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Show HARRIi' IAN LEADERS TALK WITH SHOPMEN ON WAGE QUESTION Local Officials Declare They DoNotThinKaStriKe Imminent Officer of th Oregon Short Line, the Denver a Rio Grande, the Western Pacific Pa-cific and th Salt Lake rout say that they hav no Information of an Impending Impend-ing strike of their employee, aa Indicated Indi-cated m recent Chicago dispatches. It waa atated at th office of the Oregon Short Line that a number of trsdee employed em-ployed on the Hsrrlman system which bad recently organised had asked for an Increase In wages. The matter Is said to be under consideration at the present pres-ent time, but II te not believed that there will be any strike. The Chicago dispatch says: , Chicago. Aug. 7. That the railroads of the west are threatened with a general gen-eral strike wa Indicated here tonlitht by statementa of a high official of the Union Pacific and .Southern Pacific railroads rail-roads According to his statements, unions have presented demands that would mean an additional burden of lie.-000,000 lie.-000,000 a year to the western roads. Several etrlkes already have occurred In various cities, and more are threatened threat-ened unless concessions are obtained from the rail carriers. The d.mends were formulated by varloua unions, including Ihoss of the blacksmiths, car workers, iron . aaAldaf auuihlnlate and, patlera makers, end were submitted to the railroads rail-roads severs! weeks ago. 8o far th officials of-ficials of the varloua unlona have met with a flat refuesl of any- of the requests re-quests from ths lines they have negotiated nego-tiated with, and It was announced tonight that the roads are determined not to recede re-cede from the position they hsve tsken. The Hsrrlman made are Involved chiefly at the present lime, and the attitude at-titude of the officials of these lines. It Is asserted, will b adopted by other ""According lo Jullu Krultachnltt. vie president of the I'nlon Pacific and Southern South-ern Pacific, the demanda of the varloua workers would amount to an added ex-pens ex-pens of S7.oMH every year to the lines composing the Harrlman eystem. "The railroads ars paring top-notch wagea now. and th demanda that have been made are unreasonable." aald Mr. Kruttsrhnltt. "I am merely making a guess whsn I say that th programme th unions hav mapped out would mean an additional burden 'of lso.ooo.ooo a year when applied to all the western made, but It is certain that the additional addi-tional expense would be very large. I should eellmsts that It would mean 17.900, too annually -to the Harrlman lines alone. With th high wagee received by th workmen now, I can see no reason (or granting additional demanda." "Do you aspect to hold conferences with th leader of th unions?" h was asked. "Th union leaders have bean Informed that employees of the lines always will te granted a hearing whenever they hav any grievances, real or otherwise, re-plled re-plled Mr. Kruttsehnltt. "Proposals for Increases In Pay and change In working hours and conditions for shopmen have not preached ma," aald w. D. rantlllon." general manager of the Northwestern railway. "I have noticed that on soma of th western roads atrlkea already have been called on account of differences over those matters, but toe Northwestern baa not been affected." It Is regarded aa certain that In the event of a spread ,of the slrlk all of th unlona will act In concert. Several of th railway organizations with which shop workers are affiliated, obtained wage advanrea some time ago, tlte machinists on some of th lines being be-ing granted an Increase of I cents an hour. With th Inters tsts commerce commission snd various stste boards holding lb railroads down from any Increase In-crease In revenues. It Is realised that a slopping place muet soon com In wsgs demanda. It means a tremendous Industrial Indus-trial war, but seems Inevitable. |