"Any employee of a railroad who, in furtherance of the interests of either party to a dispute between another railroad and its employees, refuses to aid in noving the cars of such other railroad or trains, in whole or in part made up of such cars, over the tracks of the corporation employing him, or refuses to aid in loading or discharging such cars, is punished by imprisonment for 1 year, or fine of $500. (Me., 123, 10.)

"And in New Jersey, if any person in aid or furtherance of the objects of any strike obstruct any railroad track, or injure or destroy rolling stock or any other property of the railroad, or take possession of, or remove it, or attempt to prevent the use thereof by the company or its employees, or by offer of recompense induce any employee to leave the service of the railroad while in transit, such person is guilty of a misdemeanor, and punishable by fine of $500 and imprisonment for 1 year. (N. J. Rev., 1877, p. 946, s. 176.)

"And in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois, and Kansas, if any engineer or railroad employee engaged in a strike, or with a view to incite others to such strike, or in furtherance of any combination or preconcerted arrangement with any other person to bring about a strike, abandons the engine in his charge attached to either a passenger or freight train, at any other place than its destination with the train, he is guilty of a misdemeanor-penalty $500 or 6 months (Pa. Dig., p. 533, par. 35; Del., vol. 15, 481, 1); $100 or 90 days (Ill., 114, 108: Kan., 2480).

"So, if such engineer or employee, for the purpose of furthering the object of or lending aid to any strike organized or attempted on any other road, refuses or neglects to remove cars, etc., of such road, or interferes with, molests, or obstructs any engineer or employee in the discharge of his duty, or obstructs any track, or injures or destroys rolling stock or other property of a railroad, or takes possession of or removes such property, or prevents or attempts to prevent its use by the railway. (Del., ib., 2-4; Pa. Dig., p. 533, par. 358-360; Del., vol. 15, 481, 2 and 5.)

"In Illinois, Michigan, and Kansas, if any person or persons shall willfully and maliciously by any act or by means of intimidation, impede or obstruct, except by due process of law, the regular operation and conduct of the business of any railroad company, or other corporation, firm, or individual in this State, or of the regular running of any locomotive engine, freight or passenger train of any such company, or the labor and business of any such corporation, firm, or individual, he or they shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than $20, nor less (more) than $200, and confined in the county jail not more (less) than 20 days, nor more than 90 days. (Ill., 114, 109; Kan., 2481; Mich., 9274.)

"If two or more persons shall willfully and maliciously combine, or conspire together to obstruct, or impede by any act, or by means of intimidation, the regular operation and conduct of the business of any railroad company or any other corporation, firm, or individual in this State, or to impede, hinder, or obstruct, except by due process of law, the regular running of any locomotive engine, freight or passenger train, on any railroad, or the labor, or business of any such corporation, firm, or individual, such person shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by fine not less than $20, nor more than $200, and confined in the county jail not less than 20 days, nor more than 90 days, etc. (Ill., 114, 110; Kan., 2482; Mich., 9275.)

"This act shall not be construed to apply to cases of persons voluntarily quitting the employment of any railroad company, or such other corporation, firm, or individual, whether by concert of action or otherwise, except as is above provided. (Ill., 114, 111; Mich., 9276; Kan., 2483.)

"In Wisconsin, any person who shall individually, or in association with others, willfully injure or remove any part of a railroad car, locomotive, or of any stationary engine, or other implement or machinery, for the purpose of destroying it, or preventing its useful operation, or who shall in any other way interfere with the running or operation of any locomotive or machinery, shall be punished by fine up to $1.000, or imprisonment for 2 years, or both. (Wis., 1887, 427, 2.) "In Texas, any person or persons who shall, by force, threats, or intimidation of any kind whatever against any railroad engineer or engineers, or any conductor, brakeman, or other officer or employee employed or engaged in running any passenger train, freight train, or construction train, running upon any railroad in this State, prevent the moving or running of said passenger, freight, or construction train, shall be deemed guilty of an offence, etc.' (Tex., 1887, 92, 1.) It is the almost unanimous opinion of modern economists of various schools of thought that labor combinations with the power to appeal in the last resort to a strike or a joint refusal to work are, under the present system of competition, necessary and expedient. While most labor organizations realize that the strike is a costly and, in most cases, a useless weapon with which to accomplish their

purposes, the wisdom of maintaining the right to strike, as a last resort, can not be questioned. It has been frequently affirmed in court decisions. Mr. Richard Olney, in his brief in the case of Thomas C. Platt v. Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company et al., said, November, 1894: “It is unnecessary to elaborate the proposition that a strike is not necessarily unlawful, since it is emphatically sustained by the recent decision of the circuit court of appeals in Farmers' Loan and Trust Company v. Northern Pacific Railroad Company." (Reported subnom. Arthur v. Oakes, 63 Fed. Rep., 310.)

