The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, July 24, 1909, Image 3

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    CLEVELAND CENTER FIELDER.
In Labor's Real
Jack Farley's Flying Switch
Matters of Especial Interest To and Con
cerning Those Who Do the
By Cy Warman
Work of the World
Copyright, by Cy Warcaaa.)
Boston. Boot and slice workers in-1
ternatioeal convention abolished the
referendum system. The following
were elected as the national officers
By the convention: John F. Tobin of
Boston, president; Collis Lovely of
St. Louis, vice-president; Charles L.
Baine of Boston, secretary and treas
urer; T. C Farrell. Emmett T. Wall
and Warren M. Hatch of Brockton,
Mass Gad Martindale of Rochester.
Z. Lesperane of Montreal, C E.
James of St. Paul, George Bury of
Cincinnati and Mary Anderson of Chi
cago, members of the genere&l board;
August Wilkinson of Cincinnati.
Minot A. Burrell of Randolph. Mass..
and Patrick Gillen of Brooklyn, gen
eral auditors. The next convention
will be at St. Paul.
Chicago. Officials of the Lathers"
union who were indicted by the grand
Jury on charges of conspiracy on the
complaint of William H. Seroint. a
lather of Cleveland, appeared before
Judge Brentano and gave bonds of
Ji.OOO each. The indicted officials are
"Clark Ruth, A. Alex. George Briggs,
Thomas Simmons and Fred Ott. who
are accused of demanding that he pay
$50 before being allowed to work on a
union Job. The indictments have
caused quite a stir in union circles,
as nearly all unions have similar
rules, requiring strangers coming to
the city to pay extra for their first
working card.
London, Eng. Sheffield Master
Builders federation has asked the op
erative bricklayers and the carpenters
and Joiners to submit to the abolition
of walking-time to places of work, be
yond a radius of 2i miles from the
parish church. This the men refuse
to concede. The latter have replied
by asking for an Increase in wages
to one-haif pence an hour. The opera
tives are well organized in the dis
trict, and the Master Builders' fed era
i Kin is strong. The fear is that a
strike may take place; but it is prob
able that the matter will be settled
by the conciliation board.
Indianapolis, Ind. Edwin Perry, secretary-treasurer
of the Vnited Mine
Workers, in the Vnited Mine Workers'
Journal, urges the local unions of the
organization to affiliate with central
bodies and state federations wherever
they exist. In compliance with a reso
lution that was adopted at the Denver
convention of the American Federa
tion of Labor. The communication
from Mr. Perry in the Journal is ad
dressed to ail local unions under the
Jurisdiction of the international organ
isation of the mine workers.
Boston. Boston carpenters" and elec
trical workers' strikes are over, havin
been won by the unions. The carpen
ters secured a four-cents-an-hour raise
Jn wages and the Saturday half holi
day all the year round, making the
new wage one of 474 cents an hour.
The electrical workers got a five-cents-an-hour
raise, establishing the
new minimum rate at 50 cents an
hour. They also get the Saturday half
holiday from May 1 to September 30
of each year.
Washington. Frank Morrison, sec
retary of the American Federation of
Labor, says that at present there are
2.000.000 persons throughout the coun
try out of employment. Mr. Morrison
declares this to be a conservative es
timate, and he said this statement was
the consensus of most careful esti
mates made by men who are thorough
ly familiar with the conditions of em
ployment throughout the Vnited
States.
Gary, Ind. Plans have been turned
over to we contractors Tor the con
struction of the new $10,000,000 plant
of the American Car and Foundry
Company at Gary. It is believed the
contractors will be ready to submit
their bids by August 1. when the con
tract will be let. The site of the new
plant was purchased several months
ago. It was announced that about
5.000 men would be employed.
Chicago. Five hundred employes in
IS of the grain elevators in the Chica
go and Calumet districts were locked
out when the owners declared for the
i open shop and refused to enter into
contracts with the union. The con
troversy has been goiug on for several
weeks, the elevator owners insisting
on a reduction in wages and the men
ho'dins out for the conditions which
prevailed last year.
Brooklyn. N. V. Steps were taken
recently by the Brooklyn tX. Y.i Cen
tral Labor union vhk h may result in
the formation of an independent mu
nicipal party in opposition to the
Democratic and Republican parties at
the coming mayoralty compaign.
