New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-24
Trade Officials Hint
Work Suspension
Order Will Fail
FRIENDLY FIRMS
TOBE PROTECTED
Labor Women Do TraC-
ton Guard Duty-ShOntS
Sees RuSe in Threat.

The boycott on all the traction
lines of the city became official yes
terday afternoon when the Labor
Conference of Greater New York
placed them on the unfair list, and
planned to picket them twenty-four
hours day until further notice.
This was the only action taken
yesterday toward effecting the CON
certed move Of the labor unions in
support of the striking car men, a
move whose main reliance for sue
cess lies in the suspension of work"
of all unionists ordered by the Cen
trail Federated Union for Wednes-
day.
Suspension Threat Discounted.
Whether this suspension of
work" will prove more than an
empty threat remains problematical.
II has taken no tangible shape.
There is no certainty, even any great
degree of probability, that one trade
will be paralyzed. The chance all
the trades will at a signal halt is
being more and more discounted, not
only among employers, but among
union men as well.
The car picketlng. Secretary
Ernest Bohm said, would become ef-
fective Immediately. In the work
it is expected to use several hundred
women, who the labor leaders declare
are less likely to be roughly handled
by the police.
Unions Strike at Families.
Pickets will be supplied by local
unions, and members who may be
found using the lines will become
liable to fines or suspension from
membership. This penalty will also
be visited by some unions upon those
who allow members Of their families
rot associated with labor organiza-
tions to ride. The severity Of the
punishment is left to the individual
unions.
There was nothing yesterday 10 in
dicate what unions had taken affirm
ative action on the recommendation
for a Suspension" and little on
which to place an estimate Of the
number who, on Wednesday would
obey the order TO stay away from
work unless means Of transportation
ether than the traction lines was
afforded.
Bohm declared that Samuel Gompers
had described the situation when he
said that 100000 persons or several
times that number might fail 10 80 10
work. Hugh Frayne, he said, had esii-
mated the number at 1900, or about
one-half of the total number OF trade
unionists in New York.
The main difficulty in the way Of
estimates by labor men and neutrals
is the contracts many industries have
with the men. In some, if not a ma
jority Of cases, these will be lived
up TO.
Shonts Sees Labor Ruse.
Another complication is the fact that
with the Jewish New Year falling on
Wednesday several hundred thousand
workers would be idle, strike or no
strike. This, Theodore p. Shonts, os
the Interborough, in the course OF the
day. declared to be the reason Wednes-
day was named as the day the order
was TO become effective.
Yet another complication is the re-
fusal Of some trades, notably the en-
gineets and fremen, 20 do anything
that will work injury TO employers who
have been friendly. Thus. Timothy
Healy, chief Of that organization. says
the engineers and fremen employed IN
breweries, ice plants and other places
where perishable stuffs may be stored
and hotels and buildings where shut
ting down Of power plants would vio-
late fire insurance provisions, will con-
tnue 70 work If the employers are will
ing to provide transportation.
Ordinarily. the carpenters would be
a big factor in any movement of the
kind ordered. Now they will not figure
unless they are forced TO quit work by
the suspension Of other trades. They
have recently been through four
months strike, which ended in the
local unions being suspended by the
international body. They have practi-
cally reorgsnized since, but, as indiyid-