The usual remedy is sought by employers through the use of the injunction to compel specific fulfillment of the labor contract, and to this use of the injunction the combined labor force of the United States is unalterably opposed and is insistent in its demand for legislation to correct what they consider an abuse of the power of injunction as exercised by the courts. While injunctions are granted to compel specific fulfillment of contract, and frequently in the nature of "blanket" injunctions against strikers, it is claimed that the injunction is no remedy for employees against blacklisting. The use of the injunction is discussed, and a long list of cases cited, by Mr. E. A. Mosely in his testimony before the Industrial Commission (Vol. IV, p. 9); and it is the opinion of many witnesses, including Prof. Emory R. Johnson, that the injunction has played an important part in assisting corporations to secure their ends in disputes with their employees, and that some statutory limitation will have to be placed upon the use of the injunction. The officers of the leading railway orders favor a bill, which has already been introduced in Congress, the text of which will be found in the commission's reports (Vol. IV, p. 761), providing that contempts of court be divided into two classes, direct and indirect, to be proceeded against in different ways. "Contempts committed during the sitting of the court or of a judge at chambers, in its or his presence or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, are direct contempts. All other are indirect contempts." Indirect contempts are to be proceeded against after a written accusation shall have been made and the accused required to answer, the trial proceeding upon testimony, as in criminal cases, and the accused being confronted with witnesses, and the court having the option of summoning a jury; and, finally, the judgment being subject to appeal to a higher court.1

1 For a more complete discussion of the use and abuse of the injunction in reference to labor disputes see Stimson's Handbook of the Labor Law of the United States, p. 311 ff; also this report, pp. 602-615.

PART III. THE ORGANIZATION OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.

§ 10. THE HISTORY OF RAILROAD ORDERS AND BROTHERHOODS.

One of the most important chapters in the history of organized labor, when it is properly and impassionately treated, will doubtless be the history of the organization of railroad men. In breadth of scope, in thoroughness of organization, and in the businesslike methods in which they are conducted, the leading brotherhoods and railway orders will compare favorably with any business enterprise. The majority of organizations now in existence have been in operation for several years, and the oldest goes back to a period when the country was involved in the difficulties of a great civil war. All of them are fashioned after the same model, though the differences in the way in which the emphasis is laid on one or other of their chief features is a significant key to the measure of subsequent success. The facts illustrating the life and growth of the organized labor movement among railroad men can be best appreciated by a survey of the activities of each of the brotherhoods in its particular field, and in its dealing with a particular grade of service, degree of skill and intelligence, and particular standard of economic welfare in the class to which it is restricted. A complete history of the brotherhoods has never been written, and the survey presented in the following pages is taken chiefly from the constitution, by-laws, rules, regulations, and literature published in the official organ of the several organizations to which reference is made.1

I. The Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.-The engineers were the first group of railroad men to organize. There was a strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1854, due to some difficulties which the engineers had with the officers of the Company. The result of the strike was that 16 engineers lost their situation. About this same time the extension of railroads in the country made the demand for engineers such that many inexperienced, incompetent, and intemperate men were engaged, and the older and more thoughtful engineers began to discuss some means of mutual protection and methods for the improvement of their fellow-craftsmen. A convention of locomotive engineers met in Baltimore on November 6, 1855, in response to a circular asking the men on all the railroads to send delegates. Seventy delegates were present, representing 14 States and 55 railroads. An organization known as the National Protective Association of the United States was formed, a constitution and by-laws were adopted, and the convention adjourned to meet at Columbus, Ohio, in October, 1856. At the meeting in Columbus no important business was transacted and the organization never held another meeting. Some few local organizations struggled on for several years.