Washington. The average wage of
painters in England is about $10 a
week; in this country $15.
Winnipeg. Man. The Canadian
Northern railway engineers voted to
strike. The officers of the company
chalieuged the men to come out on
strike and the men accepted it. About
SOO men are Involved.
Boston. Fall River and New Bed
ford textile councils will henceforth
act Jointly on legislative matters and
general matters of concern to both
bodies.
- boston. Wood. Wire and Metal
Lathers union international conven
tion will be held in Wells Memorial
hall, this city, the west of Septem
ber 13.
Pottsville. Pa. The threatened
strike of the trolley car employes of
the Eastern Pennsylvania Railways
Company over the entire system from
Mauch Chunk to Pottsville was avert
ed in an agreement on the wage diffi
culty by C. O. Pratt, national vice-
president of the Amalgamated Asso
ciation of Street Railways Employes,
and a joint committee of the men with
Lieb Bradley, genera! manager of the
trolley corporation. The men. who
were receiving 17. 19 and 21 cents per
hour, according to their period of serv
ice asked for an increase to a 23-eent
fiat rate. A compromise was made by
which the men will get 19 cents for
the first year and 22 cents for the sec
ond year and thereafter.
New York. It is reported in ship
ping circles that at a meeting of the
large shipping interests at London an
international federation of the steam
ship companies and shipping interests
of both Europe and America was pro
posed to act on general trade matters I
and also on labor troubles. It Is
planned to circumvent strikes by cre
ating a large insurance fund and reim
burse members of the federation
w hose vessels or docks may be tied
up. Another idea, it is said, is to
have strike-breakers organized and
ready to be mobilised in the shortest
possible time at any point where trou
ble has to be met.
Madison. Wis. In reply to an asser
tion recently made that the movement
for an eight-hour day for women was
of comparatively recent origin. Dr.
John B. Andrews of the Vniversity of
isconsin says that the movement for
an eight-hour day for women is an old
issue that has been revived, a move
ment in that direction having been
started during a strike by the factory
girls in Lowell, Mass, in 1S34. A re
sult of that agitation was the passage
of laws in factory states limiting the
work of women to ten hours a day.
The doctor has produced evidence.
Elwood. Ind. The indications are
that the American Sheet and Tinplate
Company means to center the fight
against the Amalgamated Association
of Iron and Steel Workers at the
plant in this city, in preference to the
east, and that if the local strikers re
fuse to return to work in the "open
shop plant, sufficient men will be im
ported to operate the mills here In
full. Fifty practical hot mill men
from the "open shops" in the east
were brought to this city.
Washington. In addition to efforts
to improve the laws in the various
states, the national child labor com
mittee has taken a leading part in ad
vocating the establishment of a fed
eral children's bureau. The bill is now
before the extra session of congress,
and it is anticipated that considera
tion will be given to the measure dur
ing the early days of the regular ses
sion. President Tart, who is a mem
ber of the committee, has given his
hearty approval of the measure.
New York. The International Sea
men's union is to petition congress re
questing that the general law be so
amended as to prevent the underman-
ning of vessels, and that as necessar
ily incidental to such prevention a
standard of skill should be established
in the case of the seamen concerned
New York. The representatives of
the Vnited Hebrew Trades said that a
general strike of the 20,000 coat tail
ors in this city, who are organized as
the Brotherhood of Tailors, is now
threatened for a restoration of the
wages of two years ago
Washington. The Amalgamated
Association of Glassworkers cannot
affiliate with the building trades sec
tion of the American Federation of La
bor, according to a decision reached
at a meeting of the section here. The
rejection of the glassworkers" applica
tion for membership was on the
ground that they do not perform suffl
cient labor on buildings to warrant
the affiliation.
San Juan. P. R. A bakers' strike
which is in progress in Santo Domin
go has resulted in an effort to get
Porto Rican bakers to go to Santo
Domingo. Free passage has been of
fered them, but the union, which is
affiliated with the American Federa
tion of Labor, has issued an official
announcement warning the men not
to go as the object is to use them as
strike breakers.
Marseilles, trance. The seamen s
strike has been partially reopened as
a result of differences which have
arisen in the settlement over the ques
tion of leisure time. Some violence
occurred and several of the men were
arrested. The Fabre line steamer Ger-
mania was prevented from sailing for
the Vnited States by the desertion of
the crew at the last moment.
