The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1907-08-24
STRIKE OF WEsTERN UNION AND
POSTAL OPERATORS SPREAD
ING THROUGHOUT EN-
TIRE COUNTRY AND
TO CANADA.

/
l
| Chicago.--President Sylvester J.
Small of the Commercial Telegraph
ers' Union Of America issued the fol
lowing general strike order at two
O'Clock Friday morning:
ITO all Commercial Telegraphers:
All telegraphers employed by the com
mercial telegraph companies, the As
ISOLATED Press and private and leased
wires. not working under a union
agreement, are hereby called upon to
cease work Immediately by authority
of the president and general execu.
tive board Of the Commercial Teleg.
raphers' Union of America. 8. J.
Small, President"
Decision Reached at Midnight.
Although the strike order was de.
cided upon at midnight 1t was not
made public until two hours later. fol.
lowing a conference at the Briggs
house In which President Small, Sec
rotary Russell, President Samuel
Gompers of the American Federation
of Labor, and several other leaders
were present.
At the Briggs house conference 1t
also was decided definitely that there
should be no strike of the $4,000 rail-
road telegraphers Of the United States.
These operators will be called upon
shortly to contribute a strike fund of
$4,000. Two of their general off,
GERS attended the conference.
The action is estimated to mean an
additional strike of around 5000 men
in the country, including all the re-
naming operators employed by the
big packing houses. 1t will take out
rs men in the Chicago stockyards
alone, in addition to the 40 who quit
at Armour's.
Gompers In Commanding Position.
Mr.. Gompers is in position, when
the time arrives, to exercise a power
full influence over the situation aside
from the years of experience that he
has had in labor difficulties. He will
attend, in Washington next week the
quarterly meeting of the national ex-
ecutive board of the federation of
labor. That board will vote upon the
advisability of strike assessment
upon the 1000, 900 members of the fed
Grafton of labor. In other words, the
federation Of labor is expected to fur
nish the sinews of war.
Mr.. Smalrs attitude on arbitration
was briefly expressed thus:
I'VE will consider arbitration when
the time comes"
He indicated that the time was not
ripe for arbitration and might not be
for some time.
When he came into the city Mr..
Small was greeted with tumultuous
demonstration at the Union station,
the greatest reception ever rendered
leader of organized labor.
Thousands of unionists met him at
the Union depot, and cheered him
wildly, with cries of mo arbitration"
Executive Board Acts.
Chicago.-With nearly 10000 oper-
ators on strike in sc cities Wednes-
day afternoon, the general executive
union sent out decidedly warlike
message to the presidents of the
boards of trade and all other ex-
change and commerce bodies in the
United States and Canada, warning
them to get their business into shape
to combat within "a hours a strike
which by that time shall have spread
to every branch of the commercial
telegraph service"
Armour e. Co. Men Quit Work.
Fifty operators employed by Armour
e Co. at the stockyards walked out at
1880 p. m. Wednesday, following the
refusal Of that firm to sign the pro-
posed new contract granting an in
crease of salary from $50 to $35 a
week. 1t is thought that this will be
followed by strike of the 100 oper-
ators employed to work leased wires
by the other packing firms.
President Keeps Hands OF.
Oyster Bay. N. president Roose-
welt will not concern himself person.
ally with the telegraphers strike, ac-
cording to the best information obtain
able here.
Appeals to the president to take
some action looking to a settlement of
the strike were received at the execu-
tive office here Wednesday from
boards of trade and commercial bodies
of large number Of cities. The ap-
plications were similar in character to
those formulated Tuesday by the Chi
cago board of trade. Each emphasized
the Importance of the direct action by
the president.
The communications have been re-
ferred to Commissioner Of Labor
Charles P. Neill. II is understood that
no instructions or recommendations
have been forwarded to Mr.. Neill.
From the first Mr.. Neill has been &C
tive In an endeavor to effect a settle
ment Of the trouble II is stated here
that he has, as yet. made no report to
the president, nor has he received