He
held numerous subordinate positions in the Brotherhood and in
1889 became its vice-president. He was appointed by President
Roosevelt as a member of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission in
1902 and is generally recognized as one of the most judicial
heads in the labor world. He was succeeded as president of the
order by Austin B. Garretson, who was born in Winterset, Iowa, in
1856. He began his railroad career at nineteen years of age,
became a conductor on the Burlington system, and had a varied
experience on several Western lines, including the Mexican
National and Mexican Central railways. His rise in the order was
rapid and in 1889 he became vice-president. One of his intimate
friends wrote that "in his capacity as Vice-President and
President of the Order he has written more schedules and
successfully negotiated more wage settlements, including the
eight-hour day settlement in 1916, under the method of collective
bargaining than any other labor leader on the American
continent."
Garretson has long served as a member of the executive committee
of the National Civic Federation and in 1919 was appointed by
President Wilson a member of the Federal Commission on Industrial
Relations. A man of great energy and force of character, he has
recently assumed a leading place in labor union activities.
In addition to the locomotive engineers and the conductors, the
firemen also have their union. Eleven firemen of the Erie
Railroad organized a brotherhood at Port Jervis, New York, in
December, 1873, but it was a fraternal order rather than a trade
union.
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