i 
 
10- 
 
 GIFT 
 4 1918 
 
 Fads 
 
 Concerning 
 
 The Struggle in 
 Colorado 
 
 for 
 
 Industrial 
 Freedom 
 
 SERIES I 
 
 ♦ !♦ ' 
 
 r OF Th r 
 
 7:TK?1 7 ^- K.vIT 
 
 ,c 
 
 Issued by the Coal Mine Managers 
 

Fa^s 
 
 Concerning 
 
 The Struggle in 
 Colorado 
 
 for 
 
 Industrial 
 Freedom 
 
 SERIES I 
 
 ^ : \ 
 
 Issued by the Coal Mine Managers 
 
!V\v 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 c 
 
 % 
 
WHY THESE FACTS ARE PROMULGATED 
 
 IT is of the utmost importance tiiat every American citizen 
 should understand what has really been going on in 
 Colorado. 
 
 The facts have been beclouded w^ith unusual venom. The 
 position and the activities of the coal mine managers have been 
 most seriously misrepresented. 
 
 A strike w^as forced on Colorado. The men did not ask for 
 it ; they had presented no grievances to their employers. 
 
 As the result of agitation and intimidation, a limited number 
 of men quit work. The number which remained at work never 
 declined to less than 55 per cent, of the total; those at work 
 on September 1, 1914, numbered above 75 per cent, of the normal 
 quota. 
 
 It is to be hoped that a knowledge by the American people 
 of the facts may promote permanent and healthy industrial 
 peace throughout the United States. 
 
 COMMITTEE OF COAL MINE MANAGERS 
 
 J. F. WELBORN, 
 
 President, Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. 
 
 JOHN C. OSGOOD, 
 
 Chairman, Victor- American Fuel Co. 
 
 D. W. BROWN, 
 
 President, Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. 
 
 Denver, September 21, 1914 
 
 369534 
 
WHAT HAS HAPPENED 
 
 When Vice-President Hayes, of the United Mine Work- 
 ers of America, came to Colorado in August; 1913, and for 
 several years prior to that date, conditions in the coal 
 mining fields, except in a comparatively small district im- 
 mediately north of Denver, had been satisfactory to both 
 miners and operators. 
 
 In August, 1913, there were employed in and around all 
 the coal mines of the State, 12,059 men. About 60 per 
 cent., or 7235, of these men were engaged in ^actually , 
 mining coal; 40 per cent., or 4823 men, were otherwise 
 engaged in the industry. 
 
 Those employed as miners never worked more than eight 
 hours a day. Many worked less, or not at all, as they saw 
 fit. Those employed in other capacities than mining coal 
 worked never to exceed nine, and in most cases eight, hours 
 a day. This is in accordance with a statute of the State. 
 
 The total monthly earnings of these miners was and is 
 astonishingly large compared with the wages paid for 
 work requiring no higher degree of skill or experience in 
 other pursuits. 
 
 For the year ending June 30, 1913, the mines operated 
 by The Victor-American Fuel Company ran an average 
 of 234^2 days; the average wages of all miners for the 
 year was $1100.75; the average daily earnings of all miners 
 was $4.01. 
 
 For the same period, the mines of The Colorado Fuel 
 and Iron Company ran an average of 248% days; the 
 average wages of all miners for the year was $999.36 ; the 
 average daily earnings of all miners was $4. 02. 
 
 The mines operated by the Eocky Mountain Fuel Com- 
 pany ran an average of 231 days; the average wages of all 
 miners for the year was $1007.01; and the average daily 
 earnings of all miners $4.36. 
 
 It has been said that 'Hhe earnings of an average Ameri- 
 can family (of which two members are employed) are less 
 than eight hundred dollars a year.^' An industrious and 
 experienced coal miner can average at least $5.00 per day, 
 or approximately $1250.00 per year, in the mines of this 
 State. Many have done much better than this. Four 
 
brothars, Italians, during a recent year, earned more than 
 $1850.00 each. 
 
 WYi&Q. 1J^e.pr-3deiii strike was called, the emp^es of The 
 Colorado i^'uel and Iron Company had on deposit, at in- 
 terest, with the Company, $500,000. And it is a notable 
 fact that, notwithstanding the strike, less than 20 per cent, 
 of these savings deposits have been withdrawn. 
 
 During the last fiscal year preceding the strike the em- 
 ployes at The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company coal mines 
 received 80.9 per cent, of the earnings in cash. Of the 
 19.1 per cent, of all earnings deducted by the company 
 before making payment to the men, 11.73 per cent, repre- 
 sented purchases at -our stores; 2.25 per cent, represented 
 rent of houses and the jremaining 5.12 per cent, covered 
 coal, board at the various boarding-houses (none of which 
 were operated by the company), powder and the arbitrary 
 charge of 50 cents per month for sharpening tools. During 
 the same fiscal year The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company 
 mines worked an average of 248^/2 days. The miners' 
 earnings averaged $4.02 per day and $999.36 for the year. 
 
 WHY THE MEN WERE SATISFIED. 
 
 The operation of company stores in coal-mining camps 
 in Colorado has been as advantageous to miners as to coal 
 companies, as these stores have carried stocks of goods of 
 the character required by miners, and prices have been as 
 low and lower than those ruling on similar goods in nearby 
 towns somewhat removed from the coal camps. 
 
 In camps of The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company de- 
 ductions made on pay-rolls for purchases at company stores 
 in advance of pay-days range from 7 per cent, to 13 per 
 cent, of total pay-rolls, the remaining 87 per cent, to 93 
 per cent, of wages being paid in cash twice per month. The 
 total purchases made at company stores by employes and 
 others, including the reductions referred to, equal 22 per 
 cent, of all pay-rolls. The fact that the company stores 
 of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, for example, were 
 conducted upon an enlightened and liberal basis is indicated 
 by the fact that although the strike was in progress for 
 nine months of the last fiscal year, the gross earnings of 
 the stores actually increased. Even strikers continued their 
 patronage. 
 
 In addition to these earnings, payment semi-monthly, 
 eight-hour day, and the right to trade where they pleased, 
 the miners had checkweighman where they wanted it. It is 
 
not hard, therefore, to understand that they were satisfied 
 with their conditions and opposed to a strike. 
 
 The expressions of satisfaction with conditions and op- 
 position to a strike on the part of the miners became the 
 strongest during the period of agitation immediately fol- 
 lowing the arrival of Hayes, vice-president of the inter- 
 national organization, in August. At some of the mines 
 the men expressed these semtiments before the strike took 
 effect in signed statements, the number so expressing them- 
 selves running from 90 to 99 per cent, at certain mines. 
 
 « « * 
 
 ft 
 
 THE STRIKE CONVENTION. 
 
 The so-called convention held at Trinidad, September 
 15th, at which a vote on the strike was taken, was com- 
 posed of delegates chosen entirely by the officers of the or- 
 ganization. 
 
 The number of delegates was made up largely from men 
 who had been on strike in northern Colorado for about 
 three and a half years, and practically all of the remainder 
 had either never worked at the mines whose employes they 
 claimed to represent, or had sought and secured a few days' 
 work immediately preceding the strike and then attended 
 the convention as delegates from those mines without hav- 
 ing been chosen by the men whose interest they claimed to 
 serve. 
 
 The vote of the mock convention, made up of dele- 
 gates selected by the leaders — and not by the miners inter- 
 ested — was for a strike unless the operators would submit 
 to their seven demands, which were as follows: 
 
 1st. Eecognition of the union. 
 
 2d. An increase of 10 per cent, in wages. 
 
 3d. An eight-hour workday for all classes of labor in or 
 around the coal mines and at coke ovens. 
 
 4th. Payment for narrow work and dead work. 
 
 5th. Checkweighmen. 
 
 6th. The right of the miners to trade wherever they 
 pleased, the right to choose their own boarding place, and 
 their own doctor. 
 
 7th. "Enforcement of the Colorado Mining laws and 
 tlie abolition of the notorious and criminal guard system." 
 
 The first demand, recognition of the union, involved a 
 contract between operators and the labor organization, 
 under the terms of which the operators would have been 
 
required to collect from its employes and remit to the labor 
 organization, all dues, fines and assessments that the or- 
 ganization saw fit to levy against the workmen. 
 
 The 90 per cent, of coal miners — then non-union — would 
 have been required to join the organization or leave the 
 employ of the companies where they had been working for 
 years. This demand, involving as it did the absolute clos- 
 ing of the "open shop" which has always prevailed in the 
 Colorado coal-mining fields, the operators would not con- 
 sider. 
 
 II. 
 
 As Colorado's coal-mining scale was already about 20 
 per cent, higher than the scale in districts with which the 
 Colorado coal competes, the granting of the second request 
 for an increase in wages would have been little short of 
 business suicide. Moreover, Colorado miners were earning 
 better wages than miners in any other part of the United 
 States, not excepting Wyoming, whose scale is nominally 
 higher than that in Colorado. 
 
 III. 
 
 An eight-hour workday, the third demand, had been 
 given to the men before required by law. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The fourth demand, payment for narrow work and dead 
 work of various kinds, had been the practice for many 
 years, and as evidence that the men were not being robbed, 
 we can point to their earnings of from $100 to $190 per 
 month, where they worked practically full time. 
 
 Checkweighmen, the fifth demand, had for many years 
 been the privilege of the miners without interference, and 
 at some properties checkweighmen were employed by the 
 men. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The men had enjoyed the right, without prejudice 
 against them, of trading wherever they pleased, and were 
 privileged to choose their own boarding place, the com- 
 panies, with possibly few exceptions, not operating board- 
 ing-houses; but as to doctor, most of the larger companies 
 had a well-organized and conducted hospital department, 
 to which all men were required to contribute $1 per month, 
 that entitling them to free medical and hospital attendance 
 for themselves and families. 
 
VII. 
 
 The general coal-mining law, prepared by a committee 
 of operators and representatives of the miners, and passed 
 at the session of the Legislature which adjourned a few 
 months prior to the strike, is considered second to none in 
 the United States, particularly in the protection it affords 
 to mine workmen. 
 
 This law did not become operative until after the strike 
 vote, but no fair-minded resident of the State doubts the 
 ability of the regularly constituted authorities to secure its 
 enforcement without the aid of the labor organization. 
 
 THE STRIKE IS CALLED. 
 
 Almost immediately after the strike vote, threats were 
 freely made against those who were at work, that if they 
 did not respond to the strike call they would be subjected 
 to acts of violence, and in some cases the threats went so 
 far as to hold out death as the result to those who continued 
 at work. 
 
