The age-herald., 1900-04-13
President Powell Orders Strike on Southern. TRAINS ARE DELAYED Railroad Officials Claim Traffic is Not lnterfered With. POWELL PREDICTS A VICTORY He issues Long Statement Setting Forth Grievances of the Opera
 tors, and Says They Only
 Ask for Justice
POWELL PREDICTS A VICTORY

The strike of the telegraph operators of pected for the past three or four months materialized yesterday morning at Il o'clock, when several hundred employees of that system left their keys and walked out, under orders of w. V. Powell, presi- dent of the Order of Railway Telegraph CTS.
 It is claimed by the telegraphers that the entire system is tied up and that over 800 men have joined in the strike The railroad officials claim that trains run ming on time and that the strike of the op- orators will not interfere with the busi- ness of the road.
 On the other hand it is claimed by the teIegraphers that the freight trains on the Southern and Alabama Great Southern did not move during the afternoon and that the company will be unable to move them today The officials of both roads claim that all trains were running, though in some instances behind schedule time.
 The Alabama Great Southern passenger train, due here at 11:30 a. m., was delayed about five hours, arriving about o'clock in the afternoon. The Southern train from Atlanta at 10 o'clock last night was late. The Alabama Great Southern train due at 9:05 o'clock last night was about an hour late.
 Game as a Surprise
 The strike was not expected to take place yesterday morning, and when the men quit their posts new operators had to be sent to take their places, necessitat- ing some delay in moving trains that had to receive orders at the different stations along the lines At o'clock yesterday af- ternoon a special train left over the Ala bama Great Southern carrying ten or a dozen operators, who were to take the places of the strikers between Birmingham and Chattanooga The officials of the road claimed last night that they had enough operators to fill all places vacated and that by tonight all trains would be moving on schedule time
 T. M Pierson, of St. Louis, Mo-, assist ant to the president of the Order of Rail- way Photographers, is in the city conduct ing the fight for the operators at this point. He has headquarters in room 72, Morris hotel. During the afternoon and early part of last night the room was crowded with operators who had given up their places and joined in the strike They all seemed confident of winning the fight, and claimed that the road would be unable to operate it's trains without them They said that by tonight the entire system would be tied up so tight that not train could move.
 MT. Pierson's Statement
 MT. Pierson was at his room in the Morris last night and gave out the follow ing statement as to the cause of the strike. He said:
 December 15, 1899, a general committee composed of the chairman of local commit tees from all divisions of the Southern railway met at the Kimball house, in At lanta, for the purpose of electing officers and transacting routine business, and to draft schedule of wages and a set of rules to apply to all lines Division super intendents at that time began to interfere and in some cases refused transportation to the committeeman, hoping in this way to defeat the efforts of the general com
 
 the rules and rates of pay and elected of ficers At the close of the session the com- mittee communicated fully with General Manager Cannon, informing him that the committee was composed of one man from each division, employees in the telegraph and station department, and called his at tention at that time to the miserable con- dition existing on the various parts of the system and the discriminations on the part of the several superintendents, and asking him, as general manager, to put stop to these discriminations. At the close of the session on the 23d of December, the committee wired the general manager that the general committee had finished the business coming before it and wished him a merry Christmas. The general manager replied very pleasantly, and the men de- parted for their respective divisions with the kindliest feelings toward the general manager and all other officials, each one seeming to think that the general mana ger was sincere and that as an old tele- grapher himself he would stop any fur ther discriminatons.
 Waited Reasonable Time
 'Within a reasonable period after every one reached his home, the local commit tees, composed,o of three men under the jur- isdiction of each division, acting under in-