Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-08-20
GENERAL Strike on;
SMALL signs ORDER
EpleT ISSUED BY HEAD OF TEL.
EGRAPHERs' UNION AFTER
SEVERAL CONFERENCES.
PROMISES HOT FIGHT
THROUGHOUT COUNTRY
Says They Can Put No Faith in Ar
bitratlon as Applied by Officials
Of the Western Union and Postal
Companies.

UIIEdIOH as AppiiSu W ShS'o'S
Of the Western Union and Postal
Companies.
Chicago, Aug. 17.-President Syl-
vester ]. Small Of the Commercial
Telegpaphers' Union of America early
Friday morning issued general strike
order for which the telegraph opera
tors of the entire country have been
impaMently waiting. He signed it fol-
lowing series Of conferences begin
ming with his arrival in Chicago from
San Francisco Thursday evening.
Then he went to bed and slept until
8:45 a. M, when he arose and came
down town to union headquarters in
the Monon building, prepared to
plunge with fresh vigor into the bat
tie.
President Small said:
after consultation with the lead
ers I have determined to make this
strike the most effective and agrees
sive fight in the industrial history Of
the country"
No Violence in Strike.
ut will be fought from one end of
the continent to. the other, but by this
I do not mean there will be violence"
he continued.
This warfare will be absolutely or
derby throughout, but 1t will be most
determined struggle and every point
Of vantage will be seized upon. The
~ M nd ~, 80
strike Is such that they would rather
starve to death than go back to work
without an honorable adjustment.
No arbitration, is our cry, but
this is not because we do not believe
in the merits Of arbitration in general.
AS applied by the officials of the West
ern Union and Postai Telegraph com.
panies we have no faith in it. We
can no longer put any trust in these
officials. A former agreement with
the Postal arrived at through arbitra
ton, was brokenJby the company with,
In month. In the recent San Fran.
cisco trouble I agreed to accept the
good offices of the government and an
agreement was reached, but the West
ern Union broke 1t within an hour"
The operators in the brokers' Of
fees in Chicago started their walkout
at ten o'clock, the operators in each
house giving their employers another
opportunity to sign the union agree
ment before quitting work. 1t was
said at union headquarters that the
Office of Finley Darrell & Co. was the
first one affected by the strike.
Affects 5000 Operators.
The strike order, which will call
rDat 600 more operators, including
every union commercial telegrapher in
this country and Canada whose en-
ployer has not signed union agree
ment and who has not already STRUCK,
is as follows:
TO All Commercial Telegraphers:
All telegraphers employed by the COM
mercial telegraph companies, the AS
ISOLATED Press and private and leased
wires, not working under union
agreement, are hereby called upon to
cease work Immediately by authority
Of the president and general executive
board Of the Commercial Telegraph.
ers' Union Of America.
rs. ]. SMALL, President"
Leaders in Conference.
President Small, secretary Wesley
Russell and Messrs. Konenkamp, Sui.
liyan and Hill of the general execu.
tive board of the union, went into
session at the union headquarters in
the Monon building early in the day
rolled up their sleeves and plunged
into the work of getting the strike OF.
der to all points.
Returns from points reached by the
order early in the day started to come
in by telegraph early, telling of the
progress of the walkout at various
points The officials of the union
said that they were too busy to talk
and no information of the course
events were taking or the rapidity
with which they were moving could
be obtained.
Negotiations were said to be pend
Ing between the American Telephone
and Telegraph companies and it's tele.
graph operators.
AS OpSAd SuplOySU LuTOuSuOut
the country by the Standard Oil com
pany to work its leased wires are
included in the general order to
strike
A meeting Of the local executive
board of the union was ordered at
which President John Fitzpatrick and
Secretary Edward nockles of the Chi
cago Federation Of Labor were asked
to be present. The purpose was to
decide whether to ask the teamsters
delivering supplies to restaurants
where strike breakers are fed to re-
fuse to make deliveries.
All Of the strike leaders announced
themselves as agreed that the Order
OF Railway Telegraphers must. not
Join the strike. at least at present
Neill Gives Up Task.
United States Commissioner of La.
Dor Charles P. Neil said that now
that the general strike has been called
the trouble cannot be settled in Chi.
cago
1t can only be settled in New York
now" he said President Clowry of
the Western Union company is the
only man that can act at this stage"
President Gompers of the American
Federation Of Labor, with whom
President Small was in conference