Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-08-21
(Ry Lena Morrow Lewis.)

It seems but. yesterday since the
discovery of the wireless telegraph
was heralded abroad to the world.
Yet since that time the wireless sys-
TEN has been established on practical
ly all passenger steamers and some of
the freighters.
I Like all industries that require the
services of labor, the men In this oc-
cupation have found the same condi-
tons to contend against as are to be
found in every other trade, and hence
the history of the wireless operators
in their struggle to live and improve
their conditions is the story of every
other craft and trade.
Whether it is manufacturing shoes
or running a railroad or operating the
wireless system, the motive of actual
ing all such procedure is PROFIT.
This is the key note of the present
capitalist system and it follows that
ESQ long as the present order prevails
there will be an inevitable conflict be-
tween the employing class and the en-
ployed class.
Eight years ago wireless operators
received SIS month. one man to a
ship with the privilege of choosing
his own hours of work The wreck
of the Titanic with Its frightful loss O.
human lie aroused public sentimen:
and Congress passed law requiring
ships to be equipped with two wireless
operators, with one on duty all the
time, making a twelve hour shift The
wages of the men were cut so that
the first man on the run received $45
and the second $35 a month. This
awakening of the public conscience as
to the safety of the people did not
extend to the wireless operators. Al
work an eight Sour shift and are well
organized. On tApril %, 1913 the
strike was called.
At the time the strike was calle
there were some three hundred opera
tors on the Pacific Coast and it wa
presumed that ninety per cent of tn
men were organized, but it was foun
afterward that there were only abou
twenty-five per cent.
/ The low wages and long hours
the men created much dissatisfaction
and the dismissal of eight of the old
est men in point of service because Of
their activity in the union precipitate(
the strike. The Marconi Co. proved tc
be no different from any other capital
ist concern when fighting a strike
They at once imported lot of youn:
| fellows from the east, many of whom
had only superficial technical knowl-
edge of the subject and had never had
any experience in practical work on
a ship. AS an indueement to get men
to come out west to break the strike
they advertised in eastern papers that
there was an opening for sixty opera
tors to take charge of station at
Marshalls. California. To cover up
this bluff they gave out that they
were going to establish a school al
this point
/ Two men for every ship carrying
wireless equipment were imported
from the east at an expense of 500
per man and a guarantee OF $12.5C
) living expenses per week while or
land and contract for work for nine
months. Whe on duty the scabs were
paid from SIS to 500 per trip If il
were trip of more tina two weeks
} and less than month. Short trips
at the rate of 500 per, month. The
strikers were only asking for $50 ani
. $50 a month, and the amount spent BY
the company to break the strike would
have paid the increase demanded BY
J the men for five years. Important al
profits are today, shrewd capitalist
are ever looking out for future profit:
and power, and the real crux Of thu
question was in the desire to destroy
the union.
From the standpoint OF expense, gen
eral inconvenience and damage, tn;
strike was a bad propositio. Thou
sands of dollars worth Of apparatu.
were destroyed or spoiled by the in
competent scabs, their inability t.
send messages while at sea inconveni
enced the passengers and in SONS
cases money was accepted for mes
sages that were never sent. The
steamer Yukon was only about twenty
miles from the Senator when she
foundered at Unimak Pass and the
Senator officers knew nothing Of the
wreck till they got to Nome. That the
Yukon sent out distress calls is known
from the fact that the Unalga station
received the call The revenue cutter
Tahoma which was much further away
went to the rescue. It is only a piece
of good luck that nothing more ser
ious happened than did. The incom