New Britain herald., 1916-09-11
Organized Labor Lead CTS Say They Will Call Walkout in Sym- pathy With Strikers
GENERAL SITUATION
 IS MORE SERIOUS

'et Gompers Silent on Possibility of Uni-
 versaI Shutdovn-TroubIe on Sur
 ciaIs Say 11,OOO Are Out-PubIic
 Service Commission to Fix Respon-
 sibility by Inquiry.
 New York, Sept. 11.-With the leaders of 75O,0OO labor men of Great CT New York and vicinity threatening a sympathetic strike, traffic on the subway and elevated lines in Manhat- tan and the Bronx impeded, and the surface system in those two boroughs and Westchester County virtually tied up, the general strike situation as- sumed a more serious aspect today
 Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, de- clined to discuss the probability of 8. general strike, but other union leaders asserted that if necessary 50, 900 union men could be called out within six hours.
 Traction officials attribute the fall ing off in services in the subway and Felevated roads to the unprecedented increase in traffic caused by the stop page of all the surface lines. Union leaders claimed however, that the defecion of employees of the roads was responsible.
 Many Union Men.
 All members of trade unions in New York, Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle found themselves today active factors In the dispute between the Interborough Rapid Transit Com pany and it's employees. The various individual labor organizations in these cities served by the Interborough and its subsidiary companies received the appeal drafted by the Central Labor bodies last night, requesting a sym pathetic strike of all organized wage .~earners in their jurisdiction '1n SUD- port of the contention of the street railway men for the right to organ ize."
 Since the response to this appeal must be decided by vote of members several days must elapse before it's effect will be known A central labor committee has been organized, how 2, ever, and daily meetings will be held to direct a sympathetic general strike in case 1t Is called. Opinions were expressed today that most of the unions appealed to would deter defin- ite action in the hope that such a rad ica1 step might be avoided Labor leaders declared, however, that strikes might be called without delay in trades directly affecting the operation of street cars, such as the 1ongshore- engineers who work in the power houses.
 Strike Spreads On Surface.
 While the elevated and subway lines continued running today without ap- parent interruption the strike on the surface lines had spread rapidly. Union officials assert that 1,600 men are on strike. Not a car wheel turned all day Sunday in Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle and every surface car stopped running last night ~ in Manhattan and the Bronx also, after these two boroughs had received an extremely limited service during 4 the day.
 The seriousness of the situation has caused citizens to turn for relief to the municipal government, It is expected that the public service oom- mission, which has been Investigating the strike will make a report some time today placing responsibility for the situation and throwing it's officail ~ Influence into the balance to aid the S~side whose contention Is upheld.