Waterbury Democrat., 1901-05-31
PHY DAY FOR TIE STRIKERS
Headquarters Presented a Live
 ly Appearance To-Day.

Outcome of Strike in Hartford the 1 Subject of Much Talk-Some of the
 Men Think the Hartford Machinlsts
 Did Not Do Right-Local Men Had
 the Same Opportunity Ten Days
 .Ago-If the Strike Ends in This
 Way They Think They Have Lost
 Time and Money For No Purpose.
 To-day was pay day with the ma | happy Their headquarters was crowded the greater part of the fore | noon and the hustle was exciting. | Whether real or pretended, the men
 are keeping up bold front. They are
 not at all satisfied with the way things are going in Hartford, and many of them doubt the published reports and will not give any heed to them, until 1 they are informed officially There
 fore the person most looked for to-day | at the headquarters was State Organ izer Donahue. In Hartford last even ing there was a mass meeting of the Metal Trades union and the action of the machinists, according to published reports, in accepting the offered condl- tions laid down by the manufacturers of that city was endorsed. These con dftions embody all that the machinists
 have asked excepting the signing of
 their proposal, which each manufac-
 turer of machines throughout the coun- try was given some time before the
 strike occurred so that he would have e.f 1 han a
 would be asked for his answer.
 The men returning to work without
 this proposal being signed by the em-
 ployers, the local men look upon, at least some of them, as an act ignoring. the union, and, in view of it being the
 union or association which was the in- strument that brought about the de sired reform, they feel grievously dis
 appointed They say that in view of such finale to the, situation in Hart
 ford, and if the same is to be followed
 out here, they cannot but look back.
 upon the few weeks of the strike as
 so much time of an actual financial loss to them. They insist that their
 respective employers would and actu-
 ally did offer to give them all that the
 association asked for ill the proposal
 excepting the signing of the agree
 ment, before they left the factories. Still there, are others, and they ap-
 pear to be in the majority, who look
 upon the signing of the agreement as
 mere technicality, an official act of
 recognition of the association. They say that the fact that. the employer
 has signified his readiness to grant all that the proposal asks barring the ap-
 pending of his signature to the docu
 ment, he in fact recognized the asso-
 citation officially. Were it not for the
 association the nine-hour work day would not have been heard of, and without the support of that organiZa- | ton behind them it would not have been granted them. The refusal of the employers, some of them say, to sign the agreement, does not divest the association of any of it's power or the prestige of what it has accom- plished for the craft during the past | few weeks. Each member of the or ganiZation will remain a member of it. It won for each man what he
 asked through the voice of the entire body. The declination of the employ
 CT to sign the paper, therefore, matters very little.
 State Organizer Donahue was ex- pected here on the 1:12 train this af- ternoon, but he did not come.
 manufacturer stated to-day, in fact
 many of them have said so during the past few weeks, that they would not hesitate to grant the men all they
 asked for, but would not sign the agreement. This man referred to was of the opinion that the strike I would not last very long in view of the situation in Hartford. So that the end of the strike is in sight.
 Everybody is suggesting the selec- tion of a committee of public spirited citizens to interview the manufacture
 CTS and bring about a hasty end. In view, therefore, of the impending close of the two weeks struggle, the ques-
 ton has already gone around among the strikers, What shall become of
 those who did not help in procuring the short work day? One man said i to-day that the situation at the Bene- dict & Burnham Co.'S could not fail to 1 result in bringing about very com plex condition. In what is known as
 the city department the men did not l quit; in the other department they did If expectations are realized, therefore,
 and the strikers return to work in this concern, one department will work
 nine hours and the others ten hours for the same pay as the first named will receive.
 It is reported that no matter what lue emu OI lHe StIlhe III general Will De,
 many of those who left the clock fac tory will never be reinstated.
 Each unmarried man while on strike is allowed by the Grand lodge $4 q
 week and married man $6. Both the local lodges always help out. One man in the local strike has received as
 much as $15 q week.
 One of the strikers is very i'll, and his kitchen garden not having been | planted. his fellow strikers tackled the | job to-day and in short time dug, narrowed and planted the whole gar den. There were about twenty men
 at work
 The striker who lost his all in the ! fire on Ben AIohr few days ago will
 be given some help from his lodge.
 STRIKERS RETURN TO WORK. :
 Denver. Col, May 23.-The striking brick workers of this city have voted to return to work at the old scale of O vxrno oI-c, flafax tyt,., ,I,.I-