The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-07

are Poorest Paid VVorkmen.
 The strike yesterday of the trackmen at the New Haven terminal of the Con- solidated road was premature. It is an unorganized effort and it is believed that the railroad officials will not give 1t much consideration. At any rate, it is not backed up by any organization of workingmen. Word had been passed along the sys- tenn that lodge of the International Brotherhood of Maintenance-of of Way Employes was soon to be organized on the Consolidated. Several lodges have already been organized on the Boston and Maine, and the organizers of the order are now working the New Haven field. The first fruits of their efforts at organization Were realized last night at a meeting of the trackmen in the Odd Fellows building on Crown street. Trackmen from all the principal points along the system were present, and about one hundred were taken into the order.
 The persons on strike at the local yard were not invited to the meeting. A. B. Lowe, first vice-president of the I. B. of M.-of-W. E., said that no re- sponsible labor organization could re- spect any spasmodic attempts to obtain concessions from the company, as they hindered the efforts of the organiza- tions in general. Asked when the or ganizing of the trackmen on the New Haven road would be completed. he said it would take two months before he would be able to tour the system and obtain desired results. He further said that the trackmen were the hardest worked men in the service of the rail- roads of the country. Their responsi- bility never ceases. Engineers and oth- CT employees on railroads could go home when their trips were ended and their worry ceased. But the trackmen the railroad had always with them.
 The trackmen were constantly men, aced with being thawed out at some point and they have to be ever on the lookout for emergencies or that charac- ter. Still, he said, of all the accidents that have been reported this last win ter not one was due to defective track age. He claimed that the work of the 'trackmen was just as requisite to the safety of human life as was that of the engineers. Despite this, he said, the maintenance -of-way employees were the poorest paid on all the railroad systems Asked if the ultimate object was to strike for more pay, he said he did not think it would be necessary if the or- ganization was perfected. He said the objects of this organization are:
 1. To exalt the character and increase the ability of maintenance-of-way em- ployes to perform their duties. .~
 2. To insure greater safety to the travelling public and greater economy in the maintenance-of-way department by interchanging ideas and discovering the best methods of performing our du- ties.
 3. To benefit our employers by rais' ing the standard of efficiency of main tenance- -of-way employees.
 4. To alleviate distress among sick or disabled members.
 5. To bury deceased members.
 6. To provide for the widows and or phans of deceased members.
 z. To allow no person to remain member of the brotherhood unless h' lives sober, moral ltfe.
 & To require all members to faith fully and honestly perform their duties to the best of their ability for the com panies employing them.
 s# g. To use all honorable means to Sc cure the passage of laws beneficial t. the craft and to improve the condition of maintenance-of-way employees.
 The local lodge will receive it's nam and charter at it's next meeting.