 This naturally caused thousands of men who had pre- 
 viously declared their honest intention of continuing at 
 work, to reconsider their determination and cease work. 
 
 Probably two to three thousand men left the State and 
 sought employment in other fields where there was no dis- 
 turbance. 
 
 The number of men employed at all coal mines in Col- 
 orado in September, 1913, was 12,346. The number em- 
 ployed in October was 7696. 
 
 The reduction in force, representing the total number 
 that responded to the strike call, was 4650, or less than 38 
 per cent. 
 
 In November the number employed in coal mines had 
 increased to 8016, and in December to 9665. In March, 
 1914 — the last month before the outbreak at Ludlow on 
 April 20th, the total number of employes at coal mines was 
 10,146, or 79 per cent, of the number employed in the 
 month of March, 1913. 
 
 These men produced 82 per cent, of the March, 1913, 
 output, indicating that the better class of men remained at 
 work. 
 
 « ♦ ♦ 
 
 INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE. 
 
 The purchase of firearms by representatives of the United 
 Mine Workers of America commenced before the strike 
 
vote had been taken and at a time when the organization 
 leaders were stating for publication that the calling of the 
 strike would depend entirely upon the men interested and 
 that it was then uncertain whether or not there would be 
 one. 
 
 Within a short time after the strike took effect, from 
 1500 to 2000 men in southern Colorado were fully armed 
 and making almost daily attacks upon mine property and 
 employes. 
 
 In the six weeks after the calling of the strike and before 
 the militia had taken complete charge of the strike district, 
 ten coal-mine employes had been killed, almost all of them 
 from ambush and in cold blood, while in the repulse of 
 attacks made by the striking forces upon those employed in 
 the mines, four of their number were killed. 
 
 The bands of armed strikers were generally led by Greeks, 
 many of whom had never worked in the coal mines. Many 
 of these leaders in the armed attacks were known to have 
 had no connection whatever at any time with the coal- 
 mining companies. 
 
 4e ♦ « 
 
 PEOTECTING THE MINES. 
 
 The operators had, in view of what was obviously to be 
 the program of the strike leaders, employed at all of their 
 more important properties from half a dozen to fifteen 
 armed guards to protect the mine equipment and defend 
 the workmen against the assaults of the strikers. 
 
 The operators were compelled to employ these men; it 
 was not of their choosing. The necessity for it was being 
 daily demonstrated. Their right to do so was not denied. 
 And at this point it should be made as positive as language 
 can make it, that these so-called company guards were 
 selected with the utmost care, after an investigation as to 
 their former experience, habits, and efficiency as peace 
 officers. 
 
 At the request of the Governor of the State, they were 
 uniformly directed never to leave the property of the oper- 
 ators except when on legitimate business elsewhere, and 
 these directions were with like uniformity invariably 
 obeyed. Not a single instance can be shown where a coal 
 company guard deliberately left his station and attacked, 
 much less injured, any striking miner. 
 
 It must be remembered that the mines nearest to the 
 tent colonies were several miles away, and that in order 
 to encounter any of these much-slandered mine employes 
 the strikers were compelled to go from two to four miles 
 
 10 
 
from the tent colonies where they were living. No pos- 
 sible difficulty could ever have arisen between the strikers 
 and the guards of the operators unless the strikers elected 
 to trespass upon company property ; and even then, no case 
 has been established where a company guard fired upon 
 strikers except in defense of himself, the property and the 
 
 men. 
 
 * ♦ ♦ 
 
 THE REIGN OF TERROR. 
 
 From the early part of November and after the State 
 Militia had assumed charge of the district, comparative 
 quiet prevailed, and many of those who had responded to 
 the strike call through fear, returned to work feeling that 
 the presence of the militia in the field made it safe for 
 them to do so. 
 
 The military forces were gradually reduced until on 
 April 20th a small detachment of less than fifty men re- 
 mained. These were stationed at and in the vicinity of 
 Ludlow. On the morning of April 20th they were at- 
 tacked by the strikers and their leaders from the Ludlow 
 tent colony. 
 
 It was supposed that all of the women and children had 
 been removed to places of safety, as the soldiers had ob- 
 served an exodus of women and children from the tent 
 colony. The fight between the militia and their opponents 
 continued throughout the day, and during the battle the 
 tent colony was destroyed, the fire having apparently started 
 from an explosion within one of the tents while the soldiers 
 were some distance away. 
 
 When it became known that all of the women and chil- 
 dren had not been removed from the tents, militiamen, 
 while under heavy fire from the strikers, rescued several 
 women and children from burning tents. 
 
 The next morning it was found that two women and 
 eleven children had been suffocated in a cave into which 
 they had been taken and the opening to which had been 
 completely closed. Evidence of a doctor at the military 
 court-martial held in Denver showed that the occupants 
 of this cave were dead before the tent over it had been 
 burned. 
 
 On April 23d, John R. Lawson, international board 
 member of the United Mine Workers of America, and one 
 of the leaders of the striking forces in Colorado, in an in- 
 terview published throughout the State, asserted that a 
 war of extermination would thenceforth be conducted by 
 the strikers. 
 
 11 
 
On the day previous, a virtual declaration of insurrection 
 was formally proclaimed throughout the State. That proc- 
 lamation was as follows : 
 
 A CALL TO EEBELLION. 
 
 Denver, Colo., April 22, 1914. 
 
 Organize the men in your community in com- 
 panies of volunteers to protect the workers of Colo- 
 rado against the murder and cremation of men, 
 women and children by armed assassins in the em- 
 ploy of coal corporations, serving under the guise 
 of state militiamen. 
 
 Gather together for defensive purposes all arms 
 and ammunition legally available. Send name of 
 leader of your company and actual number of men 
 enlisted at once by wire, phone or mail, to W. T. 
 Hickey, Secretary of State Federation of Labor. 
 Hold all companies subject to order. 
 People having arms to spare for these defensive 
 measures are requested to furnish same to local com- 
 panies, and, where no company exists, send them to 
 the State Federation of Labor. 
 
 The State is furnishing us no protection and we 
 must protect ourselves, our wives and children from 
 these murderous assassins. We seek no quarrel with 
 the State and we expect to break no law; we intend 
 to exercise our lawful right as citizens to defend 
 our homes and our constitutional rights. 
 (Signed), 
 JOHN E. LAWSON, International Board Mem- 
 ber, Dist. 15, U. M. W. A., also president 
 State Federation of Labor. 
 JOHN Mclennan, President Dist. 15, U. 
 
 M. W. A. 
 E. L. DOYLE, Secretary-Treasurer Dist. 15, U. 
 
 M. W. A. 
 JOHN RAMSAY, National Organizer, U. M. 
 
 W. A. 
 W. T. HICKEY, Secretary State Federation of 
 
 Labor. 
 E. R. HOAGE. 
 T. W. TAYLOR. 
 CLARENCE MOOREHOUSE. 
 ERNEST MILLS, Secretary-Treasurer, W. F. 
 of M. 
 
 For about ten days thereafter armed bodies, varying in 
 number from 50 to 400, attacked the town of Delagua from 
 the hills and killed three men. 
 
 12 
 
They dynamited and burned buildings and equipment 
 at the Empire, Southwestern and Green Canon mines at 
 Aguilar, driving several men, women and children into the 
 Empire mine and sealing the entrance with explosives. 
 They kept up an almost continuous fire from entrenchments 
 for about fifty hours upon the Walsen and Eobinson mines 
 near Walsenburg. 
 
 These two mines closed down during this siege, and the 
 men working in and about the mine, to the number of 160, 
 took up arms in defense of their lives and the property, 
 thereby forming the real protective force at these mines. 
 
 After the arrival of the militia in Walsenburg the battle 
 was continued between the strikers and the militia, in which 
 a surgeon wearing a Red Cross insignia was killed while 
 attending a wounded soldier on the field. Later his body 
 was robbed and two or more shots fired into it. 
 
 They attacked the Chandler mine near Canon City and 
 kept up a merciless fire from the hills for nearly forty 
 hours, killing one man and finally taking possession of 
 the camp by gaining admittance under a white flag. They 
 attacked the Hecla mine in Boulder County, killing one 
 man and wounding three. 
 
 Several hundred of them marched on the Forbes mine in 
 the early morning of April 29th, and in their attack on it 
 killed nine employes, slaughtered all of the mules, num- 
 bering thirty-three, burned the barn, boarding-houses and 
 several other buildings. 
 
 * * * 
 THE GRAND JURY^S FINDINGS. 
 
 These acts of violence were subjected to a thorough in- 
 vestigation by the Grand Jury of Las Animas County, 
 which submitted its findings to Judge A. W. McHendrie 
 on August 28, 1914. Those findings speak for themselves. 
 The Grand Jury said in part : 
 
 "The evidence produced before us clearly shows that the 
 crimes under consideration were committed by armed mobs, 
 acting in pursuance of well-defined, carefully matured 
 plans, having for their object the destruction of property 
 and human life. 
 
 "These mobs were composed of members of the United 
 Mine Workers of America and their known sympathizers. 
 
 "An even more significant fact is that the organization 
 in question, through its chief officers in this State, bought 
 and paid for and furnished to its members the arms and 
 ammunition used, organized and led the mobs and directed 
 the execution of the various crimes. 
 
 13 
 
"It also appears that the members of these mobs when 
 injured in the course of their criminal enterprises, were 
 cared for and secreted by the officers of the organization, 
 and at its expense. 
 
 "It is significant also, that all of the various affrays re- 
 ferred to, with the exception of the one occurring at Ludlow 
 on April 20, 1914, occurred at such distances from the 
 abodes of the striking miners as to preclude any claim that 
 the latter were defending themselves or their homes. 
 
 "It appears also that the leaders responsible for the con- 
 duct of the strike are in large part men from other States, 
 who apparently came here for the sole purpose of assuming 
 charge of the situation on behalf of the United Mine Work- 
 ers of America, and to direct the course of the armed con- 
 flict with the officers of this county and of the State of 
 Colorado. 
 
 "It is also a matter of common knowledge shared by the 
 members of this Grand Jury with other residents of this 
 county, that the funds for the prosecution of this organized 
 insurrection, are derived from assessments levied upon la- 
 boring men, members of the organization in other States, 
 and from voluntary contributions from members of labor 
 organizations and charitable persons throughout the United 
 States. 
 
