Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-07-29
$4,000 IDLE
in TIEUP OF
RAIL TRAFFIC
Traction Employees Re.
ject Compromise Offer
and Leave Jobs.

Chicago, July 29@FIfteen
Thousand street railway EN-
plOyes went on strike for high
er wages at o'clock this morn.
ing, completely tying up the
- surface and the elevated sys-
Mems of the city.
Ask thousand of the surface
and elevated men attended the
meeting at the carmen's auGI-
tOrium at which the strike vote
was carried with a shout that
appeared unanimous.
Representatives of the men at
tempted to give an explanation of
the negotiations being between
themselves and the company off1c-
ials, which was a compromise
reached, but the men swept their
officials out of control of the meet
ing. Many of the radical element
put over the strike vote with roar,
and then proclaimed themselves in
favor of 85 cents an hour wage, g.
hour day, six hour day Sunday
and six day week.
Officers Shouted Down.
For two hours William Quinfan,
fought to get the compromise prop
osition before the meeting. He was
aided by other officials. Finally d.
l. Bland, member of the interna-
tfonal board Of the union attempt
ed to get the terms of the agreement
as TO wages before the meeting.
Getting brief silence he said:
Remember, men, we are not
fighting the traction companies in
this matter. We are fighting the
Chicago public"
ITO hell with the pubIic!"
The public be damned"
Get Beyond Control.
Several shouted and Bland threw
9I1nis hands and sat down, Quin1an
Shouted to the surfacemen and Will
liam Mylan, president of the elevat-
ed trainmen's division of the UNION
made another futile effort to be
heard, but a crowd boosted Charles
Dreckman, a conductor, 20 the plat
form and thereafter those favoring
acceptance of the wage compromise
were out OF control of the gather
ing.
All Workers Informed.
The strike vote carried shortly
before midnight, with the provision
that the strike take place at 4 a. m.
AS soon as it was carried runners
went to nearby elevated stations
and notified crews of trains as they
passed by the platforms. They
went to surface car lines, and
boarded street cars to inform the
crews. Within an pur all employees
had been informed and by a little
after O'Clock this morning the fast
of the cars had been run into the
barns.
By 4:S0 o'clock, the big barn
doors were shut and the strike was
in force.
Ties Up City.
~ Meantime large manufacturers
and shop keepers had accepted the
information conveyed by late edi-
tions of the evening papers and
early extras of the morning papers
that danger of a strike had passed
through a wage agreement reach
ed by representatives of the men
and the companies. AS a result,
there was little preparation for
conveyance OF employees to places
of employment and business for
the first hour of the day practic-
ally was at a standstiIi. The tele
phone company made provision for
keeping its night force at the ex-
changes and summoned as many
of its employees as could be reach
ed to report for duty at once.
Use All Kinds of COnVeyances.
Every manner of conveyance
was in service bearing workers TO
the central district this morning. |
Motorbusses operated along the |
north, south and west side boule- |
wards. Bicycles seldom seen in |
downtown streets in normal times |
were reQuisitioned as we'll as mo- |
torcycles. Along the principal |
thoroughfares long lines of pedes- |
trians wended their belated way to !
places of business. None would 1