Norwich bulletin., 1912-04-23
HaIt in Strike
 Of Engineers
FEDERAL COVER NMENT OFFERS
 FRIENDLY OFFICES.
SITUATION IS CRITICAL
Decision Had Been Reached to Strike Within 36 Hours-The Central Yer mont Railroad Not Affected.

New York, April 22.-Tender of the | Friendly offices" of representatives of l the federal government called at the 1 least a temporary halt tonight to a ] strike by railroad engineers in all the 1 territory east of Chicago and north of | the Potomac river, in which it is esti- mated that 52 per cent. of the railroad i traffic of the entire country is con l ducted.
 The offer of mediation followed i'm mediately the refusal by the managers ] of 50 railroads concerned to concede 1 the engineers demands for an increase i in wages of Is per cent, and the an nouncement by Chief Warren s. Stone of the Brotherhood of Locomotive En- gineers that in consequence of the re- fusal an engineers strike would go into effect before another S6 hours had elapsed,
 Friendly Offices Rendered.
 Knowing that the situation had reached a critical stage. Martin A. Knapp, presiding justice of the United 1 States commerce court, and Charles P. Nein, United States commissioner of labor, hurried to this city from Washington, and as soon as the de. l cisiye break between the engineers and railroads occurred they addressed letter to both Chief Stone and to J. c. Stuart. chairman of the conference committee of railroad managers, ex- 'platning that 6 grave situation had arisen and that sense of duty impeIled l them to tender their Friendly offices to the dis putants in the hope that some means might be foun of adjusting the matters in controversy without the calamity of a general strike"
 Halt Called on Strike. l Although Chief Stone had few minutes before said that his 49 asso- ciates on the engineers committee would proceed tonight to their head quarters to prepare for 8 strike with In 36 hours, he was impressed vita the letter of Messrs. Knapp and Neill to the extent of amending the order and he said that the committee would re- main intlct here tonight to consider the situation. He said:
 No organization IS so strong that it caa fail to harken to an appeal from representatives of tho federal govern ment."
 He added that he would place the proposal before the engineers com miLtee with tha recommendation that 1t be accepted. Herewith he immetH- ately called the committee together for an executive session, and later the committee yote1 on proposals made by Messrs. Knapp and Neill. The formal announcement of this fact will be made tomorrow.
 Railroad Managers to Meet.
 Chairman Stuart of the railroad committee received on identical letter from Messrs. Knapp and Nein at the same time, just after the railroad man agers, with the approval of their presi- dents, had finally rejected the demands. I MT. Stuart would not comment on wha- position the railroads would take as to the tender of mediation, but he i'm mediately ordered 8 meeting of the committee for tomorrow to consider the matter. Situation Still Critical.
 Thus the contention rested tonight, being still regarded by many observers as critical but by others as promising some sort of adjustment. Commission CT Neill was pleased with the recep- tion of the offer of mediation, but he did not outline in just what way he expected to carry 1t out if both parties 2 were conciliatory. His colleague, Jus tice Knapp, left for Washington this evening with the intention, it is un- derstood. Of returning here tomorrow to take up the replies of the parties in controversy.
 The Railroads Affected.
 The 50' railroads affected by the % strike crisis are as follows; , Baltimore and Ohio.
 Bessemer and Lake Erie. z Boston and Albany. ! Boston and Maine. Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg.
 Buffalo and Susquehanna, Central New England.
 Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville ChiQapO fTpTpa Ha4jA ern.
 Chicago, Indiana and Southern. 7 Cincinnati Northern. ;. Cincinnati Hamilton and Dayton. r Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and : St. Louis. . Coal and Coke
 Delaware and Hudson. [ Delaware, Lackawanna and Western ] Detroit, Toledo and Ironton.
 Dunlirk, Allegheny Valley and t Pittsburg.
 Eria.
 Q Grand Rapids and Indiana. l Hooking Valley.
 Indiana Harbor Belt. . Indianapolis Union.
 Kanawha and Michigan. | Lake Erie and Western. D Lake Erie. Alliance md Wheeling.
 Lake Shore and Michigan Southern f Lehigh Valley.
 Long Island. ? Maine Central Michigan Central. New York Central and Hudsor
 River.
 New York, Chicago and St. Louis.
 New York New Haven and Hartford l New York, Ontario and Western. 2 New York, Philadelphia and Nor. folk
 New Yosl1, susquehanna and West
 ern.
 New Jersey and New York
 Pennsylvania. lines east. Pennsylvania lines west Pere Marquette.
 Pittsburg and Lake Erie, I Reading system. i Toledo and Ohio Central
 Toledo, St. Louis and Western,
 Vandalia lines
 Western Maryland.
 Wheeling and Lake Erie. D West Side Belt Line, I Wabash, PittSbuPg Terminal
 Central Vermont Not Included, a The list includes practically all bu
 three of the railroads in the teFfiter5
 roughly described as east of Chicago , and north of the Potomac river. Fh, | three exceptions are the Central Rail.
 road of New Jersey. whose eontrac 6 with the engineers does n9t expire un. :; til June 1sf, and the Central VeFEaoA and Rutland railroads. both of Whicl
 aEs in Vermont and which have a sep. . ar4te agreement with the men era.
 pleged Sc that the result will be theil
 taking up the wage question directly ( l with the men.