Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-27
THOUSANDS OF MEN WAITING
Result Of Conference at St, Louis Over
Railroad Wages to Be Far Reaching.
FlFTY-Two WESTERN ROADS INVOLVED
General Demand of Conductors and
Trninmen for Increase Of Twenty
Per Cent il Matter Under Con-
sideratiOn at 81. Louis.

Just now $50, 900 conductors and train
men in the west are eagerly waiting re-
suits of the conference Of their repre-
sentatives with the general managers Of
the ffty-two railroads on which they are
employed. Those managers are requested
to raise wages 20 per cent and 20 pay
double time to men hauling do~uhle-headed
trains Of more than thirty cars. STAGE
January 8 last the sessions have been in
progress, and there is no prospect yet Of
an immediate conclusion being reached.
The ffty-two companies that are in
communication with the hfty-two general
managers comprise the Western Associa-
tion of General Committees OF the Order
Of Railway Conductors and the brotherhood
Of Railway Trainmen. The territory this
association embraces includes all lines
south of Chicago including the Illinois Cen
trail southern lines, extending then north
as far as the Duluth, South Shore & At
lantic railway, west to the Pacific coast
and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
On January 8 all the railways included
in this district were approached with the
demands as named. Some committees
were granted hearings. some we're offered
compromises, some we're offered no salts
faction whatever. But whatever the in
dividual success enjoyed by the different
committees of the different roads, none
Of those results we're final, as 1t is admitted
by both sides, the trainmen and the rail-
road managers, that the result of the con-
ferences now in progress in st. Louis will
furnish the pattern after which all the
rest of the roads will construct their set
Element.
Four Gould Lines to Act.
In st. Louis the four Gould lines are in
volved in the conferences. Committees
representing the trainmen and conductors
OF the Missouri Pacific, the Cotton Belt,
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the st.
Louis & San Francisco roads are In
session separately with the respective gen.
eral managers Of those lines.
The men who are asking the concessions
are confident they will get them. They say
they have asked for just what they want,
and will accept no compromise, as that
would be a virtual admission that their de-
mands were exorbitant and unreasonable In
the first place. They say that they are
certain to get all they asked, as the roads
cannot run without them and cannot afford
to fall out with them for that reason. They
are strongly organized and could conduct
the strongest strike ever begun, as the con-
ductors have a reserve fund of $4,000 and
the trainmen one of $4OO, 900. There would
be nearly 81, 200, 900 to start on.
In Omaha two Of these hfty-two general
committees are in operation. s.. G. Ma
is chairman Of the Union Pacific
body, and it has secured no hearing yet
with officials of the road. A. F. Ward is
chairman Of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Mis-
souri, Valley committee, and 1t was granted
one short session with General Manager
and General Superintendent
Hughes. The railroad offered nothing in
this session, not even a compromise, so the
matter merely awaits the result in st.
Louis. No notice of a future session has
been received from either committee here
from the railroads involved, and none is
expected till the adjustment is reached in
st. Louis.