The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1917-01-03
INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC

INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC
The outstanding feature of the year
| in the Industrial world was the threat
| ened strike of the 100000 members of
| the four great railway brotherhoOds
which was prevented only by the pas
sage by congress Of the AdamsOn bill.
The demands Of the four brother
hoods, representing the engineers, fire.
men. conductors and trainmen, were
made upon the railroads early in the
year and after fruitless conferences
between the representatives of the
brOtherhoods and the committee of
general managers representing prac-
| ticaliy every railroad In the United
| States, strike vote was taken among
| the members Of the brotherhocds. On
July 20 1t was announced that the
vote had been overwhelmingly In favor
of strike unless the demands of the
| men were granted by the railroads.
The federal board of mediation inn
| mediately offered its services in an eff
| fort to prevent strike but on August
| II the board announced that 1t had
| been unable to bring about an agree
| ment and on the following day Presi-
| dent Wilson summoned the general
| managers committee and the brother
| hoods representatives to the White
| House for a conference. This confer
| ence produced no result, the railroad
mana gers offering to submit the whole
| controversy TO arbitration but the
brotherhood representatives refusing
to agree TO arbitration of their eight
hour day demands. August 20, Presi-
dent Wilson. with promise from the
| brotherhood leaders that they could
rescind their strike order already Is
sued, If a law were passed providing
for the placing of their wage scales
on an eight-hour basis, went before
congress and asked the passage of
three bills which he deemed neceS-
sary to meet the situation. One of
these bills provided that EIGHT hours
shall be deemed the measure or stand
ard Of days work for the purpose of
reckoning the compensation for serv-
ices of all employees" operating trains
in interstate traffic.
Other bills proposed by the president
provided for the compulsory submits
sion of rail labor disputes to a board
| of mediation to be appointed by the
| president before a strike could be de-
clared and for government operation of
| the railways in case of military neces-
sity.
The bill embodying the provision for
| the eight-hour basis for wages known
as the Adamson bill, was rushed
| through the house September l and
was passed by the senate September 2.
The order for strike which was 70
have gone into effect September 4 was
then rescinded. The session of con-
gress ended shortly afterwards and
proposed by the president was post
poned until the next session.
Strikes were in progress In a num-
| Der of industries during the early part
of the year and some were marked by
scenes of violence. April "a, striking
employees of the Westinghouse COM
pany, led by masked woman, rioted
| in East Pittsburgh. Fatal strike riots
occurred at the Carnegie Steel works
| In Braddock, Pa, May 2. big strike
was started by the Chicago garment
| workers May 9. Express drivers In
|. chicago struck May 16 and consider
able violence marked the strike, ex-
| tnl
| lice protection. July 13, state troops
were sent to La Sale, H., to quell
riots of cement works strikers.
strike of street railway men
stopped all surface cars in the Dor
oughs of Manhattan, Bronx and Rich
| mond, New York, August 3, but the
strike ended two days later tempo
rarily. September 6, strike Of all
men on the subway, elevated and sur
| face lines In New York was called.
| Serious riots marked the street car
strike in New York, particularly on
| October 5.
November 5. large party of I. w.
w. members from Seattle engaged in
a battle with a sheriff's posse at Ever
| etC, w dSH. oeNeu LlcH were
| ing the fighting.
November Is, the National Industrial
| Conference Board was organized by
| representatives of several associations
of manufacturers said to embrace 15,-
| 600 employers, giving work to approx
mately 100000 persons. The board
| it was announced, will look after the
interests of employers In their rela-
| tons with labor.
November %, Judge Hook of the
| United States district court at Kansas
+! City, Mo-. held the Adamson eight-hour
| law unconstitutional and an agreement
+, was reached between the representa-
| tives of the government and of the rail-
roads for an appeal to the United
| States Supreme court In an effort to
obtain a final decision on the validity
, of the law as soon as possible.
| The year was marked. especially, in
| the latter portion, by marked increases
| in wages in many industries. Increases
| of SS,0O0.000 annually were granted in
| the soft coal fields March 6. The Uni
| ted States Steel Corporation, Novem-
Der q, announced a 10 per cent in
crease of wages, amounting to approx
Il