The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-11-23

What the Strikers Say.
Explanations of the why's ana where
fores of the failure of the business
mems committee to bring General Man
ager Silliman and the strikers together,
Thursday night comprise the sum total
of Yesterdays strike developments.
Mr.. Sillinan makes Il statement, in
which he unreservedly places the blame
on the business mems committee, and
calls them everything but gentlemen.
Mr.. Burns. chairman of the committee,
says Mr. Silliman backed out of his
agreement when he learned that the
men were not going to vote as he had
all along expected they would. The
strikers say Mr.. Silliman alone was to
blame. and that all the onus of the fail
ure rests on him. Other members of
the business mems committee make
statements that agree and disagree
with Mr.. Burns averments.
What MIR. Silliman has To say is
couched in rather pointed language.
ut was clearly understood" said Mr..
Sillimnn. that the meeting was to be
Il meeting between me ana all the old
employees. and that the proposition I
was to make was to be voted on by a.
secret ballot. ] did not ask for the
meeting. The committee proposed It,,
and ! agreed to attend under the con-
ditions named. On Wednesday. n sub
committee OF the business mems COM
mittee informed me that the strikers
had agreed to the proposition. Thurs
day morning the strikers had a meet
ing. at which they agreed not TO con-
sent to the secret ballot. They also
suspended four men. who, ! believe,
We're among those who are anxious to
return to work.
COMMITTEE CALLED.
AT 5.15 o'clock Thursday evening. Il
subcommittee of the business mems
committee came to my office and noti-
fled me that the meeting had been ar
ranged for I o'clock. l promptly told
them l would not attend They had
known of the fixing of the time for the
meeting for a considerable part of the
day and the strikers had known of it
probably since morning. That it was
known early in the day is proven by
the fact that the Truth had an an
nouncement Of it in an early edition.
Il did not base my refusal to attend
because of the committees diScOurtesy.
] could have overlooked that. There are
a number of the old employees who are
anxious to return to work and who. be-
cause of their not being in sympathy
with the strike, attend meetings of
the union but seldom. They heard
that the meeting had been arranged for
and a numbe-' Of them called me up by
phone or inquired from me by mes
senger' If the story was true. / told
them I did not know, that / had not as
yet received amy word about 1t from
the committee. They expressed them
selves as being anxious to be on hand
when the meeting came off, and / prom
ised them that the meeting would not
take place until they were given an op-
portunity to be on hand. BY the time
the subcommittee got to me. with the
notification of the fixing of the meeting,
there was not sufficient time left in
which to get word to these men l had
promised to notify.
SUFFICIENT WARRANT.
That, in itself, was sufficient war
rant for me to refuse to attend the
meeting. But it was not all. The main
reason for my not intending to be pres
ent l did not want to disclose to the
committee until they We're ready to go.
! suspected that / was not being hon
estly dealt with, and I wanted to sat-
isfy myself about it. We talked for
some time. and when the committee
was apparently through with thei,
business, I asked them if it was not
true that the strikers had repudiated
their agreement to have II secret bal
lot We'll. yes said one of their NUM-
Der, that is n fact. They are now re-
fusing to have a secret ballot
Il had known of this since early in
The day from a report of the strikers
morning meeting that came TO my
hands. | also knew almost to a Gcr-
tamty that the committee would not
tell me about this. but would attempt
TO trick me into attending Il meeting
that under no circumstances | would
agree to attend, The committee left.
after inducing me To give them a prom
ise 20 wait around for an hour or SO. ]
waited two hours. Mr.. Burns then i'll
formed me nothing had been accom-
plshed towards Strengthening out the
difficulty. ! then Went out of town.
II am fully convinced that with a
| secret ballot the men would have voted
to return to work. | am also positive
that if there was an open ballot there
would not lie a single man, possibly,
who would SO vote. That this is be-
lieved by the strikers themselves is
shown by the action of their executive
board in resembling their own action
and then taking refuge behind their
constitution and bylaws, which they
say they discovered contains II clause
forbidding secret ballots.
TRIED TO TRICK HIM
But be that as it may, the blsi-
ness mems committee did their work in
very unbusiness-like way. They de-
liberately tried To trick me. They We're
not frank ana honest in their dealings
with me, and | will always believe So
until they explain away certain things
that to me are impossible of satisfac-
tory explanation. | say, without
equivocation, after calmly thinking on
the matter for IA day, that this bus-
ness mems committee, as a committee,
are not gentlemen. They are not
honorable men. To me they appear
like a pack of small mean rascals. Al
| first ! thought they We're sincere: thai
| they had the interests of the city al
heart and | willingly agreed to act
With them. | believe now they had nc
| interest other than securing some no.
| toriety for themselves"
| Mr.. Sillinan added that the company
| is now done with mediators. An agen,
| was sent to Buffalo last night To secure
men and all the lines not yet opened
\ will be opened up at once, and Tho
company viii proceed to operate itS
| system without expectation OF Tic
| striking employes coming back u