By 1863 the need for mutual protection, especially against a tendency to reduce the wages of engineers, was keenly felt by the men in the service throughout the country. Certain action of the Michigan Central Railroad in the fall of 1862 seems to have aroused the engineers to the need for organization and resistance. An association of the employees of the Michigan Southern had been started at Adrian and the Central men were invited to join. Some of them did so, but found that the organization included all railroad employees in the mechanica departments, and reported back that in their judgment it would be better for the engineers and firemen to form an organization for themselves A an outgrowth of this feeling of discontent the engineers on the Michigan Central, Michigan Southern, and Northern Indiana, Detroit and Milwaukee, Grand Trunk, on the American side, and the Detroit Branch on the Michigan Southern, were invited to attend a convention in Detroit May 5, 1863. This convention resulted in the adoption of a constitution and by-laws embodying the fundamental principles of the brotherhood as at present organized. Officers were elected and Division No. 1, Brotherhood of the Footboard, was organized. The fundamental thought in the minds

1A very complete account of the insurance and beneficial features of the brotherhoods is given by Prof. Emory R. Johnson in an article in the Labor Bulletin for July, 1898.

of the organizers seemed to be that members of the brotherhood should aim to reach a high standard of ability as engineers and of character as men, well fitted to the important and responsible nature of their occupation, thus entitling them to liberal compensation, which should be insisted upon by all legitimate means. Mr. P. M. Arthur, in writing the history of the Engineers' Brotherhood, says of this period: "Argument, the true worth of able and competent men, and the highest and best interests of the companies themselves, rather than strikes, were at first, always have been, and are now the means on which the brotherhood has relied to maintain the justice of its requests at the hands of the railroad company."

Other subdivisions were rapidly organized before the grand division was perfected in organization. The grand division was formed with 10 subdivisions, and began operations August 17, 1863, at Detroit. William D. Robinson, who is called the father of the brotherhood, was chosen chief grand engineer, and the convention adjourned to meet in Indianapolis August 17, 1864. The first conflict occurred early in 1864 when Division No. 12, of Fort Wayne, had a dispute with the officers of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, which resulted in disaster to the engineers. It was felt that the constitution was not strict enough, and some divisions in order to be strong in numbers had unwisely admitted to membership anyone who could run an engine, and also some firemen and machinists. A special convention met in Detroit, February 23, and adopted an amendment excluding firemen and machinists. At the second annual convention, at Indianapolis August 17, 1864, the constitution and by-laws were made still more conservative and the name changed to the Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The first grand assistant engineer was made the only salaried officer and paid $125 per month. At the same convention the Trades Review, of Philadelphia, was made the official organ of the brotherhood. Organization in the early days had to go on quietly and secretly, because there was determined hostility and even combination on the part of the railroads to prevent any organization at all. The engineers of New England were not organized until after December 1, 1864, but by April, 1865, the New England States and Middle States had been added to the Western States represented in the organization. At this time there were perhaps 20,000 members, divided among 319 divisions. The Locomotive Engineer's Journal was established at the convention of 1866, and has since that time been a great power in developing the brotherhood. At the same convention a widows', orphans', and disabled members' fund was established, which was subsequently changed into the general charity fund. December 3, 1867, the Locomotive Engineers' Mutual Life Association was established. In 1870 the headquarters were established at Cleveland, where they remain up to the present time. A little later an attempt was made to secure a charter from Congress, but was unsuccessful. One division was incorporated in Tennessee in 1870, but died a natural death in 1877, and the brotherhood is not now incorporated.

On

Mr. P. M. Arthur was chosen chief of the brotherhood in 1874, and has held that office up to the present time. The brotherhood has been engaged in but few strikes, but they materially affected the interests of the public and were followed with keen interest. No organization has been more successful in making contracts with employers and none has been more conservatively managed and won more real victories for its members, at the same time retaining the respect and friendly consideration of the employers of its members and the confidence of the general public. Perhaps the general feeling of good will toward the locomotive engineers is fairly well indicated in the otherwise eccentric editorial in a recent issue of the New York Sun (September 19, 1899), on “Labor Unions and How to Make Them Pay:"

"There is a man named Arthur, Peter M. Arthur. He is a locomotive engineer, and he is the Chief of the Brotherhood or Union of the Locomotive Engineers of the United States. When this man enters the office of a railroad president, he is treated with as much respect and consideration as if he were one of the largest stockholders or some other person of like distinction. His word is unimpeachable; his honesty has never been impugned. He has the confidence and the respect of the employers and the employees and he stands for all that is good and honorable in trades unionism, theoretic and practical.

