Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1920-05-06
SAYSSTR|KE|S
UNFAIR To CITY
Letter to EVENING NEWS Sets
Forth PubIic's View of Pres
ent Railroad Situation Here

Calling attention to the way the
the city generally is suffering on ac-
count of the present railroad situa-
ton, A. c. Clark. general manager of
the Raritan Copper Works, has writ
ten a letter to the EVENING NEWS
setting forth what he deems to be the
public's view of the situation. MIR.
Clark says 1t is conceded that many
of the railroad men are underpaid
and should receive substantial IN
crease in wages. but he calls atten-
tion to The fact that government
commission, appointed by the Presi-
dent of the United States, is now
busily engaged in ascertaining the
facts IN the matter and, while this
commission may have been O little
slow in getting to work, II should now
be given an opportunity to complete
its task.
that it is only just that the business
and industry of the city be allowed
to continue operation to It's fullest
capacity 80 that men employed In the
plants may continue to work and
thereby support their families.
Mr.. Clark's letter is as follows;
Editor EVENING NEWS:
Your Tuesday edition announced
that the striking railroad men would
have a grand parade on Friday eve
ming, accompanied by brass bands 10
be followed by mass meeting, which
would be addressed by several OF the
strike leaders who would present the
strikers side of the question.
This being So would 1t not be well
to lay before the public few facts
as to the viewpoint of the industrial
plants the merchants and our citizens
generally.
As far as can be learned from the
public press and other sources or IN
formation. the present strike or va
cation as 1t Is termed by the partici-
pants, was not ordered called or sane
fioncd by any one of the four big
brotherhoods of which nearly all Rail-
road men are members. 1t originated
in Chicago, engineered by number
of men who were dissatisfied with
wages and working conditions and
quickly spread to other large railroad
centers and finally reached New YORK,
Jersey City and Perth Amboy.
At first, owing to q misunderstand-
ing as to the authenticity of the
strike, a large number OF engineers,
firemen, conductors and trainmen
stopped work and passenger service
was badly crippled and freight service
practically brought to standstill
Within a day or two, however, 1t was
realized that the strike had not been
legally called and was not approved
by the officials of the brotherhood,
and seeing that they had been de-
ceived. practically all ofvthe men en-
ployees In the passenger service re-
ported back for duty and tfhs branch
of the service has been operating on
a normal basis for some time.
The freight crews, however, did not
respond to the instructions of the
brotherhood officials SO readily and
although many engineers, firemen and
conductors returned to work. most OF
the trainmen still refused to report
for duty The brotherhood officials
called many meetings. addressing the
strikers and urging them to return
to their work, but without avail and
finally classed them as outlaws" and
revoked the charters of the Jersey
city and Perth Amboy Lodges so that
the men who belonged to these partic-
ular lodges. no longer belong to the
Railroad Brotherhoods and have no
standing whatsoever.
Here in Perth Amboy men claim
that they are "vacatonists" and will
not work. which is their privilege,
but they also insist that everybody
else shall take a vacation" whether
he wants to or not.
This so-calfed vacation" has been
in force since April 17th. and during
this period the Lehigh Valley yard
has been badly tied up. Industrial
plants have been unable to secure
supplies Of crude material for manu-
featuring purposes and their stock of
fuel and other supplies has been shut
off, neither have they been able to
ship out their manufactured goods.
The same conditions are prevalent
in manv sections of the country. many
industrial plants being shut down and
many thousands of men thrown out
of employment with consequent loss
of wages.
1t has been definitely figured that
this vacation" has already cost the
railroads several hundred million dol
lars and inasmuch as the United
states government has guaranteed the
railroads dividends for the next year,
this means that the tax payers. have
got to absorb this charge and that
includes Perth Amboy
The fact that so many industries
are shut down means less production
all along the line and up 60 prices
again and all this is brought about
by few thousand men who clamorI
as loud as anyone against the high
cost of living.
Here in Perth Amboy the Raritan
copper Works has been practically
shut down for two weeks and three or
four hundred men thrown out of en-
ployment. OF course the company is
losing great deal or money and the
men are receiving no wages and their
families. who are entirely innocent
in this controversy, are suffering
Other plants have been curtailed in
some of their departments and II is
safe to say that at least another 500
men have had to be laid off on ac-
count of the action of the vacation
lists"
We thus have total OF COO or TOO
men 1obless. drawing no wages and
then the merchants who would, have
received the greater part Of their
wages in return for food and supplies
are suffering accordingly. This Is not
theory but fact as inquiry among
number of merchants has brought
forth the information that their re-
turns have fallen off considerably
since the vacation" started.
The Raritan Copper Works has al
ways. enjoyed most friendly relations
with the crews of the Lehigh Valley |
drill trains who serve the works, and |
We appealed to the strikers to drill !
into our yard twenty-nine cars of |,
copper which were In their yard so |
that We could continue to operate and |
keep our men employed but they re- |
fused A daV 0r two fafar xr-a or