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York never before seen. Everything that
moved on wheels or floated in water was pressed into service to
transport Manhattan workers from and to their homes.
Crowds Left Standing on Every Corner
In spite of these emergency
arrangements, men and women labored through the rain for from
two to four hours of traveling from the Bronx to the Battery.
Surface cars, crowded to twice their normal capacity, left
crowds standing under umbrellas and improvised shelters at
every corner.
Congestion in the streets was most
serious during the evening rush hour, when downtown skyscrapers
simultaneously emptied themselves of their million men and
women workers. Special assignments of traffic policemen charged
with the duty of keeping vehicles moving about City Hall
Square, over Brooklyn Bridge and up the crowded streets to
Harlem and The Bronx, seemed almost incapable of making a dent
in the streams of vehicles awaiting passengers.
In spite of the unusual increase in
wages granted the strikers, and the possi- bility that an
arbitration board may increase their award, the men did not
return to work with a feeling of victory. They protested that
they were given too little and demanded, on first hearing of
the terms, that they were rejected.
At the New Star Casino, 107th Street
and Park Avenue, where the terms were considered, news of the
increased wages was greeted with charges that the men had been
"sold out." It was not until the brotherhood officers
had argued at length that the terms were accepted by
acclamation.
______________
Strikers Agree to
Accept Terms Only After
Leader's Firm Appeal
News of one of the biggest wage
awards ever made to traction employes at the conclusion of the
strike was greeted
by the Interborough strikers with hoots
and demands that it be rejected.
As many of the strikers as could
crowd into New Star Casino, 107th Street and Park Avenue,
greeted the Brotherhood officers' reports of their efforts
toward peace in that manner at the opening of the
"victory" meeting at 7:30 in the evening.
Nearly 3,000 striking carmen were
packed into the Casino when the dele- gation of ten filed into
the structure amid cheers of welcome. President Connolly headed
the delegation, smiling broadly at the groups of workers who
approached him with outstretched hands.
But the committee did not
immediately offer its report. The sixty-two dele- gates to the
meeting were summoned into a rear room, where they remained in
exec- utive session for more than two hours. The delegate body
agreed to the tentative terms at 7:20.
Then the seventy-two men emerged
and approached the platform while another storm of cheers
greeted what was declared to be a complete victory for the
strikers.
Calls Offer Good News
"We've got good news for you
boys!" shouted Connolly.
The cheering and stamping of feet
increased in volume.
Then Connolly, followed by Anthony J.
Remagna, attorney for the brother- hood ascended the platform.
"This has been the cleanest strike
the city has ever seen," he begins. "We have
proved that a strike can be conducted without violence or
disorder.
"At the meeting we just held
downtown with Mr. Nixon, of the Public Service
Commission, and several other officials, several propositions
were made to us.…"
______________
The first train in the Lexington Avenue
subway reached 125th Street at 12:12 this morning. All trains
had to start from the northern terminals, having been laid up
there when the strike was called. Consequently the northbound
traffic was a hour or more later in getting under way.
The conference that brought about the
unexpected conclusion of the strike was called and handled by
Public Service Commissioner Lewis Nixon. Governor Smith, a
committee of ten of the striking brotherhood men and officials
of the Interborough Company, each group occupying a separate
room, participated in the conference. Commissioner Nixon plied
between the rooms and interpreted the varying demands.
Mayor Hylan Not in the Conference
Mayor Hylan was not invited to attend
or take any part in the parley. It was at the specific request
of the brotherhood representatives, with Acting President
Connolly as their spokesman, that the Mayor was excluded. Mayor
Hylan still was busily engaged in plans for operating army
buses in the streets when he was told of the settlement.
Possibility of increased fares was not
considered at any of the strike con- ferences. The traction
company's end of the financial situation still is to be con-
sidered.
The only statement made by any
representative of the Interborough con- serning this phase of
the question was that of James L. Quackenbush, its general
counsel. He said last night that unless there was an increase
of fares, or the bond- holders agreed to assist the road
through its present difficulty, it would be forced into the
hands of a receiver by next January.
The conclusion of the strike
followed a day of transportation chaos such as New
©2003 The Composing Stack Inc.
©2003 Gregory J. Christiano
Updated January 20 , 2003