New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-26
'DUFFY'S ARREST
HITS ALL UNIONS
Bridgeport Situation Men
aces Labor of Entire
Country.
LEADERS PREPARE.
FOR HARD STRUGGLE
Employers Suits for Dam
ages May Upset All
PretedentS.

fFrom star Correspondent Of The Tribune
bridgeport Conn. Aug. 25.-Wash-
ington and the railroad strike CRISIS
hold the limelight just now, with the
spectacular possibility that SOo'ooo
pairs Of legs may march together any
day in a general walk-out, but 1t Is
doubtful if what is transpiring IN the
capital is of as vital Importance TO
the cause of union labor as the Stu
alton which has quietly arisen here
With one Federation OF Labor or
ganizer in custody for lack of S2oo'-
600 bail. two other union officials IN
flight and forty striking molders
dazed by the realization that their
hard-won homes and their money IN
bank may be handed over by the
courts to their employers, the sltua-
ton here is potentially bigger than
that which centred the attention oil
the country on Danbury decade ago.
Employers Demand Damages.
The employers demand from the
workers full compensation for the
losses inflicted upon them by the
shutdown. With just such a case as
other employers have taken into court
in the past, seeking nothing more
formidable than an injunction, the
four foundries here involved insist
they are entitled to cash damages.
If their contention is upheld, a
rrecedent will have been established
knocking the whole foundation from
under the principle of collective bar
gaining for labor.
While Patrick F. Duffy, the organ
izer arrested, asserts he is confident
that no conspiracy case can be made
against himself or any of the other de-
PENDANTS, he admits that decision for
the employers would mean the end OF
unionism in Connecticut. Edward n.
Nicholson, attorney for the plaintiffs,
the Monumental Bronze Company, the
Bridgeport Deoxidized Bronze and
Metal Company, the Manufacturers Iron
Foundry and the Pequonneck Foundry,
contends that the case Will set prece-
dent, not for this state alone but for
the whole nation.
Labor Men Prepare.
The labor unions are not blind TO
the importance of the pending action.
The Connecticut Federation Of Labor,
although it is not directly affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor
has lined up behind Duffy, J. r.
OLeary, second vice-president of the
International Moulders; James A. Love
day, business agent of the Bridgeport
Local, and the rest of the defendants.
II was reported that municipal bonds
of the city of Cincinnati to the value
of 100000 had been sent here from
the Moulders' international headquar-
tiers in Cincinnati to be converted into
bail for Duffy. There has been hitch,
and the organizer. who has been in
custody of a relay of sheriff's deputies
at the Atlantic Hotel since last Tues
day night, was still nominally under ar
rest tonight.
Although Mr.. Nicholson did not at
tempt to explain it that way, probably
the drastic action started by the four
foundries is the result of peculiar
labor situation which has existed in
Bridgeport since war brought the mu-
nitions boom. In the last year there
have been more than seventy strikes,
and the employers leagued in the Man
ufacturers' Association Of Bridgeport
find themselves at last with their backs
against the wall The usual methods
Of strike fighting have ayailed them
nothing, for the great plant of the
Remington Arms-Union Metallic Car
fridge Company has swallowed the
workers as fast as they walked out.
Uor Roou,'a Effect
Since the outbreak Of the war
Bridgeport has become an eight-hour
city, the only one in all New England.
Up to that time the Manufacturers AS
ISOLATION had been close corporation.
II was not ethical and not permissible
for one employer to hire away an
others workers. Before hiring appli-
cants for work it was the custom to
consult the Office of the association,
where the records Of the workers were
kept on file.
The boom hit the Remington people
first. Job hunters from out of town
did not come as fast for work as the
Remington plant heads hoped. The
employment agents there began to
wink at the established conventions,
taking on all corners, without reference
10 lnc employers ttiSs Htlc
was bitter complaint, and the Reming-
ton companies withdrew from the Man
ufacturers' Association.
Minor agitations in the Remington
plant were Immediately adjusted. for
no strikes could be afforded with the
orders piling up. The eight-hour day
was granted, and those remaining in
the association had perforce to come
around to it or lose their working
forces. Wages were raised and work
ing conditions adjusted in the Reming-
ton plants, and so, it followed, all along
the line.
To-day the Remington Companies
which employed only 5000 men eigh.
teen months ago, have more than 10000
at work and are advertising all over
the country for 1000 more.
"Come through or we'll go TO the
Remington" is the standard union
threat.