 "From the systematic misrepresentation of the facts by 
 the officers of the United Mine "Workers of America, and by 
 a portion of the press of this State, it is reasonable to sup- 
 pose that these contributions were made in the mistaken 
 belief that they were to be used for the subsistence of per- 
 sons rendered destitute by unemployment due to the strike. 
 
 "The evident fact is, however, that they were largely 
 used in the purchase of firearms and ammunition to be used 
 by the strikers in a campaign of violence, designed to secure 
 compliance with their demands through terror induced by 
 the destruction of life and property." 
 
 In addition to this presentment, the Grand Jury returned 
 indictments against a considerable number of officers and 
 members of the United Mine Workers, charging the com- 
 mission of murder, arson and other crimes. 
 
 WHAT THE FUTUEE HOLDS. 
 
 Since May Federal troops have patrolled the entire coal- 
 mining region. The union leaders have made it plain to 
 the men that there must be no attack against troops of the 
 United States Government. If the union leaders had co- 
 
 14 
 
operated as heartily with the State authorities as they have 
 done with the Federal troops, there would have been no 
 serious violence. 
 
 The coal operators are seeking to make conditions at 
 their mines as attractive as possible. The fact that the 
 number of men returning to work is constantly increasing 
 attests the success of their efforts. 
 
 On September 1, 1914, about 9500 men were at work. 
 Fully one thousand old employes returned to work of their 
 own accord during the month of August, 
 
 * * * 
 
 PRIME FACTORS 
 
 In every aspect of this dispute these facts must be borne 
 in mind: 
 
 1. That this strike was not a spontaneous expression 
 of discontent by the men; they had been in the main 
 quietly and contentedly at work for ten years — earning the 
 highest wuges paid to coal miners anywhere in the world. 
 
 2. The strike represented a carefully planned conspir- 
 acy by an organization outside of the State of Colorado, to 
 force these men to quit work and thereby to establish the 
 regime of that organization at these mines. 
 
 3. No serious demand for any change in working con- 
 ditions was made other than that the organization be "rec- 
 ognized.*' That showed there was no substantial cause of 
 complaint. 
 
 4. The real reason for demanding "recognition" was 
 not to better the condition of the men, but through the 
 "check-off" system to lay tribute to the wages of these men 
 for the benefit of an organization the bulk of whose inter- 
 ests lay more than a thousand miles away. 
 
 5. The coal mine managers are not responsible for the 
 failure of the State of Colorado to afford effective police 
 protection. The mine employes have been entirely dis- 
 armed. 
 
 6. Only a fraction of the men at any time quit work, 
 while to-day sufficient men are at work to prevent any 
 failure in the coal supply or any unusual price. In other 
 words, the public convenience is not at stake. 
 
 7. The presence of Federal troops in Colorado is at the 
 request of the Governor of Colorado, and the policy in- 
 volved in their remaining there is a matter for settlement 
 between the State of Colorado and the Federal Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 8. The large number of men now at work are peaceably 
 pursuing their labor, asking only to remain unmolested. 
 
 15 
 
9. Any sacrifice of principle in favor of those still per- 
 sisting in idleness must, from the public standpoint, be 
 regarded as a price paid to induce them to refrain from 
 riot. There is no reason based on public interest which 
 demands their return to work. 
 
 10. The repudiation of the strike by a large majority of 
 the men, the protection of the public coal supply, and the 
 fact that the men have given as many indications of their 
 present satisfaction with conditions would appear effectu- 
 ally to dispose of any reason why a surrender should be 
 made to a few men who have been led to believe them- 
 selves justified in attaining their ends by violence. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The difficulties of the situation, however, will be realized 
 from the foregoing as well as from the bulletins issued by 
 the coal-mine managers, explaining different phases of the 
 stril^e. 
 
 That the public may the better understand these diffi- 
 culties, those bulletins are reprinted herewith. 
 
 16 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 1 JUNE 22, 1914 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE AT STAKE 
 
 In order to set forth specifically the real issue at 
 stake in Colorado, independently of any personal 
 relations, the managers of the coal mines in that 
 State, other than the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co., 
 have addressed a letter to the President of the 
 United States, presenting their position. In brief, 
 that letter sets forth these facts: 
 
 The aggregate production of our mines is between sixty and 
 seventy per cent, of the total annual coal production of 
 Colorado. Neither John D. Rockefeller nor John D. 
 Rockefeller, Jr., nor any controlling stockholder in the direc- 
 tory or officer in the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company has 
 any interest. 
 
 In the present issue we are not opposing or >vaging a \rar 
 against organized labor as such. 
 
 Since this strike was called, certain of our former employes, 
 under the leadership of the paid agents and oflScers of the United 
 Mine Workers, supplied with guns purchased with moneys 
 from its treasury, have in armed force openly and successfully 
 defied our State government and have caused a state of 
 insurrection and anarchy to prevail in this commonwealth. 
 
 We submit with all deference that we ought not to be 
 asked to deal with an organization whose officers, leaders and 
 members have been guilty of these acts. 
 
 The military forces of the United States are now in control 
 of the strike districts in Colorado, and we earnestly and 
 respectfully ask that law and order be made to prevail in this 
 State to the end that we may operate our mines and conduct 
 our business in that peaceable and orderly manner guaranteed 
 to every law-abiding citizen, and that our workmen may 
 pursue their lawful avocations and reside at their homes without 
 the constant fear of death at the hands of lawless mobs. 
 
THE LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT 
 
 The letter forwarded by the managers in full is 
 as follows : 
 
 May 4, 1914. 
 TO HIS EXCELLENCY, 
 
 The President of the United States, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 In order that you may be more fully informed with 
 reference to our position respecting the so-called United Mine 
 Workers of America, we deem it proper and timely to advise 
 you as follows : 
 
 We each operate independently of the other and of the 
 Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The aggregate production 
 of our mines is between sixty and seventy per cent, of the 
 total annual coal production of Colorado. Neither John D, 
 Rockefeller nor John D. Rockefeller, Jr., nor any controlling 
 stockholder in the directory or officer in the Colorado Fuel 
 and Iron Company has any interest. 
 
 Our position with respect to the United Mine Workers 
 of America is absolutely independent of that which has been 
 or hereafter may be taken either by the Colorado Fuel and 
 Iron Company or by its officers or directors or by Mr. 
 Rockefeller or John D, Rockefeller, Jr., although w^e heartily 
 endorse the position they are now taking. 
 
 DEPLORE UNJUST ATTACfC 
 
 We deplore the unjust attack upon Mr. Rockefeller. It is 
 neither fair nor just to him nor to us to place the burden nor 
 give him sole credit for the position we are maintaining. 
 Independent of any stand he has taken or may take, we have 
 endeavored to strive and must continue to fight for the main- 
 tenance of fundamental principles of government and law. 
 
 In the present issue w^e are not opposing or w^aging a 
 war against organized labor as such. 
 
 We are, however, unalterably of the conviction that we 
 can never recognize nor have any dealings of any kind with 
 
 18 
 
the organization purporting to be a labor union and calling 
 itself the United Mine Workers of America. 
 
 Prior to September 23» 1913, Colorado, as to its coal 
 mining industry, was open shop territory. The men in our 
 mines are contented, industrious and law-abiding citizens. 
 For a number of years^the United Mine Workers had made 
 sporadic efforts to unionize the Colorado coal mines, but with- 
 out success. For a few years prior to April, 1910, the 
 operators in a small district in Northern Colorado entered 
 into contractual relations with this organization, but their ex- 
 perience was so disastrous they were forced to discontinue. 
 
 After having conducted an unsuccessful strike in the 
 Northern Colorado fields since April, 1910, the national officers 
 of the United Mine Workers determined in the summer of 
 1913 that the time was opportune to again inaugurate a 
 campaign to force the Colorado operators to enter into a con- 
 tract with it, and thereby require them to coerce their employes 
 into becoming members thereof. 
 
 To effect these purposes, they sent a large number of 
 their paid labor agitators from other States into Colorado. 
 The membership roll of this organization in district fifteen, of 
 which Colorado is a part, at that time contained the names of 
 2048 out of a total of 23,000 men employed in the coal 
 mining industry in that district. 
 
 MEETING OF AGITATORS 
 
 The agitators mentioned and certain delegates of their 
 selection met in a so-called convention at Trinidad, in Sep- 
 tember, 1913, and called a strike of our workmen, by threats 
 and intimidation, by incendiary and anarchistic speeches, and 
 through fear of bodily injury or death many of our employes 
 were induced to go on strike. 
 
 This strike was in its inception, and alw^ays has been, a 
 strike for union recognition only. 
 
 Other pretended demands formulated at the so-called con- 
 vention at Trinidad were fully guaranteed by our statutes. 
 The coal mining code of Colorado is the most strict and com- 
 prehensive of that of any State, and was prepared and approved 
 by a committee, one of whom was John Lawson, leader of 
 the present strike, and another of whom was James Daly- 
 rimple, State coal mine inspector and a member of organized 
 labor. Our statutes are enforceable and have been and are 
 being enforced. 
 
 Since this strike was called, certain of our former employes, 
 under the leadership of the paid agents and officers of the United 
 Mine Workers, supplied with guns purchased with moneys 
 from its treasury, have in armed force openly and successfully 
 
 19 
 
defied our State government and have caused a state of 
 insurrection and anarchy to prevail in this commonwealth. 
 
 They have burned our mines, driven law-abiding citizens 
 and their families from their homes and murdered our 
 employes. 
 
 They have denied to us and to our employes all rights 
 and privileges, according to the laws and constitutions of the 
 State of Colorado and of the United States. 
 
 They have even presumed to refuse to comply with the 
 demand of the United States army officers, without taking 
 a referendum vote of all their members in Colorado, to sur- 
 render to the military forces of the United States the arms 
 with which they have committed these felonies. 
 
 We submit with all deference that we ought not to be 
 asked to deal with an organization whose officers, leaders and 
 members have been guilty of these acts. 
 
 Such sympathy as exists in their behalf is based upon 
 either a lack of information or the mass of misinformation and 
 misrepresentation contained in recent issues of the public press. 
 
 CANNOT REMOVE MINES 
 
 There are today employed by the owners of coal mines 
 in this State more than 10,000 men. TTiey and their wives 
 and children live in villages many of which have within ten 
 days sustained the rifle fire of about 1500 members of the 
 United Mine Workers of America. 
 
 We cannot remove our mines to other places, and we 
 will not, unless forced to do so, close them at the behest of a 
 comparatively few members of a lawless organization and set 
 adrift the loyal employes now upon our payrolls. 
 
