Workmen's Advocate

A STRIKER'S OPINION.
The Third Avenue Car Company will Have to Surrender.

"The company claim," said one of the strikers on the Third Avenue line, New York, to a reporter, "that they can have the road in full working order in a week to fourteen days. They cannot do it in a month. A driver is not broken in in one trip or a day. Formerly, they would not take a man who had not experience in driving. Is it possible they can get 300 competent drivers in a month? Then there are the hostlers, who, although requiring no special skill for their work, cannot attend to a certain number of horses as well as experienced men, and remember there are 1,100 horses to be looked after. Nor have they any shoers. If a horse were to lose a shoe to-day there must be no one to put another on. The blacksmiths are skilled laborers and union men, and will not work for the company. Their helpers must be men of rare skill, and even if they get blacksmiths they can't get helpers, for the helpers are strong union men. They say they have got 300 men, do they?" Well, that falls far short of the 1,000 men who went out. No, sir, it's a machine, is the Third Avenue road, and when it once gets out of order it ain't easy to repair it.

During the early part of the day the reporter noticed that some of the cars were heavily laden. Mentioned this to the striker just referred to. "Well, sir," said the man, "you make a few trips more and you'll see the same people. They are paying lots of people to ride in the cars to make a show of business. The reporter certainly did meet a good many old faces in the various cars he boarded, but whether these people were riding for curiosity or not he could not ascertain.