Street Railway Strike (Part 3) - 1892

A few hours after the impromptu work action had begun, a meeting of the strikers was held at 4 p.m. at the Foresters’ Hall on James street North to discuss next steps behind closed doors. It was ultimately decided to call for a public meeting on the Gore in order to elicit public sympathy for the discharged workers. The mass meeting was called to begin at 7 p.m.

          Meanwhile the Hamilton Street Railway Company officials decided to stop running its cars at 7 p.m. Rumors abounded that as soon as darkness fell, the strikers would attempt to destroy the cars. Such fear proved to be groundless as the men had no desire to destroy property. They only wished to discuss the issues of wages and hours of work.

          The public meeting was attended by a large number of citizens who all remained orderly throughout the evening:

          “The absence of cars on the streets helped to make the Gore a capital meeting place, and it was evident from the large concourse of people that there were present many who sympathized with the strikers.”¹

¹ “Have Public Sympathy : Street Car Strikers Endorsed at a Mass Meeting” Hamilton Herald. September 8, 1892.

          The platform for the speakers was provided by ex-Alderman Tom Brick and one of his fellow-carters who backed their wagons together to form an impromptu stage. About a dozen striking employees of the Street Railway Company, still wearing their blue cloth suits, with brass buttons, took seats on the wagons.

          When the electric light in the park became sufficiently strong, George Sharps, president of the employees’ association, began his duties as chairman of the meeting :

          “Mr. Sharp, though a very young man, is a Methodist local preacher and an active temperance worker, so he has had some experience in public speaking. He made a moderate, sensible and very effective speech and carried the sympathies of his hearers with him. He gave a history of the trouble between the company and the men, the facts of which have become familiar by publication, He declared that all the men demanded was justice from the company.

          “ ‘I am going to finish with a quotation from scriptures,’ he said, ‘and I would add that if those who compose the street railway company read the scriptures more they would be better men. The passage of scripture to quote is this : ‘And ye masters, do the same thing unto your servants, forbearing threatening; knowing that your Master is in heaven; neither is there any respecter of persons with Him.’ ”²

² “A New Time-Table in Force : Easier For the Motormen and Conductors” Hamilton Spectator. September 8, 1892.

          Alderman William “Billy” McAndrew was the next speaker. In his rousing, twenty-minute address, he criticized the Street Railway Company for refusing to even listen to the grievances of its employees.

          After accusing the management of the Street Railway Company of criminally intimidating its men, he told the striking employees that the public was fully behind them.

          Alderman McAndrew also strongly hinted that if the Street Railway Company did not moderate its stand, a resolution would be presented at the next City Council meeting to force the company to comply more closely with the terms of the bylaw under which it was supposed to operate.

          Alderman A. D. Stewart also delivered an energetic speech in which he eloquently denounced the directors of the Street Railway Company to ringing applause.

          Describing the hours which the company required its men to work as “white slavery,” Alderman Stewart described how certain clauses had been part of the street railway bylaw to protect the employees :

          “One of these fixed the hours of labor at not more than ten each day. For his part, he thought eight hours a day was long enough for any man to work. When the words ‘about ten hours’ were put in the draft of the bylaw, he did not conceive that ‘about ten hours a day’ could be construed to mean even twelve or thirteen hours a day, to say nothing of fifteen to sixteen hours which the men had been required to work. The bylaw had been passed in good faith by the city, but the company in the matter had not, he contended been honorable. He had been glad to see the gentlemanly, peaceable manner in which the men had acted that afternoon, showing the justice of their cause. He had also been pleased at the carefulness of his old comrades, the police.”³

³ “Street Railway Troubles :The Company Stopped Operations Last Night as a Precautionary Measure.” Hamilton Times. September 8, 1892.

          At the close of his speech, Alderman Stewart spotted his old friend Reverend Dr. Burns, principal of the Wesleyan Ladies’ College, in the crowd and proceeded to invite the “genial pedagogue” to mount the wagons and express his opinions on the issue.

          In a characteristic speech, Rev. Dr. Burns expressed his support for the position taken by the employees :

          “It was perfectly right for any man or any set of men to approach an employer to ask that any grievance be remedied, and to refuse that right was tyrannical and unjust. He was proud of the Hamilton Street Railway system, and proud of the trolley men and would do anything he could to help along a settlement of the present difficulty. He believed that of a deputation waited upon the railway company, the matter could be settled before another sun would set.”²

                In thanking Rev. Dr. Burns for his support, George Sharpe said, “all that we want is a hearing, and if Dr. Burns’ suggestion about a deputation is carried into effect, we will be satisfied.”²

                The final speaker of the meeting was former alderman Tom Brick whose witty and sarcastic address raised a lot of cheers and general hilarity:

          “ ‘You hear much about British fair,’ he sad, ‘but is this British fair play? If men cannot approach other men to discuss their rights, then we’d all better go to Russia. Jack should be as good as his master every time, and I hope the day isn’t far off when he will be. That day would come sooner if it weren’t for some creatures we call men. Why I seen a man who was taken on to drive them cars this afternoon, and he didn’t have enough clothes on his back to brush a lamp-chimply with. I hope no man here will take the place of any striker on a street car. Don’t do it, even if you have to get along on only one meal a day.  The cabmen ought to do what they can; they ought to drive to and from the Grand Trunk station for 10 or even 5 cents while the trouble lasts. If I was a cab man, I’d bucked again the company for all I was worth. The company ought to be compelled to carry out the bylaw, the same as any other offender is made to observe the city bylaws. What’s the sense of sending deputations to them to beg them to observe the law; the City Council don’t send deputations to wait upon the carters and cab men to make them carry out the bylaws. Let every man and woman in Hamilton who sympathizes with the employees of the street railway company stop riding on the street cars until the company does justice to its men. That’ll bring the company to time: touch them in their pockets.”²

                After Tom Brick’s oration, the chairman of the meeting moved that Dr. Burns and Alderman Stewart form a committee to wait upon the street railway company to present the men’s case and seek to effect a satisfactory agreement.

          A vote was taken and a forest of hands went up in favor of the motion with no one in disagreement. After a few more words from the chairman, and three cheers for the Queen and each of the speakers, the meeting was declared to be over, and the crowd dispersed. 
       After the meeting in Gore Park had broken up, many of those who had listened to the speakers remained downtown to wait for the reports of the Corbett-Sullivan championship boxing match which was scheduled for that evening. The sidewalks and roadways around the newspaper offices were crowded with those who were anxious to read the bulletins on each round as they arrived via telegraph: 
    "It was a fortunate thing for the throng that the electric cars were not running, for the view of the bulletins, as they appeared in the Herald window, was uninterrupted by passing cars. Not only was the street in front of this office packed with anxious sports but they overflowed into the alleyway, and some of the more agile of them perched themeselves on the nearest telegraph pole. 
    "Inside the office, the scene was an interesting one. The special operator transcribed the news of the battle, round by round, the instant each point was made, and the bulletins were changed in the window as rapidly as the news arrived. Those within the office, and those without, who watched the bulletins, had whatever satisfaction there might be in following the fight from the first preliminaries to the knock-out blow - an evidence of the speed at which the world is moving today."  
"The News in Hamilton : How the Herald Told Thousands of People All About It Last Night" Hamilton Herald. September 8, 1892.