The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-23
WANT WIDE
 LATITUDE Strikers Make Known
 Demands. MANY WITNESSES READY Strikers Have a Homely Story to
 Relate. Vice President Bau Says That Strike Was Called off Only On Promise of Unlimited
 Scope of Inquiry.

Atlanta, June 22-When the Georgia Railroad arbitration board met this morning to begin taking testimony in the dispute between the railroad and its white firemen, there were about fifty witnesses for the employees in the Piedmont assembly room. Vice Presi- dents Ball and Kelly, of the Brother hood of Locomotive Bremen and Enginemen, were in charge of the strikers case, although Attorney Ruben Arnold handled the witnesses.
 It was evident from the opening. that the strikers proposed to demand as wide a latitude as possible, Sin the nature of the testimony. Vice Presi- dent Kelly told the arbitrators that Commissioner Gray, in the anthracite arbitration, laid down the rule that everything tending to throw light upon the dispute, whether hearsay or not. should be admitted. He declared that in other disputes, in which he had been a factor, the arbitrators had followed the same idea.
 This is homely story of ours" he said simply. told in our homely way. We do not know much of law or the rules of evidence; we do know our wrongs and our sufferings. If we are to be fairly treated and if you gentle men are to get at the facts in the case. you must lcI uS UGH Odl N6AC All O0A own way"
 K. A. Ball, one of the brotherhood's s vice presidents, was the first witness called. He began a recital of the fire mems side of the case. Hardly had he commenced, when Major Cummings for the railroad objected, on the ground that the witness was arguing and re- beating hearsay testimony as to the requirements of firemen on other roads. r1-I t~kA Ht o,.lf case and began to pull out armful after armful of books.
 These are not hearsay." he remark ed. These are the rule books of every big railroad in North America. They show that the big roads do require intelligent, capable men as firemeh."
 Ball was permitted to conclude his statement when Cummings asked that 1t be stricken from the record. The board decided to let it stand for what 1t was worth. As this argument was ended, Ball said "Gentlemen, there were three reasons why we called off the strike. The first was that Com missioner Neill assured us that the arbitrators would throw down the bars and permit us to introduce any testi- mony or any statements We desired. The second was that he agreed. in case the two arbitrators were unable to select Lnlru, ne would supmlt 10 us six names from which the third man would be chosen and we could object to any man on that list. The third reason was that we knew that Federal interference would be a great loss to the railroad and the public. If we thought that there would be any at tempt to limit the scope of the inquiry, we would never have called the strike"
 As Ball concluded, he offered peti- ton of 800 names from Lithonia, ask Ing the arbitrators not to put the negro in the cab. The board declined to re- ceive the petition.
 The gist of Balls testimony, under Attorney Arnolds questions, was that the Georgia Railroad hired negroes be- cause they were cheaper and did not make them pass examinations and