The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1903-05-15
TIL. Nl i ! |. and |.
The RAILROAD
A CALM REVIEW OF THE coNTEN-
TON OF THE EMPLOYEES WITH
THE GREAT NORTHERN.
[From Grand Forks Daily Herald,.
Wednesday morning, April 29th, 1903.
editorial c0I,,un
The Matter Of Strikes.

be the question to be decided by the
Great Northern trainmen. 1t is con-
coded that this is the matter on which
q vote is now being taken all over the.
system, and the result will. be awaited
with not little interest throughout
the Northwest. q
The particular matter Of disagree
ment at this time is the compensation
to be paid trainmen for work on 05u-
ble-header trains. After q long con-
ference, in which all the subjects in
controversy were thoroughly gone.
over, agreement was reached on every
point except this, and on this both the.
committees representing the employees;
and the general manager Of the road;
remained firm. The conference was.
therefore broken off, and the men are.
now voting on whether they will ac-
cept the situation as it now is or not.
General Manager Ward has issued!
a pamphlet, in which the proceedings
at the conference are reported, and
the summary of the contents of that
pamphlet, so far as they apply to the
question at issue, is given in another
column. Still more briefly stated, the
controversy resolves itself into this:
The trainmen claim that the com.
pany, by running trains with two sen-
gines and only one train crew, is i'm
posing work on the single train crew
that would ordinarily be performed
by two, with a. proportionate increase
OF. responsibility. The idea seems to-.
be that any train too heavy for one
engine is too heavy for one train
crew. They demand, therefore, either
that the practice of double-heading
shall be discontinued or that the train
crews employed on this work shall re.
ceive double pay.
The company claims that there Is
practically no double-heading done on
the road except on the mountain d.
visions, where an additional engine is
sometimes employed to help heavy
trains over the steep grades, and that
the company is expanding large sums
of money to avoid even this. Mr.. Ward
admits that the men have right to
voice in the decision of questions af-
fecting their comfort, wages and con"
ditions Of work, but denies that any
of these elements enter into the ques-
ton Of double-heading on the Great
Northern road. He says tEat tho
company cannot permit the emtye,7es
to dictate as to the makeup of trains.
as that is solely an administrative
matter.
AS in all questions of this kind.
there is third party which is in
tensely interested in the question, the
general public. The public is inter-
ested primarily in the regular running
OF trains, that business may be car
ried on with the least possible delay
and inconvenience. For that reason
the public is always injured by a.
strike. At the same time the public
is interested in the fair compensation
of all who serve it, whether as owners
of railroads or as employees thereon.
A strike is an act of war. War is
sometimes justifable. There are times
when it is the only means left for the
prevention of abuse or the accom-.
plishment of reforms. But for war to
be justiflable there must be an ade-
quate cause. It would be inexcus.
able for nations to appeal to force for
the settlement of trivial question.
Similarly the precipitation of strike
without sufficient cause would not be
viewed patiently by the great ship
ping and travelling public which must
suffer the Inconvenience and eventu-
ally pay the bills. In the present
case there does not appear to be any
thing Of real value to either Of the
parties involved in the controversy.
1t does not appear that tho question is
of sufficient importance to warrant re.
sort to extreme measures.