Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-11-16

,.here the meeting will be held was mot determined, but the courthouse or ~ tabernacle probably will be used. sDeT eeThe meeting is not intended for .bo nurpose of stirring up feeling or sro,sinc M the union peopleS' said Walter Davis last night after the msetinp of the council. "No, it is s ;ust to get the telephone girls side itafore the public, and all we want is fa;r hearing" said w. B. Hicks. G. 2 n Goble. in charge of the operators union plans, declared they hoped the bnsiness men and citizens would at- lend the meeting; that :"We do not care @ if any union people are there. We M know they are with us, anyway"
 All three declared that demands had hean presented to the telephone com rsnv - officials at Little Rock long ago in behalf of the Pine Bluff girls, as r,all as of those at Little Rock, Fort Smith and other places, and that the n,,hl;c should waitfbefore forming con- clusions.
 ( A request that the people of Pine pluff reserve decision in the contro- versev is made in a statement issued voaterdav by the Pine Bluff Central Trades and Labor council, over the s;0nature of M. w. Meyers, the presi- dent. The statement follows:
 0In behalf of the lady telephone op- erators who were formerly in the em- nlv of the Southwestern Bell Tele- pin pphone company and who, yesterday evening suspended work on account of the company refusing to grant certain demands made upon them through their chief operating officials as joint demands for their operators of Fort Smith. Little Rock, Pine Bluff and other Arkansas cities, and towns.
 "As the executive committee of the Central Trades and Labor council representing all organized labor af- filiated with the American Fedora tion of Labor in Pine Bluff, we take this method of notifying the public of our desire to put our side, or the other side of this controversy, before the people of the city.
 "As recognized imperative Ameri can institution, which has become an integral part of our social order, we believe the labor organization has a right to be heard.
 NWe believe the demands made up on the telephone company by their lady employees to be just and neces- sary for their welfare and also be- lieve the fair-minded public will al- ways be willing to give hearing and l just consideration to any grivances just consideration to any grievances l ship, and especially do we believe the i fair-minded will be willing to give
 just consideration to those of it's citi-
 zenship who are least able to take care of themselves. We believe that true of the people of Pine Bluff
 aIp the announcement of the strike sthe telephone girls, some excite
 ment caused by curiosity may have been created, but we do not know of any damage having been done or any ones feelings having been hurt.
 3Organized labor in Pine Bluff stands for enforcement of the law and when controversy arises, take all ex- pected precaution to this end. In this
 case every precaution was taken to prevent any violation of law, either es- tablished or otherwise, and we believe this precaution has been observed.
 We will as an organization how ever, at all times contend firmly but fairly, for those rights and privileges accorded men and women under the constitution of our land and country. In this we ask and expect the sup port of all fair minded people. We are at all times willing and are now willing to meet in conference with company officials, or any committee of citizens, in conciliation and media ton on this or any other industrial controversy that may arise in our city.
 Tn making this announcement we desire to state to the public that we have so far avoided going into the public print with a two-sided argu- ment which could only result in ar rayng the people against each other m taking sides over a question not properly understood and poorly ex- pained in newspaper article, each side attempting to get the best of the other.
 We are willing to meet any argu. ments which may be made against the
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