The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-01
7uGBOAT STRIKE A FIZZLE'
H,RBOR TRAFFIC Will 60 on
IFRY MtCH AS GStAL.


..ilroads' Marine Engineers Agree 10
\rbltratc and 60 On WorkinE-The
Independent Owners Tic Up Most Of
Their Tugs 10 Await Results. but
There WIN Be Enough to DO Business.
Tho threatened strike Of the marine
rgin"ers. which was to tie up the entire
trafric Of the harbor, fzzled out last night.
In spt. Of their former refusal to arbitrate
their demands. the marine engineers en-
Moved by the railroad companies went
into A conference with their employers
and agreed to have all their differences
ahitrated
The engineers of the independent tow
boa, companies handed in their resgna-
tons last night, but they had already been
forestallcd by their employers. The latter,
at meeting in the afternoon. decided to
tie up most of their boats without waiting
for strike to be declared, and although
Il was announced last night that dozen
or so Individual owners among the in
dependcnts had surrendered to the en-
ginects granting all Of the demands, the
rst. who are in large majority, will adj
here :" their programme. only running
such boats as they can get non-union en-
gneers to man
That part Of harbor business dependent
on the independent companies will be more
or less crippled by the tying up of so many
towhoals, hut no serious results are ex-
pectcd With all of the railroad towhoats
In operation, many Of tho independent
towboats running with non-union engineers
and tho remainder voluntarily tied up at
their piers by their owners, the threat OF
the engineers to tie up harbor traffic until
they got the wages and hours they de-
handed and their union was recognized
didn't come to anything.
RAILROADS ENGINEERS WILL ARB1TRATE,
The railroads, which operate ebout two
thirds of the towboats in the harbor. set
,le, for good the talk about general tie-up
by persuadtng their engineers, at joint
conference last night, to agroc to arbitra-
ton Arbitration was offered several days
ago by the railroads, when tho first strike
talk YVES heard, ard was rejected by the
men. What brought them to terms last
night did not appear. hut they were brought
TO terms somehow. and he railroad tugs
will be footing and Iuffing around the
herbor to-day as usual
The Pennsylvania was the onlv railroad
not represented at the joint conference.
The explanation given WIS hat the Pennsyl-
vaI ia had already come to an agreement
with it's marine engineers which IVES salts
factory to them and 90 all danger Of rike
on lis boats had been removed it wesnot
nec1 ssary for il to confer.
The men said that the Pennsylvania had
promised them AS high wages as any one
else would pay.
lT's WAR WITH TU0BoAT MEN.
The developments Of yesterday afternoon
and last night indicate. however. that 1t
Is war to the finish between the mnIine
engineers employed by the individual
towboat companies and their EMPLOYERS.
A strike declaration-cr general "resig-
nation as the engineers preferred TO talk
Of it-against the towboat companies is
now n mere Formally, Us the ma jority Of
the mer, will find themselves already locked
cse-&o-dsy. .,--
The opinion em.ng the engineers en-
night was that they had got the woret
tit One suspicion generally entertained
among them ives that those towboat men
who will 20 on doing busine 80 to-day will
only use hef Of their boats, laying of the
men on the idle boats indefinitely in order
to meet the demands OF those on the boats
In operation.
THE RAILROAD CONFERENCE.
The conference between the marine
engineers employed by the railroads and
their chiefs. resulting in the agreement
was held In tho Jersey, Central building
and lasted from O'Clock in the afternoon
until o'clock last night.
The "a roads Represented were the New
York 'sntral, the Lehigh Valley. the New
the baltimore and Ohio, tho Long Island
and the Central Railroad Of New. Jersey;
The Marine Engineers Protective and
Benevolent Association was represented
by a delegation Of twenty OF Its members,
all employed by the railroads. and Louis
X Bcrniel, the president of the association.
No outsiders were admitted to the con-
ference At its close W. G.. Besler general
manager Of the Jersey Central, gave out
this statement:
pu,e for about nix hours. Ali there Is to say
now is that all matters in dispute rs to wages
snd condtons Of labor as "a, as the
lI tn m'artmc the cnalnaers n the employ
Of the COMPANIES will report l2r work as
an,icably settled
Tie ergrcs!a were very anxious to have
it appear that their union had been reoog-
nia d. President Bernier said ttat the
fact that he was present at the conference,
although net an employee OF any OF the
union.
Who will do the arbitrating did not come
out. II was learned, however. that ofers
Of the New York Civic Federation and OF
declined.
The result OF the conference was very
pleasing to the railroad people. II prevents
a tie-up Of lighters and barges now in the
harbor and loaded with perishable freight
TowBoAr MEN JUST QUIT.
The Association for the Protection OF the
Commerce Of the Port Of New York, the
name under which the independent tow
boat men operate. had its meeting yesterday
afternoon at the Maritime Exchange. Presi-
dent F. B. Dalzell presided and there were
about one hundred members present.
Henry l.. Joyce gave out this statement
after the meeting:
y, We have simply reafnrmed our action OF
The last meeting. In plain EnRlish we DO not
recognize the union, but are willing to treat
with our engineers as individuals In some
instances we are willing to advance the wages
OF the engineers, but we will not under any
circumstances adopt the schedule they ask
Tor especially that relating to overtime.
Mr.. Joyce then announced that a number
OF the independents had decided to fore
stall the engineers by tying up their boats.
Some OF those who decided to do this, he
said. were the Old Dominion Line. the Cornell
Towing Company. the Packard Dredging
Company and many Of the individual
owners.
This may cause some Distress said
Mr. Joyce. but II Is for the men to ave 1t
by Withdrawing their demands. We also
decided to-day to engage counsel and see
III the an uipoar. m ppof bx rroceedod n painet