Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-19
No Settlement Of B g
Postal Strike In Sight.
Situation Grows More Serious
business ParaIyzed.
Millions Of Letters and Thousands
Of kilograms Lay Untouched.

slightest Indication at a late hour tonigh
Of q break in the deadlock between tn
government and its striking employe:
nor was there any prospect of any i'm
provement in the situation. The strike
however, will be made the subject of con
sideration in the Chamber of Deputie
tomorrow, and a solution of the problem
| may then be furnished
Notwithstanding the cabinet at it's SEES
sion tonight passed a decree authorizine
| the dismissal of it's late employees of tbs
| state service and reaffirmed its determ
nation not to yield. the semi official not
giving the result of the meeting also an
nounces that many merchants have Offer
| ed to lend to the government their en-
| ployes to ensure the public services. Th
is Indicative of the completeness of tn
| tie-up and the extremity to which the
government has been forced.
| The note does not mention the sensa-
| tional rumor that the government intends;
to call the reservists to the colors, thus
| gathering in practically all the male pos
tai employees and forcing them to work as
soldiers under penalty of mutiny. This
rumor, although it gained much currency,
is discredited.
On the contrary, the general opinion is
held that Premier Clemenceau seeks only
to save the principle for which he has
contended, and that if the Chamber to-
morrow endorses the attitude of the gov
eminent the premier will be ready for the
resignation of NJ. Simyan, the under-sec
rotary of posts and teegraphs, and thus
open the way for negotiations to bring
the strike to quick conclusion. The
strikers have said that it was largely due
to the attitude of M. Simyan that the
decision to strike was taken, and they
have refused up to the present to have
any dealings with him on the questions
at issue. NJ. Clemenceau's enemies, it is
stated, wish to seize this opportunity to
! overthrow him, but the chances are that
! the premier will ride out the storm.
| The last two American mails have not
been delivered. The entire public service
is paralyzed, and business, both public
and private, is in a condition of inextric-
able confusion.
Throughout the day the situation in the
capital and the provinces grew worse
with every hour. The undelivered letters
number into the millions and not less
than 100000 kilograms were stacked up
this afternoon awaiting distribution. For
eign incoming mails remain unsorted,
and only a small proportion of the out
going mails have been sent away.
A few days more of these conditions
and Paris will be reduced almost to a
state of siege, so far as food supplies are
concerned. The funds necessary for the
smooth running of the provincial trade
are hung up in the postoffices, and the
supply of eggs, milk, butter, meat and
country produce threatens speedily to
cease. Already numerous merchants
have been obliged to send out agents to
the provinces with ready cash to obtain
supplies The banks are Withholding pay
ment on checks in the absence of advices
from their correspondents and prices at
the stores are soaring.
So far there has been no rioting. al
| though a large body of strikers gathered
at the central telegraph station today and
threatened a breach of the peace, but
when they found that the authorities had
| a company of infantry in readiness in
rooms adjoining the main offices they left
| the building without creating any disturb
ances The real element of danger is to
| be found in the threat of the General
Confederation of Labor, which is pure
| ly revolutionary organization. and the
railroad unions to declare sympathetic
strikes.
| Strangely enough amidst the intense
anxiety in business and government cir
| cIes the masses celebrated Mi-Careme
today, the usual pleasure loving crowds
assembling in the boulevards to witness
| the grotesuue procession and throw con-
| fetti
Only the Royalists seemed to get a
| grain of comfort out of the situation,
which their newspapers hail as proof of
the bankruptcy of the republic
| The strikers gained many adherents to-
day, the men employed on the pneumatic
| tubes Joining the movement this after
noon and the association of 10000 postal
apprentices endorsing by their vote the
| strike principle. Thesleaders already are
claiming the victory in spite of the bold
| front assumed by Premier Clemenceau
who continues to declare that the gov
eminent cannot yield and intends to have
| recourse to soldiers first and then re-
place the STRIKERS with new appointees
Impartial observers, however, realize the
impossibility of organizing an entirely
new postal services
Neither the military telegraphers MOI
the soldiers, the latter having been plac
ed in the postoffices with the almost in
surmountable task of sorting the noun
tains of accumulated mail confronting
them, have yet accomplished even be
| ginning. and the belief is becoming
stronger that the government will be
compelled ere long to make some ad
yances looking to a compromise.
In order to prove their patriotism thu
strikers have detailed two expert oper
ators to transmit the cipher dispatches
which the government is exchanging will
the powers in connection with the Balkan
| situation.