Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-08
ANT|-BROTHERHOOD
STRIKES SPREADING
Freight Movemel East and
West Hard Hit by Walkout
Of Switchmen
NEW UNION BRANCHING OUT
BY the Associated Press


Chicago, April S.--The strike. OF in =
surgent" members Of railroad brother :
hoods, which began week ago in Chi
cago, today had spread to other parts
Of the United States, and there are in
dications that the series Of rebellions
against organization direction has not
reached its crest.
East and westbound freight movement
across the continent, already restricted
by the Chicago strikes, was hampered
further by switchmen striking at such
strategic gateways as Buffalo and Kan
sas City, and at such industrial centers
RS Joliet and Decatur, ILL.,, and Gary,
Ind.
Strikes were threatened today ut Mil
waukee, st. Louis and East st. Louis,
gateways to the Northwest and the
Southwest. Strikers predicted also that
25 900 men in northern New York would
join them, cutting off freight traffic from
Buffalo to New York and Boston.
Embargo Placed at Buffalo
An embargo on all freight movement
in and out of Buffalo railroad yards
went into effect today and the position
of the striking insurgent switchmen was
strengthened by refusal of tiremen and
enginemcn to work with switchtendcrs
and yardmen outside the ranks of the
strikers, who have organized under the
name of the Yardmen's Association.
Switchmen in the Niagara Falls
yards declared their loyalty to the
brotherhood of Railway Trainmen and
refused to join the Yardmcn's Associa.
tion strike. A committee of fifty from
Buffalo made an unsuccessful plea for
walkout.
A practical suspension Of business in
livestock at East Buffalo and prepara-
tions to suspend operations in the blast
furnaces at steel and iron plants be-
cause of the embargo on the movement
Of coke were among the first serious
effects Of the tieup.
Motor Trains Haul Meat
Six hundred switchmen employed in
the Toledo railroad switching district
walked out in sympathy with switch
men ir other cities today. 1t is pre-
dicted that all traffic will be tied up
within twenty four hours. Officials of
unions said they are doing everything
to persuade the menbto return to work.
Those out at present are employees of
the Lake Shore, Clover Leaf, Baltimore
and Ohio and the Toledo and Ohio Cen
tral Railroads.
Fifty motortruck trains left Chicago
at dawn, each loaded with 10000
pounds of fresh meat, billed to nearby
towns. The packing company which in
augurated the service expects to serve
its regular routes in northern Illinois
and southern Wisconsin in this way.
Each train consists of tractor and
three cork lined refrigerator cars.
The Yardmen's Association, an in
surgent organization which called the
strikes. is forming branches in numer-
Gus terminal centers, reports indicate.
The strike spread to Los Angeles
early today when the Yardmen's As
sociation said between 800 and 1000
men on the Southern Pacific. Santa Fe
and Salt Lake lines had walked out in
sympathy with the strikers on eastern
roads.
The strikers said their action was the
result Of being underpaid and predicted
the entire Pacific coast, if not the
whole nation, would be affected soon.
H. e. Reading, general organizer of
the association, announced that the
Railway Clerks and Freight Handlers
Brotherhood would take strike votes
Saturday. At Cincinnati 1900 freight
handlers demanded an answer by Sat
urday midnight to their demands for
an increase in pay from forty-two to
forty seven cents an hour.