THE GREAT STRIKE ON THE "Q" WITH A HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION AND GROWTH OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, BROTHER- HOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN, AND SWITCH- MEN'S MUTUAL AID ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA.   BY John A. Hall, Ex-Yardmaster C., B. & Q. Railway . 1889. ELLIOTT & BEEZLEY, Chicago and Philadelphia . Copyright, 1889, by John A. Hall....

A history of the spoliations, robberies, and oppressions of corporate capital in America, is a history of shame, degradation and disgrace, not to be obscured in the halo of great achievements in material progress, though adorned by the splendid triumphs of science and art. It is the impersonation of the passion of avarice, and no more soul-debasing passion afflicts the human race. It becomes more ravenous the more its maw is gorged; it always and everlastingly wants more; in growth it never reac

The cause of right is but the cause of reason. Let all men reason together, and be brothers. Let all help each other and it will be easier for all. We are all victims of monopoly, and it lies within our own efforts to reform a system which enslaves the many and makes heartless misers of the few. We must not fear a thing because it seems radical; truth is always radical, and every advance that humanity has ever made has been born in radicalism. To act upon the dictates of reason is to be radical.

This work should properly begin with a short history of the origin and growth of the three Orders whose members were connected with the strike upon the Burlington system. Naturally the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers should come first, as the strike originated with them, and was brought about by the injustice and oppression of the Burlington Officials toward this Order. The organization of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers originated in the State of Michigan, in the year 1863. For some

In order to give our readers an intelligent understanding of the causes that led to the strike, it will be necessary to state that for a number of years an iniquitous system of classification had been in vogue on the Chicago Burlington & Quincy lines—a system under which gross injustice was done to engineers and firemen, in that they were so graded that their wages were reduced far below the average of the recognized standard of pay on ninety per cent of the roads in the United States an