Strike On The Burlington System

A strike has been ordered on the Chica go, Burlington & Quincy railroud system. The strike promises to bo the most remftkable ever known, for in it the strongest single labor organization in existence has been pitted against the largest railroad Corporation in the west and una of the greatest in m Ie age and wealth in the word. Should the strike long continue it is probable that in additiou to the 1,400 men directly in volved the great inajority of the 14,009 employés of the company will be throwu out of work, the 'i"),000 members of the Kngineer Brotherhood througbout the country called upon to contrilmte of tlicir savingx, and the industries of a vast country tributary to the road subjeeted to a partial paralysis. The f ar-reaching eiTects of the strike can be inferred f rom the fact tliat tlni ro;il has i'i.oou miles of main an I leased line gricironing the state of Illinois, lowa, Missouri aml Kebraska. Krom Chicago ic reaches to Denver, Col., over 1,000 miles away, and C'heyenne, Wy, T., is equally as far. Minneapólis to the north and St. Louis to the south are within its roach - the territory of an empire. The refusal of the C. B. A: y., company to do away with classified wages for raljroad enginoers bas undoubtedly precipitated the strike. The reason of the bmt.lierhood's stand against clussifled wages was that the roads were beginning to ilischarge the higher-priced men who liad been in tlieir etnploy for many yeius, and yere supplantiug them with cheftper men. The brotherhood now proposes a scale o wages in which pacs6nffer ensneors iiliall f et 4 cents per mile and freilit BDgineers 3j cents, flremen to get (0 per oent of tbis scale. All tho negotiations with roadfl were successful until the C. B. & Q. of flcials were approached.