The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-12
Many More Cities Tied
 Up.
KEY MEN HOLD MASS MEETINGS
Operators and Unien Officials
 Working in Unison.
order of Railway Photographers Inform the Strikers That They win Lend Their Aid and
 Money.

Cnicago, H.. Aug. 1.-The strike of the union commercial telegraph oper- ators will be universal throughout the United States and Canada within twenty-four hours. according to Ma tional Secretary Russell of the teleE- raphers organization. This statement was made by MT. Russell after he had been informed of the action taken by the men in New York, who at a meet ing there today decided to hold a walk out in abeyance until the latter part of the week
 This strike movement" said MT. |. Russell. "has come to the point where there can be no back down. The teleg- raphers have been trodden upon long enough by the companies and we are going to use all our strength to en- force our demands. For several weeks President Small and myself have been holding the telegraphers back and have been advising conciliation but they have taken matters in their own hands and we are going to stand by them.
 No union man will be allowed to work with any one not belonging to our organization and this means that tomorrow morning. when the business of the week begins. that the strike will become universal. We can't go half way in this matter now. The strike has been precipitated by the men
 
 national officers. but we are now all working in unison and anything that the officials of the various unions throughout the country have done in calling strikes. meets with our hearty cooperation"
 This announcement was made by Mir. Russell at mass meeting of the striking telegraphers held in Brands Hall this afternoon. The hall will seat 1,500 persons and several hundreds of the striking operators were unable to gain admittance to the building and remained on tLe streets in the vicinity until some of the early arrivals had left the hall. The order of railway telegraphers was represented at the meeting by their National Secretary, MT. Quick. Mr. Quick informed the strikers that his organization was at their disposal both morally and finan- cially.
 We have $1,ooe,oo in our treasury" said he, "and It is at your disposal Your fight is our~ and we will stand with you until the end"
 Before the mass meeting, a meeting of the S2o union. telegraphers employ ed by companies using leased wires was held. At this gathering brokers. hews agencies and commercial organ lzations, including the big packing houses, were represented. A resolu- ton was adopted declaring that this CLASS OI lapOT was unuSrpdlu ana tAAl the various firms would be asked to sign a wage schedule and also to em- ploy none but union telegraphers. It was decided to let the private wire men prepare and present their own schedules to their employers. The broker men will present their sched- ule at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. The broker men will ask for min Imum wage of $30 a week.
 Then men employed by the press as- Eociations presented their rquests at 7:30 o'clock tonight and stated that the employers would be given twenty four hours to comply with the request. The schedule will call for $35 a week for six nights a week and seventy cents an hour for over time, eight hours to constitute a days work with half an hour for lunch. The operators employed by the news companies and the newspapers in the day will ask for $50 a week and sixty cents an hour over time. eight hours to consti ute a days work and the regular lunch hour. These requests were presented to every news gather ing organization in the United States and Canada. If at the end of twenty four hours the demands have not met with a substantial response. the men will report to the union officials and they say a strike will be ordered to enforce the demands.
 The Newspaper Side.
 Tn regard to the newspapers end of the controversy, Secretary Russell issued the following statement to- night: ''To all Publishers. United States and "The commercial Photographers Union does not desire to in any way whatever hamper the newspapers of | the country. We are fighting for our | rights. however and believing that | the telegraph operators employed in this service are underpaid, we have | authorized our men to present a | schedule to their employers asking for | what we consider reasonable recom- pense for their labors. If these de- mands are not met with by the vari- ous news gathering organizations within a specified time. the men will be ordered to quit work"
 Tn Chicago today the officials of both companies declared that they had more men working than they needed.
 Sunday is quiet in the telegraph | business" sai6 one of these officials, "but we could have handled twice as much business as we did. In fact, we sent several operators home as we did not need them"
 MT. Capen. General Superintendent of the Postal, said:
 '"The first break in the strike has oc- cured. A union Tan has applied for ms Old position ana mas been TSinSlat- ed. We are handling all the business that comes to us and have plenty of operators. More were on hand today than usual on Sundays"
 Night Manager Hon of the West ern Union said:
 All our wires are practically clear tonight and we have been able to handle the business all day with des- patch. @ now have over 100 oper- ntors working in the Chicago ofice, and these are being added to every hour From present indications 1t will not be long before we will be able to open our branch offices throughout the pity. When l came on duty tonight, l found more wen on duty than were needed and sent over twenty of them home"
 About 500 men were added to the ranks of the strikers today. The re- cruits come from various sections throughout the country, in each case