"No one has ever heard of Mr. Arthur's calling out' the engineers on a great line of railroad because a Wall street stock-jobber wanted the price of its shares depressed in the market and was willing to pay well for bringing about a strike. No one ever heard of his ordering a railroad to adopt a new style of locomotive

1 See Labor Movement in America, edited by George E. McNeil, Chap. XII, by P. M. Arthur on the Rise of Railroad Organizations. Boston and New York, 1887.

that would enable it to dispense with half of its engineers. And no one will ever hear of his doing any of these things. He doesn't know how to do them. He is an honest man. He is not in the union for his personal use. He is in it for his fellow-workmen, and all his ambition is to serve them well and faithfully. That he does; and in the doing of it he has the respect and admiration of the Sun.

"One would suppose that that powerful organization, the Stone Cutters' Union of Chicago, would try to select as its head a man like Mr. Arthur in place of the man it now has. This man, whose name is Sullivan, has been conspicuous lately in the public view by reason of the strenuous and passionate opposition that he has made to certain ceremonials in connection with the laying of the corner stone of the new Chicago post-office. This opposition he offered, it seems, to abate for a consideration of $5,000. A man like Mr. Arthur would never have been immersed in such criminal disgrace, because a man like Mr. Arthur never would have created a fictitious and factitious grievance for the purpose of being bought off.

"These considerations apply to all unions. The fatal haste to get wealth infects their management. The men at the head are not all Arthurs, and they yield to the temptation to make money by using the power and influence of the union for their own profit. This is the reason why we have strikes declared on our surface railroads; this the reason why union workingmen are idle and why union workingmen are impoverished by assessments to provide for idle men who ought to be at work. This is part of the reason, if not all of the reason, of the strike in the Sun office, and this is why united labor is being assessed to enable professional workingmen and men of the character of Delaney, the leader of the Typographical Union, to conduct a futile and stupid boycott.

The labor unions had better seek out the Peter M. Arthurs in their ranks, and then they may come to enjoy the sympathy of the public and the respect of the Sun."

The object of the brotherhood is declared to be "to more effectually combine the interests of locomotive engineers, to elevate their standing as such and their character as men.' Membership is limited to white men 21 years of age, of good moral character and temperate habits, who can read and write, and who have been in actual service at least 1 year as locomotive engineers. No candidate can be initiated while there is a strike on the road on which he is employed, and no member is allowed to join any other labor organization, except the order of steam engineers, on penalty of expulsion. An applicant who is a member of any other labor organization except the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen may be balloted for, but can not be initiated until satisfactory evidence is given that he has withdrawn from such other organization. Members of the firemen's brotherhood may be initiated, but must withdraw from the firemen's organization within 1 year. Drunkenness is an offense for which a member is liable to be reprimanded, suspended, or expelled; and if a member is found guilty of keeping a saloon where intoxicating liquors are sold, the chief of his local division must declare him expelled without a ballot. Any member who takes the place of one engaged in a strike by any legally organized labor body, when duly recognized by existing railway organizations as a legitimate organization, is to be expelled when proved guilty. A member may be expelled who does not attend a meeting of his local division once in 3 months, unless excused by the division. Members joining any secret detective organization, or who procure a pass or other favor for a brother member without ascertaining beyond a reasonable doubt that he is entitled to it, must be expelled, without a ballot, by the chief of their local division.

The officers of the brotherhood are: A grand chief engineer and assistant grand chief engineer, and first, second, and third grand engineers, first, second, and third grand assistant engineers, grand guide, and grand chaplain. The first grand engineer is the secretary and treasurer of the brotherhood, the second grand engineer is the editor and manager of the official journal, and the third grand engineer has charge of stationery and supplies and of the Journal mailing list. All officers are elected by the national convention for a term of 2 years, except the G. C. E., A. G. C. E., F. G. E., S. G. E., and T. G. E., who are elected alternately to serve 4 years.

The initiation fee is $10, and the grand dues for the central organization are $2.50 per year. Fifty cents of this amount must be applied to a charity fund to pay pensions. The executive committee, consisting of 5 members appointed from the employees of different railroad companies, has power to levy assessments when necessary. Members, however, who have not earned $50 per month for the preceding 3 months, because of sickness or lack of work, are exempt from such assessments. If a member fails to pay his dues for 3 months, he is expelled