New-York tribune., 1919-06-12
Nationwide
Wire Strike
Barely Felt
Continued from page /

companies we're open as usual, COM
pany officials declared. Mr. Carlton
asserted that only eleven Western
Union workers, including operators
and commercial employees, had quit
here. A score of girl employees, he
said, had not reported for work early
in the day because they feared dis
turbances. These workers, he said,
came in later
Vice President Reynolds of the
Postal declared that not more than
ninety of his three hundred operators
in the city were striking. He said the
number of clerks who had quit was
negligible.
Prom our standpoint things are
moving satisfactorily" he said. "Traf-
fic to-day is particularly heavy and
we're moving it without serious delay.
Our best operators remained at their
posts. With a little concentration of
work, l believe that things will be
normal within a few days. All the
one hundred branch Offices here are
working as usual only two employees
attached to the whole number having
failed to show up"
Women Among Strikers
About 80 per cent of the strikers on
the Postal system were young women
who nperate the automatic machines.
This is repetition of the tempest
in the teapot that took place last year."
read a statement issued by Mr.. Carlton
early in the day. ''Then similar agita-
tlon from the same quarter with sim
liar Misrepresentation resulted as the
public knows in a complete failure.
The failure this year Is equally pro-
nounced
mo attention would have been paid
to this ill-advised effort to PROSTATE
the telegraph service were it not that
the newspapers have been publishing
propaganda rather than facts. So far
as the Western Union Company is con-
cerned the so-called strike is COM
plete failure, but it is due to the fact
that our employees are too intelligent
to be misled by any self seeking and
irresponsible individual.
"The Western Union makes no dis
elimination between a union employe
and non-union employe as such. A
union man is as welcome to work as
is nonunion man. There have been
no demands or grievances put forward
by Western Union employees. There
never has been q strike ballot of West
ern Union employees, although a par
tial effort was made to distribute bal
lots, butino attention was paid to them.
Blames' Power Seeking Individual"
"The whole procedure is a scandal
GUS effort to usurp power on the part
of an individual, and We hope that if
this individual again makes such an
effort the public will bear in mind
the causes for his failure and here
after treat his efforts with the con-
tempt they deserve"
Mr.. Carlton was in telephone con-
versation with the Postoffice Depart
ment at Washington twice during the
day. In the morning he told Post
master General Burleson:
81 have received reports from every
one Of our seven traffic divisions and
they report absolutely nothing in the
way of strike. They are operating
with full force and traffic is clear"
Late in the afternoon, Mr. Carlton
assured First Assistant Postmaster
General Koons that the Western Union
system was working normally.
Labor Centres Unaffected
The head Of the Western Union sys-
tom called attention to the fact that
not single operator had left his post
in such strong labor centres as
Scranton, WilkesBarr and Springfield,
Mass. Commenting on the strikers, he
said:
"Anybody who deliberately attempted
to paralyze or damage the telegraph
service of the country will not come
back into the Western Union. If the
men absent to-day were away because
Of illness or other extenuating circum-
stances, they can come back. Other
wise we don't want them"
At the Pulitzer Building strike rally,
Mr.. Thomas warned the telegraphers to
guard against "false rumors the com.
panies will attempt to circulate"
"The strike will grow, although we
have not enough men out yet to tie up
the Western Union wires. The Postal.
however, is badly handicapped" he
said.
Last night Mr.. Thomas charged that
the Western Union was using "sleep-
ers" to fill in vacant posts on It's main
Office operating floor. "They're filing
in with men who don't know how to
work keys, just to make it look as if