Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-08-17
EFFECT or STRIKE
WOULD Be SERIOUS
If RAILROAD MEN WALK OUT
oTrUMWA WILL BE HIT WITH
MUCH FORCE.
INVOLVES MANY HERE
Employees Of Roads Entering City
Number Several Hundred; Work. i,
ers and Business Men Watch
For Outcome.

Just what will be the effect in Of
tumwa and vicinity in the event all
efforts fail to ward of the probable
railroad strike is difficult to forecast,
but the number Of persons to be af-
900 employees Of 226 railroads all over
the country will number thousands.
These people are watching anxiously
for the outcome Of the situation. It
is not the question of which shall win,
but will there be strike, that is up
permost in the minds of a majority.
The employees believe they will win
because they feel that It is life and
death fight according to members of
the organizations involved that have
been interviewed. The railroad OH
cials are just as sanguine for VIC
tory for their side OF the controversy
and they, too, believe the right Is on
their side. The sentiment Of the great
public not connected with the roads
as employers or employees Is divided.
Both sides to the dispute claim SEN
'timent is more generally with them.
but regardless of this, each seems sat
isfied to stand pat.
Many Employed Here.
The fact that Ottumwa is more Of
size in Iowa and elsewhere makes the
possible effectlto be felt here of more
concern than in many other places.
The, two sides to the controversy are
located here and in large numbers.
Several hundreds Of men engaged in
railroad work are residents of Ottum-
wa. The larger part of this number
belong to one or another Of the four
brotherhoods involved in the present
dispute between employer and en-
ploye.
With four railroads running into Of
tumwa and two or these big trunk
lines with division terminals located
here, it is easy to see how Ottumwa
should be interested in this strike pos
sibility. The Burlington and Mil
waukee each have roundhouses and
big yard facilities here. A large num-
Der of train, engine and yard crews
make this city their home and great
many employees residing at the other
ends of the divisions centering here
cessitates maintaining rooms and tax.
ing meals while in the city.
Payroll is $685. Monthly. 4
A canvass of the two roads shows
that upwards of 900 men are employed
who are members of one or another
of the four organizations that are in
volved in the dispute now in the bal
ance awaiting decision. The average
monthly pay roll Of these totals $780,
900. These with their families make
up large part of Ottumwa's popula-
ton. The other two roads, the X. &
D. and the Wabash, while doing con.
siderable business here in shipping,
have no employees residing here who
are members OF the four brotherhoods
although number Of these employees
work in and through Ottumwa The
Rock Island, Of which the X. & d. is
a branch line, has main line at the
very doors Of Ottumwa. At Eldon,
some twelve miles away, is round
house, yards and division terminals
where hundreds Of the employees in
train, engine and yard service reside.
.ss, Many Would BE Idle.
Should strike ultimately come,
hundreds of Ottumwans will be made
idle and those not affiliated with the
organizations involved bid fair to be
temporarily out of employment This
takes in many hundreds of employees
for in the other branches of the rail.
road service outside Of train, engine
and yard work, there are the track,
station, telegraph. bridge and build.
ing, water, signal and Office forces,
ETC., all of which bring the number of
railroad employees in Ottumwa up to
a figure that Is perhaps second only
to the number employed in the pack.
ing plant and probably as great mum.
Der.
All Of these are interested, and vital.
ly 50, in the outcome of the tense stu
alton that is now awaiting adjustment.
Business men and the public gen.