The Topeka state journal., 1900-12-14

the same message by commercial wire
to Mr.. Ripley. Mr.. Ripley replied that
he stood by Mr.. Bars actions in the
matter. Mr.. Bars action was refusal.
1 can only suppose by this interview
that Mr.. Ripley does not know Of Mr..
Bars action or else makes a wilful mis-
representation.
1--WE are not receiving anything dis
couraging, as you can see" said Cen
eral Chairman J. A. Newman. Every
report that comes in shows the diff
Guilty under which the road is being op-
Grated and the danger that attends it.
AS General Grant said, we are here TO
fight 1t out if it takes all winter. The
weather favOrS us If this keeps up two
or three days they viii be fixed right
The fog this morning gives them trOu-
bic because the plug operators don't
know how to adjust. Experienced oper-
atOrs have some trouble to adjust their
wires on day like this, but they know
just what to do and would have It ad-
justed in short order. Green men such
as are being put in can't do the ad-
5usting. These students don't know
anything about 1t. The danger is
enormous to road running under such
conditions.
''The St. Joseph meeting? The press
report of its being held is true. We knew
they were meeting there yesterday.
They win give us aid, but in just what
shape am not competent to say.
An operator who has just come in
says Dispatcher Neely down here is the
it requires from fifteen to thirty min
utes to take a train order, which should
ordinarily be done in two or three min
utes. The man told me that at the
breakfast table this morning. not know
ing my identity. He quotes Neely as
saying that the men can be made eff
cient in time. But that viii require sew
era1 weeks, and look at the risk and dan
ger attending all that time"
Local operators feel the same encour-
agement as the chiefs. They say the
'87'' reports are not furnished promptly.
Eighty seven" reports give the train
movements over a division. Mr.. Barr
insists that they be in his hands every
morning by 10 O'Clock. They say they
the new men are incompetent to make
them out
At the company's general offices off,
cials say there is nothing new and the
strike is all over except for being called
oft or admitted off by the ''felloWs'' that
started it. General Superintendent
Resseguie said everything was running
smoothly over the line. General Man
ager Nudge said there was no change
in the situation
WAR OF WORDS.
AS viewed by the Santa Fe company
the telegraphers' strike has now de-
scended to a war of words.
General Manager Nudge said this af-
teruoon:
I'VE are back to the usual routine.
There is nothing new in the situation.
The matter is at a place to be dropped.
'AIl those fellows have to do now is
to talk. And their statements are show
ing up absurd all around. Dolphin says
the road is losing half a million a day.
Why, our average earnings are but in
the neighborhood Of 800, 900 a day, our
expenses $50, 900. Suppose we doubled
our expense and lost half our business,
We couldn't lose over $4,000 a day. The
fact is we are not losing. We have
not lost a pound of freight. Naturally
taere has been, perhaps, some falling
Off in passenger traffic It is to be ex-
pected in case of q strike. The simple
absurdity, of such wild statements Of
IL ST lamps their untrJth. This is only one
of nc absurd state ments made and cas-
lily the widest.
Operators are Supplied nearly every
where. Competent ores, too. Five or six
I,lac es remain open on the Chicago di-
vision, because we sent our men to the
vest Dolan wires these will be filled
tomorrow morning"