 If the 2000 members of the organization now militant 
 in this State do not care to work in our mines, it is their privi- 
 lege to decline to do so and go elsewhere into unionized fields 
 where there are conditions more to their liking; and the 
 officers of the organization to which they belong will once and 
 for all settle the unrest which prevails here if they will expend 
 some small portion of their funds to remove their dissatisfied 
 members from this field instead of further increasing their 
 lavish expenditure in the promotion of strife and bloodshed. 
 
 The issue in Colorado has ceased to be, if it ever w^as, 
 one between capital and labor. In our judgment no question 
 of the rights of organized labor is now involved. 
 
 By the use of the vicious checkoff system, the leaders of 
 the United Mine Workers of America have coerced thousands 
 of industrious and law-abiding citizens into joining their or- 
 ganization, and these leaders, by precept and example, have 
 converted these men into enemies of organized government. 
 
 20 
 
Thii organization, by force of numbers, by its control of 
 labor, and by virtue of the millions of dollars forcibly collected 
 from its members, has become so powerful that its leaders are 
 now defying organized society to thwart its plan to rule or ruin. 
 
 By their criminal acts the leaders of the United Mine 
 Workers of America have forfeited any claim that organi- 
 zation may ever have had to be considered a labor union, and 
 have foreclosed any right it may ever have possessed as a pre- 
 tended labor union, to demand that we have business dealings 
 with it. 
 
 We respectfully submit that the one and the only question 
 now at issue in this State is one of law and order and the 
 maintenance of the constitutional privilege of every man to 
 work within, where, for whom and upon such terms as he sees fit. 
 
 Shall government prevail, or shall anarchy and law- 
 lessness rule? 
 
 We are and at all times have been engaged in a lawful 
 business, and we are Conducting and have always conducted 
 our business in a lawful manner. 
 
 The military forces of the United States are now in con- 
 trol of the strike districts in Colorado, and we earnestly and 
 respectfully ask that law and order be made to prevail in this 
 State to the end that we may operate our mines and conduct 
 our business in that peaceable and orderly manner guaranteed 
 to every law-abiding citizen, and that our workmen may 
 pursue their lawful avocations and reside at their homes without 
 the constant fear of death at the hands of lawless mobs. 
 (Signed) 
 
 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FUEL COMPANY, 
 
 By David W. Brown, President. 
 
 THE VICTOR-AMERICAN FUEL COMPANY, 
 
 By G. F. Gartlett, Jr., Vice-President. 
 
 THE OAKDALE COAL COMPANY, 
 
 By Wm. B. Lewis, President. 
 
 THE SOUTH CANON COAL COMPANY, 
 
 By Harry F. Nash, General Manager. 
 
 THE PRIMROSE COAL COMPANY, 
 
 By H. B. King, President. 
 
 THE RUGBY FUEL COMPANY, 
 
 By George D. Kimball, General Manager. 
 
 THE HUERFANO COAL COMPANY, 
 
 By S. S. Murphy, President. 
 
 FRUTH AND AUTREY, THE CONSOLIDATED 
 COAL AND COKE COMPANY, g^ ^ l. Baum. 
 
 THE ROUTT COUNTY FUEL COMPANY, 
 
 By E. L. Prentiss, President. 
 
 THE YAMPA VALLEY COAL CO., 
 
 By F. M. Peltier, President. 
 
 HAYDEN BROS. (jUNIPER MINe), 
 
 By Lewis A. Hayden. 
 
 21 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 2 JUNE 27, 1914 
 
 DISARMING STRIKERS AND 
 MINE GUARDS 
 
 In order that the people of Colorado and the pub- 
 lic generally might understand conditions with 
 which the militia and the mine operators were 
 confronted in the strike zone of Colorado, Briga- 
 dier General John Chase, commanding the mili- 
 tary district of Colorado, has submitted a compre- 
 hensive report to the Governor, giving a full 
 account of the military occupation of the strike 
 zone. 
 
 In that report. General Chase has this to say 
 with reference to his efforts to disarm the strikers 
 and the mine guards : 
 
 " On the 31st day of October, the third day of the occu- 
 pation, when the estabHshment of the military camps was well 
 under way, I undertook, pursuant to Your Excellency's express 
 directions, to disarm both sides of the conflict that I found 
 raging upon my arrival. 
 
 *' Realizing that in the event of the concealment of their 
 weapons I would have great difficulty in disarming the com- 
 batants, I consulted the strike leaders, including John R. 
 Lawson, and obtained from them, and especially from him, 
 an assurance that if I first disarmed the mine guards employed 
 through the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to guard the 
 operators* properties, the strikers would then cheerfully sur- 
 render the arms in their possession. 
 
 " It must be remembered that, upon our first coming 
 into the field, the National Guard had at least the ostensible 
 welcome and apparent cordial co-operation of the striking 
 miners. 
 
 " Relying upon the assurances given me by Mr. Lawson 
 and the other strike leaders, I proceeded to disarm the mine 
 
 22 
 
guards upon the various properties against whom the most 
 bitter feeling of the strikers prevailed. 
 
 "In the disarmament of these guards I had no difficulty 
 whatever . They were assembled by their employers, the 
 operating companies, and promptly turned over the high- 
 power rifles with which they had been supplied. 
 
 ' This disarmament I carried on with respect to the mine 
 guards and employes of the operating companies in every camp 
 throughout the entire strike zone, and speedily finished the 
 complete disarmament of that side of the industrial conflict. 
 
 "It was arranged, upon the completion of the disarma- 
 ment of the operators, that the military receive the arms of 
 the strikers, and accordingly, upon the 1st of November, 
 1913, by an agreement between myself and the strike leaders, 
 a parade of the troops to the tent colony at Ludlow, by far 
 the largest of the strikers* colonies, was arranged. 
 
 ** From all appearances the very best feeling prevailed 
 between the troops and the strikers. I paraded detachments 
 of the troops of various arms within Las Animas County at 
 the Ludlow tent colony, upon the suggestion and invitation 
 of the strike leaders, including Mr. Lawson. 
 
 PLANS TO DEVELOP GOOD FEELING 
 
 " My object was not only to receive the arms of the 
 strikers, as promised, but to occupy peaceably and with good 
 feeling the strategic points in the canons about Ludlow, which 
 the presence of so large a body of armed men might have 
 made difficult of accomplishment without bloodshed, had my 
 entrance been disputed. 
 
 "The parade of the troops at the Ludlow tent colony 
 was memorable. The road for a half-mile or more between 
 the point of detraining and the entrance to the colony was 
 lined on either side by men, women and children. Many of 
 the men were in the strange costumes of the Greek, Monte- 
 negrin, Servian, and Bulgarian armies; for the colony num- 
 bered among its inhabitants many returned veterans of the 
 Balkan wars. 
 
 "The little children were dressed in white, as for a 
 Sunday-school picnic. All carried small American flags and 
 sang continually the Union songs. Through this line of 
 
 23 
 
men, women and children the troops paraded — infantry, cavalry 
 and field artillery. Flags were waved in welcome, and an 
 improvised band of the strikers heralded our approach. 
 
 *'We passed by Ludlow, occupied the Berwind and 
 Hastings canons, and then returned to the colony to receive 
 the surrender of the hundreds of high-power rifles I knew the 
 strikers to be possessed of. 
 
 FIRST INSTANCE OF BAD FAITH 
 
 *' At this point occurred the first instance of bad faith on 
 the part of the striking people. Expecting to receive hundreds, 
 if not thousands of arms, there were delivered into my pos- 
 session some twenty or thirty weapons, many of them of 
 obsolete pattern, the strikers topping off the humor of the 
 situation by including in the delivery of arms a child's toy 
 pop-gun. 
 
 " Since that time the recovery of the strikers' arms has 
 been attended with the greatest difficulty ; it has been a game 
 of hide-and-seek, and whjle I have been able to recover, a few 
 at a time, a large number of high-power weapons, belonging 
 to the union, from various hiding places, I will state that there 
 are hundreds of guns still concealed and waiting occasion for use. 
 
 " In the meantime I had upon my hands a large number 
 of the mine guards whom I had disarmed, and who, being 
 defenseless, in the presence of enemies thirsting for their 
 blood, had to receive protection. 
 
 "These mine guards I undertook to ship out of the strike 
 zone. For that purpose I assembled a number of them in 
 Trinidad. On the evening of the 31st of October I had in 
 the Coronado Hotel at Trinidad a number of mine guards 
 who had been disarmed and were awaiting a train to take them 
 out of the country. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the representations made to me con- 
 cerning the disarmament of the detested mine guards, and when 
 I had rendered them helpless by disarming them, all of which 
 was known to the striking miners, a great crowd gathered 
 around the Coronado Hotel in which these disarmed men 
 were contained, for the avowed purpose of reeking condign 
 vengeance upon their enemies, thus, as they supposed, delivered 
 into their hands. 
 
 24 
 
THE CORONADO HOTEL RIOT 
 
 ** Some five or six hundred men assembled around the 
 Coronado Hotel with the express design of killing the disarmed 
 and defenseless guards within. This is what is known as the 
 Coronado Hotel riot. 
 
 "Notwithstanding all of the fair promises of Mr. Lawson 
 and other strike leaders that induced me to disarm the mine 
 guards first, they then rather gleefully assured me that they 
 could not control their people, and that the feeling among the 
 strikers, thirsting for the blood of the mine guards, was such 
 as could not be stayed by any influence of the leaders. 
 
 "I found it necessary upon this occasion to assemble 
 infantry and cavalry in the streets of Trinidad, and to disperse 
 the mob thus bent upon wholesale murder, and to protect the 
 disarmed mine guards until they could take the train out of the 
 district. Fortunately, I was able to quell this riot and prevent 
 large loss of life without bloodshed or other serious con- 
 sequences than a few arrests. 
 
 A RECORD OF MISREPRESENTATION 
 
 '* From this time forward, from the breach of faith con- 
 cerning the disarmament until this day, the history of the 
 strike leaders has been a record of bad faith, subterfuge, mis- 
 representation and chicanery with the military forces of the 
 State, who entered the field taking no sides, having no interest 
 in the industrial conflict, intent only upon preserving the peace 
 and guaranteeing the constitution, until by these methods the 
 striking miners have come to look upon the National Guard 
 as a foe, in league with their antagonist, and the Guard has 
 come to know that no faith can be placed, and no honesty or 
 integrity of purpose can be found, in the strikers' camps as 
 conducted by their present leaders. 
 