San Francisco. San Francisco La
bor council is considering a plan to
send the unemployed in that city to
work ou farms.
Winnipeg, Man. The Manitoba
government will appoint a committee
to Investigate workingmen's compen
sation. London, Eng. la the north of
England there has been a reduction of
three pence a ton on puddling and of
24 per cent, on all other forge and
mill wages.
Chicago. The Women's Trad
Vuion league will hold a national con-
1 vention in this city in Seotember.
S" -'- -x
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xxxxv -w . , .VsA.v r . . .
x x . rx , - , N .
"Oode Birmingham, Guardian of the Middle Garden
Naps, Lining One Out.
The Boston Red Sox have pur
chased "Plumduff" Duffy Lewis, the
sensational slugger of the Oakland
club of the Pacific Coast league.
Manager Bresnahan of the St- Louis
National league baseball team has re
leased Pitcher More to Boston and
Pitchers Higgins and Rhodes to the
Little Rocfe (Ark.) team. Pitcher Bar
ton has been purchased from the
Portsmouth club of the Ohio State
league.
There are former Highlanders with
every American league team rwies
and Stahl with Boston, Thomas with
the Athletics, Vnglaub and Conroy
with Washington, Ball and Goode with
Cleveland. Moriarty with Detroit,
Dougherty and Hahn with Chicago.
Howell, Powell, Williams and Hoff
man with St. Louis.
First base Is being better cared for
in the American association this1 sea
son than in any time since the league
operated in 1902 as an outlaw thorn.
Look at the hitting of Odwell. Free
man, Gill, Flynn, Beckley and Carr,
and you will find nearly all of them
.300 men or thereabouts. McGann and
Sullivan are not far behind either
as timely swatsmen. All of these
men are above the average, too, as
fielders.
Ban Johnson says Detroit will have
no cinch for the pennant. Those
Athletics are coining awfully fast,"
says Ban.
Detroit has turned over to Little
clock one Pitcher Allen, a collegian.
who is in need of more seasoning.
There was no room for him on the
Tiger staff.
Catcher E. V. Spencer, familiarly
known as "Tub. has deserted the
Boston Red Sox, declaring he will
join the California "outlaw league.
"Tub" packed his duds and hiked for
the coast.
Bob Spade, the Cincinnati holdout
pitcher, has been reinstated by the
national commission upon payment of
the customary $100 fine.
Ted Sullivan, the globe trotter, is
now looking over a few eastern play
ers for the Chicago White Sox.
Manager McGraw of the New York
National league baseball club is ne
gotiating: with the Boston Nationals
for the return of Catcher Bowerman.
It is understood that Boston will ac
quire several players in exchange.
Biggest Break on Spit Ball.
Speaking of spitballei-s. the Toledo
American association players are a
unit in saying Grover Gillen had the
biggest break of a spitter ever in the
American association. Grover couldn't
quite control it. and often d'dn't use
it, for the Toledo catchers couldn't
handle it the break was so sharp
and so big. Grover never knew just
where it was going and circumstances
forced him to abandon it and leave
Toledo for Denver.
"Taken" Sign on All Players.
According to Tom Daly, scout for
the Brooklyn National league team,
90 per cent, of the remarkable play
ers for major league trials for next
season have been sold or figure in
some sort of deal with the minors.
"Every promising youngster," said
Daly, "is discovered and has been
city or publicly sold."
for the Cleveland
MOST DEPENDABLE PITCHER
IN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
Stoney McGlynn, Veteran of Milwau
kee Team, Taken Out Only Once
Thus Far This Season.
Are pitchers in the American Asso
ciation getting weaker in their ability
to go the route or are managers yank
ing them of tener or again are the bats
men harder to repulse? Accurate dope
on slabmen indicates that 172 times
pitchers have been changed for a fresh
man so far this season. This is an un
usually large number for so early in
the year.
It means likely that managers are
awakening to the fact that there is a
proper time to pull a twirler to save
games. Clymer is beginning to leant
Stoney McGlynn.
this lesson and he has contributed a
large share of the 1T2 in comparison
to his yanking of slabmen in other
years. The hitting is not so strong as
in the past. That is shown by the av
erages. It must be that the managers
are growing wise.
