Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-07-28

the local railroad strike situation
The men are quietly and orderly keep
ing watch and waiting for news from
the Baltimore conference.
Strikebreakers in small numbers
are being imported, but as the num-
Der deserting and leaving town after
sticking it out for day or two is
about equal to the recruits the num-
Der of scabs killing time at the shops
is too small to be worth considering.
Notice for specially important meet
ings of the seven shop crafts in From
holtz hall at ten o'clock Friday and
Saturday mornings have been issued
by the Executive Committee, and all
workmen are urged to be on hand.
The following was taken from
speech upon the right OF electlon'
1890, by John Philip Cursor.
at is the common fate OF the IN
dolent to see their rights become
prev to the active. The condition
upon which God hath given liberty to
man is eternal vigilance; which con-
dition, if he break, servitutde is at
once the consequence of his crime and
the punishment of his guilt"
These same words might well be
used in the case of railroad shop
workers of today. The Railroad La
bor Board and the gang from Wall
Street are trying to take away our
rights. We have men who were en-
ployed by the B. & O. railroad who
have put in from twenty to forty
wears and are now close to the old
age pension. They have spent their
youth and, middle age in the service
of this company, and now when they
arrive at old age, after giving their
lives and vitality to this corporation,
are we going to stand by and see
them thrown in the scrap pile like
an old broken down piece of ma
chinery? That is just what it means
if we let them do away with the
seniority rights. 1t would mean the
saving of millions of dollars to the
various railroad companies which
have this pension feature. But re-
member also, that these men have
helped finance it, for there is a GER
tain amount set aside out OF each
months insurance which they pay to
help keep this feature going.
About 35 per cent of the crafts are
within seven years of this pension.
Does the public wish to see these men
lose their jobs and pension rights end
be cast upon the public to live on
charity? While there may be good
ly number who have reached the age,
of fifty-five and can still do a good
days work, yet the managers OF dlf-
ferent corporations or places OF EN-.
ployment must be badly in need OF
a man before they will hire one OF
that age. That being the case, What
chance has a man Of sixty or who Is
humping sixty-five at close angle!
None whatever. His days OF useful
ness are practically over But put
him at his place, the place where he
has had all the years of experience.
and there is not a young man hVlng
that can do any more work. There
fore he is a valuable asset to the
company. If he was willing to be-
come a strikebreaker there would be
no questions asked about age. But
thank providence we have no such
men among US. Then we do not know
but perhaps in a few years when
some of the rest of us begin to knock
at the pension door there might be
a way dug up to take away our Sc
niority rights; therefore we are going
to be vigilant with an ever watchful
eye, and try to see that each and
every men, regardless of age, color
or creed, gets the same position he
had when we walked out.
There has been number of state
ments as to the agreement that has
been made with the few scabs that
are employed on various railroad
systems. If these agreements are
anything like the one we had Ii. e.)
A man must be in service thirty days
and prove himself competent and cap
able of holding the job ere his senior
ity begins. If other points have had
the same experience that the man
agement here at Newark has had
there would never be any scab senior
ity, for they come today and go to-
morrow. AS an example, seventy-one
landed here Saturday, July %, and on
Monday, July "a, sixty-fve had left
the shops. That is certainly very en-
couraging to us. What kind of people
are they? AS we are not acquainted
with this brand we have no way OF
Judging except by looks, and actions
and if that counts for anything the
fifty that were congregated around
the depot on Monday, July "a, were
the most disreputable looking bunch