Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-09
NEW YORK SHIPPING
TIED UP BY STRIKE
Fifteen Thousand Marine
Workers Quit All But serv-
ice for Army's Needs.
BRIDGES AND TUBES AID

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, January 9.-Exrept for
a small fleet of ferryboats, tugs and
lighters engaged in debarkation Of
homecoming troops and loading of
perishable supplies for the American
expeditionary forces, harbor shipping
was at standstill today as the result
OF the strike this morning of II, 900
marine workers in an attempt to force
arbitration of their demands for
higher wages and an eight hour work
day.
Not only privately owned craft, but
the boats of the railroad administra-
tion, 1900 in number, were tied up,
and the sailing or berthing of ocean
steamships, well as the ferrying of
passengers between Manhattan and
its neighboring boroughs and SUBJ
urbs, was impossible.
Staten Island Almost Isolated.
Suspension of ferry service left
Staten Island. New York citys great
mid -harbor borough, completely iso-
lated. except for two small boats oper-
ating to and from Perth Amboy, on
the New Jersey shore, and launches
able to carry only small groups of
passengers. From New Jersey and
Long Island theN only access to New
York was by way of the East river
bridges and the subways and tunnels
under the East and North rivers. in
which trains were crowded and en-
frances choked with delayed travel
ers throughout the day.
The railroad administration re-
routed New Jersey committing trains
in an effort to relieve the congestion
after the closing of the ferries. West
Shore passengers We're sent to the
ing connection with the Hudson
tubes, and travellers on the Central
railroad of New Jersey from points
beyond Elizabeth were transferred
there to Pennsylvania trains, running
direct to the tunnels. However, near
by Jersey men using the Central were
detrained at the ferry terminal. and
were forced to journey more than
mile afoot or in crowded trolley cars
to the under-river railroad.
Perishable Foodstuffs Delayed.
At all the New Jersey and Long
Island ferry barns long lines of
trucks, many of them laden with per-
ishable foodstuffs for New York mar
kets. awaited a change in the situa-
tion which might land them i'm the
streest of the metropolis.
The tie-up left New York with a
limited stock of fresh foods and the
milk supply, already seriously curtailea
ha Sfr re nf
mems League, was further threatened
when shipments from New Jersey
halted. Movement of coal, essential
to maintenance of the limited supply
which the city's storage facilities can
accommodate. also was suspended.
At noon the Lackawanna railroad.
whose ferry crews have union of
their own, had declined to Join the
strike of the Marine Workers Affilia-
ton. and the company's boats were
carrying passengers between Hoboken
and the New York side.
q. S. Threat Unheeded.
The strike, called Notwithstanding
threat by the government to oper-
ates the harbor with soldiers and
sailors, was ordered yesterday, when
a conference of the union men and
the Boat Owners Association broke
up following the refusal of the lat
ter to arbitrate the question of an
eight-nour wage The War Labor
Board was unable to effect a settle
ment of the difference.
While the strike at present has not
been extended to coastwise steamers,
coastwise tugs, transatlantic steam
ships or Long Island sound steamers,
it was said by the labor leaders that
it might eventually spread to those
lines and throw out of employment
10000 longshoremen and freight han
dlers.
Union officials announced that all
the city's fire and police boats would
be tied up by the calling out of their
crews.
If it was necessary to win the
strike, they threatened to call out the
longshoremen, numbering 10000 men,