The sun., 1912-07-08
SPANISH STRIKE HEAD
bUS|NESSL|KE FIGURE
James Vidal. Leader Of Country
men Who Joined Scamcn,
Tells Of His Purpose.
"MORE FOOD" ONE DEMAND
Better Living Conditions
Aboard ships the Great Need,
Says Young Chief.

Tho most conspicuous figure along
the wat 'crfronts in this city and BROOKLYN
in these days of the coa-twisc steamship
companies labor troubles IL James Vidal
young Spaniari on whose shoulders
have fallen most Of the responsibilities
as one of the leaders in the strike Of the
firemen oilers. water tenders and sea
men To tho officials of the companies
Vidal is more or less or "A mystery and
I the general public he j. but n name;
hut TO the thousands Of Spaniards en-
ploycd on the ships touching ports along
the Atlantic coast and the Gulf Of Mexico
he * the real thing.
Officially Vidal is the secretary of the
Marine fircmcn. Oilers and Water Tenders
Union. with an Office at ?:9 West street
the strike headquarters. where he can
be found from early in the morning until
late AT night Unoffcially he is the friend
and personal adviser Of the hundreds of
swarthy faced men in jumpers and blue
shirts who drop in daily to learn of the
progress of the strike
Vidal is not the type of strike leader
with expanded chest and air Of impor-
iance To which most union men and EN-
ploycr are accustomed In fact. he
says he isn's "A strike leader at all and
dosn't want to be considered other than
n union man who is trying to help educate
his fellow countrymen who work for
"a living to n knowledge of the way to
get tho things they want. just now he
thinks that what they want most il TO
bring III. steamship companies to terms
Vidal is 33 years old and is married.
q 4 Al a
Of n strike leader. He IL tall and thin
With JET black hair and black mustachc
His swarthincss is set of hv brown eyes
of the mildcst type. There is nothing
feroCious in them. He speaks broken
English with an apparent effort and never
gets excited except when addressing
Spanish iremcn in their native tongue,
and then he talks like house aiirc
4 SrN reporter who went down to the
strike headquarters yesterday afternoon
to see Vidal was told by young man
guarding the inner Office that the strike
leader was the most modest and un-
assuming Of men. who wouldn't conscn,
under any consideration TO talk abou,
himself
He is working for a cause" he said
"and will only talk about the strike itself.
Vidal. however. stopped writing state
ments and receiving delegations long
enough for a short chat.
Il was born in Barcelona, the fines,
city in Spain. thirty-three years ago.
he said -and went to sea al an early age
| was cook on ships that sailed tn.
Pacific. At the age of Is got interestec
in organized labor and began at one,
TO do what | could To help along the
cause. | always felt that the first thin1
To do was to teach men on board ships
how they could help themselves 10y
standing together and then they would
be able to take care of themselves
-Four years ago the International
Spanish firemen and others on steamships
but did not succeed. and two years age
] became organizer of the tiremen. oilers
and water tenders in New York Sixty
per cent. Of them were Spaniards. 4
former attempt 10 org anize the sea.
men and tiremen WAS a failure because
the Spaniards were not in it. We started
propaganda and appealed to the
Spaniards particularly to come into the
union. | knew their feelings and needs
and they listened to me because | was
one Of them and spoke to them in theii
native tongue. With the help Of lectures
mass meetings and paper which We
publish succeeded in organizing
practically all the Spaniards. and then
We got the Portuguese, Greeks and men Of
other Latin races To come in.
Last summer We had a campaign Ia
make free men of firemen and others on
ships by shaking of the shackles of tho
shipping masters. The companies recog
ni2"d the union and for year the men
We're shipped from the Union. The men
however. were not really free under the
masters.
At the end Of every trip they were
practically forced of the ships and new
men were shipped in their places. The
shipping masters made a combination
with the engineers and the men became
dissatisfied with shipping conditions
furthermore. living conditions on the
ships were not what they should have
been,
The men didn't always get good food
or enough food to eat and on some of the
ships thay had To buy quilts and blankets
for their hunks. Many slept in sma /.
dark places with no ventilation and soiiic
got sick. When the companies refused
on July To again sign TIA" agreement
that had existed for year between the
companies and TIA" union. We decided that
there was only one way OF getting better
living conditions aboard ships and com
pelllng the companies to recognize the
union 80 III" men would he guaranteed
better protection in their Jobs. and that
was bv striking
SO the strike was ordered and now
m.o0O mon. including iircm"n. scamen,
oilers. wat"rtcnd"rS. coal passcr, and
qlart"rmast"rs ar" on strike
we arc going to win too" ho added
with much rurltiv"u"4s in the miLIos,
tnn of tt,,t.t nal, Al,