Norwich bulletin., 1919-07-28
STRIKE DEADLOCK STILL UNBROkEN


 tion called for such action. he was the fact that he was left out of the i ilmelight- When told that we had i neutrally agreed upon the manner in which the arbitration board would be 1 selected and that the only point in dispute had narrowed down to the date upon which the award would be- come effective. he stated that he had | not understood that we had been so
 near settlement and branded the of- ncials of the company as obstruc | tionlsts by reason of their not agree ing to such a fair proposition. but if we would leave the proposition with around to it's sense of duty to the public, etc.. and if they did not sub
 init to this fair solution of the ques- tion he would write them up in the
 papers and show them up to the pub l lie.
 | In our presence he called up a di l rector on the phone and advised him | to get in touch with the other di- rectors and settle this question, that the company was getting in Dutch with the public, that he would like a meeting of these directors; that the boys had been in and stated their po- fact we were still present and heard his conversation with the directors. He also told him that the machinery 1 by which special meeting of the leg NA tion and that certain other gentlemen
 had been interested in the situation; that a meeting could be held in some central point at which meeting pe- tition asking for special session of the legislature to take up the ills of
 the street railway companies would be presented.
 Rejected Proposition.
 Well. we left the (Moses who was
 to lead the trolleymen out of the
 a0 orf1 fo A% .Sr1 1nf7 fh<
 next day at 2.15 at his office. We
 met him and he presented us with the
 same proposition that the mediation
 compittee had presented to us on last
 Monday and which we rejected. We
 told him so. He then tried to make
 us believe that we had agreed to this
 proposition and called upon his street railway committee to confirm his
 in his statement and we finally ap- pealed to MT. Bodenwein, who was present, to state whether not we had rejected that proposition; to state whether or not we had agreed to the Taft Manly selection of the htird man and if the only question in dispute be- tween the company and employees was the date upon which the award would become eective. His answer was, What the boys state is absolutely correct
 At this point Mayor Morgan asked me to step outside the room with him, which I did. He then informed me that the machinery for the special session of legislation had broken down some where between New London and Hart 1 ford and that the governor had re- fused to call a special session of the legislature. He did advise to ac- cept the company's proposition which 1 he stated was fair and that the gov ernor might even pick him IS the l third man; that he could handle the 1 question all right and have the men | <sex<< surely appreciated the position he l took. but we had stood out for the | principle that if the company would l not fulfill it's agreement to arbitrate, 1 tration must be presented to the mem 1 bers. He stated that he had been told 1 that several of the Shore Line Rail road men wished to return to work | not agree to the com pany's proposi- | tior- He then took a proposition that 1 had been presented by the company 1 to the men prior tothe strike, namely l the one which restricted all choice of the three arbitrators to men residing | in these communities and restricting | such board as to date of the award He returned it to us stating that the ity. Who wouldn't they? For His Honor was trying to advance us back ward.
 The New London Day. dated July 25t,h- makes a statement credited to the mayor of New London that he has the names of fourteen trolley em- ployes of the Shore Line road who have communicated to him their will ingneSs to return to work. with a dog eu more to follow, that they were sick to remain out with their fellow strik- CTS only for the fact that they were with their director, P. J. Rooney, who turned down both pro- ha hA %~J1 l these propositions were fair. that these men were ready to go back to work at their present wages tomorrow, if the comDany would but give them the cars and the power.
 Has Not Influenced Men.
 Let me state that I did not come lpon the situation until Wednesday, July 18th, when the men were already ,ut on strike. that I have not influenc- ed either the men or the committee It any time to reject any proposal of .ered to them. I have not made any but I will make one It this time. Beware of the man who s so peeved because he could not get , nto the limelight; beware of the man . who saw the point in dispute on the | evening of July 22 and who suddenly I vent blind to that point when the whip cracked on the following day. , nut not until the machinery for a ; 'pecial session of the legislature had broken down between New London Lnd Hartford. Now. MT. Mayor, I rep esent the majority of men out on trike. There may be some men who yoted not to strike which was their J 'ption. Neither this very small mi lority or yourself invited me here and hey or you have no right to invite me ut or here It seems to me that the prestige and the office of mayor of I lew London could be used to better -dvantase to the public that is so vii ally effected by this loss of service you would concern yourself as to Vhy the company repudiated its greement to arbitrate their difference ! $ with their employees and inform he public with their facts instead of lsing your functions in way that is 2 Ised by well established strike ( agencies. We rae willing at my time to go before the public of ! Sew London and argue with you or t he officials of the Shore Line road