Title: Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Lodge No. 168 Records
Inclusive Dates: 1927-1968

Creator:

• Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Lodge No. 168 (La Crosse, Wis.)

Call Number: La Crosse Mss AR

Quantity: 2.6 cubic feet (8 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the Special Collections & Area Research Center, Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-La Crosse Murphy Library / La Crosse Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of Lodge No. 168, La Crosse, Wisconsin, consisting of general correspondence, subject files, financial records, and printed materials including information issued by the national Brotherhood and by the General Chairman for the Burlington System Railroad.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-lx00ar

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Eleven Erie Railroad firemen, saddened by the death a few days before of one of their co-workers in a wreck, met in Port Jervis, New York on December 1, 1873 to form the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. The main purpose of the founders was to protect themselves and their families from the hazards of railroading. Thereafter, the Brotherhood was in the vanguard to improve wages and working conditions for all locomotive firemen and enginemen.

The union's first convention was held in December 1874 at Hornellsville, New York. It established a system of sick and burial benefits for members. A second convention, held a year later, in Indianapolis, Indiana, attracted 46 delegates, representing 900 members in 31 lodges. The Brotherhood grew rapidly and in 1907 adopted its present name, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen (B. of L.F. & E.).

Under D. B. Robertson, International President of the Brotherhood from 1923 to 1953, the union became one of the largest and most powerful of the railway brotherhoods. During this period the union fought for traditional goals, adjusted to the Taft-Hartley Act, and faced problems associated with technological advancement, particularly the diesel locomotive.

H. E. Gilbert served as International President from 1953 to 1968. During his administration the Brotherhood continued to concentrate its efforts on issues related to developments in technology, government regulation, and the need to reorganize the entire railroad industry.

In 1968 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The Brotherhood had 40,000 members and 870 local unions.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, has a complex bureaucratic structure. The Grand Lodge acts as the governing body. The president, assistant president, numerous vice presidents, elected officials, and a delegate from each of the subordinate lodges constitute the Grand Lodge. The local lodges have a president, vice president, recording secretary, financial secretary, board of trustees, grievance committee, and other elected and appointed officers. The chairman of the local grievance committee represents the local at meetings of the general grievance committee of the Brotherhood.

During the years covered by these records the La Crosse Lodge had at least four secretaries, including H. H. Benz (1930-1932); Orville J. Snyder (1937-1944); L. M. Wetzel (1945-); and Marten Schagel (1948-1968).

The membership in La Crosse Lodge No. 168 consisted solely of employees of the Burlington System Railroad. The collection does shed some light on how the Brotherhood handled complaints about working conditions, health and insurance benefits at a local level.

The records of Lodge No. 168 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, are organized in four series: General Correspondence, Subject Files, Financial Records, and Printed Materials.

The General Correspondence, 1927-1968, includes printed announcements, circulars and reports; and mimeographed circulars, reports, copies of agreements, financial statements, and memoranda. The file is arranged in chronological order. Most of the materials date 1930-1940 and came from or were sent to the national secretary in Cleveland or to the La Crosse local. The correspondence covers a variety of topics, including federal railroad legislation; diesel locomotion; endorsement of state and national political candidates; union membership drives; readmission of expelled members; general grievances of workers; “benevolent fund” allowances; changes in the Brotherhood constitution; Supreme Court vacancies; Office of Price Administration (OPA) regulations; war bonds; the King-Anderson bill (1962); and amalgamation with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

The Subject Files, 1929-1968, mainly 1930-1941, consist of correspondence, printed and mimeographed memoranda, circulars, and other materials arranged alphabetically by subject. These subjects include: lobbying activities of the Brotherhood's State Legislative Board; planning a state meeting of state lodges; complaints about pay and working conditions filed by lodge members with the General Grievance Committee of the Brotherhood; hiring non-union labor in La Crosse; claims by union members against the Benevolent Fund of the Brotherhood; OPA regulations; requests made to the local secretary for permission to postpone payment of dues or to withdraw from the local completely because of the depression; and a dispute in the La Crosse lodge over the reduction of the lodge chairman's salary.

The Financial Records consist of “Monthly to Assessment Bills” for 1943 and 1944 sent to the La Crosse secretary by the General Secretary of the Brotherhood. The financial information on the forms (such as aggregate lodge payments for dues, insurance, and various Brotherhood programs) was compiled by the local secretary and a copy returned to the Cleveland headquarters. Attached to the “Monthly Assessment Bills” is an alphabetical list of members of the lodge and the amount each was assessed.