Who is the most dependable pitcher
in the league right now? Fans ask this
question and there is a solution. He
is none other than that ancient hero
of the slab. Stoney McGlynn. the Mil
waukee twirler. This old tar has been
yanked but once this year and that
was in Columbus when he was a sick
man. The s'abman who can go the
full route every time but once, win
ten and lose six, get six shutouts, a
one-hit, two-hit, five-hit and two each
of three and four hit games is going
at some pace. Olmstead of Minne
apolis, is another remarkably reliable
twirler. He has gone the full route
every trial but once and has won 11
and lost six, five of his victories being
shutouts.
McCloskey took McGlynn with him
from the St Louis Cardinals. He has
been pitching for 20 years and is still
a good one.
Chattanooga Lands Pennant.
The second pennant to be decided
in the south this year in organized
baseball has been, awarded in the
South Atlantic league, Chattanooga
landing the flag .in a runaway race.
The club is managed by John Dobbs,
former Brooklyn and Cincinnati out
fielder. Another season has been
started.
Jack Farley was one of the old
timers. It was through my old friend
Dick Hayes that I met him and it
was Dick who told me of his reputa
tion. "He's an awful lusher, said he.
"Nobody knows why, and nobody 11
ask why, but the old man thinks more
of Farley than he thinks of any man
on the mountains. If it came to pullin
the pin on Jack or that brass-bound
kid o his that's on passenger he'd let
the kid go and give Farley the punch
He's just wrapped up in Farley. Train
master's fired him twice an the old
man's put him back."
The "old man was, of course, the
superintendent. He was what mana
gers call a hustler, and he liked Far
ley because Farley could hustle and
get over the road without "scrapping"
with the engineers.
It was as a result of one of his
usual sprees which came within an
ace of wrecking a string of cars and
killing the entire train crew that Far
ley was discharged. The sprees end
ed in a case of delirium tremens,
which sent Farley to the hospital,
where he remained for several weeks.
When he came out he was nervous
and pale. The first time he went
down in the yards he entered his old
way car. opened a little private cup
board that the carpenters had made
fas him, and took out a jug. A few
minutes later Jack entered the of
fice of the old man. Anybody but
Jack would have asked an audience,
but Farley filed past the astonished
clerks and entered the superinten
dent's private office. "Mr. Highway.
said Farley, "here's a Jug of bully
good whisky. I want to make you a
present of it.
The superintendent was amazed at
the man's audacity. He knew that
When the Special Car Passed the
Switch Target Farley Stepped Off.
Farley drank whiskey, but he had
kept him because he knew mere rail
road drunk than most men knew
sober, and because at that time there
was no one to take his place.
"Where did you get that?"
"Out of my caboose or, rather the
caboose that used to be mine."
"You know then that you are dis
charged?" "No, I haven't heard so, but I should
think so. It's about time.
"Yes, assented the superintendent.
Tm sorry," said Jack.
"So'm I."
"I'd rather begin at the bottom
again here," said Farley, looking
down towards the roundhouse, where
a half-dozen black locomotives stood
waiting to take 21 out, "than take a
train on another road."
"Well, if you begin where you are
you'll begin at the bottom, for you are
about as near the bottom as the car
pet is to the floor."
"May I begin, then?"
"Yes, in just a hundred years from
tqrday."
"But you understand I've quit. dont
you?"
"Quit what?"
"Rambooze."
"Huh!" and the superintendent
wrote rapidly, pretending to forget
Jack and his jug, and all else but the
pay roll that he was signing.
"Goodby, Mr. Highway," said Far
ley, moving towards the door.
"Goodby, Jack here! you're forget
ting something."
No," said Jack. "T"ve quit," and he
rsed out, looking very pale and sad.
Long before the end of the one hun
dred years Farley was braking on
the hill again.'
Three years from the day he gave
the old man the jug he was running
the old man's car.
For the first time (and the only
time, so far as I know) the superin
tendent had taken his two little girls
out with him. He was a worker, and
used his private car for the company
and never for himself, but, being a
kind, affectionate father, though a ter
ror to trainmen generally, he had con
cluded to give the children a little
excursion at the other end of the
line.
