Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-01-11
IT WAS ONE.
 YEAR AGO.
That the Big Trolley
 Strike Started.
One of the Old Employees Says it Was a Victory Although Strikers hid Not Enjoy it--BOth Par ties Are Wiser Now.

According to the calendar. to-day is 1ne anniversary of the local trs5llar slrike, but 1t was on year ago yestea:2 oay, as church goers and others Nhus Wanteq to use the cars that daV will remember. One of the trolleymer, saidI: to-aay were 1t not for acts of violence. Mn1sn the men aS body were in ms way responsible for, the Organization wVulu nave carried it's point and the sTiKe would have been short lived laa Iiained ', that 1t was victory. epenl though they did get Whipped not fo5. them, but for those who stepDud fnfo thear positions. Tt was always so, ne added "The men who fought for and won the independence Of this c0u1a~t Lry dldn't profit much by 1t themsalvha
 At was those who came after them. you and l and others, who wera nf,f3 thought of at the time, who reaped fl3es harvest. 1 was in the enrIoy of 4hez trolley company for years and hove ,1s, recollection of the help being used as' well as they have been since the sf1aka
 Iake the last snow storm for ex;al,4- pie. When every man was taken i1i frofn time to time and given hot coffee. Be fore the strike you had to ret eoffee yourself if you wanted it. and make sure that you didn't get cangfat lra fhel act. Besides this, no matter how shorG| the run men make a days pay, son,e- thing that never was known while theI old hands were there. Hor my own part have no regret for the part [ took in it. Like most of the men. e went into 1t in good faith and had no idea whatever that 1t would have| caused so much confusion. It gof he.j yond our control and I know now, s and the public knows, that the othefs party to the quarrel did their best to get it there, and that IS how thew turned the tide of public opiiiion against us and dragged 1t along until the reckless conduct of irresponsible parties came to their resuca and downed us Most of us are doing bets ter than we were before the strike. ajld don't know a man who went out buE has something else that pays him juSt as well except 8 few who were to3 dainty to take up anything that might dirty their hands or soil their cuffs. am aware that the strike did some harm, but am convinced that the good it accomplished will more than nlaka amends for the harm in the end. B0t11 sides profited by the experience and t you could get at the facts SO far ns they relate to the company as easily as you can at our side of 1t, you might be surprised to know that they are wissz now than they were year ago and that If the thing was to be done over. again 1t would have been easier to treaK with them- have no feeling at alf over the matter and so far as lnosf nobody has. We regret that sons folks lost their heads and counseleas acts of violence, but inasmuch ag att tended every meeting of the men hel while the trouble was on and was tho,s< oughly familiar with all the details o13 plans. am in position to state thaN the IroHeymen's union made clea1> light and if any of it's members wen is wrong the general body was ill ma way responsible for their acts. z
 Things were quite lively about th@ streets a year ago this time. and fpt' many weeks after the Declaration of} war. so much so that all good cltlzensFs hope such scenes will never agaiu beI witnessed on the public streets Of Wa terbury. s