 And I say this having no interest whatsoever in the 
 industrial conflict still raging." 
 
 25 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 3 JULY 1, 1914 
 
 WHAT A SMALL COAL MINE 
 OWNER SUFFERED 
 
 As a typical instance of the attitude of the smaller 
 coal mine operators of Colorado, Senator Thomas, 
 of Colorado, presented to the United States 
 Senate, on June 12, 1914, a statement he had re- 
 ceived from the Sunnyside Mining Company. 
 Senator Thomas said : 
 
 This company is a small concern ; it has been reasonably 
 prosperous, and has had trouble with no one anywhere. This 
 is the statement which the company makes, through its oflficers, 
 of itf attitude as one of the coal producers of southern Col- 
 orado, of the consequences which the strike has visited upon 
 it, and its reasons for the conclusions which it has reached 
 regarding arbitration. 
 
 This statement is signed by W. F. Cakes, the president 
 of the company — a very upright and respected citizen of the 
 city of Denver, and one who justly enjoys the confidence and 
 respect of all who know him. He says : 
 
 "The property of the Sunnyside Coal Mining Co. is situated in 
 Huerfano County, Col., 12}4 miles northwest of Walsenburg. 
 
 "The land operated comprises 480 acres, with three veins of bi- 
 tuminous coal, 5, 6}4t and 7}^ feet in thickness, respectively. Capacity 
 is 700 tons daily. 
 
 "The owners are W. F. Oakes, Ellen Terry Strong, and Milo W. 
 Strong. The company is not affiliated with any outside interest. The 
 executive head of the business is the president, W. F. Oakes, with 
 general offices in the Gas and Electric Building. 
 
 ALWAYS FAIR TO LABOR 
 
 "The Sunnyside mines have worked for 10 years on the open-shop 
 plan, making no distinction between union and non-union labor, and select- 
 ing men best qualified to fill the various positions. 
 
 "Prior to the strike call on September 23, 1913, not a single com- 
 plaint had been made to the company by its employes, either collec- 
 tively or individually, as to wages, hours, company store, company 
 doctor, unsanitary conditions, or unsafe conditions in or about the 
 mine — three men in 10 years killed. The few minor individual com- 
 plaints were always promptly considered and adjusted. 
 
 "The average wage in August, 1913, just prior to the strike, was 
 $4.12^ per man per 8-hour day. 
 
 26 
 
** On Saturday, September 20, 1913, every man was paid off, and 
 the president, W. F. Oakes, personally asked every man that stepped 
 up to the pay window if he had any grievance against the company, 
 and in every case the answer was * No.* They simply responded to 
 the strike call of the national organization for the * general cause' 
 (whatever that was the men did not seem to know). 
 
 "Early in November we re-opened the mine with strictly non-union 
 labor, under a strong protection of the Colorado National Guard, and 
 continued throughout the entire winter and until April 18, when we 
 shut down temporarily for repairs. 
 
 " A day or so later came the reports of the Ludlow trouble, and the 
 * call to arms.' 
 
 ATTACKED BY ARMED STRIKERS 
 
 " On Friday, April 24, 1914, a wild mob of 250 armed strikers swooped 
 down upon only 16 people left in our camp, and drove them into the hills. 
 They continued in complete possession until May 6, 1914. 
 
 "The company store was completely wrecked (inside), the entire 
 front broken in, the entire stock of general merchandise stolen ($15,- 
 000), the post office robbed of everything — money, stamps, letters, and 
 parcel-post packages. The company boarding house was pillaged, 
 the men's clubrooms looted, and every building in the camp was en- 
 tered and everything of value taken or destroyed, a total loss of $26,000. 
 * * * * 
 
 ENLIGHTENED CONDITIONS 
 
 " The management of the Sunnyside mines prided themselves for 
 years that they had established such favorable conditions at their 
 mines that they were enabled to procure the very best element of labor 
 in the field. 
 
 "Our company boarding house, with a capacity of 100 men, was 
 constructed entirely with a view to comfort. Every room in the house 
 was provided with a hot-water radiator, the floors were always kept 
 clean ; in front of each bed was a rug ; each bed had two sheets, two 
 pillowcases, one woolen blanket, two cotton comforters. The entire 
 building was lighted with electric lights. 
 
 " In the dining room we served but one table, seating every man at 
 once. We employed the best Jap cooks, and used only the very best 
 materials for our table. 
 
 " In the basement of this cement building we had bath arrange- 
 ments, hot and cold running water into porcelain bowls, something 
 unheard of in any mining camp in Colorado. 
 
 ■X- * ♦ * 
 
 " In addition to this, we established a reading room and supplied 
 all of the papers and periodicals free. We also established a library 
 containing 250 books, and furnished the men with free stationery and 
 envelopes. 
 
 " We also furnished a hot bath adjacent to the mine for those that 
 desired it. 
 
 " Our schoolhouse is owned and maintained by the company, and 
 was supplied with every modern appliance. 
 
 " We also established a miners' clubroom, to combat the evil of 
 the ordinary camp saloon. A great deal of money was spent in 
 making this a comfortable loafing place for the men, and the hours in 
 which they could buy drinks were limited from 4.30 in the afternoon 
 to 10.30 at night. These goods were sold to the men at a low figure, 
 with a view only of securing sufficient profit to maintain a manager of 
 the place. 
 
 27 
 
''During working hours of the mine these clubrooms remained 
 
 closed, also on Sundays. 
 
 * It * * 
 
 MINERS' CLUBROOMS WRECKED 
 
 "The miners' clubrooms were completely wrecked and all stock 
 stolen, pictures taken from the walls, phonograph records, chessboards, 
 the cloth on the billiard table ruined, the cues and balls stolen, the 
 barbershop equipment badly damaged. 
 
 "In the reading room magazines and books were mutilated, thrown 
 outside, and every condition that had been created for the comfort of 
 our employes was wantonly disregarded. 
 
 "Our experiments along these lines, after studying the sociological 
 conditions of mineri for 23 years, proved beyond any question of 
 doubt that our theories in regard to improving the social conditions 
 and uplifting the social plane were mere vagaries. 
 
 "Our most earnest efforts were simply rewarded by our final de- 
 struction, and at the hands of those whom we endeavored to benefit. 
 
 "The only apparently unansw^erable obstacle to a settlement w^ith 
 these strikingr miners is the recognition of the union, as almost every 
 other material difference betw^een the operator and the miner is covered 
 by the existing law. 
 
 "There is no law compelling the operator to recognize the union 
 nor to permit the employes to exact that recognition. The statute does 
 provide, however, for the right of the employe to join a union, if he so 
 desires, without coercion or interference. We do not deny the right 
 of our men to organize, so long as they do not interfere with our pre- 
 rogatives to employ non-union labor when we so desire it. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " We will never agree to any contract that will oblige us to discharge 
 the non-union men now^ in our employ." 
 
 28 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 4 JULY 6, 1914 
 
 HOW A CONGRESSMAN VIEWS 
 THE SITUATION 
 
 Speaking before the House of Representatives at 
 Washington, on June 13, 1914, Congressman 
 George Kindel, of Colorado, gave utterance to 
 many important facts in the coal strike situation. 
 Below are a few extracts from that speech, as 
 published in the Congressional Record. The 
 order in which the passages appear, the subheads, 
 and the typographical emphasis are for the purposes 
 of this reprint, although the text of the original 
 is followed absolutely. Mr. Kindel said in part: 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it may seem a new role for me to appear as 
 the defender of corporations. Much of my hfe has been de- 
 voted to what I have believed to be just criticism of many 
 corporate abuses. But there are times when a position assumed 
 by even corporate interests is correct. 
 
 The position of these Colorado operators is correct. It 
 deserves and shall receive my approbation and support. I 
 know the men who say, ' We cannot enter into negotiations 
 of any character with the oflScers and agents of the United 
 Mine Workers of America, who alone are responsible for the 
 terrible reign of disorder and bloodshed which has disgraced 
 this State.* 
 
 HOW TO RESTORE PEACE 
 
 "These men mean what they say. There will be neither 
 negotiation nor compromise. I agree with them as they pro- 
 ceed, instead of it being our duty to do so, we conceive it 
 rather to be the duty of the officials of the United Mine 
 Workers of America, who called the strike, to call it off; they 
 can do so if they see fit, and BY SO DOING THEY WILL, 
 WITHIN AN HOUR, IN A GREAT MEASURE. RE- 
 STORE INDUSTRIAL PEACE AND PROSPERITY TO 
 THIS STATE. ' But this they have neither the courage nor 
 disposition to do. 
 
 29 
 
True labor and wisely conducted labor unions have no 
 better friend than I, for I am a member of a union that has 
 accomplished much good. It is for this reason that I am 
 compelled to denounce the methods of the particular labor 
 organization which has brought disgrace, industrial blight, 
 and almost financial ruin upon my State. 
 * * * * 
 
 •*Mr. Speaker, the Colorado coal strike was not inaugu- 
 rated by the men actually at work in the mines, nor be- 
 cause of the existence of any conditions w^hich might afford 
 just ground for dissatisfaction among them. 
 
 '* Coal mining is universally recognized as a hazardous and 
 dangerous business, especially in a district where the dry at- 
 mosphere is more conducive to the creation of dust and roof 
 conditions to falls than in many other localities. But general 
 conditions in the mines in Colorado were exceptionally favor- 
 able to the miners when this calamity was thrust upon our 
 State. 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE MINE OWNER 
 
 "The mine owner is neither a brute nor a fool ; he will 
 not knowingly subject his property to destruction nor his men 
 to unnecessary danger. Selfish interests alone dictate a con- 
 trary policy. Aside from this, I may say that I am person- 
 ally acquainted with many of the operators of my State, and 
 I know them to be honorable and humane men, who entertain 
 a keen solicitude for the welfare of their employes. 
 
 "They have done, and are doing, much looking to the 
 health and well-being of their men and the safety of their 
 properties. That the miners knew and appreciated this is 
 evidenced by the tenacity with which more than 10,000 con- 
 tinue to work in the face of intimidation, violence, and per- 
 sonal danger to themselves and their families. 
 
 •*IT WAS THE AGITATOR, NOT THE MINER, 
 WHO COMPLAINED AND WHO HAS WROUGHT ALL 
 THIS HAVOC. And for what.? — simply and solely to compel 
 the operators to recognize the United Mine Workers of 
 America. 
 
