The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-03-18

Continued From Page One.)
an identity slip which simply stated
that we had worked so many days in
a certain gang They said we could get
our money in Everett. We went to the
freight depot here and presented our
identity slips, but the agent didn't
know anything about our gang or our
foreman He had no record of us. We
were pretty near starved and he gave
us a dollar apiece to get something to
eat, and sent us to the office at Delta.
When we got there they couldn't pay
us because our time wasn't in and they
didn't know anything about us and we
had given our identity Slips to the
freight agent. The name of the fore
man of our gang was C. L. King. We
didn't get our money until Tuesday
night, six days after We quit. The com
pany treated us like so many cattle
and fed us like hogs-worse than hogs,
because there is money in hogs and
there was just so much work in us.
"The people of Leavenworth, business
men, doctors, everybody, got out and
worked with the rotaries, right along
with us, two days, to help get the line
clear. They felt awful bad about the
wreck, and wanted to help the railroad
company"
There is a law in this state that
makes it imperative on any employer
of labor to pay his men off when they
quit work-whether they are discharged
or quit of their own volition. Accord
ing to this mans story there was a
small army of timekeepers in the hills
and there is no good reason why the
mems time should not have been i'm
mediately made out and saved these
men lot of suffering. Tuesday night
when the story was made public the
time of the men miraculously appeared
in the Everett offices and railroad
officials broke their necks settling the
claims of the men. About fifty of then
received their money that night and tn,
balance of them the following after
noon. The fact that State Labor Com
missioner Hubbard was communicated
with and put in touch with the situa
tion may or not have been the spul
that unwound the red tape that always
permeates a railroad office, but the
railroad company came through il
double quick time after that occurred
A railroad nor no other corporation car
stand the light of publicity wher
thrown upon its dealings with its mer
and public sentiment becomes aroused
The treatment accorded its men by the
railroad company smacks of gross mis-
management and carelessness. The
company will answer that unusual con-
dition in the mountains; that it was
impossible to take care Of the men as
they would have liked to; that Their
own officials in charge of the situation
had to undergo great hardships. TIC
which may be replied that if the com
P"NJ ""9 "'i' ~ LIduSp AOV Hlel
from Spokane to Wellington, they were
certainly able to transport the right
kind of food and bedding to put
stamina into their systems while at
work and make them halfway comfor-
table when their hard days work was
through. They should have been able
to find cooks who could prepare food
that was fit to be eaten. Many of the
men declared that the meal eaten in
Everett after they arrived was the first
decent one they had since leaving Spo-
kane. The railroads may deny all this
mis-treatment but we do not believe
that hundred men are going to con,
eoet cock-and-bul story and all stick
to the same tale.
When will all the truth be known
about the Wellington disaster? If we
wait for the railroad officials to Ii.
vulge it, it will be some time vet. The
railroad companies are 10th to admit
that there was ever such a thing as a
switchmen's strike in spite of the fact
that freight traffic on the Hill lines
has been utterly demoralized for three