The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-11-21
FORMER DUkUTH|ANs
As STR|KE-BREAKERS
CHICAGO STREET CAR MEN IN.
VOLvED IN STRUGGLE FOR
MORE WAGES.

prOfessiOnal Strike Breakers are there
In Large Numbers. Curry the
Former Duluth strike-Breaker Ii
Very Much In Evidence. Company
Refuses to Arbitrate. VIII He a
Long Struggle.
Chicago, ILL.,. Nov. 19.-Labor World
special correspondence. The Chicago
street car strike Is on in earnest. The
5000 men now idle are looking for a
settlement of the controversy within a
Few days, provided the railway COM
pany will submit to arbitration. The
general managers hoard of profession
al strike-b breakers, with Boss Farley
at the head, have been shipped into
Chicago and they never miss an op-
portunfty to cause trouble.
Your correspondent visited them yes
terday. One Of them said" The more
III that Is raised on the streets tho
better 1t is for us. Strike breaking is
my profession. There is big money in
1T. The company does not care if we
never turn in a cent. All they expect
OF us is to put the cars through. That
ls all we try to do. In short time
tho strikers will get discouraged In
the meantime we get all the revenue.
So the more trouble they raise the
better 1t is for us"
Curry the Strike Breaker.
Frank Curry, the former Duluth
rike-breaker. is here. He Is just as
daring a coward as he was in Duluth.
II he has company he spoils for fight.
1T is the same old game. I saw him
in a fray the other night. He had sew
eral OF the strike breaking "profesh''
with him. They beat the poor fellow
worse than they did La Chance in
Duluth.
Curry has had rather eventfu1
career since leaving Duluth. He first
went to St Louis during the big strike,
and was afterwards on the police force.
You will remember that he tried to get
on the force in Duluth. He quit the
force in St. Louis to go to New Or
leans to break a strike. He could
not help 1t. When a fellow once loses
his manhood in this manner, he wants
to keep at 1t, just as sailot bankers
for the sea. He next drifted to Chica-
go, his old home. An occasional street
car strike would call him away for
awhile, but when he returned the last
time he became a professional wrest-
Ter. He wanted to go up against
Rooney, the Chicago Policeman, but he
was bluffed out, It was g., reputation
he was looking for. s :; Ill
iety that brought IN ita B, rom
inently into the Chicago strike last
week. Davis the strike breaker who
destroyed the hopes Of a young West
Duluth girl, is here also. He is just
as smooth as ever, and has some of
the people hypnotized Davis told me
that he hadn't worked in a strike
since 1899 in Duluth
Riot Stories Magnetized.
The newspaper stories of riot on the
streets of Chicago is largely bosh.
They have magnetized everything.
There is some occasional disorder, but
it is done largely by sympathizers.
The street car company has turned
down every proposition for arbitration.
1t claims that it is paying all the
wages it can afford, and yet the fol-
lowing statistics discredit their state
ment:
Yearly cost of proposed wage in
crease, estimated on the basis Of three
cents an hour more for 1900 out Of
5000 men, $142,650
Capitalization of Chicago City Rail-
way Company, s18,o0o,ooo.
Dividends paid from January /, 1882,
to January 1, 1898 (this means that in
16 years more than twice the present
capitalization of the company was paid
out as profits), S37,602,187.
Annual dividends paid out last year.
per cent, $1,620,000.
Surplus over charges and dividends
in 1902 $2,768,8S7.
BY granting the proposed wage in
crease the company would exhaust
only a trifle more than half it's ad-
mitted annual surplus. 1t is asserted
that the corporations net profits ac-
tually exceed $3,0O0,000 annually, and
that more than $1,OO0,OOo is spread on
the books as maintenance and other
funds.
Has Nothing to Say.
II have nothing to say-nothing
whatever. I'll mind my own business,
and I want no outside interference in
this matter" was the statement of
Manager McCulloch q few days ago.
He refused to submit the differences
between the company and employees to
arbitration, and has refused to answer
the demands of the union men.
When interviewed by committee
from the Amalgamated Association of
Street Railway Employees, Mayor Har-
rison uttered the following statement:
THE police will preserve order, and
will protect life and property, but they
will not take sides show any par
tisanship in this controversy. Patrol
men are not paid to operate street
cars, and they will not operate them
under any circumstances"
The mayors statement came in
answer to the protest of the committee
against a statement from Chief of
Police ONeill that the policemen would
run the cars if the employees went
out.
I'VE have done everything in our
power to avert a strike" said Presi-
dent Buckley. The company, by its
refusal to listen to our appeals FOR ar