Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-06-21
RAIL ROAD STRIKE
HITS WILMINGTON
TO SOME EXTENT
A Number of Freight Men Are
Out on the Pennsylvania
Lines Here.
EMBARGO ON SHIPMENTS

The new railroad strike hit Whining
ton last night. and this morning about 2O0
men, chiefly ward brakemen, were out IN
the Wilmington, Baltimore and Chester
districts of the Pennsylvania raliroad
The Baltimore & Ohio and Phiadelphla
d Reading railroads claim not to he
affected locally, although the former can
handle freight only for short runs. Every
thing west of Cumberland. Md, and cast
of PhiladcIphia is under cmhargoes Tor
shipments of q carload or less. and the
CITY of Baltimore has a separate embargo
of its own.
The embargo on the fcnnsylvanla
covers Philadelphia and Baltimore, tor
bidding shipments of carload or less 10
those points, except Of livestock, food,
fuel and articles which arc similarly need
ed for human consumption or are perlsn-
able. REPORTS from Philadelphia indicate
that the Philadelphia & Reading is partlcu-
lerlv hard hit, with freight almost at
standstill' At the local office, however,
IL was stated that all men were at work,
so far as was known, and that no emhargoes
affected traffic through Wilmington
The trainmen in the yards have taken
the initiative in the new strike, and
locally they are almost the only ones out
at present. The reports Of the Pennsyl-
vania road for the shift which went 70
work at o'clock this morning show that
of the I4g men in the Edge Moor district,
So are out, Of whom As are tralnmen
Two Of the q engineers, ono oi the 23
fremen and SIX of the Il freight conductors
also failed tn report For Chester dis
trict the situation was as follows, Total
force. 10 engineers. 10 fremen, 10 con-
duotors. SO trainmen, failed to report,
three conductors. 26 trainmen. Baltimore
district, 40 engineers, 90 fremen, ~
conductors, % trainmen, failed to report,
% conductors, o4 trainmen. The train
men are out over 50 per cent in all Of these
districts. and nearly 100 per cent in Balti-
more. The other classes of workers,
however, are but slightly affected.
STATE ROADS NOT AFFECTED
This morning the shops were not infu-
enced by the strike. Passenger and
freight road traffic was normal. and the
Norfolk and Delaware divisions of the
Pennsylvania were not hit by the walk
out. Freight movements IN the wards.
however. were seriously hampered The
embargoes may enable the force Of men
on duty 10 handle the work that remains
on then hands.
Gamble Latrobe. general surerIn-
serdent Of the Pennsylvania, remained
az his Office until midnight last night
preparing emergency measures to combat
the strike He was preparing a LIST of
men on duty IN the offices and other
branches of the railroad work, and some
of them will undoubtedly he called upon
to take the places of striking yardmen.
The strike constitutes a refusal of the
vardmen TO wait for the decision Of the
Labor Board, which was hastily appointed
during the similar movement IN April,
The men saw that a decision had heen
promised them months before, but that
the board was not even appointed until
they quit, and that they do not expect II
to take action until forced TO by the same
methods which procured It's appointment
The report current at present IS that The
hoard has awarded an increase Of is cents
an hour pending their final decision, and
has promised to announce n permanent
schedule by August ).
The present movement IS also. even
more definitely than that Of April, 3 revolt
against the international bro'herhoods
In April the men were colinselled 10 paw
un their dues and insurance and do ali IN
their power to prevent loss of membership.
They announced that there was no
strike, and that they were all quitting in
dlviduallv, and so did not have to await
action by the brotherhoods. National
officials of those organizations, however,
did not interpret the walk ont this way
They accepted the general view that It
was an unauthorized strike. and proceeded
to cancel the charters OF lodges whose
officers had been active IN 1t. and to
remove brotherhood men who mad taken
part.
BREAK WITH RROTHERH0Ops.
These men. in many cases. say that they
have definitely broken with the brother
hood. Local railroad men held 8 meeting
in Odd Fellows hall on Saturday, when
I. D. Jordan Of Philadelphia attempted TO
get an expression nf sentiment on the
Labor Board : report and on what action
should be taken on it.
At this meeting the Chicago Yardmen 5
Association, which began the strike IN
April, was proposed as substitute for
the brotherhoods. It was claimed that the
association now has a membership OF
500. 900 and Is growing every day 4 new
name to indicate its present scope will nc
adopted, It was reported at convention
In Chicago during November.
FROM THE MEN's SIDE.
Reports of the strike from the men s
side were difficult 10 obtain this morning,
as they have no headquarters and no
authorized representatives could be locat-
ed to speak for them A meeting has been
called for tins afternoon al Eden Hall,
where the ''quitters' foregathered in
April.
A traInman reported that the night
shift. of which no report was issued at the
railroad Office. was almost completely out
last night al the Edge Moor yard He
said that the only sigh Of activity he saw
about the ward when he came IN early this
morning was one crew. which was compos-
ed of only two men.
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