Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-09-01
Address by Chas. W. Maier
Special Rpresena, of Brotherhood of Locomotive
Firemen and Engnemen.

Brother Maier was introduced oy
Brother Fred Barr, member Of the
Board of Directors and General Chair
man Southern Pacific Lines. Brother
Fred Barr in introducing Brother
Maier said:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brothers and
Sisters: The gentleman who IS about
to address you needs no Introduction
at my hands. He came into this state
of Texas some 25 years ago-came
in at a time when the work OF the
firemen on all our railroads was really
worse, in some ways, than slavery.
A portion of the firemen's time at
that period was devoted to firing the
engine, but the greater part Of his
time was given over to cleaning en-
gines, polishing brass, for which
drudgery he received no compensation
whatever.
II was about that time that a cry
went out from the East, West, North
and South for relief from that drudg-
ery-relief from the cleaning Of en-
gines and the polishing of brass--re-
lief from wearisome, soul-erushing
toll, for which no wages whatever
were paid him. And among the early
pioneers that came into the West, and
who, more than any other, helped 10
free the firemen from those condi-
! tions, was the man who will address
you tonight.
| know that there are many of our
younger men who have no knowledge
whatever, from actual experience, Of
what cleaning an engine really means,
who, If they were invited to come to
the roundhouse tomorrow morning
after having spent from sixteen to
eighteen hours firing an engine, part
of that work having been done dur
ing the previous night, to start in at
about 1880 or o'clock cleaning the
engine and perhaps quit a little before
noon, and commence cleaning again
right after and spend the rest of the
afternoon cleaning and polishing, and
then get call at about 9 or III
o'clock that night to start on another
trip of IL, Is or 20 hours duration,
they would know exactly what the
firemen in the years gone by were
subjected to, and they would be cor
respondingly grateful to those who
lead in the fight to lift such an awful
burden from their shoulders.
For twenty years | worked on the
Southern Pacific and in this city was
the beginning of the fight, and while
not one individual deserves the credit
for all that was accomplished, yet
there is no one who deserves more
credit or who tough more unwaver-
ingly, more persistently, more untir-
ingly and more determinedly for the
removal of this incessant drudgery
from the fireman's work than has the
gentleman who will now speak to US.
Therefore, ladies and gentlemen,
take great pleasure in introducing to
you our good friend, Mr.. Charles
Maier.
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle
men, Brothers, Sisters and Friends:
If there ever was time in the his
tory of this country that it was neces-
sary for working people to wake up,
when matters were shaping them
selves in favor of labor, it is now.
Labor has been undergoing one of the
most trying ordeals ever known per-
haps in its history.
Labor in general, and our railroad
men in particular-especially the
train-service men-are misunderstood
and, in many instances, misrepresent-
ed.
There is scarcely a newspaper one
pick up nowadays but which shows an
antagonistic attitude toward labor in
general and contains hostile criticism
of railroad workers in particular. One
can seldom find a group of men
gathered together, whether it is in the
hotel lobby, in the smoking car ahead
on the train, or in the smoking room
of the Pullman car behind, but what
after a few moments talk on some
question or another-it may be about
Jack Dempsey abroad or the latest
scandal in alifornia or somewhere
else-the conversation eventually
drifts to the railroad question, and
they have much to say about the rail-
road men in general and our train
service men in particular.
Criticisms of Anti-Labor Newspapers
The press-much of it---has devot-
ed great deal of its space to I'M
friendly criticisms of labor in general
and of railroad workers in particular.
am going to read you a short editor
ial, which is a fair sample of edi-
torials that have been and are being
published throughout the length and
breadth of the land. Every day of
my life | buy every newspaper / can
get hold of and read the Associated
Press dispatches and the editorial
columns in order that | may know
what is being said about our organ
ization and the labor movement gen.
orally.
On March 18th last, before going
to the auditorium to speak in To-
peka, Kansas, | bought the latest is
sue of the Topeka State Journal, and
in it | found an editorial about the
Forthcoming miners strike, which
drifted from the miners affairs to the
railroad employers. This editorial
said:
Leaders of the coal miners organ.
ization still are talking about preci
pltating the greatest strike the coun,
A try ever has known. The greatest
2 strike ever known is almost certain
3 to be followed by the most crushing
/, defeat of the strikers ever known. II
t the miners do not know this they are
: unfortunate. They may tie up 8
large part of the country's business
and cause the loss of many millions
: of dollars to nations industries, but
: they cannot win the strike.
IF organized labor ever had the
: power to rule the nation, it has lost
1t. The public has rebelled and the
. government has learned its lesson as
4 a result of the passage of the Adam
0 son law. The enactment of that law
e under duress, was a great mistake
The error is haipo rano;raJ anJ nil