The age-herald., 1900-04-13

"The securement of fair and equitable rules regarding promotion.-- Regarding the causes leading up to the
 present strike, President Powell said to, day:
 ''The action was made necessary by the refusal of the company to treat with it's | employees in the telegraph department h. | stead of treating with the men who dare | to represent their brother operators by | serving on committees, more than twenty | committeeman have been discharged Dog | ems of members of the Order of Railway | Photographers employed on the Southern | have been discharged because of their | membership.
 l Failing in their effort to secure hear | ings from the local superntendents and
 then from the general officers of the com l pany at Washington, the men had no oth-
 CT alternative than to appeal to the or | ganization to which they belonged for pro- 1 tecton.
 'I proposed in this message to MT. Gan
 non that if the company and its telegraph | employees were unable to agree as to the
 matters in dispute they desired to present, 1 that the teegraphers would agree to sub ! init the matter to arbitration, three ar birators to be appointed, one each by the l company and telegraphers, and the third l by the two arbitrators so selected This | proposition was made means by which | the differences might be adjusted without | resorting to a strike with its consequent result. I also agreed to submit the matter | to MT. w. H. Baldwin, Jr., president of | the Long Island Railroad company of New | York
 "All of these overtures on behalf of the | teleeraphers were rejected by the company l and the officers refused absolutely to treat | with their men in the effort to secure a
 peaceable adjournment of the troubles | The matter was appealed to Mr Samuel l Spencer, president of the Southern rail- | way, at New York, who was asked to in- | tervene with the view of averting strike. | "Mr. Spencer's secretary wired me yes- l terday that the president of the Southern had been very i'll for several weeks and | was not able to consider such an impor-
 tant matter. This closed the door to the | telegraphers, they having exhausted every | menas in their power to secure a hearing by the officials. There was nothing left to | do except to strike and this morning I | called out all the members of my organi-
 zation employed on the Southern railway
 and the non-members who are in sympa- | thy with us."
 In the Atlanta office of the Southern
 seven of the nine telegraphers employed | there have quit work.
 .............s.
 or six of the superintendents met their | committees, but refused to consider their
 rules and rates of pay and almost imme-
 diately one or more of each committee was l OiShiSSSu IL lInpOSSlDle 10 RSC
 any satisfaction, and that twenty-five men | had been dismissed, the men again ap- l pealed to President Powell, who came to
 Atlanta about two weeks ago and took up
 the matter with General Manager Cannon.
 MT. Cannon this time declined to meet MT.
 Powell and the general committee or any
 one else. Mr. Powell proposed arbitra-
 tion and suggested MT. Baldwin, president
 of the Long Island road as arbitrator
 This was declined by MT. Cannon, who
 said at the same time that he would not | consider the matter in any manner what
 soever, and began immediately to prepare
 for trouble with his agents and operators,
 seeming to prefer this course.
 '"rhe fact that the telegraphers have
 been trying for three months and half is
 evidence that they had been patient and
 have not rushed into the matter hastily.
 The strike, which occurred at Il o'clock
 today, was only entered upon as a last re-
 sort.
 At Other Points
 "As evidence of the success of the strike | so far you may quote the following tee- | grams from our representatives at other
 important points of the Southern system:
 Knoxville, Tenn.-Knoxville division
 all tied up, including all branches. Com
 pany has no wires. Five out of six men in | Knoxville office out to stay l Chattanooga, Tenn.-All out in this di-
 vision
 Greensboro N. C.-Out in grand shape l in my territory
 Atlanta, Ga.-Ail out Salisbury to
 Knoxville. Columbia division tied up. Wires
 on Norfolk division down..
 | Atlanta, Ga.-Vestibule limited trains 1 37 and 3S tied up, and no time of arrival | given
 At 10:3O President Powell wired from
 Atlanta as follows: Everything growing
 in our favor and getting stronger. Good | strong circular goes out daily Local Div sion Tied Up | This division of the Southern and the 1 Alabama Great Southern are tied up good and tight. Some freight trains have been 1 standing since 10 o'clock this morning It
 was reported at 7:3O o'clock this evening ! that the passenger train due to leave
 Greenville, Miss, had not left that place,
 and that the conductor had wired, via the ] Western Union. for instructions, saving
 that order signals were out at all s.ations,
 and no one on duty from whom to secure
 orders. It was reported here at 7:I D. m | that only one man was working on the AL | abama Great Southern north of Birning- | ham, and none south of here" | Superintendent A. J. Frazer, of the | Southern, and Superintendent c. A. Wick | ersham, of the Alabama Great Southern,
 were both out of the city last night. and | could not be seen. From the dispatchers' | offices of both roads stratements were | given out that all trains were running,
 and that the roads would experience but | little trouble in operating the usual num- | Der of trains. MT. Frazier stated to an | Age-Herald reporter late in the afternoon
 that only a very few operators had quit | their places, and that these places had l been filled. From both roads information | was given out that by tonight every train | would be running schedule time. The train dispatchers belong to a separ- | ate order to the operators and none of l these have left their places. l SHIFT OFT ON A C. &