As they acme down the hill that
day they met and passed a freight
train on a siding. The rear engine
had been rut oT and set in en the
opposite side, so as to erear the ma rift
line, brit the men on the head end
did not know this. la going: ia a
the siding the pusher bad fajured her
pilot, so now she could sot push. She
would have to change place wit
the head engipe.
The conductor signaled the head
engines: they each blew three short
blasts, the pssher answered, asd the
train began to back away. The
moment the head engines be
gan to back oat the conductor
realized that he had made a mistake
that the men ahead did not know
that the pusher was detached. Im
mediately he scrambled to Use top
of the train and made another mis
take. Instead of giving then a slow
signal he gave them a stop sigaaL
They shut off. bet the rear end of
the train had been pushed back be
yond the level track that lay In frost
of the little way station. Five loads
snapped oS and went roaring dowa
the mountain behind the superin
tendent's train. The one brakeasa
was almost immediately throws frost
the train as It dodged round s sharp
curve, and now the cars were m
ning wild.
The engineer on the special saw the
runaway cars coming, and instantly
let off the air and begaa to tall ost
of the way. Nine hundred and ninety
nine men out of every thousand
would have done the same thtng. It
is of a piece with the rule that says
when you train has parted keep gotsg
(keep out of the wayl until yos are
sure that tee detached portioa of the
train has stopped. The other nu
would have stopped at once, unloaded
his passengers, scrambled out of the
right of way, and let them bit. Bat
that is not according to the book of
rules nor is keeping with the instinct
of an engineer. His first thought Is
of his peopie, his train, his cr ;'tiw
to remain in the cab and die. if seed
be, and he usually does it.
The man on the special, betas fall
of the book rules, kept going, but s
ear leaded will outrun s locomotive
with her links and rods and all her
machinery to hold her back. A By
way, a car will run faster than any
sane man would dare run don a two
hundred Toot grade, and is s very few
moments the special crew saw thst
if they all held the rails the loads
would soon be on the top of them.
The old man, who had never kuo-xs
fear before, put an ana affectionately
about the slender waist of each of
his helpless children. The speed of
the special was something frightfuL
but the cars were gaining os t hem
Farley, standing on the rear plat
form, turned and looked into the car.
He saw the strocg. rough man. who
bad always appeared as dry of tears
as one of the rocks that made these
mountains, bending over bis weeping
children, weeping Eke a woman.
For two or three seconds (seconds
are like hoars in the face of death)
he had been contemplating a move
that would result in his immediate
death or the salvation of the speeiaL
Now the sight of this strong mas im
tears settled the matter; be would
make the effort.
A few miles below the point where
the freight train parted there was
a short siding ia a sag. When the
special car passed the switch target
Farley stepped off Just as he would
drop from a train at twenty miles aa
hour, but the special . was making:
forty or more.
The old man saw him Jump. "Ak,
well. thought he. "the poor deva is
only trying to save his life. I doa't
blame him."
When Farley stopped roTIing he
scrambled to his feet near the east
end of the siding. Ia his tors and
bleeding right hand he held the
switch key. that he had taken front
his pocket before making the fright
ful jump. Staggering to his feet, he
found the lock, thrust the key ia.
and swung back on the target; hot
at that Instant the wheels struck the
ends of the rails, the car leaped into
the air and glanced off into the side
of the shallow cut. while the other
care came piling up ia a heap
Presently, when the driver, looking
back, saw nothing following, he begaa
to slow dont and stopped.
The snnerintecdeat sent the firemaa
back, and flashed slowly to the scene
of the wreck. When he had come
upca the heap of splintered ears he
jumped from the train and raa back
to look for Farley, who had jumped
ol near the other end of the suiiEjr,
As he parsed the wreck be glaaeed
back and saw that the switch, sow
broken down, had beea unlocked.
Looking closely, be found the big;
brass lock with Far'ey's switch key
sticking in the keyaole. Now he saw
: what had been done, bet where was
: Farley? They searched, and sooa
. found him under the debris.
I When the broken frefght had beea
I removed the old mvaa bent over the
dead conductor and -wept as ao maa
I ou the mountain had believed hiss
J capable of weeping; for this maa had
saved his life, and had died dotsg it,
Not long ago I passed over the road,
and the conductor pointed out the
place. "There." said he "there's
where poor Jack Farley made his fly
ins switch."
A bask is sot a very interestiss
place U the maa who bas aot aach
prineipaL