Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-18
BIG STRIKE
FRIGHTENS
FRUIT MEN
ALARMED BY ITS POSSIBLE
SPREAD
CITRUS GROWERS AND PACKERS
TO ACT
Redlands Man Says Danger Now Is
Great If Railway Photographers
Walk Out and Action Be-
comes General

Citrus growers and packers of Southern
California are becoming more and more
alarmed daily at the turn things are
taking in regard to the strike OF the
commercial telegraphers of the United
States.
The, chances that the railway telegraph
ers may become involved in the struggle
grow each day. 1t has been known for
several weeks that the feeling of the
railway men was very strong in favor
of a general strike. The vote of the
Denver & Rio Grande telegraphers in
favor of strike is expected to precipi-
tate the trouble and make the dissatis-
faction certain to spread
A prominent fruit shipper of Redlands
made a statement yesterday which
showed how men of that section feel
about the strike.
1--WE don't dare come out too strong
in this matter" he said, "for we are
afraid of further increase of tolls on
the part of the telegraph companies. The
tolls were heavy burden previous to
the recent increase. This increase by
the way, came from both companies the
same day. Here is a chance for the
district attorneys office to get busy with
the Cartwright antitrust law.
Means Immense Loss
Inquiry for holiday fruit has begun,
and inside of a week or two we would,
under normal conditions, be doing a
large amount of telegraphing. We don
dare to attempt it with the present Grip
pied conditions at the telegraph offices.
What messages we receive daily are IN
a condition far from encouraging we
shipped 5000 cars from RedlandS last
year and the valuation was about $2,40O,-
OOO The output for Southern California
last year was 1895, valued at $20,493,0OO.
This years crop Is estimated at over
5000 cars and valued at about 81 2l275,0OO.
'.This vast industry will be endangered
in case of a general strike, or in the
event that the present strike Is not set
tied before the crop starts to move. In
midwinter a strike like this one, pro-
vided it caused cars to be- sidetracked,
would mean total loss ON every car
so treated.
II talked to some of the strike leaders
today, but was able to make little
headway. They simply say they are
sorry if the citrus men arc hurt. Here
is the way one of them put the case to
me: N
Striker Makes Statement
"'Yes, 1 suppose it will go hard with
the citrus men. That is to be regretted.
We do not want to cause any hardship
to you, but l doubt if the loss of the
entire crop would make any of you miss
a meal or want for a bed to sleep In.
Some of us have missed meals and in
the United States there are men who
are standing firm in this strike who are
not getting enough to eat and are not
assured of shelter. Doesn't that show
how hard pressed we were before the
strike began?
"'We do not intend to go back to our
yokes Just because the citrus crop is
endangered. AS 1 said, we regret any
industry should suffer, but we must play
all our cards. If the railway men join
us we shall win without the slightest
difficulty We have reason to believe
they will go out and with them will be
involved the trainmen. 1t is impossible
to move freight trains without the tele-
graph and tens of thousands of cars of
perishable freight will be sidetracked.
Among these 1t is quite likely will be
some citrus fruit.
Would Welcome Mediation
"That is anything but encouraging, and
l wish l could see some way for settle-
ment 1 spoke to one of the men about
possibility of arbitration and he replied;
We do not want to arbitrate. We would
welcome mediation and would do our
part to settle the strike in that manner.
Los Angeles men are self-supporting, as
S5 per cent of our men are working. We
won't take chances of getting the short
end on any arbitration affair. We will
mediate
''Within week or SO it will become
necessary for the civic bodies of Los
Angeles and other cities to take some
steps toward settlement of the strike.
Otherwise the citrus crop will stand in
great danger
At the Western Union telegraph office
last night the report that the wires
between Los Angeles and San Francisco
were tied up and that business was
practically at a ,standstill was denied
by Mr. Hawcroft, temporarily in charge
of the operating room. He said business
was moving as under normal conditions
| and that the strikers were taking ad-
vantage of the demoralized conditions OF
the Postal Telegraph wires to injure the
Western Union. Just how this was done
| he didn't explain.
Inquiry at the receiving desk on the