, 1907-08-15
THE STRIKE
SITUATION
UNIVERSAL WALk-oUT THREAT
ENEp BY TELEGRAPH oPER-
AToRs IN SHORT TIME.
DISASTER ~UNS0LvED
SLEUTHS WORKING ON THEORIES
ID. & r. G. STRIKE MAY
NOT BE CALLED.

The strike of the commercial tele-
graph operators will be universal
throughout the United States and Can
ada according to National Secretary
Russell of the telegraphers' organiza-
ton.
President Small has announced that
he will call out every man holding a
card in his organization unless some
satisfactory settlement shall have been
agreed upon. He notified United States
Labor Commissioner hat he would or
der all the men back to work If the
government would enforce arbitration
on the questions at issue in the de-
mands made upon the Western Union
last June.
Action will be taken at a meeting
soon which will determine whether
the strike shall become general. The
meeting will be attended by Ralph NJ.
Easily of the National Civic Fedora
ton, Samuel Gompers, president of the
American Federation of Labor, n La
Dor Commissioner NELL and President
S. ]. Small of the Te~legraPhers' union.
The New York operators decided not
to strike before Friday.
Operators employed by the press as
sociations have presented demands for
increase in wages and threaten to join
the strikers unless their demands are
grantedSA
n. npA-atNrc nnnplCxnd no tho Amari-
can Telephone & Telegraph Company
decided to prepare demands for wage
increase and better working conditions
and to strike unless the demands are
granted. This would paralyze the long
distance telephone lines.
Claim Strike Is Broken
In Chicago the officials OF both com.
panies declared that they had more
men working than they needed. Sun
day is quiet in the telegraph business"
said one of these officials, but we
could have handled twice as much
business as we did. In fact, we sem
several operators home, as we did not
need them"
Mr.. Capen, general superintendent
of the Postal, said:
THE first break in the strike has
occurred. A union man has applied
for his old position n has been rein
stated. We are handling all the bust
ness that comes to us, n have plenty
of operators. More were on duty to-
day h usual on Sundays"
Night Manager Dayhoff of the West
ern Union said:
Our wires are all practically clear
tonight ut z o'clock, and we have been
able to handle the business all day
with dispatch. We now have over 100
! operators working in the Chicago Of
flee, and these are being added to ev-
cry hour. From present indications it
| will not be long before we will be able
to open some of our branch Offices
throughout the city. These offices have
been closed since the strike was inaug-
urated. When l came OF duty tonight
l found more men on duty than were
needed and sent over twenty of them
home"
More Men Go Out.
About 500 men were added to the
ranks of the strikers Sunday. The new
recruits come in from various sections
throughout the country, in each case
the strikes being precipitated by the
men refusing to work with %non-union
men in other cities. Tonight approx
mately $500 te~legraphers are on
strike, divided among the following
cities:
Chicago, st. Louis, st. Paul, Mime
apolis, Milwaukee. Denver, Kansas
City, Memphis, New Orleans, Topeka.
Sedalia, Mo-; Pueblo, Jackson. Miss;
Dallas. Tex; Houston. Tex; Nash
vile, Tenn; Columbus. o.: Meridian.
Miss; Ell Paso. Tex; Salt Lake City;
Helena. Mont; Fort Worth. Tex;
Oklahoma City. Birmingham, Ala; Au-
gusta, Ca; Sioux City. Ia; Omaha,
Knoxville, Tenn; Council Bluffs, Ia;
Charleston, S. c.; Galveston, Tex;
Atlanta. Ca; Texarkana. Ark; Fargo,
N. D.: Los Angeles, Colorado Springs,
Jackson. Tenn. and Beaumont, Tex.
Thirty-fve skilled telegraph opera
tors. employed by the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company at its
long-distance office here, decided to
prepare demands for a wage increase
and better working conditions, with
an ultimatum that unless they are con-
coded by nex Wednesday a strike
would follow. This would result in
practical paralysis of the long-distance
telephone lines.
Striker Is Attacked.
Denver.-Attacked on Seventh
street. near the Colorado g. Southern