Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-07-11
THE BOllERM MAKERS.
They Are Still on a Strike and Con-
6dent of Winning,
TIE OTHER STRIKES.

80
doing" in the strike of the Santa Fe
b~oilermakers on the coast lines. IL Is
claimed by the Boilermakers' union
that the strikers are pursuing a policy
which is certain to win. and which is
simply to wait for the water used on
the coast lines to do it's worst to the
boilers and get them in such bad shape
that all the locomotives are put out of
service.
The b~oilermakers are working on the
theory that the places of the strikers
have been filled by men who are in
competent to make the necessary re-
pairs to the boilers. and that the deter.
ioration is going on rapidly. They say
that it is only a question of time when
the Santa Fe will be forced to appeal
to the old boilermakers to help make
the necessary repairs.
One of the chief points of vantage
which the strikers occupy is the scare.
ity of skilled railroad boilermakers.
The big strike of boilermakers on the
Union Pacific has increased the de-
mand for this class of labor. The offic-
ials of the Santa Fe have not claimed
that the men secured to take the place
of strikers are workmen of very high
order, but they insist hat they are get
ting the work done in such shape that
the trains can be operated indefinite
ly.
The water which is used in the boil
ers on the coast lines is said to be very
bad. 1t is hard on the boilers and
makes constant watchfulness and re-
pairing necessary to keep the machin-
cry up to the proper standard. This
fact the strikers consider strongly in
their favor. The men claim that the
company has ove 100 dead engines ly-
ing in the shops at San Bernardino and
twenty-five at Needles, waiting to be
repaired.
In the meantime, however, the Santa
Fe trains are running IN schedule time
and while there is said to be considera-
BILE trouble in handling freight. the
company is certainly doing well under
the existing conditions. The locomo-
tives are being kept in service better
than the strikers predicted they could
be some weeks ago.
A dispatch from San Bernardino
says:
"The striking boilermakers of this
city have not heard of any prospective
conference with General Manager
Wells. as has been reported, nor have
they heard from their grand councilfor
three days. They have been assured
the grand officers are working IN their
case and a settlement will be reached
as 500 as possible"
There have been no violent demon
STATIONS in the Santa Fe strike, and
the general feeling seems to be now
that the struggle has developed into a
simple test of whether or not the San
ia Fe can find enough skilled boilerma-
kers who will work for them to keep
the trains funning until the strikers
have exhausted their
Pinkertons at Denver.
A dispatch from Denver, dated July
8, says:
The situation at the local Union Pa
cific shops is more critical than at any
time since the strike commenced. A
force of Pinkerton detectives were put
in charge of the shops and the city has
supplied four policemen for protection.
Trouble is not expected from the strik-
ers themselves, but from sympathizers
who work in the thirty or more shops
of this city. Since one of the work
men was assaulted on Sunday night
the crowd that gathers at night is con.
llludtlN On inc l~ltlCdots anu INC otNpS
for protection have been taken as a
precautionary measure.
The strikers now claim that they
have all the experienced machinists but
three and all of the boilermakers.
blacksmiths and coppersmiths have
have stopped work. Inc strikers con-
tinue to patrol the lines outside of the
Pinkerton lines.
Will Be Long Struggle.
James O'Connor, president of the
international Association of Machin.
lists, spent the day in the city with the
Union Pacific strikers and had a short
talk with President Burt, says a dis.
patch from Omaha.
He says the strike has settled down
to a long drawn out contest and that
it will be fought out on its merits.