The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-31
ALL GOULD LINES
MAY Be AFFECTED
Vice President of MachinistS
Believes Men in TranSporta-
ton Service Will Go Out.
DEPENDS ON CONFERENCE
APPARENTLY UP TO GEO. GOULD
TO GIVE THE WORD.

Unless the conference in New York be-
tween our representatives and Mr.. Gould
bears fruit, it is my opinion that the men
in the transportation service on the so
called Gould lines will come out in sym
pathy and that there will be a general
tie-up of traffic ON these systems"
In substance, these are the words of W.
]. Harmon. sixth vice president of the
International Machinists' union Of Amer
lea, VINO has been assigned to the west
arn country to investigate the strike on
the Rio Grande, in which the shopmen
are involved.
IF the crisis comes which / sincerely
hope il will not" continued Mr.. Harmon,
lit would involve the Missouri Pacific.
the Texas & Pacific, the Cotton Belt and
other lines. involving approximately 1900
miles of road, and, besides the 1000 or
5000 men in our organization directly al
fected. between 5000 and 5000 men in
the transportation departments. Conduc-
tors. engineers. firemen. trainmen. switch
men. machinsts, boilermakers black
smiths and helpers would be called out
Including the helpers. we figure that
eleven unions would be affected.
Meet With Gould.
The last official adviees l had from
New York is that the presidentS of the
three organizations already affected by
chinists. j. Dunn of the bOilermakers and
F. J. Kline of the backsmiths-had a
conference with George Gould in New
York on Thursday. ! understand that
Mr.. Gould sent a personal representa-
tive TO Denver to gather information and
10 study conditions. but as l have not
been in Denver for some days. l do not
know what has been done
THE men in the transportation service
recognize that the attack on our organ
izations is a direct fight on organized Ia
hor and that it will not be long before
the company will try the same tactics
with them. II is notorious that in fights
of this kind the corporation always seeks
out what IL thinks is the weakest spot and
there makes its assault I'm the event that
- is successful there, the line OF attack
quickly spreads. All there is about it, is
that this is fight on organized labor.
Want Old Men to Stay.
Il do not believe that the people of
your city or those of any other city want
20 see the old men-the men who have
been residents for years-be forced out
and their places taken by stake drivers
men who stay only long enough to get "a
stake and then go elsewhere. The eX-
perience of people along the Santa Fe is
IN point. For four years there has been
d strike on in the Santa Fe shops, and
everywhere we go we hear the same COM
plant on the part of the business men
and the people. The fellows who take our
places get the money, send il away or
get away themselves. leaving creditors
behind without number. Along the line
of the Santa Fe there has been a general
protest and a general lamentatiOn that
the men who made their homes in the
towns and cities and become an integral
part and were such OF the community
had been displaced by wanderers who had
nothing in common with the interests of
the community or its people.
i am told that of all the men who
walked out in your city of Salt Lake only
six were not residents-that is. residents
in the full sense-Of the city | find the
same true of Denver and other cities.
"Reverting again to the Santa Fe. /
have TO say that the strike of shopmen
has resulted in a terrible state of affairs
there. The companies Will tell YOU that
the men they import are competent and
skilled mechanics. but they are not. The
Santa Fe. in spite of the fact that it had
900 new engines, is constantly finding diff
ficulty with its motive power. 1t is no
secret that trainmen attribute many of
the wrecks in which some of their num-
her lost their lives TO the fact that the
men in the shops were not capable OF
keeping the locomotives in repair.
Are Against Violence.
II see that some are inclined 10 make
much of an occurrence in Salt Lake Sat
urday night wherein three strikebreakers
are said TO have been attacked. | would
ike to have il emphasized, if you will
that the unions Tepudiate and absolutely
discountenance any batting Of strike
breakers. If the company as it is re-
ported. means 10 discover the leaders OF
the mob If mob there was, We hope they
viii succeed I'm finding them. and We viii
do our best 10 help them if they want US
10. We do not stand for that kind of bus
mess. not for a second
Mr.. Harmon will remain i'm Salt Lake
a day or two. Than he will go 10 Ogden
and from ogden he will go eastward. Al
this time he is the only national vice
president west of the Mississippi He i:
IL lab nd oil rad r-fra
president last fall Prior to that time NJ
had been a special organizer
Fifteen apprentices went out at the Rio
Grande shops yesterday morning. Thei1
walkout was voluntary. the unions no.
having power or jurisdiction over them.
The second conference between the eX
ecutive board and the arbitration commit
tee OF the Commercial club, which was
TO have been held Yesterday, will be held
today.