The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-02
ELEVATED STRIKE NEARER.
ave MEAN BUSINESS" SAYS THE
MOTORMEN'S UNION CHIEF.
Second Meeting With Belmont Fails
-Grand Chief Stone Issues q State
ment OF the Mems Sitlc-"Serious"
Is Ills Comment on the situation.

Is Ills Comment ON the situation.
Another futile conference was held yes
terday between officials of the marlborough
company and representatives Of the ele-
waited railway motormen. Neither side
manifested a disposition to give in, and
no arrangement was made for another
effort to como to an understanding.
Local 1906 held four hour meeting at 1T
Willis avenue yesterday afternoon, at
which full report was made of the con-
ference AT its conclusion Chief William
l.. Jencks said:
"We have had our last conference with
Mr. Belmont. II another is held it will be
of his own seeking We mean business,
and so notified him. We are out for $3.50
Der day and nine hours, and we will go to
extremes to get them. While l do not
predict a strike, you can draw your own
conclusions"
Jencks said that he could make a more
positive announcement after to-day's meet
ings of the brotherhood and the Anal
gamated Association of Street and Elec-
trio Railway Employees.
Soon after the failure Of yesterdays
conference to bring about any apparent
opening for settlement of the controversy,
Warren S. Stone, chief of the Brother
hood of Locomotive Engineers, issued a
formal statement which threw no light
upon the probable course Of the motormen.
MIR Stones statement follows:
The electric engineers of the lnterborough
Rapid Transit Company ask that the wage
scale and hours of labor now in effect on
the Interborough namely, $50 for nine
hours, the company only offers 50 for ten
hours) be extended to the subway operated
by the same corporation. The statement
that we are asking for an increase In wages
is wrong, as this wage scale has been in ex-
istence for years. Any railroad building or
leasing new lines applies the wage scale in
effect to the acquired territory, and We think
it only fair that the same should be done here.
The claim of the company that they can
get all the motormen they want at cheaper
rate for longer hours Is, perhaps true In
one sense: but what kind of motormen will
they be? | have no doubt II they offered n
still lower rate they could still get men.
1t is the intention of the company to put In
a service in the subway that Is faster than any
in the United States, and the only question
that the company should consider, and one
Of vital importance to the public. is not how
cheap, but how good. 1t appears to me a
motorman In charge of one of these 3OO-ton
trains rushing through the subway at ex-
lives, should be the best that can be procured.
and firmly believe If the people of Great ter
New York understood the importance of the
question at stake they would demand that
the best motormen possible be supplied to
man these trains. As to the ability OF our
men I can refer you to the record OF the In
Peterborough, where they handle million
people each day in safety.
It's all mere talk to compare these surfa CO
motormen. who handle one light car weighing
twenty tons running at a speed Of ten or If
teen miles per hour. with one OF the subway
trains of 300 tons, running at forty-hve or
fifty miles per hour. and say the work is the
same and that the surface man can 60 in the
subway and do the work. There would be
just as much reason In saying the engineer
who had always run switcher In the yard
would be a good man to send out with the
Empire State Express.
Some who read this document and not ed
Mr.. Stones evident anxiety to get It be-
fore the public were inclined to tho belief
that it might mean quick action ON the
part Of the motorrnen and that the chief
was anxious to tell their side as early as
possible. When Mr.. Stone was asked IL
the situation might be regarded al serious,
he replied:
sYes; and that Is why wished to get
the statement of our attitude out this after
noon"
One Of the committee who was at both
conferences with Mr.. Belmont was asked
yesterday afternoon the point blank ques-
ton II there was going to be strike:
There will be no strike Tomorrow he
said. 'and none next day. That rs all
can say about the matter
When Mn Stone was asked on Tuesday
last as to the machinery involved in bring
ing strike about, he said:
1.-THE matter Ia in the hands Of the COM
mittee. I could, II thought best, call q
strike myself, but the, matter will be left
with the committee. ] am here purely In
an advisory capacity
Mr.. Stone yesterday emphatically denied
that ths present movement In any way
involved politics and said that at the
Wednesday conference he had assured
Mr.. Belmont that there was no intention
whatever to bring pressure to bear on him
ut this time because Of the political situa-
ton.
There was a good deal OF secrecy about
the conference Of yesterday. 1t was held
at Mr.. Belmont's residence. ~ East Thirty
fourth street, at II O'Clock in the forenoon.
At the breaking up Of the conference on
Wednesday afternoon all that was said
was to be one at some time not yet deter
mined.
Late yesterday forenoon Mr.. Stone was
quite sure that he did not know when the
conference was to be. That was shortly
before he went around to Mr.. Belmont's
house.
1t was ten minutes to I when the con-
ference broke up yesterday and the mem
bers Of the motormen's committee, Mr..
Stone among them, came down the steps
to the sidewalk. where the newspaper men
were waiting.
THE men have entered this fight to win,
said Mr.. Stone 'and they intend to win.
] still hope there will be no strike, however.
We were unable to reach any satisfactory
conclusion and there may be another con-
ference. Neither side made any suggestion
for compromise
When Mr.. Belmont was told what Mr..
Stone had said he replied that he had moth
inglto add, but that he knew nothing at
present about any future conference,
General Manager Bryan OF the Inter
borough also said that no knew nothing
of any future conference.
Those who attended the conference yes
terday were the same who attended that OF
Wednesday. Mr.. Belmont, Mr.. Bryan and
Mr., Hedley represented the marlborough
company, and Mr.. Stone, Mr.. Jencks, Mr.
pipnpy and M ma fvvalya ofhara nf the conn