 "And what does this mean.'' It means that the owner of 
 every coal mine in the State must enter into a written contract 
 with this organization, and thereby agree, in effect, to employ 
 only members of that union, and to deduct from the pay roll 
 of every such member all union dues, fines, and assessments 
 for which the member may be indebted, and then remit this 
 sum to union headquarters. 
 
 WHAT THE UNION DEMANDS 
 
 "To be more specific, these agitators and leaders, the rep- 
 resentatives of not to exceed 2000 striking men, say to the 
 
 30 
 
mine owners of my State, * You must discharge every one of 
 your 10,000 loyal and satisfied workmen unless they join the 
 United Mine Workers of America, and if they join, you must 
 deduct from their pay roll such amounts as we may hereafter 
 see fit to assess against them, and send it to the union treasury 
 
 to use as we see fit/ 
 
 * * ^ * 
 
 IMPORTATION OF AGITATORS 
 
 " Prior to the calling of this strike no substantial differences 
 existed between the mine owners and their workmen. There 
 had been no State-wide labor trouble for 10 years; only 2048 
 out of a total of 23,000 miners in Colorado, New Mexico, and 
 Utah were members of the United Mine Workers of America. 
 But the officers of this organization proceeded to import into 
 Colorado a horde of paid professional agitators and agents 
 with the avowed purpose of circulating among the miners and 
 injecting into their minds a spirit of discontent and dissatis- 
 faction with their employers and the conditions under which 
 they were working. 
 
 "Several weeks ago, at a time when the emissaries of the 
 United Mine Workers of America were trying to make it ap- 
 pear that Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was responsible for and 
 had the power to terminate the Colorado coal strike, the distin- 
 guished chairman of the investigating committee of this House 
 telegraphed Mr. Rockefeller that Mr. Green, secretary-treas- 
 urer of the United Mine Workers of America, had made 
 public a statement announcing that the demand for recognition 
 of the union would be waived, and it was suggested to Mr. 
 Rockefeller, in view of this circumstance, that negotiations be 
 entered into looking to a settlement. 
 
 " Mr. Green was immediately called upon by the miners 
 of Illinois, then in convention at Peoria, to explain what he 
 meant by making such a statement. He answered by denying 
 that such an announcement had ever been made by him, and 
 asserted that under no circumstances would union recognition 
 be waived in Colorado. More recently, on June 6th, John 
 R. Lawson, in charge of the strike, with headquarters at 
 Denver, reiterated the oft-repeated ' No peace without recog- 
 nition of the union.' 
 
 * * * * 
 
 FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO WORK 
 
 '* The necessity for the maintenance of the open shop, 
 for which the mine owners of Colorado are fighting, involves 
 a principle far from local in its character. 
 
 '* If this country is to endure, at least in its present form, 
 the constitutional right of every man to work for whom, when, 
 and upon such terms as he sees fit must be preserved, and the 
 
 31 
 
employers of labor in Colorado who are standing for this prin- 
 ciple deserve, instead of denunciation, the encouragement and 
 support of every patriotic citizen. It will be a sad day for our 
 country when men decline to fight to a finish for a principle. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 THE REMEDY 
 
 "There is but a single effective remedy — let maudlin 
 sympathy for those who stand in open rebellion against con- 
 stituted authority be banished. 
 
 "LET ALL GOOD CITIZENS ENCOURAGE AND 
 ASSIST THE OFFICERS OF THE LAW IN FAITH- 
 FULLY AND RIGOROUSLY EXECUTING THE STAT- 
 UTES AND CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS OF THE 
 STATE OF COLORADO AND OF THE UNITED 
 STATES. 
 
 " In this way, and in this way only, under existing con- 
 ditions, can the rights of all parties be restored and preserved 
 and the dignity of a great State and the greatest country on 
 earth be maintained." 
 
 32 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 5 JULY 11, 1914 
 
 THE REAL MEANING OF THE 
 COLORADO STRIKE 
 
 In order to define the issues at stake, the coal 
 mine managers have forwarded to Washington a 
 summary of conditions in the coal mines of Col- 
 orado. This summary has been sent to the Sub- 
 Committee of the Committee on Mines and 
 Mining of the House of Representatives, which 
 has been investigating these conditions. The 
 summary consists of an extensive pamphlet, some 
 salient extracts from which are as follows : 
 
 "The present controversy is not a strike, for the reasons : 
 First, the employes did not vote to call a strike ; second, the 
 majority of the miners did not walk out on the call, less than 
 25 per cent, responding thereto. 
 
 " In addition to those who responded to the call, probably 
 10 per cent., desiring to free themselves from the war threat- 
 ened by the call of the strike, left the State. More than 
 60 per cent, of the men remained at their posts of duty. 
 
 "INSTEAD OF A STRIKE, THIS CONTROVERSY IS 
 AN ARMED INSURRECTION AGAINST THE SOV- 
 EREIGN AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, 
 CONCEIVED, PLANNED, FINANCED, MANAGED AND 
 DIRECTED BY THE OFFICERS AND LEADERS OF THE 
 UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA. 
 
 LOCATING PICKETS 
 
 "The coal field in question, where the greatest amount of 
 disturbance had occurred up to the commencement of this 
 investigation, is located in Las Animas and Huerfano Counties. 
 
 " In this area are located about 50 operating mines affected 
 by the strike. Many of these mines are located in canyons in 
 the mountainside. 
 
 33 
 
Occasionally a canyon accommodates several mines. 
 The only means of ingress or egress other than the canyons 
 mentioned is over the rugged mountains. 
 
 Now, in the same area in which the mines above men- 
 tioned are situated, there were located by these organizers and 
 leaders (most of whom are non-residents of the State of Col- 
 orado, and few of whom ever mined a ton of coal in any of 
 the mines of Colorado) 10 tent colonies, and anyone studying 
 the location of these several tent colonies is convinced that 
 they were not located by chance, but by most careful design ; 
 for each tent colony is located where it controls the traveling 
 way to one or more coal mines, and it is practically impossible, 
 and has been so ever since the 23d day of September, 1913, 
 for any person to get in or out of any mine in the district 
 mentioned without passing the scrutiny of some one or more 
 tent colonies, which colonies, from the foundation thereof to 
 the present, have been surrounded by armed strikers every 
 moment of the time except when the military forces have been 
 in the field. 
 
 "And from these several tent colonies armed bodies of 
 men almost daily sally forth and commit some act of violence, 
 when not kept under subjugation by military power. The 
 number and variety of the crimes committed by them is 
 simply appalling. 
 
 And these crimes have been committed for the alleged 
 purpose of bettering the condition of about 14,000 miners 
 who were living in good homes, under pleasant environment, 
 with good school advantages, and earning wages averaging 
 better than $4.00 per day. 
 
 TEN THOUSAND MEN NOW AT WORK 
 
 ' But it is a question if the day of possible settlement has 
 not now forever passed. There are about 10,000 miners now 
 at work in the coal fields of Colorado. There are probably 
 from 1500 to 2000 on the strike. 
 
 "Those on the strike, together with their confederates, 
 some of whom, for purposes of violence, have come from 
 States adjacent to Colorado, have so often attacked and fired 
 upon the miners now working in the coal fields that it is 
 impossible to put those two warring elements to work in the 
 same mines. 
 
 ** If the striking miners are to be returned to work, those 
 now working must necessarily leave the mines. 
 
 34 
 
"They fear that the striking miners, should they be in- 
 ducted into the mines with them, will watch their opportunity 
 to assassinate them or catch them in some serious mine dis- 
 aster. It has been reported to them that such threats have 
 been made and they believe they would be carried out. 
 
 ♦* A RECOGNITION OF THE UNITED MINE WORKERS 
 OF AMERICA, WITH ITS CHECK-OFF SYSTEM, 
 CLOSES ALL THE MINES OF COLORADO TO ALL 
 WORKMEN WHO DO NOT BECOME MEMBERS OF 
 THAT ORGANIZATION. 
 
 WHAT THE "CHECK-OFF" MEANS 
 
 ** By that (the check-off) is meant this : When a mine is 
 working under union conditions and under a contract with the 
 union, the mine management is required by the union rules 
 and by the contract to charge against and hold out of the 
 wages of every employe all dues, fines, assessments and initi- 
 ation fees levied against the union members by the union, 
 either local or national. These charges frequently run high 
 and dissatisfy the laborers. 
 
 "But, no matter what their dissatisfaction, the deductions 
 must be made just the same; and this, by the way, is the 
 principal object in unionizing the mines. 
 
 " And these assessments must be submitted to by every 
 man working in a unionized mine, whether he affiliates with 
 the union or not. 
 
 ** AND THIS, WE ARE ADVISED, IS THE ONLY 
 LABOR UNION IN EXISTENCE THAT EXACTS THE 
 CHECK-OFF. 
 
 " The following is a clause in the proposed scale demanded 
 of the United Mine Workers : 
 
 *' It shall be a condition of employment that all men 
 working in and around the mines shall be members of the 
 U. M. W. of A., and all companies to this agreement 
 shall collect from their employes 2 per cent, of the gross 
 earnings of all day men and 3 per cent, of the gross 
 earnings of all miners, which shall have preference over 
 all other collections, and turn over to the authorized 
 agents all such moneys after being notified by the miners' 
 organization. 
 
 ** We feel that an unbiased reading of the record in this 
 case will disclose that labor conditions were most satisfactory 
 in the mining regions of Colorado until trouble was fomented 
 by the officers, agents and employes of the United Mine 
 Workers of America. 
 
 35 
 
"Hie only recommendation we have to suggest is that the 
 officers of the law be encouraged to faithfully and rigorously 
 execute the laws now on the statute books, as well as those 
 molded into our common law, as this, in our judgment, will 
 be found more effective than the cultivation of a maudlin 
 sympathy for those who stand in open rebellion against the 
 constituted authorities of a sovereign State." 
 
 36 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 6 JULY 15, 1914 
 
 NEARLY 10,000 MEN NOW AT WORK 
 IN COLORADO COAL MINES 
 
 The coal mine managers of Colorado issue this 
 statement in order that the public of the United 
 States may know the exact state of affairs in Colo- 
 rado today : 
 
 Out of a total of 141 coal mines which were in operation 
 in August, 1913 — the month before the strike — 132 are now 
 in commission. 
 
 Last August 12,059 men were employed; A DAILY 
 AVERAGE OF 9892 MEN WERE AT WORK IN APRIL, 
 1914. 
 
