New-York tribune., 1916-07-30
Manhattan Must Walk.


treated by an ambulance surgeon. Two
were sent 10 hospital
Manhattan Must Walk.
The action OF the Third Avenue en-
ployes by voting 10 strike means that
bv tonight, unless the strikers plans
noiscarry, Manhattan will be walking
nearly as much as The Bronx, The
strike will effect the Third Avenue di
vision Of the Third Avenue system.
comprising the Third Avenue line, the
Third Avenue and Amsterdam AvenuS
line. which becomes a crosstown line
at 125th Street; and the West Side
division, which comprises the Grand
Street Crosstown line, the Twenty
eighth and Twenty-ninth Street cross
town line, the Forty-second Street
crosstown line, the Fifty-ninth Stree:
crosstown line, the Broadway Branch
line. the Washington Heights line, the
West Belt line. the East Belt line and
the Avenue b line.
The system operates more than fOO
cars and employs about $500 motor
men and conductors. The lines OF the
West Side Division are operated by the
Dry Dock. East Broadway and Battery
Railway Company. the Belt Railway
Corporation. the Forty-second Street,
Manhattan and ST. Nicholas Railway
Company. and the Mid-Crosstown Rail-
way Company, all subsidiary COM
panies Of the Third Avenue system.
Strike Not Fair, Say Old Men,
That the strike is not popular among
all Of the employees of the Third Ave-
nue. system was evidenced by state
ments made BY some of the older en-
ployes last night st the car barns at
Third Avenue and 129th Street, where
the general Offices of the company also
are located. One man who had been
operating a car for twenty-four years
and will retire next year on a pension
declared the strike is not fair 70 the
men who have been running streetcars
for many years and know nothing else.
"If go on strike" he said. I'll lose
my chance of a pension, for which
have worked twenty-four years, and II
will be the same with other old men.
The old-timers are satisfied with con-
ditions; we are all making a living,
and have everything TO lose and very
little 10 gain by striking. IL is only
the Younger men who are dissatisfied"
An indication of the strength with
which the union men have hit the
Third Avenue system is furnished by
the fact that motormen who should
have been through for the day at 8
o'clock ran their cars into the barn
after 10 o'clock. They had not been
relieved for dinner. and had worked in
many instances since and 8 o'clock
in the morning Many of the con-
ductors on these cars turned IN
amounts ranging from $50 to Sl0O.
Police Commissioner Arthur Woods
met the situation created by the
spreading Of the strike zone by immedi-
atelv sending several hundred reserves
from the East Side stations TO patrol
Third Avenue. the only thoroughfare
so far affected by the Manhattan strike
from Forty-second Street to the Har-
lem River.
Two hours later. as alarming reports
continued 70 come into Headquarters,
the Commissioner announced that all
vacations in the Police Department have
been suspended, and that 9OO patrol
men now on vacation have been ordered
10 return 10 the city at once.
Police Rockies Recalled.
Late in the afternoon Chief In
spector Max Schmittberger notified 5OO
ratro'rnen al the military training
camp at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Is
land. 10 be ready TO embark on the
police steamer Patrol for strike duty.
Little disorder was reported IN Man
haitian during the day. although the
strikers had pickets near the car barns
and workers riding on the cars arguing
with the motormen and conductors.
The first attempt 20 effect settle
ment Of the strike was made yesterday
afternoon at a conference between
officials Of the union and the Union
RAILWAYS in the offices Of Borough
President Mathewson of The Bronx. II
resulted in failure when Edward A.
A. Maher, sr., vice-president and gen
oral manager Of the system, refused
TO accede to a proposition offered by
union officials that the strikers would
forego all their demands except their
right TO organize.
Peace Negotiations Fail
In counter proposition Nj Maher
offered TO submit the proposition Of
the strikers TO his board of directors,
provided the strikers would quit
organizing and return TO work. Be
sides Maher, the conference was at
tended by his son, Edward A. Maher,
jr., assistant general manager OF the
Union Railways Company, and William
d. Mahon. president of the Amalga-
mated Association of Street and Elec-
tric Railway Employees Of America;
William B. Fitzgerald, a member Of the
executive board, and Louis Fridiger,
attorney for the strikers. After the
conference Fridiger made the follow
ing statement:
"The meeting was held in the
Borough Presidents Office. Mr.. Mathew
son asked Mr.. Fitzgerald to explain
what the strikers wanted, and Mr..
Fitzgerald said they wanted the right
TO organize, a 5-cent increase IN wages
and the appointment of a committee to
adjust working conditions. Mr.. Maher
then recited what he had done for the
men, and charged the strikers with bad
faith. | pointed out that one of the
agreements of the 1918 strike settle
ment was that labor troubles should be
settled by arbitration.
"We tried TO arbitrate this strike
committee of the men got no answer
from the company; Frederick W. Whit
ridge, receiver Of the Third Avenue
system, went to Europe; the Mayor OF
1onkers was unable 10 get the COM
pany TO consent 10 arbitration, and a
committee of Yonkers business men
also failed. At this point Mr.. Maher
said that Mr.. Whitridge being in
Europe had nothing to do with the
strike; that he had made arrangements
70 go long before the trouble started.
Mr.. Maher also admitted that one Of
the 1918 agreements was that disputes
should be settled by arbitration.
after some discussion Mr.. Mathew
son suggested that the representatives
Of the strikers retire TO another room
and agree as 70 what concessions would
be made We returned soon, and said
TO Mr.. Maher:
"'Give US the RIGHT 70 orranire and