The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-11-10
W. D. Mahon Veteran Labor Pioneer And
Street Car Union Head 53 Years, Dies

seventh vice president of the Am
erican Federation Of Labor an,
past president of the AmalgamateC
Association of Street Electric Rail
way and Motor Coach Employees Of
America, died October 81 in the
Grace Hospital, Detroit.
His death after a long illness
ended the life of the veteran labor
leader who once said:
MY only hope is that when my
life's work is done and | am laid
away | will have earned the epi-
taph: He was our friend
AFL President William Green
said that Mr.. Mahon had earned
the epitaph. He and other AFL
leaders praised Mr.. Mahon for his
more than 55 years service for his
own union and the AFL.
Funeral services were announced
for Friday, November 4, at the
Hamilton Funeral Home, 1915 Cass
Ave., Detroit.
Mr.. Mahon's life spanned the
fabulous era of transition in the
development of the nations street
railway system-from slow horse
car to high-speed subway and sur
face lines.
His efforts were bitter hard but
successful attempts to keep the
working conditions and wages of
the men progressing as rapidly as
the mechanical advances of the
companies for whom they worked.
How fully BILLY" Mahon realized
his objectives is attested in the al
most complete organization of the
men and women who work for the
transit systems in the nations
metropolitan centers, their improv-
ing hours of employment, hourly
wages more than 6 times as great
as when he started, and generous
death and other benefits paid by
the union.
Mr.. Mahon was born Aug. IL,
1861, in small town near Athens,
Ohio, the son of a tanner. His
father died while he was boy in
school and he was Immediately
forced to take a position in the
Hacking Valley coal mines. There
he learned to drive mules, an ac-
complishment which qualified him
for a driver for the street railway
company in Columbus, Ohio, a few
years later.
Young Mahon Immediately be-
came interested in improving work.
ing conditions. Drivers were paid
81 for a 15-hour day, 7 days
week. They were required to report
early every morning for duty, wait
around sometimes whole days be-
fore getting trip, and were liable
for car breakage and loss of lights
in event of accident.
Mr.. Mahon became president of
the local union he helped to or
ganize- Local 1929 of the Union
of Street Car Employees, affiliated
with the AFL. He met Samuel
Gompers in Columbus and their
began a close association
which lasted until Mr.. Gompers'
death in 1924.
Mr.. Mahon at 32 was elected
president of the Amalgamated AS
ISOLATION at its second convention
in 1898 and served for So years un-
til his retirement in 1916. He was
paid SIG week as first president
and had his office in his home.
He was first elected to the AFL
executive council in 1917, served
IN 1916 as fraternal delegate to
The British Trades Union Congress
and made study of the effect on
of municipally-o wn d
,ransit systems in Europe. He was
4 member of President Wilson's
irst industrial commission and
served six months on the Detroit
Street Railway Commission.
His interests were gardening
and farming and his principal sport
vas fishing.
The words for his epitaph, Mr..
Mahon suggested at gathering
# top-ranking society, educational,
cientific and public leaders in 1907 I
arranged by Mrs. Potter Palmer,
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