“I ain’t what ye’d call a Christian,” he said, “but I know the genuine article when I see it. If the Bible is true, Jesus went to the poor, and if the rich wanted him they’d have to look him up. Do you fellows ever notice the church ads in the Sunday papers? They remind me of the columns where ye look for a rent. They all advertise their ’modern improvements.’ This minister is doin’ th’ Jesus business in th’ old way. That’s why we like him, an’ that’s why he’s here.”
Once again the rafters seemed to shake with the violent vibrations of enthusiasm, and it was some time before order was restored. My initiation concluded, I made an address. It was as brief as the chairman’s.
“Reference has been made to a great Master to-night,” I said. “Let me ask you craftsmen of New Haven to stand and with all the power of your lungs give three cheers for the Master Craftsman of Galilee.”
There was the shuffling of many feet for an instant—then a pause, a pause which was full of awe—then, with a roar like thunder, six hundred throats broke into wild applause for Jesus, whom such people ever gladly heard; and straightway, for the first time in the history of organized labour in New Haven, a union meeting was closed with the apostolic benediction.
Other unions followed suit. I carried a union card of the “Painters, Paper Hangers and Decorators,” and there came a time when every street car on the streets of New Haven carried at least two of my friends, for I became chaplain of the Trolleymen’s Union, and took an active part in their work.
I was a factor in the wage scale adjustments of the Trolleymen’s Union for two years. I fought for them when they were right and against them when they were wrong. I fought on the inside. At first the railroad company looked upon me as a dangerous character; but when their spies in the union reported my actions, the general manager wrote me a letter of thanks and thereafter took me into his confidence. The public, also, looked upon me as inimical to the interests of business, but occasionally the newspapers got at the facts and published them.
The New Haven Register of August 8, 1904, in its leading editorial on an averted strike, said:
“There is a general feeling in New Haven to-day of satisfaction in the news published in yesterday’s papers, that the trolleymen’s plans for a strike had been relegated to the ash heap.
“The trolleymen were evidently satisfied with the attitude of the railroad managers, and satisfied that they were going to get fair treatment. We read with unusual pleasure the reports of ‘cheers’ at the meeting; and cheers, not for the little pleasantries of battle, but for the friendly propositions of peace. The sentiment shown by the trolleymen does full justice to their record as law-abiding and intelligent public servants.