A. There are continually matters coming up for settlement in the superintendent's office.
Q. But disagreements leading to the riots?
A. There were none to my knowledge. Had there been, I should have known it.
Q. Had there been any reduction in wages?
A. Yes; a reduction of ten per cent., which had been notified in May, to take effect on all the employés from and after June 1.
By Senator Yutzy:
Q. All employés?
A. Except those whose pay amounted to one dollar per day, or who were paid by the month, and whose pay amounted to the rate of one dollar per day or less.
Q. Did that cause any complaint from the employés?
A. We were compelled to reduce our force on account of the condition of business. The volume of traffic governs the amount of wages, and the number of men we work. We had more men than we had the opportunity to give full time to. It was decided to reduce the force after the 1st of June, and the idea was to select the older men, and the men who by their services had proven themselves good and capable. To retain these and let the single men go, so as to give the married men a chance to make all the time we could afford to give them in the running of the traffic. It was also decided to run all the trains double-headers. A portion of them had been running for years as double-headers, but a notice was issued in July, advising all the employés that on and after a certain date—July 19, was the date fixed upon—all trains to and from Derry would be run as double trains. No complaint in the interval, between the date of the issuing of the order and the date upon which it was to go into effect, had been made at the superintendent's office, to either the superintendent or myself. Nor had there been any, so far as we had knowledge, to any of the subordinate officers, such as train-masters and others. Some of the men complained, of course, at not having work. It was a mooted question as to who would be the ones to go off.