lingered to express his regrets that the conference should have ended so
abruptly.

The news of this man's audacity spread among the higher officials, so
that when the heads of the brotherhoods came--which is a last
resort--the company were almost as haughty and remote as the head of the
grievance committee had been.

From that moment the men and the management lost faith in each other.
More, they refused even to understand each other. Whichever side made a
slight concession it was made to suffer for it, for such an act was sure
to be interpreted by the other side as a sign of weakening. In vain did
the heads of the two organizations, representing the engine-men, strive
to overcome the mischief done by the local committee, and to reach a
settlement. They showed, by comparison, that this, the smartest road in
the West, was paying a lower rate of wages to its engine-men than was
paid by a majority of the railroads of the country. They urged the
injustice of the classification of engineers, but the management claimed
that the system was just, and later received the indorsement, on this
point, of eight-tenths of the daily press. Eight out of ten of these
editors knew nothing of the real merits or demerits of the system, but
they thought they knew, and so they wrote about it, the people read
about it and gave or withheld their sympathy as the news affected them.

When the heads of the brotherhoods announced their inability to reach
an agreement they were allowed to return to their respective homes,
beyond the borders of the big state, and out of reach of the Illinois
conspiracy law. A local man "with sand to fight" was chosen
commander-in-chief, and after one more formal effort to reach a
settlement he called the men out.

On a blowy Sunday afternoon in February the chief clerk received a wire
calling him to the office of the general manager. He found his chief
pacing the floor. As the secretary entered, the general manager turned,
faced him, and then, waving a hand over the big flat-topped desk that
stood in the centre of his private office, said: "Take this all away,
John. The engineers are going to strike and I want nothing to come to my
desk that does not relate to that, until this fight is over."

Noting the troubled, surprised look upon the secretary's face the
manager called him.

"Come here John. Are you afraid? Does the magnitude of it all appal
you--do you want to quit? If you do say so now."

As he spoke