Arizona republican., 1909-02-04
A PROTEST
 BY LABOR Against the Pending Railroad
 Legislation DELEGATIONS FROM UNIONS
Came to Lay Before Council
 men and Assemblymen a View of Case Which Had
 Escaped Attention--State- ments by Labor Leaders.

Two delegations of representatives of labor organizations connect ed with tbe the railroad in dustry, not only in the territory but throughout this country and Canada, arrived in town yesterday to protest against any action by the legislature with reference to the railroads which would be calculated to agitate further a delicate situation. W. l.. Fox, of the Santa Fe mechanical force came in from the north and Earl R. M'Daniel. J. L. Seamands and N. La Baume of the Southern Pacific arrived from Tucson. Engineer Delano from Pres colt will come in this morning and perhaps there will be other represen- tatives of labor, from both the north and the south. The following organ izations are represented in the pro test:
 Order of Railway Photographers; or der of Railway Conductors. Brother hood of Locomotive Engineers, Broth erhood of Locomotive Bremen and Enginemen, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Brotherhood of Railway Clerks. Brotherhood of Railway Car men of America, Brotherhood of Boil CT Makers & Iron Ship Builders of America, International Association of Machinists, International Association of Sheet Metal Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths and Helpers.
 The movement was begun simultan- eously in the lodges of the orders at nA tt-ftf any correspondence between the repre- sentatives and without the knowledge of the railroad officials, for. as one of the representatives said last night this is a matter of which we have more concern than the railroads them selves"
 Mir. Fox, speaking of the movement at Prescott, said: We talked it over among ourselves. We realized, that if the legislation, either the commits sion bill, or the bills for the reduction of passenger fares went through and the railroads paid any attention to it. it would mean a reduction of revenues which would have to be met by greater economies and we know by experience what that means. IL means crews and shopmen laid off and that those who are fortunite enough to re main, do so at lower wages.
 Before taking any action, called on the general manager of our road and asked him if he would object to the laboring men laying their side of the case before the legislature. He replied that he had no objection and then we began to prepare our peti- tions. In them there are represented union labor, unOrganized labor and the business men of Prescott. 1 took charge of the circulation of the peti- ton among the unorganized laboring men and the business men. It bears the names of ine-tenths of all the men who ship goods into or out of Prescott. I could have got a larger percentage if I had had time. only three houses refused to sign tine peti- ton.
 This is no time for such legislation as is proposed It would not only af- feet the laboring men directly and in directly connected with the railroad business, but it would stop all railroad building in Arizona. There would be no line from Bouse to Signal for which an effort is now being made to raise money. It would interfere with the building of the line from Parker to Bengal. There would be no more rail- roads in Arizona within the next two years than there are now"
 MT M'Daniel said: We believe that a majority of the legislators want to do what they believe is the best for their constituents and we have come to tell them some things about the pending legislation that many of them may not have thought of. One thing is this: three -fourths of the men of this territory are wage workers. There is the great body of allied workers con- nected more or less directly with the railroad business. All of them would be affected directly and every other wage worker would also be affected by this legislation if it should have the effect that its friends expect.
 "Of course, we. representing organ ized labor have first our own interest in view, but it happens that our in terest in this thing is the interest of every man who earns a dollar. Many of us have gone through agitatiOns of this kind elsewhere and we know where the blow always falls. The railroads themselves have not yet re- covered from the hard times of the last two years and during that time they were compelled to practice econo- my to our detriment. We have been working for years to establish scale of wages and get favorable hours. Neither our wages nor our hours were interfered with by the railroads, but many of us were laid off because there was nothing for Us to do.
 When this legislation began to be talked about we took it up In our lodge rooms and decided to lay the matter before the legislature and we l.aIio,.oa tknt ..-Lnr, thn s,lIainct 2.