The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-08-12


the Central Labor Unon was called for
the same evening. When the street rail-
way employees arrived shortly before
midnight they found themselves in the
presence of an excited crowd OF men
who with a single voice were shouting
strike" Even the street railway
men, unaCcustomed to labor organiza-
tions, hesitated and temporalzed.
we have no complaint against the
company" said one.
Complaint" yelled delegate. Are
not your brothers discharged
because they Joined labor union?
Every man should be reinstated or the
men should strike"
II the street car men had been left
alone 1t is believed that the trouble
would have been settled then and
there: hut the labor leaders took
charge of the matter. a committee Of
the union sent letter to Mr.. Broad
head demanding th0t the three dis
charged men should he reinstated. \
refusal being returned preparations
were made for a strike. Decoration
Day was selected as the proper time
for beginning 1t. The town was strcwn
with circulars calling attention to the
strike and forty-seven employees did
not report for duty.
THE TROUBLE THICKENS
A sufficient number of men remained
loyal TO the company to enable it to
maintain limited service on all the
lines and the prompt arrival of a force
Of deputy sheriffis prevented and dis
l.
following day the company sent a let
ter to the men, offering to restore them
to their old places at any time up to
June 4. This offer was ignored and
preparations for long contest We're
made. The first acts was to forbid
people to rid on the cars. Any MEM
her of a labor union found riding on
the street cars was to pay fine of 81.
| Any merchant or business man doing
so was to he backlisted.
There was some drawbacks to this
programme. Some 100 girls residing in
jamestown were employed in the fac
| tories at Falconer and in order 10
| reach their work were Obliged to rids
| on the street cars. 70 meet this dile-
ma the strikers established bus lines
and for "A week or two triumphantly
! hauled passengers about the city
! When the settlement day came around
the strikers discovered that the bus
! lines were peCunarily failure and
that they could not hope to compete
with electricity. The buses were
abandoned and the girls and other
members of the labor unions were
permitted To ride on the street cars
when going to and from work, but al
no other time.
EFFORT AT RECONCILIATION
The business mon who were affected
! by this order insisted that something
should he done to settle the trouble
The common council directed the
mayor to appoint A COnCiliation com
mite to investigate the trouble anC
recommend method of settlement
The mayor appointed &. ID. DaVie, ar
attorney living outside of the city; the
Rev w. =. Hellings, pastor of the
| First Baptist church: Benjamin S
| Dean, prominent politician; John h
Shaw. city treasurer. and Rovilius Il
| Rogers, superintendent of the cit,
schools.
The committe formulated two pro-
positions. one was that the company
had the right to discharge the men 70,
cause. The other was that the mel
had right to join labor union
These being conceded the sole matter
to determine was whether the mel
had been discharged for cause or fO
joining the union. On this point tn,
committee announced itself willing e
hear evidence. Mr.. Broadhead mad,
a statement that one of the men haC
been discharged for being drunk, an
other for being insolent to passenger
and the third for Incompetence. Th
COnCilatiOn committee after an cx
haustive investigation gave this de
csion:
THE published rules of the compan.
are presumptively reasonab BILE rules tn
company has an indebted right to de
mand, as a conGtion of COntinueC
employment, that the employees shal
conform to such rules, and violation
of them is sufficient justification 70
the discharge of the men, and it cal
not be doubted that there have beer
viola ton of these rules in some meas
ure by the men discharged"
The committee advised the balance O
the men to return to work Where
upon the executive board of tn
strikers which had loudly proclaime,
it's intention to submit to the decision
of the committee and which had oC
cupicd three -fourths OF the commit
tees time with evidences favorable {
the strikers. promtly repudiated th
whole business. declaring that to re
turn under such circumstances woul
he "a violation of every principle o
true manhood.