Iditarod pioneer., 1916-01-08
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT,
 IS A WORKE7AN'S PARADISE

BRIDGEPORT, Conn.,, Nov. 27.-The secret of Bridgeport's labor troubles IS pros perity. It Is the paradise of the laborlng man. Almost anything he asks he can have.
 Labor chiefs, Hooking here send calls to their confreres to come and help pluck the choicest plum that ever fell into the lap ot unionisnl-an all because the rush of war orders has made city of factories, recently pulling through hard times on sheer nerve,
 into the likeness of a mining camp where labor is so scarce that it has to be coddled
 No factory owner going to his office IT the morning can be sure that his organlza- ton is still intact or that it will remain so until noon There have been strikes and strikes, so many that even the persplrlng labor officials refuse to try to count them. No one knows how many are out at any one time.
 Men go to work on gaining desired point only to strike day later for some thing else And they are in fair way to get all they want, for every large employer of skilled labor is so tied up with war con tracts that lie cannot afford to let his plant remain idle day.
 lIe uHlOu lSElilLSiS WilC, oSSlAeAAS sAiSiA opportunity, rushed here to turn what had been hopelessly open-shop town into closed shop town, cannot enroll their leglons, draw up agreements and form committees fast enough They are overwhelmed by the rush to climb aboard the union band wagon; they beg girls to stay at work until they round out the organizations they al ready have in hand Meetings are being held all over the city, in the morning after noon and far into the night.
 The strike fever has so firmly seized the city and the walkouts come so rapidly that many of the men do not seem to be at all sure what they are striking for, The phrase better conditions" covers all their thoughts on the subject, and the employers simply wait day or two, find out what they want and then generally give it 10 them, unless as has occurred, the demands seem fool.3hly trivial.
 Last fall came the first of the great war orders The Remington Arms and Ammunl- ticn Company and the Remington Union Metallic Cartridge Company got contracts for rifles and ammunition that are said to be worth hundreds of millions, enough to keep the tremendous factory they are build ing busy for the next ten years. And with hese orders in hand they began the first of twenty-three big structures that are turn
 ng section of wilderness outside the city into the site of the largest industry Of its kind in the country.
 For this work they had to import struc Etural workers and millwrights, and then the trouble began The milwrights were union men, and both the carpenters and machln- lsts on the job insisted on adopting them or holding up the work. Finally the ironwork- CTS walked out because the mi l"rights chose the carpenters union. The question of jur- isdction was patched up and then the mill wrights quit Taking the bull by the horns, the Remington companies announced an eight hour day, and Bridgeport's era of strikes was on. Ten thousand persons had been affected by this order, and the other city workers became restlve.
 Men grew more and more valuable, thelr
 demands more and more insistent and still the Remington plant grew and other manu- 1 lecturers sweated under the pressure. Men were drafted from positions remotely con nected with machinery Motormen and con ductors on the street car lines deserted their callings to grab handful of prosperity mak- ing bullets. One of the first things that catches the eye on entering Bridgeport is a 1 big sign announcing that motormen and conductors are wanted on the car lines,