Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-22
IN QUEST OF BOILER MAKERS
Unisn Pacific Encounters Difficulty in Find
ing Men to Repair Boilers
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED STRIKE BREAKERS
Total Number Imported since Begin
ming of Trouble, but Many Have
Deserted the Company-Mass
Meeting Tonight.

This strike is getting pretty close to
home" said a Union Pacific subordinate
official Saturday evening as he came out
OF the headquarters building. IT'S a
blamed serious thing, and for my part
wouldn't care how soon 1t was settled.
At any rate, hope the thing will wind up
before winter"
There is much more significance to the
gentleman's remarks than is apparent upon
the surface. The effect OF the strike has
extended to the headquarters building and
therefore is indeed getting pretty close
to home" The new channel through which
the strike has projected presents
a serio-comic aspect. The boilers in the
engine room from which the headquarters
building is heated required repairing; new
fiues had to be put in and It was necessary
to get real boiler makers to do the work.
Heretofore II has been the custom of the
company to send down to the local shops
and get one of the boiler makers there
to make what repairs were necessary on
the headquarters boilers, but this year this
custom was not observed for some rea>
son. 1t was planned to have the
work done by outside help. but
when one Of President Burt's subordinates
went to a contract shop to hire a boiler
maker, he found himself, in the terms Of
street parlance, "up against it,"
Contract shops Refuse.
Every contract shop and every quarter
where boiler makers were to be found was
visited, but it is said that up to Saturday
night no boiler maker had been engaged
for the work. They all refuse TO do the
job so long as the strike lasted, on the
grounds that to do 1t would be Indirectly
opposing the strikers, their brothers in the
unions, and aiding the company in it's fight
against the strikers.
Strikers naturally claim that the COM
pany does not go to the shops after boiler
makers to do this work, for the obvious
reason that it has no man there to whom
it cares to commit this work.
The importation yesterday Of forty
men from the east brings the total number
of strike breakers imported by the Union
Pacific since the beginning of the present
difficulty up to 1,763, according to a re-
port said to be reliable. This of course
includes the number OF men who have been
taken through Omaha to other strike CEN
ters and not merely those who have been
placed in the shops here.
Only moderate proportion OF this num-
Der is said to be now at work in the vari-
Gus shops. AS the company refuses to
give out the exact figures as to the quota
of men In its shops it is not possible to
obtain this information precisely. From the
first, however, the tide of nonunion men
has ebbed and flowed, so that migration
from the shops has been in progress as well
to them, not on as large a scale, OF
course, though in the long run the defec-
tions have been heavy.
Forty-Five New Men.
The forty-fve men said to have been
shipped into the local shops yesterday came
from Boston, New York and some from Du-
luth They came in over the Illinois Cen
trail road. Strikers were informed that but
few skilled mechanics were among them
The company is said to have had a plan to
send a good many of the older strike
breakers from the Omaha shops to Arm
strong, Kan, upon the arrival Of the new
recruits yesterday. Strikers were figuring
on meeting some of this number they
came out last evening and trying to per-
suade them to desert the company. The
pickets were on the watch for the exodus
all day.
company official made the statement
Saturday that not a picket could be seen
anywhere near the shops; that you could
not find one with a fine comb" But in
vestigations yesterday certainly proved the
contrary. II any difference, there are
more strikers on the lines now than at
any time since the strike began. They
are scattered over a larger area than be-
fore. President Burt made a visit to the
picket lines one day last week-after the
issuance of the Baldwin injunction-and
found a number of strikers present" lie
pointed out a squad to one of the police
officers who was patrolling his beat, say
ing: There are some pickets." Imme-
diately the men were requested to move
on" which they did. but soon returned.
1t is the purpose Of the strikers, as has
been stated, to maintain their picket line
with more diligence than ever unless pre-
vented by the injunction, which contingency
they do not think will come about.
Two Coming Events.
Two important events now consuming
much of the strikers attention are the
hearing Of the injunction September % and
ha antg-fniunctfnn rnasg uoaating tonIabt