New Britain herald., 1916-09-07
Stones and Bottles Thrown from Roofs in New York 1S,OO0 Employees Affected By Walkout-Million PeO- pie May Be Kept from Work.

Work.
 New York, Sept "A million or more residents of New York left their homes this morning not knowing whether they would ride to work or 1 walk The first test of the strike de- | clared last night by the union em- | ployes of the elevated and subway
 railways came with the morning rush
 hour on these main arteries of travel | between the two ends of Manhattan
 Island.
 If the carmen can carry out their 1 threats to halt surface as well as
 subway and elevated traffic, New York
 faces the biggest and most vital strike l in it's history The geographical for
 nation of Manhattan Island-long and
 narrow-the wide distribution of
 population of the greater city and the
 concentration of the business, make l New York peculiarly susceptible to l any interruption of street car traffic. When the workers of the city start | ed for their places of employment to- | day, the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees,
 which Is conducting the strike, had l been unable to tie up the subway and 1 elevated lines but had succeeded in
 crippling some of the most important l surface lines With the aid of Near | ly 5000 strike breakers and under po-
 lice protection, the Interborough Rap l i'd Transit Company was running It's l subway and "L" trains almost on nor
 mai schedules. The strike of the In 1 terborough employees has spread, how l ever, to the carmen of the New York 1 Railways Company, which operates all | but two of the important surface lines
 in the boroughs of Manhattan and the | Bronx Lines in Broadway, in the I system of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit 1 company, are thus far at peace.
 1S,OOO Employes Affected. Approximately 1S,O0O employees are ! affected The immediate cause of the
 strike is the refusal of the Interbor-
 ough company to release the men from an agreement to seek no further 1 improvement in working conditions
 for period of two years after the
 advance in pay which the men re- ceived last month. Behind these de- mands however, is a contest over the unionization of the street car workers 1 of the city, among whom the Amalga- mated Association has gained a strong footing only during the last few l months.
 The union employees of the Inter- borough Company voted to strike at 9:3O o'clock last night and several thousand union men immediately scat tered through the city to win over all street car employees to their cause. Little ~effect from the strike was mo- t1ceable during the night. One ele- Vated train was pe1ted with bricks, the passengers were taken off and the train sent back empty to the terminal with few broken windows. About midnight several hundred men, many of whom wore the union button, crowded into the subway at the Grand Central Railroad station and induced all the ticket choppers and platform guards to leave their jobs. The company quickly filled their places. 5000 Policemen for Strike Duty.
 In response to the railway com panys appeal for protection 5000 po- ncemen were released from patrol duty today and made available for strike duty. Two or three patrolmen were placed on guard at every sub- way and elevated station and two rode on every train. For the protection Of motormen heavy wire screens were nailed to the exposed sides of the car Vestibules
 The traction chiefs declared that they could maintain service on the subway and elevated lines but ex- pressed fear that police protection would not be adequate to enable them to keep the regular number of sur lace cars running. As a precautiOn | all the cars on the Twenty-third' Street 1 cross town line were sent to the barns l at midnight, but were sent out again 1 under police guard at o'clock this | morning.
 The public service commission has 1 started a general investigation of the l strike and subpoenaed the president ] and general manager of the Interbor- l ough Company and officers of the en- | ployeS unions to appear before the | commission this morning.
 Several instances of elevated trains | being bombarded with stones and hot- 1 ties thrown from roofs were reported | to the police shortly before g o'clock. ] Pohce reserves rushed to the scenes of | disorder entered the buildings and | chased from the roofs gangs of men l said to have been seen carving mis- siles.
 At o'clock the Interboroueh re- ported that express and local trains were running on normal schedule ~, ooth suoWay and elevated lines and Wl'n out leW changes from the regu-