New-York tribune., 1907-08-13

! ern Union occurred at just L o'clock The
operating rooms are on the sixth and seventh
floors. A man standing the landing Of the
stairway between the two floors blew shrlL
blast a whistle The man VINO mad Oeen
designated to blow the whistle. in case strike
was declared, was inside at his key. Hearing
the whistle outside he got up and blew long
blast. and Immediately the operators began 10
leave their keys and file out OF the building .
There were about 500 and women oper-
ators az work In the building OF that number
more than 250 remained at their keys, aecord-
ing to Mr.. Brooks The strikers declared that
only forty operators refused to quit
POSTAL OPERATORS FOLLOW
The whistle was blown at the Postal Teie-
graph main office at 2:30 o'clock Some OF the
Western Union men had tried TO force their way
up through the halls, but Were not allowed near
the operating room. Several whistles blown by
them were not heard by the operators. but word
reached them through a short wire from q
branch Postal office There was hurried con-
sultation Of the officers Of the chapel. and the
decision was reached to follow the lead OF the
Western Union operators
OF the 1TO operators on duty only "A remained
at their keys The company badly crippled
for several hours, but by s o'clock E j. Nally.
vice-president and general manager, said they
had 125 operators at work in the main office
Usually the night force consists OF $50 operators
Mr. NaIIy said he expected 10 have 15o operators
AS the union had much better success recruit
ing among the operators OF the Postal company.
the latter was badly handicapped and was forced
20 order all except its most important branch
offices closed. Many messages were sent by
Leonard street. Broad street and the Produce
and Cotton exchanges through tubes and dis
tributed in the adjacent districts by messengers
Late in the afternoon number OF the mes
senger boys Of the Postal company struck,
which added 10 the troubles Of the telegraph
officials
The boys Of the American District Telegraph
Company which is a subsidiary company 10 the
Western Union and handles all its messages. did
not strike The Western Union made good Use
OF its tubes the financial district and to
Broadway and 14th street
c. c. Adams. vtCe-pTesident Of the Postal Tele-
graph Company who knew that something was
on foot was in the gallery Of the operating room
when the signal tor a strike was given
1.-The operators did not seem glad to go he
said later. They were SOrrOwful. rather than
iOyous Some OF the women cried. and one old
man who had to wrench himself from his key.
sobbed bitterly
by going out in this way the operators have
left employ. They Will loose all rights they
had under our admirable pension system"
Under this system. which was put into opera
ton several years ago, a man may retire for dis
ability after twenty years Of service on PEN
sion OF 30 per of his salary After thirty
years Of service man may retire on 80 per
cent OF his salary whether he is physically dis
abled or not There is sliding scale for
service
'Forty-four out of 40 of our operators have
remained with us and nine Of these are women.
said vice-President Nally Of the Postal
''Thirty-two OF our clerks and officials have
Joined the wire force and are working IN
the operating room.
For the purpose Of concentrating our force
in the main office we have closed. or will close
Will keep several branch offices open at central
points by dividing the city into zones 10 take
care Of our patrons. We have one advantages
that will help in the tubes which we have
from Leonard. Broad street and the Cotton
Stock and Produce exchanges. connecting with
the main offices
I'VE, Of course. have feared that the strike
would occur. but up TO the last moment we be-
lieved that wiser cOunsels would prevail among
the men"
COMPANY IN GOOD CONDITION.
Mr.. Nally said the company was in even bes-
ter condition than usual. because it had ninety
five men at. work last night where il usually
employed about eighty-six- The strike he said
had put the company behind on its DAYS bust
ness. but with the force at work last night IT
would have its commercial business enrfra1v
cleared up by midnight Asked as TO how many
of its operators had stood by the company Mr.
Nally said that III men and women out Of the
usual day and night force OF 176 had walked ot1t
OF those who had struck. he said about forty
were women
This would demand he said. for a time the
closing of about ali the branch offices. but would
leave a large number of operators available for
work at the central office.
In addition. the services of thirty-One men
who had been promoted from operators to
branch managers and auditors and similar
places. had been drawn upon. he said and these
men We're at work at the keys at the Postal CT
flee None of the wire chiefs had struck and
We're handling commercial work as operators
Mr. Nally said that various expedents had
been resorted to to condense the work in the
office, and. for instance. where a message from
Albany TO Cleveland had been relayed here. they
were giving Albany through wire to Cleveland.
and We're thus dispensing with the services OF
one operator He said this being done
wherever IL was possible. and while the
vice very much slower than BY the relay
method il helped to make up for the loss OF
operators through the strike. The Postal main
tanned. said. a large sub" list. which eOuIS
be drawn upon. the majority of the men
the list not identified with the union
Summing the situation up. he s--@ hat whiis
his information was that the strike was spread
ing. and that the Philadelphia. Baltl-
more and Washington had gone out. the Postal
was fairly we'll up with its business and b.