Several types of records are found among the Printed Materials, 1934-1968. The Quarterly Reports of the General Chairman for the Burlington System cover the years 1934-1968. They include reports on conferences and local lodge meetings attended by the general chairman; lists of cases, generally claims of individuals or locals; and miscellaneous items including new regulations, rules, reports on special meetings and news of interest to local members. (The claims are arranged by the number of the local initiating the claim. Later reports include disciplinary action taken against individuals.)

Monthly Bulletins of the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, 1941, 1942, 1951, 1968, encompass a variety of news items, including interpretations of provisions and changes in the union's constitution, organizing efforts of the Brotherhood, efforts to merge with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, passenger trains, efforts to increase wages, relocation of lodge charters, the union's health, welfare, insurance, and education programs, and matters before the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The Circular Letters of the General Chairman of the Burlington System to local chairmen and other local officials are arranged chronologically by year end thereunder by circular number. The circulars generally contain very specific information about subjects such as progress in negotiations and agreements reached between national companies and the union. Others include notices of meetings of the General Grievance Committee and of claims brought before it.

The Official Circular Letters of the Grand Lodge cover the years 1939-1967. This correspondence between the international president and local lodge officers include information about international conventions held every four years, the establishment of local legislative and education committees, valuation reports of the Beneficiary Department and dividend notices, and amendments to the constitution. They are arranged chronologically.

The Minutes of the General Grievance Committee, 1937-1968, report on frequent regular and special meetings. Each report lists the general chairmen of the lodges and their lodge numbers. Other information includes statements of cash receipts and disbursements, lists of property of the Committee, proposals from various lodges with responses by the Executive Committee, memoranda of agreements between railroad companies and the union, and a summary of work performed for the benefit of the committee.

The collection has several weaknesses. There is relatively little, for example, for the years following World War II and while the general correspondence is far ranging, there is little depth on any topic. There is virtually no coverage of important national events and issues. The researcher will not find material on communism, the Taft-Hartley Act, the constitutionality of the Railroad Retirement Act, or industry reorganization. There is some material on diesel locomotion and the question of amalgamation with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, but this material is fragmentary.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Martin Schagel, La Crosse, Wisconsin. November 5, 1974. Accession Number: M74-481

Processing Information

Processed by John Pfeil, Bill Paul, and John Fleckner, April 26, 1977.

La Crosse Mss AR	Series: General Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1927, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1937
Box   1 Folder   2-6	1938-1945 February
Box   1 Folder   7	1948 February-1956 September
Box   1 Folder   8	1957 March-1968 November
Box   1 Folder   9	undated
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
Box   2 Folder   1	Benevolent allowance for Anton Kallin, 1939-1940
Box   2 Folder   2	Benevolent allowance for George E. Stintzi, 1939, 1940, 1943
Box   2 Folder   3	Carry and withdrawal request, 1930-1932, and undated
	General Grievance Committee
Box   2 Folder   4-6	1937-1939, undated
Box   2 Folder   7-8	1940-1941
Box   2 Folder   9	Harmacek House and non-union labor, 1940
Box   2 Folder   10	“Mileage Dispute,” 1930
Box   2 Folder   11	“Mileage Regulations,” 1938
Box   2 Folder   12	“Mileage Regulations and Rule 57,” 1941
Box   2 Folder   13	O.P.A. regulations, 1942
Box   2 Folder   14	Railway Labor's Political League, list of members, 1968 September and November
	Railroad Retirement Board
Box   2 Folder   15	General, 1937-1943
Box   2 Folder   16	Tax return and payroll reports, 1941
Box   2 Folder   17	Reduction of local chairman's salary, 1930
Box   2 Folder   18	Seventh Annual Wisconsin State Union meeting, 1929-1930
Box   2 Folder   19	Tax liability under Title IX of the Social Security Act, 1939
Box   2 Folder   20	Wisconsin State Legislative Board, 1938, 1940 and undated
	Series: Financial Records	⇧
Box   3 Folder   1-2	Monthly assessment bills, 1943-1944
	Series: Printed Materials	⇧
	Quarterly reports of the General Chairman, Burlington System
Box   4 Folder   1-6	1934-1952
Box   5 Folder   1-5	1953-1962
Box   6 Folder   1-2	1963-1968
Box   6 Folder   3	Monthly bulletins of the President, B. of L.F. & E., 1941-1942, 1951, 1968
Box   7 Folder   1-3	Circular letters of the General Chairman, 1941-1968
Box   7 Folder   4	Official circular letters of the Grand Lodge, B. of L.F. & E., 1939-1967
	Minutes of the General Grievance Committee, B. of L.F. & E.
Box   8 Folder   1-2	1937-1955
Box   8 Folder   3	1957-1961
Box   8 Folder   4	1963-1968