order compelling
the employees to purchase their summer uni
forms of a certain tailor and by certain date
The company compromised ny allowing the
men to purchase the uniforms where they
pleased and delaying the date FOR their pur-
, chase to July |.
strike the demands of the men being that either
the number OF trips required for days work
| under the ten hour law be reduced or their pay
| increased This strike involving as II did,
| every company in Brooklyn save the Coney ISL
and and Brooklyn. was fercely contested The
police force of Brooklyn proved inadequate TO
the task Of holding the strikers In check. and the
! militia was called out. The men lost.
FALL RIVER STEAMER MINUS A CREW.
Fall River Mass July 22.-The steamer City Of
FAN River arrived to-day without crew. the
freight handlers having struck In New-York last
night Freight handlers at the local pier already
had made the same demand as the New-York men
FOR more pay and they refused to take out freight
+ from the City Of Fall River The men at the
Roston freight house also struck for of
10 cents a day but returned to work pending a
conference A crew of Portuguese Will be secured
-PedfO
RAILROAD INTERESTS.
| TO DECIDE AS TO PASSENGER RATES.
Commissioners Goddard and Donald and Third
Vice President Finley, OF the Southern Railway
Company. the Board OF Arbitration who have dur
ing the last week been considering complaints from