 The coal mined amounted to 549,953 tons in May this 
 year as against 859,047 tons in the month before the strike. 
 The State Coal Mine Inspector's reports for the first five 
 months of this calendar year show a production of 3,066,174 
 tons in the five months. This is 69.6 per cent, of the total 
 production of 4,403,913 in the corresponding period of 1913, 
 when business was more normal and no strike had occurred. 
 
 Production of coal for June shows a further increase. All 
 the coal is now being mined that the market will absorb. 
 
 In September, 1913 — the strike was called September 23d 
 — 12,346 men were employed. The number that went on 
 strike, including the men who on account of their families or 
 otherwise left the State to avoid trouble, was 4650, or only 38 
 per cent, of the total. A considerable percentage of even these 
 men have returned to work. 
 
 * * * » 
 
 This strike was not the work either of the managers of 
 the mines or of any large portion of the miners, less than 10 
 per cent, of whom were members of the United Mine Work- 
 ers of America. It was planned outside of the State of Colo- 
 rado, led by outsiders, and financed from outside. 
 
 It was designed to shut out from employment all but 
 miners who were members of a particular union and compel 
 the mine owners to collect from the men's wages dues, assess- 
 ments, benefits and fines, and turn them into the treasury of 
 the United Mine Workers of America. 
 
 37 
 
The strike was not called in response to any demand for it 
 by Colorado miners. A secret ballot taken at a number of the 
 mines on September 21, 1913, two days before the strike was 
 called, disclosed the fact that from 90 to 99 per cent, were 
 satisfied with conditions and opposed to the strike. 
 
 The so-called joint convention of September 15th, which 
 called the strike, was not representative of the Colorado coal 
 miners. The mine managers offered to submit to Governor 
 Ammons, or to any arbitration board named by him, every 
 demand made, except that of recognition of the union, but 
 they would not treat in any way, directly or indirectly, with 
 the organization known as the United Mine Workers of 
 
 America. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 This strike — if strike it can be called — has developed two 
 armed insurrections on the part of the strikers, the first against 
 the county authorities and the mines, which resulted in calling 
 out the militia ; the second, against the militia and the State of 
 Colorado, which involved the calling in of the United States 
 army. 
 
 The mines have been in operation steadily since the strike 
 was imposed, the output never dropping below 50 per cent, of 
 normal, even in October, 1913, and increasing from that time. 
 A large proportion of the men still on strike are held in tent 
 colonies through intimidation, and because the leaders of the 
 strike know that if these men are removed from their influence 
 and restraint, and allowed to follow their inclinations and 
 desires, they will quickly return to the mines. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 ALL THAT THE MINE MANAGERS ASK IS THAT 
 PROTECTION BE ACCORDED THEIR EMPLOYES IN 
 THE LEGITIMATE PURSUIT OF WORKING FOR 
 THEIR LIVING, under an eight-hour law and at wages than 
 which no higher are paid for similar labor in any part of the 
 United States. 
 
 With protection assured, not merely for the moment, but 
 for the future, the mines of Colorado will experience no 
 difficulty in obtaining competent and willing workmen suffi- 
 cient in number to produce all the coal the market demands. 
 
 38 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 7 JULY 22, 1914 
 
 LEADING COLORADO MEN APPEAL 
 TO THE SECRETARY OF LABOR 
 
 The Bishop of Colorado, the President of Col- 
 orado College, and other leaders of Colorado life, 
 have addressed an open letter to Secretary of 
 Labor Wilson, urging him to use his influence 
 with the labor leaders to have the Colorado coal 
 strike called ofi^. 
 
 The grounds on which these gentlemen made 
 this plea are : 
 
 1. That so small was the number of miners belonging 
 to the union that there never was any general strike. 
 
 2. That there have been so many acts of unprovoked 
 violence for which the leaders of the strike have not 
 attempted to disclaim responsibility. 
 
 3. That those in charge of the strike have displayed 
 bad faith. 
 
 4. That the leaders of the strike have practically 
 assumed an attitude of rebellion toward the State of 
 Colorado, having openly called men to arms. 
 
 5. That the strike is lost, and it being a losing cause 
 it is not fair to union men in other parts of the country 
 that they should be paying out their hard-earned money 
 to support in "ridiculous idleness '* the little camps of 
 union men which are still maintaining the nominal strike. 
 
 The open letter concludes : " Let the agitators 
 from other States be withdrawn, as the mine 
 guards have been sent away, . . . and much 
 greater credit will be done the union than is 
 possible by continued agitation." 
 
 The letter in full is reprinted on the following 
 pages. 
 
 39 
 
THE LETTER 
 "To the Hon. William D. Wilson, 
 
 "Secretary of Labor, Washington, D. C. 
 
 " Mr. Secretary — By virtue of your present office, charged with the 
 interests of the laboring man, and further by reason of the responsible 
 position that you so long held in the service of organized labor, you 
 are the man that above all others ought to be appealed to in the present 
 condition of affairs in Colorado. 
 
 ''As citizens of that State, voicing, we believe, the sentiments of a 
 large majority of our fellow citizens, we appeal to you to put forth 
 all of the great influence that is centered in you, to cause the strike in 
 the Colorado coal fields to be called off. 
 
 "In making a request that affects so many men, reasons should be 
 presented. We submit in the first place that THE SUCCESS OF THE 
 STRIKE WAS VERY DOUBTFUL FROM THE BEGINNING. 
 
 " Less than one-quarter of the miners belonged to the union. 
 
 "Those who did not were so far contented with conditions that 
 they could not be expected to join in the strike ; at least, the result 
 proves that to be the case. 
 
 THERE WAS NO GENERAL STRIKE 
 
 " In reality there was no general strike , because many men, in the 
 neighborhood of 10,000, have been regularly employed all through 
 the times of disturbance, and the State has been continuously supplied 
 with near its normal quantity of coal. 
 
 "It should be called off because of the many acts of violence that 
 have accompanied it. 
 
 "You yourself have doubtless observed that nothing more quickly 
 dissipates the sympathy of the public than unprovoked violence. 
 
 "An imperfect account shows about 76 violent deaths, most of them 
 unprovoked murders, in connection with this strike. 
 
 " To these are to be added countless cases of assault and of wanton 
 destruction of property. In other strikes, the leaders have been able, 
 more or less successfully, to disclaim the responsibility of themselves 
 and of the union for the case of violence. 
 
 " Here there appears to be no thought that such deeds are even matters 
 for apology. 
 
 "Such an attitude reflects upon the union, and any true friend of 
 
 the workingman should deplore violence as standing in the way of an 
 honorable settlement. 
 
 STRIKE IS LOST 
 
 "A third reason why the strike should be called off is the bad faith 
 of those in charge of it. 
 
 "When it became necessary to call out the troops it was demanded 
 that both strikers and mine guards should be disarmed. The guards 
 did so in good faith and practically all of them left the country. 
 
 " A like good faith does not appear to have been shown by the 
 strikers. They gave up a comparatively few worthless arms, but hid 
 the good ones. 
 
 " Then when almost all of the State troops had been withdrawn, they 
 brought their rifles out of the hiding places. And on more than one 
 occasion they showed their utter want of ordinary morality by dis- 
 playing a white flag and then attacking the men who recognized and 
 trusted this world-wide symbol of armistice. 
 
 " MEN WHO ACT IN BAD FAITH NOT ONLY FAIL AS INDIVID- 
 UALS TO HOLD THE CONFIDENCE OF THEIR FELLOW CITI- 
 
 40 
 
ZENS, BUT THEY DESTROY RESPECT FOR THE ORGANIZATION 
 WITH WHICH THEY ARE CONNECTED, AND IN WHOSE 
 NAME THEY ARE ACTING. This is the case with the non-combat- 
 ing population of Colorado, who are now bitterly opposed to these 
 methods. 
 
 " A further reason why the strike should be called off is the attitude 
 its leaders have assumed toward the State. 
 
 " Those who openly call men to arms against the State are clearly 
 liable to the penalties of treason. 
 
 " What they did yesterday in Colorado, they are ready to do agrainst 
 Illinois tomorrow, and against the United States the day after . 
 
 *' As a public officer, you can in no way better serve your country, 
 the administration of which you are a part, and the organization with 
 which for so many years you were identified, than by using your great 
 influence for the calling off of this strike. 
 
 BAD FAITH OF STRIKERS 
 
 " Besides all these cogent reasons, Mr. Secretary, IT OUGHT TO 
 BE CALLED OFF BECAUSE IT IS LOST. 
 
 " It is not fair to the union men who are working, to keep them 
 supporting the strikers, when there is not a ghost of a chance for success. 
 
 "The men in the Boulder County field have been on strike for four 
 years, and have cost the union treasury two million dollars, and there 
 is not the slightest prospect of a settlement. 
 
 THE MINES ARE RUNNING AND ARE SENDING OUT FULL 
 PRODUCT, WHILE LITTLE CAMPS OF UNION MEN SIT IN RIDIC- 
 ULOUS IDLENESS. 
 
 *' Let the agitators, brought from other States, be withdrawn, as the 
 mine guards have been sent away, and let the miners be allowed to 
 resume work, and much greater credit will be done the union than is 
 possible by continued agitation. Very sincerely, 
 
 H, MARTYN HART, 
 
 Dean of St. John's Cathedral. 
 
 H. A. HOWE, 
 
 Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, University 
 of Denver. 
 
 CHARLES SANFORD OLMSTED, 
 Bishop of Colorado. 
 
 WILLIAM F. SLOCUM, 
 
 President of Colorado College. 
 
 CHARLES G. WILLIAMS, 
 
 Pastor Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church, 
 
 ROBERT M. DONALDSON, 
 
 Acting President, Westminister College. 
 
 HARRY CARSON BIDDLE, 
 Attorney at Law, Denver.'* 
 
 41 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 8 JULY 25, 1914 
 
 NO ''MASSACRE'^ OF WOMEN AND 
 CHILDREN IN COLORADO STRIKE 
 
 Much is contained in current magazines concern- 
 ing the alleged killing of women and children 
 during the Colorado coal strike. If through insti- 
 gation or connivance the coal mine managers of 
 Colorado had permitted anything of this kind to 
 be done on their behalf, the situation would be 
 indeed grievous. 
 
 The principal episode in which such tragedies 
 are alleged to have occurred was the so-called 
 Battle of Ludlow, on April 20th. 
 
 To state the truth on this and other subjects, 
 the Law and Order League, an organization 
 largely composed of women, has caused a carefully 
 prepared statement to be presented to President 
 Woodrow Wilson. 
 
