Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-03-10
Recognizes Employees Union
and Provides Committee for
Adjustment of Differences.
WASHINGTON RAILWAY
STANDS FOR OPEN SHOP
D. C. Commissioners Make Effort to
Bring Company Officers and Rep
rescntatives Together. With
Little Success.


EMPLOYEES of the Capital Trac-
ton Company today signed an
agreement framed i'll conference
with officials OF that company
which avcrtS any danger OF a
strike on the Capital Traction
lines.
The agreement recognizes the en-
ployes' union. provides for adjustment
of differences through conferences of q
committee from the local union who are
company employees with company Of
fcials. and questions which cannot be
agreed upon are to be referred to the
Commissioners for final settlement.
While this adjustment was being
made events transpired which widened
the breach between the same union
Division 6S9 of the Amalgamated Asso-
citation of Street and Electric Railway
Employees of America. and the Wash
tngton Railway and Electric Company.
Clarence p. King. president of that
company. early in the day frankly
stated that his company stands for the
open-shop principle. is not opposed to
organized labor. but "is openly and
avowedly opposed to recognizing the
amalgamated association as a repre-
sentative of our employees
Circulate Policy Contracts.
In pursuance of this policy. contracts
were circulated in the = street repair
shop and eight barns of the Washing
. ton Railway and Electric Company for
employees to sign. The contracts con-
tanned this clause:
Il. the undersigned. agree to accept
employment in the shops or car houses
of the Washington Railway and Elec-
tric Company an individual and
sever all relations with the ANAL
gamated Association of Street and
Electric Railway Employees of Amer
lea"
Union men who refused to sign this
agreement reported to headquarters of
the union that they had been dis
charged, new men put in their places
and that IN some cases men had been
given until o'clock to consider
whether they would sign or not, with
the alternative of losing their places
Inc commissioners today took hand
IN the effort to bring the officials of
the Washington Railway and Electric
company into agreement with their
men Late yesterday afternoon they
invited officials of that company to meet
them in Commissioner Newman's offices
at 1890 o'clock today.
Conference Accomplishes Little.
Clarence p. King, W. F. Ham. vice
president and general manager; : T.
Bowen. secretary, and Henry S. Bar
bour, legal adviser of the company,
went into conference at that hour Be
fore going these officials stated the
conference would be brief. The officials
left the Commissioners office at /
o'clock.
Shortly after the noon hour Commits
sioner Brownlow came out for a mo-
ment and stated that the conference
had progressed little beyond the initial
stages. In was recalled that last year
the Commissioners held an all-night
conference, uninterrupted by time out
for food or sleep. at which they brought
the striking employees and company of
fcials into an agreement which result
ed in the present arrangement which
expires Sunday night.
New men were on the cars today be-
ing broken in by non-union men who
have signed the individual contracts
with the Washington Railway and
Electric Company. 1t was estimated
that $50 of these men were in Wash
ington this morning, and that at Ieast
train, and from Baltimore on the W. B.
d. n. this morning. Many of them
stopped at the Mount Vernon Hotel
Others were in boarding houses. Those
who did not go out on cars were taken
about the city in sightseeing automo-
biles and some waited around hotels
and boarding houses awaiting a call to
report.