Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-18
CONVENTION OF
CLOSES
John T. Bauer, Tri-Clty Delegate,
Returns Home After Busy Week
In Chicago.

John T. Bauer, president OF To-
cal street car mems union No. s1s,
returned last night from Chicago.
where he has been attending the
convention Of the Almagated As
sociation Of Street Railway EN-
ployes Of America, since Sept. T.
The meeting ended with a morn
ing session yesterday.
He brings back word of a busy
II days in that city. during which
much business interesting to car
men in the whole of North Amer
lea was transacted, but during
which also there was plenty of
entertainment calculated to please
the 400 delegates from the states
and Canada. in attendance.
Perhaps the most Interesting
feature of the meeting was the
growth of the organization as il
Illustrated by reports. 1t was
leaEned that in two years, since
tbe last convention, 110.173 mem
EeTs have newly enrolled with the
? association The various locals to-
day have 376 contracts with en-
ployers. as compared with 250
contracts active two wears ago.
Two years ago there were 746 To-
calls. while today there are 92i.
The association contributed liber-
ally during the war. Eleven thou
sand one hundred Gfty-seven mem
hers joined the coloTs. and of these
5000 have now returned and in
most cases have been taken back
a their old jobs. Groups allied
with the association purchased
$4,000 worth of Liberty bonds
$1,000 worth of New York bonds,
and 5000 worth OF war savings
stamps.
Gain Heavy Wage Increase.
: Accidents to inexperienced men
~ cars cost the association s3S.-
000$for sick benefits and other eX-
pcnses in the two wears, Wage in
uses gained by member locals
- the two years amounted in
10000.
ere we're many minor transac
is. such as raising salaries OF
officers and altering provisions in
the constitution and bylaws. It
was the largest delegation in at,
tendance at any convention Of the
assoc citation thus far. and most of
them we're busy al the time every
day of the meeting.
Mr. Bauer said that the Chicago
delegation committee had fine
program of entertainment carefully
worked out, and succeeded in
showing the visitors a royal time
nearly every evening. There were
suppers and other gatherings. dur
ing which talks of great interest
were heard from competent ora
tors. Saturday night was the
scene of an unusually big demon
stration in the street railway EN-
pIoyes auditorium, where the |
meetings were held. on the occas- |
ion of the 9th anniversary of the !
organization.
Dedication Of Orr School
From funds of the association, |
the Reizen Orr school was built |
in Chicago Dedication ceremonies
took place Sunday afternoon, when (
exercises by school children. /
speech by W E NOLAN, the inter- !
nakSnal president of the concern, |
z8d by others. formed the pro-
gram. The school is dedicated to !
Reizen Orr. past national treasur- |
err of the organization, who died |
more than year ago.
An automobile ride about Chi
cago. during which so miles of I
boulevards were trayersed, was /
one part of the entertainment pro- |
vided by the Chicagoans. All of !
the men participated except those !
on committee doing special work .
at that time. MIR. Bauer had the |
misfortune to be left out on this
account The chief thing I no /
ticed to be glad about when | got /
back was that the phone strike had /
been settled" he said this morn
ing.