The Connecticut labor news., 1922-09-15


 "She was one of those kindly gracious old grandmothers, whom i Is a privilege to meet anywhere. De spite the press of years on he, shoulders and the halo of white hail intellect, and frank simplicity would have qualified her as credible wit ness in any court of the land. She had just returned from a. visit to Cali fornia, and had been held up al Needles, California, for four days by the refusal of the engine service em- polyes on the Santa Fe to move trains under the muzzles of the guns of the armed guards. 1 sought her at the home of her brother-in-law, a Cleveland minister, because 1 wanted to learn the truth about those ter rible, tragic days in the middle of the desert about which the railroad prop agandists and editorial puppets of the country have been bowling for the past week She had no friends or relatives among the striking railway employees; neither was she an owner of railway stocks. Moreover, she was one of the most aged and frail of all the passengers on the four trains stalled at Needles by the enginemen's walkout. Surely, here was compet- ent, unprejudiced witness on whose word one could completely rely.
 T can't see why anyone should be interested in our little experience at Needless she said, We were held up for a few days, and some of us had to change our plans in consequence, but none of us underwent any suffering or peril. The only person who was Al. ok was a young man of 30 or 35, who with his heart, but that might have occurred anywhere. Of course he was promptly cared for
 "'Then you weren't left to die out in the middle of the desert? l in quired.
 70, mercy, nop she laughed When we got to Needles Thursday night we were told we had 25 min utes for supper. After we had had good meal at the Harvey House res taurant, which gives excellent serV- ice to the patrons of the Santa Fe, were supposed to pick up the train there refused to go on unless the half dozen armed guards were taken off 
 us into Needles had finished his run. He was supposed to Stop there He didn't desert the train at all. And, of course, Needles isn't hardly desert-it's very thriving little town. Of course 1t gets hot there-it does in Los Angeles, too. Indeed, Needles is supposed to be a healthy place, for a great many people go there to be cured of lung trouble because of the dry, pure air
 Did you have enough to eat?' l asked her.
 "'We were very we'll fed, indeed, at the Harvey House restaurant, which adjoins the statoin,' she an swered. The first two meals we paid for ourselves, and then the railroad provided excellent meals without charge to us until we started on our way again. The tables were bounti- fully supplied, and one could have all one wanted
 "I suppose you didn't have luxur- ies like iced tea and cold desserts, however, I :ventured.
 Why, of course, we could have iced tea if we wahted it, or cocoa or coffee or anything else. There was always plenty of ice.'
 Tn the I11QQl6 O1 the QcSell! l gasped, thinking of the wild tales, in certain newspapers, and President Harding's reference to this occur renee as indicating the cruelty and contempt for law of some railroad employees
 "'How did you spend the time?' I asked her.
 "'The Harvey House has fine, big lobby she replied, and we took life easy there or strolled around the streets of the city. Then when night came we had our choice of sleeping in our berths or out on the lawn sur rounding the station of staying with the employees in their homes.'
 Lawns in the middle of the desert, I thought And then I asked her about these employees who opened up their homes to the passengers. What sort of people were they?' l inquired
 "'Why, the railroad people, the men and their families who run the trains There are hundreds of them living in Needles. They live there all the time Some of them have very nice homes, too. They invited the passengers to stay with them if they wished, and some of them did But O1 course we were very well Cotl oG for at the Harvey House hotel, and I preferred to sleep on the lawn. It was the coolest place at nights.
 "So these were the cruel, heartless employees whom the railroad prop agandists and newspapers Have been telling us about. How did the pas sengers themselves feel toward the trainmen who refused to run the trains out of Need1es? I asked
 '"Oh, they understood why it was, she answered. We all saw the arm ed guards, with rows of cartridges strapped around them and gun at their side Of course, it was incon- venient for some of us. We did not make the connections that we had hoped to make, and so we had to change our plans. But we did not