The San Francisco call., 1904-04-07
STREET RAIL WAY TROUBLE
REACHES AN ACUTE CRISIS


is difficult to how the men-h given an
opportunity to express their views-can reject
In their letter to the company the. carmen
eaPLessed the hope that the industrial peace
spoken Oh by Mr.. Straus would be continued
MI Straus In giving the carmen an Increased
wage said he had been largely influenced by
the desire and purpose to establish a perma,
merit peace between the company and It's men,
and said II was his expectation that the scale
named by him would continue for longer
would continue for years to come-beyond the
period specified" Compare this plainly stated
ana broad minded sentiment with the rather
mifieaoing language of the carmen. They
express desire for the character OF indus
trial peace hoped for by Arbiter Straus. whom
they then suddenly desert and set up an en-
tirely rev and more-onerous set of terms as
the peace basis. Surely this sort OF thing must
end somewhere. The award gave the increase
and paying we'll, for permanent peace Now
II appears that the elusive thing called peace
mas disappeared The men accepted the award
upon the terms stated in the award, and a
resolution of the union has declared. The
$l25ooo additional money under the award. :"
Ihey DO not propose, however, that. perna-
nent Industrial peace shall extend longer than
fve months. for only five months ago the
award was written
The public should not be led into -oeliev-
ing the position OF the union leaders TO be
accidental. II has been under way and pre-
pairing ever since the award was published
From all sides we have heard threats TO e. "a.
inclined 10 discredit these tales we were fnal-
~ forced to believe that sccialHuc minority
were were determined at any cost 70 renew hos
tilities In The spring and these are tie same
men who arc complaining that the cc,n-
pany is endeavoring TO disrupt the union
dents.
No fair conception Of the conditions we have
been living under can be conveyed to the
public in single interview At no time
within my knowledge has this company been
free from attacks. After conceding all the
almost Immediately and continued up to the.
arbitration. While arbitration was in progress
We We Were VERT told What what would happen & to US in
New York the arbiters were told that the
San Francisco carmen were restless" and
apt to make trouble and precipitate an in
. dustrial war" when-w were at great extra
expense. attempting to work out the increase
due to the men for back pay under the award.
we were charged with unnecessarily annoy
ing the men by purposely delaying
The men had this back pay coming be
whatever the award Of the board should be
II should date back and for this. in lat
ter dated April 3. 1908. the union said, I'VE
thank you for promising that whatever wages
shall be finally agreed upon shall take effect
as of May 19O5. Then its officers not
only permitted these attacks. but encouraged
them.
We have not had a months peace within my
knowledge and the constant nagging the
pany has been subjected to can only be ascribed
to the element that is incorporating labor
union principles and trying to make 1t appear
tnaI we are hostile to all labor unions. Our
statements have been nisconstrued and given
a meaning never intended. Words and express
sions have been attributed to the company that
were mere Inventions and IL is apparent there
will be no peace so long this element, and not
strict union men, act the representatives of
trades unonism.
With these conditions staring us in the face
a few leaders of the carmen seek to vest in
themselves the right to hire and discharge our
employees. for their request in this connection
is just about the same the demands of last
year, except that they more carefully
worded. The public was shocked year ago
at the demands. They ask that If
be discharged on the complaint of any passen-
german woman--that If the employe feels
that he has been unjustly discharged, the citi-
must be brought before a court of arbiters
to tell his or her side of the story. Just i'm
agine this condition of affairs. No one would
dare complain-uo matter what the offense
might be- Section of the carmen's proposed
contract in effect says: Ffrst-Men who have
been expelled by the union for non payment of
dues or other cannot remain in the
company's employ. second-Men who are re-
ployed, over sixty days. BY this section the
leaders could exercise supervision over every
man the company might hire ana veto the mr.
ing by refusing to permit such men TO join the
union, and might dismiss any man they chose
from the eompany's service by merely sus-
nending him them from the union.
To yield TO such a demand would be to
subordinate the public service TO control that
could never be held responsible for its mis-
takes, would place the company in the position
of shirkng its bounden legal duty would dis
r1Ipt the service and produce results the evils
os which must be apparent to every man or
woman who will give the matter moment S
thought Street railway service is like no
other service in this respect. In conclusion 1
can only say we do not expect serious trouble
nor 90 we want it, We do not expect to nor
do we want to disrupt the union; do want
peace. and we do want fair treatment. While
we do not expect trouble, not unpre-
pared for the worst. We willing to live
up to the award of the arbiters and have
even offered to broaden its scope, notwithstand-
! ing the fact that wages are being reduced all
over America, and this Notwithstanding the
fact that we are paying the highest wages
paid on earth on any equally large system to
men in similar employment.