THE PHILADELPHIA STRIKE
On Saturday, May 29, 2100 of the 6500 surface car men of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company went on strike in an attempt to force the acceptance of the following demands: Grievances to be adjusted between company officials and its employees, or by arbitration in important cases; privilege of purchasing uniforms anywhere; not less than nine hours or more than 10 hours within 12 consecutive hours to constitute a day's work, with time and a half for periods of more than 10 hours; regular wages, 25 cents an hour.
In reply to these demands the company stated that it could not afford to submit the management of its affairs to committees of employees, or, rather, of the union, and stated that it would treat with its employees only as individuals. The rule with regard to purchasing uniforms was necessary for the protection of the men themselves, as inferior goods were furnished by outside clothiers selling on credit at extortionate prices. The conditions involved in the practical operation of street railways in Philadelphia made it impossible to arrange the working time as desired by the car men. As to the demand for 25 cents an hour, the management pointed out that the directors had voluntarily arranged to increase wages from 21 cents an hour to 22 cents an hour, beginning July 1. It could not go beyond this figure in view of financial conditions.
Of the 2100 men who went out on Saturday not more
than one-third were members of the union. Many of the others who joined them were intimidated or feared violence and abuse. A great many of the older employees remained loyal to the company. Although the demands of the platform men were voiced as early as last December, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company did not anticipate that the threatened strike would assume serious
proportions. No special efforts, therefore, were made to secure the services of strike breakers in advance. When the strike was declared, however, the employment bureau in Philadelphia was immediately thrown open and another bureau established in New York City. In Philadelphia ex-employees and other men are also being engaged at the rate of 180 to 200 a day, and several hundred experienced men from New York and vicinity have also been hired. The employees thus secured are not professional strikebreakers, but are chiefly unemployed men who have applied for permanent positions with the company. That the great majority of them are experienced in the operation of cars is very evident to observers.
Several hundred men are quartered at the Lancaster Avenue and Forty-third Street car house, where a complete commissariat has been provided. The company has agreed to care for any man who is injured in the performance of his duty by strikers or others.
Owing to the ease in getting new men so rapidly and the number of loyal men, it was possible to operate 50 percent of all cars on Saturday, 40 per cent on Sunday, 40 per cent on Monday and 60 per cent on Tuesday. It will be understood, of course, that the schedule demands for Saturday, Sunday and Monday were extraordinarily account of holiday business; in fact, the strike had been timed to come at the period most embarrassing to the railway management. Nevertheless, fully 516 cars were in service on Tuesday at 8:30 a. m. By 12:30 p. m. of the same day 615 cars were on the lines, and in the evening a total of 707. As on the previous nights, no attempt was made to operate cars after 8 p. m.
Despite the fact that the people of Philadelphia and the railway company are engaged in a controversy about the abolition of the six-for-a-quarter fare tickets, the strikers did not meet with much material encouragement from the public. It was apparent that the people were willing to ride wherever cars were placed in service. About the only visual evidence of a strike was an occasional "I walk" sign carried in the caps of boys or by striking employees in uniform. Many of the latter arc selling newspapers and others are collecting money by playing street organs. During the first three days of the strike a large number of trucks were impressed to carry people for 5 or 10 events each, but by Tuesday they were doing very little business. Most of the suburban traffic temporarily lost by the electric railway is being diverted to the steam railway lines, especially in the travel to Willow Grove.
The strikers have been cautioned by their leaders not to participate in any form of disorder. There have been a few slight disturbances here and there, incited by strike sympathizers, but in general the city is remarkably quiet. This must be ascribed largely to the prompt action of Mayor Reyburn in furnishing policemen for all cars and ordering that all saloons should be closed between the hours of 6 p. m. and 6 a. m. It has not been necessary to swear in any railway employees as deputies. By Tuesday conditions had become so much better that the saloons were permitted to remain open until 8 p. m.
Despite the most strenuous efforts on the part of the strikers, not a single employee of any other department of the railway company has left the service. Leaders of other unions have arranged for a parade on Thursday, June 4, mass meetings and the like, but there is little prospect that these will have any effect, as the company is securing all the men it wants, is enjoying sufficient police protection and is getting all the traffic it can handle. The leader of the strikers is C. O. Pratt, who in the past has incited strikes in Knoxville. Chicago, Dayton, San Francisco and other cities.
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