Evening journal., 1910-07-14


PHILADELPHIA, July i4-"Uniess
we are able to obtain from the Penn
sylvania Railroad the demands which
we have made, we unQuestionably
will call n strike The men nave
not voted for fun; they are in deadly
earnest
There is no question OF the atti-
tude OF the men, nor Of their loyalty.
Unless we can get for them what they
want we have no other alternative
The railroad must give i'm, or the
strike will be called II Il Is, the
entire system of the Pennsylvania
will be tied up, and the loss to the
railroad will be enormous"
The foregoing statement, made by
w. G. Lee, president Of the Order of
Railway Trainmen. as he entered the
conference with the railroad officials
shortly before noon to-day, would in
dicate that the situation between the
company and the men, which has
been strained for several months, had
become critical over night
When the leaders entered the con-
ference none expressed hope that the
difficulty would be settled at this
meeting
the company General Manager Myers
was reported as having received a
number of letters from employees say
ing since reading carefully the liter
ature sent out by the company on the
wage dispute they were opposed to
any strike and commended the COM
pany for the stand taken. saying they
felt sure the men We're receiving as
much pay as those employed on other
roads.
Local RaiIrOaders Expected II.
The result Of the vote of trainmen
on the strike question announced last
night, did not surprise railroad men
here. In an article published In THE
/ EVENING JOURNAL yesterday Il was
said that from 95 to 81 per cent. of
the men would vote I'm favor OF the
strike and the result bears out this
statement.
According 10 one railroad man. an
engineer in the employ of the COM
pany there is likelihood of the men
going on strike If their demands are
not granted. II is understood that
nearly all the trainmen in the en-
ploy of the company living IN VIII
mington and in fact all through the
State. voted in favor of the strike.
One of the demands of. the men IS
for a ten-hour work-day with 100
miles to run in that period and over
time pay ever that time II is said
that forty cents an hour is the pay
the engineers ask with the same rate
for overtime. The pay for other train
men will be rated according to the
work they do.
Train crews are now paid by trips
and they are anxious to obtain a bet
ter system Of working hours. For in
stance an engineer explained that the
same rate is paid for the trip from
Philadelphia 10 Washington as is paid
from Philadelphia TO Delmar. On the
former run stops may be made only at
Wilmington and Baltimore while on
the Delaware road many stops are
made, the work in consequence be-
ing harder and it takes longer to make
the trip.
The reason the railroad men ask
that 100 miles be fixed for a work day
Of ten hours is to prevent the railroad
company I'm the event OF granting their
demands from extending the length Of
the trips to be made. Some Of the men
claim that heretofore when the COM
pany gave them an increase In pay the
amount Of work was increased.
Conference Satisfactory.
Following this mornings confer
ence the railway union officials de-
clared they were well satisfied with
4 the result A sub committee of
twelve resumed the conference with
/ General Manager Myers this after
noon. II was expected this sub
/ committee would work out q plan for
an amicable settlement
Before the second conference Presi-
dent Lee. OF the trainmen, said
we had q very satisfactory meet
ing and things are looking we'll"