I would like to say a few words in our Magazine concerning strike-breaking boiler makers and machinists with whom I have come in contact. The road that I am working on hasn't an engine that a man could call safe, and if an Interstate Commerce inspector would visit our division he would surely have something to report. Our own members are forced to haul these scabs for several miles to and from their work. It is a shame that our men should have to render such a service

for creatures who are so depraved, who have fallen so low as to have forfeited all respect on the part of their fellow men and to be unworthy of their association vile wretches who, devoid of conscience, manhood or principle, ally themselves on the side of the money power in its efforts to crush their fellow workingmen.

Now, brothers, far and near, you know we admire a man who is fair. Remember the boiler makers, machinists and allied

It

trades wherever they are fighting for their rights, and hear them in their piteous prayer that they may win. would be a glorious boost for all union men should they be victorious. Brothers who see and read this article should re

flect and think deeply, for a man who

scabs is as bad as a criminal-he is morally low enough to steal but too cowardly. May God in His mercy help our brothers of the allied trades in their struggle for bread and education and decent homes for their families.

The time has come when we as union men must stand together.

WANDERER FROM No. 576.

Brotherhood. Let us devote our best efforts to the work of getting them where they belong. Let us, if their records are O. K., see that they are presented with application blanks and impressed with the importance of belonging to our grand old Order. No use to find fault with the nonairs. A majority of them are simply waiting to come in and be one of the old

"Tried and True."

Take your mind back to the time when you were eligible for membership and what you thought when you talked to some Brotherhood man about your appli

cation, when possibly you were discouraged and he didn't know it. At one time

I was working on a road where only about one-half of the firemen belonged to our Order. I kept from five to ten blanks in my pocket and when I would meet a nonunion fireman or hostler I would ask him if he was a member, and when he would say "No" or put up some excuse to the effect that he did not have an application blank, I was right on the job with the proper kind of a speech and

would hand him a blank and explain to him that now was a good time to pay his application fee. Let every member of our Brotherhood appoint himself a committee of one and try to help run our membership up to 100,000 by December,

1911.

Another thing, let us hold meetings according to our schedule, so we can get these men. It is disgusting to go to lodge

and find but two or three members from the home lodge and seven or eight from other lodges. Brothers, we will have to wake up and be a "live wire," for while "the cat's away the mice will play."

I notice that the roads are getting worse every year as to personal records,

tance to Our Order.

I have been reading in the Magazine the contributions on various subjects from brothers all over our fair land, but it seems to me that there is one all-important question which has not been receiving the attention that it should, viz., the organizing of the non-Brotherhood men who are eligible to membership in our Order.

Brothers, let us make up our minds to attend lodge meetings more regularly and find out who the men are within the jurisdiction of our respective lodges who, though eligible for admission have not

discharge a man. I am sorry to say, brothers, that on the road on which I am employed we have a blacklist system that is stronger than that of '94. A man may be let out for something that he is really not to blame for. He is blacklisted right there and then and should he secure another job and happen to mention the road upon which he formerly worked he is promptly told to leave. This has happened several times to my personal knowledge. Are we going to stand for this all the time? I am in favor of seeking legislative action imposing a heavy penalty for the perpetration of this outrageous wrong against wage-earners.

Many employment bureaus are nothing better than spotters' lodges, through which railroad sleuths operate in getting good men out of their jobs. On a certain road I know of a list of "marked men" is carried in each master mechanic's office. When a man applies for work he is told to come around a little later, their object being to take time to see if his name is on the blacklist. How long will this last? God forbid that conditions should be tolerated whereby the man who toils for a living should have to run the gauntlet of the blacklist or surrender his rights as a man and a wage-earner in order to keep his name off it. Where such conditions are supreme, workingmen are in a worse state of servitude than the negro was in the days of slavery. Brothers, it is truly awful to have to face such a situation. I have been there and know whereof I speak.

I like to read the Magazine and see what the boys from other parts of the continent have to say, but let us all be up and doing and get after the nonunion fireman. It will do him good to belong to the B. of L. F. and E., and it will do our Order good to have him.

I am glad to say that we have a good wage schedule here and a grievance man who is right on the job all the time. Our engines are in bad shape now, as the machinists, blacksmiths and boilermakers are all out on strike; the blower is used all the time.

To apply the name of "boomer" to one of our worthy brothers out of employment is, I think, unjust. Those who criticise the boomer so unkindly cannot themselves tell when they may need assistance. If, however, even they should be unfortunate and need a helping hand they will find their "boomer" friends ready and willing to extend it-always ready to share their means with a brother in need. No traveling brother ever meets a more practical or generous friend than the boomer holding down a good job.

Although I have worked in several places I do not claim to be a boomer. I have always had the good fortune to have money enough to pay my way, and all I have ever asked of any brother was to square me.

If it were not for these so-called boomers we would not in many cases be getting the wages we are, because if everybody was scared of his job, how could we ever get a committee together to represent us before the railroad officials? I know if I was afraid of my job I would not be on any committee. Of course, there are a few members in our Brotherhood who do not do as they should. For instance, in traveling around I have met men already who belonged to our grand old Order and who were looking for a job of braking, and, of course, they always looked a fireman up when they wanted anything, and that part I do not think is right. The reason they do that

A WANDERER FROM 516.

Good Qualities of the Boomer.

I have read the articles of the brothers from Lodges 51 and 477 which appeared in the June and September issues of the Magazine, respectively. I would infer that the brother from 477 has never been very far away from home, unless he had a pass and a pocketful of money, and that he did not on such occasions visit much with the men of the old "Tried and True."

card is the best of its kind anywhere you go. The brother from 477 may not like this letter, but if he ever finds it necessary to travel around from place to place looking for a job, he will afterwards write the Magazine and say that he was sorry for asking the question in his reply to letter from Member of Lodge 51, "Pray, brother, what do you want to make of us-a band of wanderers or an organization of boomers?"

I wish to thank the brother from 538 for his letter, and hope some day to meet those brothers from 477 and 538, and have a chat with them. Would like to hear from the brother from 477 again.

MEMBER 506.