The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-03-15
twenty-five Thousand Firemen on
Western Roads Will be Told by
Telegraph to Give up
Their Jobs
Burlington Official Says That There
Will be no Walkout in Spite
Of the Men Voting
for One.
What the Strike Means.
Number of railroads effected, 49.

What the Strike Means.
Number of railroads effected, 40.
Mileage, 100000.
Number Of men effected, $4,000.
Roads effected, Santa Fe, Northwest
ern, Burlington, c., M. & st. p, Rock
Island, Colorado Southern, Great
Northern, Illinois Central, NJ, K. & T.,
Northern Pacific, Oregon Short line,
o., r. & NJ, Frisco, all Southern and
Union Pacific lines.
Points in dispute-General wage in
crease averaging 121a per cent.
CHICAGO. March 15.-At midnight
w. S. Carter, president of the Brother.
hood of Locomotive Firemen and En-
ginmen, announced that strike of
25,00O firemen on all western railroads
had been called.
Carter said thaat the decision to
strike was reached at meeting Of
forty-three members of the Western
Federated Board of the Brotherhood,
each member representing a western
railway. The hour at which the men
are to walk out, he said, will be de
cided today and every member of the
union between Chicago and the Paci-
fic coast will then be informed by tele-
graph
We know a strike will not be cali
ed" said o. l.. Dickerson, assistant to
the president of the Burlington sys-
tenn. THAT state of the game is over.
1t is now only question of getting
together. The men will readily see
that strike would be preposterous.
"The railroads are trying to make
light of the situation said President
Carter. 1T is indeed critical"
"a strike has been called, that
much is CERTAIN, said Carte.'. ut
means that not only 25,000 firemen,
members of the union, will go out,
but perhaps that many more employees
will be thrown out in consequence.
We gave our ultimatum to the rail
roads that the men have voted to call
one unless we got arbitration of all
questions in dispute The railroads
i refused to arbitrate anything but
wage questions We decided it was
useless to parley with the railroad
managers. We adopted resolution
calling strike Owing to the late
ness of the hour and in order that
the men viii not go out in confusion
and not knowing the true state OF
affairs we agreed to wait until today
before telegraphing the order
will the men quit work today?'
Carter was asked.
"'The men will quit work within
twenty-four hours after the order is
issued he replied.
The sudden action of the firemen
apparently caused CONSERVATION in
the offices of the railway managers
Chairman Dixon, general manager Of
the Frisco line, called meeting c1
his committee this morning, during
which the next move of the railroads
was discussed at length. o. L. Dick
erson, spokesmen for the general man
ayers committee continues optomistit
despite the threatening outlook
Should the firemen carry out their in
tention to 20 out it will precipitatt
the second big railroad strike within
six months and one of the greatest il
the country's history The switchmer
in the northwest are still On strike.
is estimated that It has entailed a loss
of ten millions and the number o
men effected is small compared to thu
number tie fremen could call out
Should the firemen quit work 10000
miles of track, more than half The
mileage Of the country will be effect
ed.
President Carter and members O.
the committee said today that it hat
not been decided when the strike
would 90 into effect but it will prob
ably be in a day or two. Advlces
from middle western and Pacific coas
cities, quote railroad managers as
declaring that they do not expect
strike and have made no preparations
for one. brotherhood officials in thu
same cities however, are equally SURE
that the walkout will come and they
predict that railway traffic will bt
tied up. Many OF these officials pre-
dict that eventually the other railroad
orders will be drawn into the strug
gle.
TIE announcement has been mad
by President Carter that the strik'
will commence at o'clock today, un
less terms are agreed upon.