Executive Order No. 79: (1st Series) State take-over of strike-ridden Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company

Whereas, the present cessation of services on the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway threatens to interfere with the orderly reconversion of Massachusetts industry to peacetime production and is endangering the safety and welfare of the people of the Commonwealth, and,

Whereas, the cessation of service results from a dispute over wages which should be settled by peaceful means in accordance with the Constitution and By-laws of the International Union, and,

Whereas, the situation constitutes a grave threat to the peace and safety of the people of the Commonwealth and calls for the taking of all steps possible to protect the public good,

Now, Therefore, I, Maurice J. Tobin, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the authority of Acts of 1942, chapter 13, section 2, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this Order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the emergency of the existing need for industrial reconversion.

1. I hereby appoint Frank J. Murray, Esq., of Boston, Massachusetts, and direct him to administer, operate and manage the facilities of the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company, effective 12:01 A.M., E.S.T., October 15, 1945, for the purpose of providing transportation facilities to the communities served by said Company.

2. I hereby direct the employees of the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company to report for work on their regular shifts on Monday, October 15, 1945, such work to be under the direction and supervision of the Administrator, or such Deputies as he may appoint.

3. I hereby direct the Administrator to see to it, after work is resumed, that negotiations be entered into between the Trustees of the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company and the several locals of the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric, Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, A.F. of L., to the end that a fair and reasonable agreement on wages be consummated.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand and nine hundred and forty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventieth.

By His Excellency the Governor
Maurice J. Tobin

Paul D. Howard
Deputy and Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth