Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09

have thought their troubles were all over
now When the noise Quieted down a bit,
Ezra continued:
"'What in time are you fellers hOllerin'
about? Don't think you're agoin to get 1t,
do ye? Never on your life! You make the
demand for a raise so as to give him some
thing to compromise on. They never grant
everything. You need to ask for about
then you may get something. / don't say
old Harnden will compromise, but lets give
him a chance to-.
"Ezra's advice was SO sensible that but
little argument was required to adopt it.
A committee quickly elected. consist
ing of me. as chairman, old Ez and a
o'clock we called ON Mr.. Harnden. His
private secretary notified him that COM
mittee of employees were In waiting, and
out he came. He stood in the middle of the
anteroom with his feet wide apart, and his
hands closped under his coat tails. He
surveyed us a moment over his spectacles,
and then snapped out:
well, what do you want?
Il took a step in advance of the others,
and respectfully preferred our request. AS
l proceeded. l saw his face flush, he glared
at like wild beast and, before / was
through, he interrupted me savagely 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 do you suppose the money
is to come from? Earnings falling off every
day, and operating expenses continually
increasing. Pay raised. hey? You may
think yourselves lucky If you don't get
New Year present of a 10 per cent reduc
ton. No. indeed, thereil be nobody's pay
raised, l tell you that
Well said 1, what about our arrears.
sir; we only got half months pay this
time, and that was nearly two months
late?
II don't know really can't say
won't promise anything at present, saying
which, he revolved his heel and re-
TO office aVine in Of
mind
1--WE returned and reported total fail
ure. Our report was like oil on fire. Men
who had been the most conservative, now
developed into fre-eaters They seemed
to have lost all hope of better things to
come. Old Harnden had cleansed their
minds of any such decisions. They de-
manded that we quit work at once. In a
body, and disable the engines so that any
scabs Harnden might import, should be I'M
able to run them.
Another meeting was called at once.
Great enthusiasm and perfect unanimity
prevailed. The committee were peremp-
toriy ordered to call on old Harnden again
and give him twenty-four hours in which
to start out the pay car to pay up all ar
rearageS.
THE committee met next day at my
| house, preparatory to calling on the gen
eral manager and delivering our body blow
Ezra the last to arrive. You fellers
seen the latest on the bulletin board? he
asked as he came In.
NO, said 1. What is 1t, anything i'm
portant?'
well, 1 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 8
! part the question was asked: who knows
| this Plummer?
1--we heard Of him. says Ezra. He's
| from out west somewhere. He's a sharp,
| bright Teller, and slicker than a mink He's
! a new broom, an you can bet your life
| he'll dig the cracks clean, but what he'll
| pay dividends
~ suppose Well have our pay reduced,
! now. sure? said the brakeman.
| 81 dunno. he'll make the road pay divi-
| dends; you can bet on that
| well said an old gray-bearded con-
| ductor. let's go on over and have 1t out
| with him. We may as well tackle him first
! as last
| But I wasn't quite sure that our in
| structions warranted us in having it out
! with him 80 suddenly. I maintained that
we were directed to see Mr.. Harnden, and
accused of hair-spitting by some Of the
| others, but Ezra said I was right. After
! considerable wrangling among ourselves
| we decided to call another meeting and
| submit the question to committee of the
| whole. 1t took forty-eight hours to get
! the men together again, and when they
| met they were red hot.
"Harnden or Plummer, 1t 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. and be lively about 1t. II this
| Fellow had come on here from the west ia
try any OF his funny business. the sooner