The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1902-07-18
The Second Week of the Freight
Handlers Strike Opens With
Shipping at Standstill.
NO HOPE FOR AN EARLY SETTLEMENT.
COS History-WhOIesaIe Houses
Closed Down, and They stand to
Lose MilliOns-The situation IL
Admittedly Very Grave.

statement in which he said:
"All of the conferences Monday
failed, although we sent committees
of their own to the managers as they
had requested. Hereafter, the man
ayers will have to confer with Off
Gals of the union. If they want to
waste 100000 day over a question
of half cent increase in wages we
will let them try it,"
f. A. Delano, of the Burlington,
said: I'VE discussed the situation at
length. We talked tentatively of the
wage problem. We consider that we
have performed our full duty to the
public. Our freight houses are
manned and we are ready to do bust
ness. If the men want to go back to
work they can do SO. 1t is up to the
people who have goods to ship to get
them to the freight houses. That is
the way we look at the situation"
Chicago, July 15.-The second week
of the freight handlers strike began
Monday with 10000 men idle and
shipping at standstill. The railroad
warehouses, ordinarily a hive of in
dustry, were almost as quiet as they
were Sunday, so far as regular bust
ness was concerned. AT a distance
from each warehouse was company
of tickets, posted to keep freight
from entering or leaving the sheds.
Near the depots were guards of police
on duty to protect the men in the
warehouses and the quell and dis
turbances which might arise. Gangs
of non-union men, brought into the
city to take the places of the strik-
ers, lounged about the warehouses or
in their cars with scarcely anything
to do.
President Curran of the Freight
Handlers union appointed commit
tees to visit the various railroads,
But his proposition had reverted to
the original one, further than ever
from the ideas of the railroad man.
ayers, AND NO HOPE WAS EX-
PRESSED THAT A SETTLEMENT
WOULD BE MADE THIS WEEK. The
line between the opposing parties was
plainly drawn, and no move of either
side was made to cross it.
stand to Lose Millions.
Wholesale houses made practically
no attempt to send out freight or to
receive it. These big establishments
were all closed down. The strike has
cost them hundreds of thousands of
dollars already, and they stand to
lose millions should conditions con-
tinue. The loss in wages to the
striking freight handlers and their
sympa thzers, the transfers, to the
railroads and other lines of business,
is roughly estimated at considerably
over S1,O0O,OOO a day. THE SITUA-
TION is ADMITTEDLY VERY
GRAVE.
South Water Street Dead.
Commission merchants on South
Water street declared that the usual
ly animated market was dead In times
of peace the street is one OF the most
congested in the world. Monday in
front of many of the stores there
was not a wagon, and scarcely a
crate, box or barrel of produce.
Some had few berries brought by
boat from Michigan and Wisconsin,
but these were about the only fresh
arrivals. Thirty cars Of hiyllly-pcr-
ishable stuff was reported ON The
tracks, while many more cars con-
tanning commodities which will last
few DAVIS LONGER. lay abandoned.
RESCUED n Car Load of Chickens.
Of Mondays arrivals by rail only
three carloads were cared for
promptly. These contained live poul-
try. A permit was secured to take
them to South Water street.
In securing the release OF the
chickens an agent of the Humane So
ciety was brought into use. lie vent
to President Curran, accompanied by
Of the firms to whom
the fowls had been shipped, and de-
clared that the chickens could not be
allowed TO remain cooped up to
starve. Il
81 don't want 'em to starve any
more'n you do" replied the little
man who is at the head of one OF Chi
cago's worst strikes. He thereupon
issued an order permitting the re-
moval of the feathered freight.
John G.. Shortall, president OF the
Humane society, declared that no
live" shipments should be allowed
to suffer, no matter how long the
strike lasts.
One Drivers Experience.