OCR Text |
Show MUDS GETTHG BUI WT Utah Lines Are Preparing to Maintain Traffic if Strike Is Declared. PLAN5 KEPT SECRET Salt Lake Fortunate ' in Surety of Service on In-terurban In-terurban Lines. While local railroad officials hope the differences between the managements and the transportation brotherhoods will j be adjusted without a strike, they are : preparing for the worst. For a month j or more all railroads have been receiving receiv-ing and placing on file applications of men who will serve in case a strike is called. As the time for a decision in the matter draws near the operating officials offi-cials are being scattered at various points along the lines to supervise and assist in the handling of traffic if the strike order is xiven. , , , rn case an agreement is not reached todav. however, it is likely thai the strike order will not become effective before next Sunday, inasmuch as time must be allowed for the 650 brotherhood delegates dele-gates now in conference to reach tlieir respective headquarters. In all probability proba-bility the delegates will carry the strike order to their respective lodges and the strike will go Into effect simultaneously throughout the country. Plans of Railways. The plans of the railway managements, in case of a strike, are being kept secret, as are those of the brotherhoods. There is a belief among the railway officials, however, that not all the men will go out, at least permanently. They believe that while the majority of the brotherhood brother-hood men may go out temporarily, some of them will return to work within a few tlavs. With these and the men who have filed applications for employment they expect to be able to operate trains everv dav, although some schedules may be upset' and traffic more or less de-laved. de-laved. Although Salt I.ake will be hard hit by an interruption in transportation facilities facil-ities it is especially fortunate in having excellent fnterurbah service, automobile, stage and freight service and good highways high-ways between practically all producing points in the Utah, Salt Lake and Cache valleys. I'pon the electric lines and the automobiles, temporarily at least, will devolve de-volve the problem of handling Salt Lake's supply of food products and the transportation transpor-tation of passengers within the state. Interurban Lines Factor. The three interurban lines now serve practically seventy per cent of the state's population, and tap all the centers that supply the city with milk, butter and all sorts of farm products for table use. At present there are 100 automobile stages operated in and out of Salt Lake in regular service daily, handling approximately approx-imately loOt) persons daily. The automobile automo-bile freight lines have not been developed so extensively, but the highways are available, and if the intoruroan lines find the burden too heavy, the motor freight lines can be put into service with little delay. Necessarily, in case of a strike, tourist travel will be eliminated, and the revenue thus obtained will be curtailed, reducing to an appreciable extent the quantities' of food supply to be transported to the city. Furthermore, a strike will bring about reductions in the force of employees in various lines of endeavor, especially in the mining fields. Tf the mines cannot procure pro-cure transportation for their products the? must necessarily close down until transportation trans-portation facilities are afforded. In so far as incoming shipments are concerned there will be no great inconvenience for a few months except for certain classes of manufactured goods now obtained from outside points. 1'tah factories are now turning out the majority of every-day necessities and should enjoy good patronage patron-age at home during the strike. |