 The statement was signed by about twelve 
 hundred representative Colorado citizens, and 
 submitted by Mrs. Helen L. Grenfell, of Denver, 
 Vice-President of the League. Mrs. Grenfell has 
 three times been Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
 tion, and has been for the past five years Peniten- 
 tiary Commissioner of Colorado. 
 
 In connection with occurrences at the Battle 
 of Ludlow, and especially concerning the report 
 that women and children were ruthlessly killed, 
 Mrs. Grenfell's statement to the President says: 
 
 " In connection with the strike, numerous acts of violence 
 and loss of life and property occurred before October 28, 1913, 
 when the State troops were ordered to the field. 
 
 " During the time this body of troops, small in number, 
 remained in the field, law and order were maintained, only 
 
 42 
 
two men losing their lives, one by accident, the other while 
 resisting arrest. 
 
 " The withdrawal on April 18th of all of the troops from 
 the large area covered by the strike, save the small body 
 stationed at Ludlow, and who were left behind because of the 
 urgent request of residents of the locality, was immediately 
 followed by the battle of April 20th, which, according to the 
 account of witnesses, was precipitated by the strikers occupy- 
 ing the tent colony just after a visit by a military detail for the 
 purpose of demanding the release of a man reported as being 
 unlawfully detained by the strikers. 
 
 GREEKS LED IN TROUBLE 
 
 " The preponderance of testimony declares that the Greek 
 
 contingent of the strikers' colony intrenched in a railroad cut, 
 
 where the strikers had previously hidden 300 guns, began the 
 
 attack. 
 
 * * ^t * 
 
 "During the conflict following, a fire was accidentally 
 started either by an overturned stove or an explosion, and 
 two women and eleven children were afterward found suffo- 
 cated in a covered pit dug under a tent. 
 
 " Not one of them was hit by a bullet, as was shown by 
 the report of the coroner's jury, 
 
 " The presence of women and children in such pits was 
 not suspected by the soldiers, who had seen them running in 
 large numbers to an arroyo before the first shots were fired. 
 ' Evidence also shows that eight hours after the beginning 
 of the fight, when screams were heard issuing from the tents, 
 certain of the troops, at the risk of their own lives, under 
 constant fire from the Greek strikers, rushed to the rescue 
 and removed the women to a place of safety, and in this 
 removal first discovered the existence of the subterranean pits. 
 
 '♦BOTH SIDES AGREE THAT NO WOMAN WAS 
 STRUCK BY A BULLET FROM EITHER SIDE. 
 
 "No machine gun was at any time directed against the 
 colony. 
 
 » * * * 
 
 "A boy of twelve crossing the field was shot in the fore- 
 head while facing the strikers. 
 
 * The elaborate rifle pits occupied by the strikers showed 
 that they had made deliberate preparation for battle, and 
 were so located that the shots from them could not be answered 
 by the troops without firing into the tent colony which the 
 pits surrounded. 
 
 43 
 
ATTACK NOT PLANNED BY 
 THE TROOPS 
 
 " That the attack was not planned by the troops is con- 
 clusively shown by the fact that the soldiers were scattered 
 about the district, employed in their usual morning work, and 
 that the commanding positions were occupied by the strikers 
 in the beginning of the fray. 
 
 *'The entire force of troops, in the early part of the day, 
 was but thirty-eight men as against at least 500 armed strikers. 
 
 "Later in the day other troops and individuals entered 
 into the fight, and it is charged that there were instances of 
 acts of violence on the part of those opposing the strikers, the 
 most serious being the unsoldierlike offense of striking the 
 prisoner, Tikas, by an officer of the State troops. 
 
 *'The discovery that all wounded or dying men, whether 
 soldiers or civilians, who fell into the hands of the strikers 
 had been tortured and unspeakably mutilated may explain, 
 even if it does not excuse, the wrong doing charged." 
 
 44 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 9 JULY 30, 1914 
 
 COAL MINERS EARN MORE IN 
 
 COLORADO THAN IN ANY OTHER 
 
 PART OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Colorado's coal mining wage scale is — and has 
 been for two years — about 20 per cent, higher 
 than the scale in districts with which Colorado 
 coal competes. 
 
 Colorado coal miners are and have been for 
 several years earning better wages than miners in 
 any other part of the United States, not excepting 
 Wyoming, whose scale is nominally, though not 
 in results to the men, higher than that in Colorado. 
 
 A voluntary increase of about 10 per cent, in 
 wages was made by the coal mining companies 
 in April, 1912, without even the suggestion of a 
 demand on the part of the miners. 
 
 * * » « 
 
 SPECIMEN ANNUAL WAGES 
 
 THE AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF A COLO- 
 RADO COAL MINER ARE $4.00 A DAY. 
 
 Suggestion is sometimes made that such a figure applies 
 only when the man works — that he doesn't get a chance to 
 work enough days to earn good annual wages, and that that is 
 the real test. 
 
 Congressman Kindel, of Colorado, speaking in the House 
 of Representatives on June 13th, said : 
 
 *' The uncontroverted testimony taken by the investigating 
 committee of this House discloses the average daily earnings 
 at five representative mines for the months immediately 
 preceding and following the strike to be $4.41, $4.27, $4.98, 
 $4.67, and $4.90 per man." 
 
 45 
 
WHAT THE COLORADO FUEL AND IRON 
 COMPANY PAID 
 
 The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the largest coal 
 producing company, pays out in wages to all employes about 
 $10,000,000 every year. Some 6000, out of a total of 12,000 
 employes, work in and around coal mines. 
 
 For the fiscal year just prior to the strike the Colorado 
 Fuel and Iron Company operated 21 mines. The average 
 number of men employed in digging coal was 2340. 
 
 At the Pictou mine, four brothers, Italians, who worked 
 the entire year, earned an average of $1833 each. 
 
 AT 13 OF THE MINES WHERE 1384 MINERS (59 
 PER CENT. OF ALL THE MINERS) WORKED, THE 
 YEAR'S EARNINGS PER MAN RANGED FROM $980.97 
 TO $1259.14. The working time at these mines varied from 
 213 to 306 days, depending on local conditions. 
 
 At five of the mines 675 miners earned from $805.93 to 
 $943.31, working time ranging from 183 to 253 days. 
 
 Two of the remaining three mines were closed down for 
 a continuous period of almost half of the year and worked 
 but 159 and 151 days respectively; the average earnings per 
 man for the half year being $599.66 at Lester and $596.39 at 
 Walsen. 
 
 The one remaining mine worked 168 days out of the 
 year, the miners earning an average of $4.54 per day, or 
 $764.08 for the year. 
 
 Arbitrary deductions from these earnings are 50 cents per 
 month for sharpening tools, $1 per month for doctor'^ services, 
 covering all necessary attention to the employe and his family, 
 and whatever amount may be paid for powder, the total for 
 powder amounting to from 8 cents to 20 cents per day, and 
 averaging less than $4 per month per man. 
 
 The correctness of these figures was proven in an exam- 
 ination made by cert ified public accountants chosen by the 
 Governor and a committee of newspaper men. 
 
 WHY MINERS OPPOSED A STRIKE 
 
 In addition to these earnings, paid semi-monthly, and the 
 right to trade where they please, the miners have an eight-hour 
 day underground and a checkweighman where they want it. 
 
 It is not hard, therefore, to understand that they were sat- 
 isfied with their conditions and opposed to a strike. 
 
 Neither is it hard to see why no more than 50 per cent. 
 of the men at any time quit work, nor difficult to understand 
 
 46 
 
why more than 70 per cent, of the normal quota of men 
 should be at work now, in spite of all the agitation and effort 
 to foment strife. 
 
 Union sympathizers outside the State are supporting in 
 idleness some 1500 or 2000 men to keep up a semblance of a 
 
 strike. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The mines are meanwhile producing all the coal the 
 market ivill absorb. 
 
 47 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 18 AUGUST 3, 1914 
 
 NOT UNION LABOR— BUT 
 ORGANIZED TYRANNY, 
 THE ISSUE IN COLORADO 
 
 The fight of the Colorado coal mine managers is 
 not against union labor. 
 
 The principle of collective bargaining is not 
 at stake. 
 
 The struggle in Colorado is against the domi- 
 nation of a particular organization — the United 
 Mine Workers of America. 
 
 Opposition to the intrusion of this organization is 
 due tothefact that but a small minority of the miners 
 of Colorado are members of it, that its methods are 
 intolerable, and that its leaders have condoned, if 
 not instigated, unnumbered acts designed to plun- 
 der property and to maim and kill loyal employes. 
 
 POSITION OF THE MANAGERS 
 
 A peculiar feature of the United Mine Workers of Amer- 
 ica, one which distinguishes it from all other unions, is that in 
 all mines where its regime is " recognized " the operator must 
 agree (a) that members of that union must receive first choice 
 of all jobs, and (h) that before the men receive their wages, 
 deduction must be made of whatever union dues or fines have 
 been assessed, and the amount paid to that union. This is 
 called the " check-off." 
 
 The managers felt that submission to any such plan as that 
 was unjustifiable in itself, and was an imposition upon their 
 employes, who had a right to receive the whole of their wages 
 without interference by anyone. The earnings of the miners 
 in the Colorado mines were the highest paid any coal miners 
 in the United States. 
 
 4S 
 
WHAT RECOGNITION OF THIS 
 UNION IMPLIES 
 
 That the obnoxious '* check-off " system of deducting the 
 union wages and fines before the men receive their pay is 
 fundamental with the United Mine Workers is indicated in 
 the following testimony of John Mitchell before the United 
 States Commission on Industrial Relations, April 6, 1914 
 (Page 70) : 
 
 " Mr. Weinstock : You explained that under exist- 
 ing agreements the employers deduct from the wages 
 the union dues ? 
 
 "Mr. Mitchell: Yes. 
 
 *♦ Mr. Weinstock : Does that mean that all mines 
 employing union men are closed shops ? 
 
 *'Mr. Mitchell: Yes; that is, they are union shops. 
 
 "Mr. Weinstock: Non-union men are not em- 
 ployed there ? 
 
 *'MR. MITCHELL: ANY MAN APPLYING 
 FOR EMPLOYMENT MAY BE GIVEN WORK 
 WITHOUT A PROTEST, BUT HE AFTER- 
 WARD AUTOMATICALLY COMES INTO THE 
 UNION. 
 
 *' Mr. Weinstock : And if he refuses to pay his 
 dues he cannot be employed ? 
 "Mr. Mitchell: No." 
 
 TYRANNY OF THE "CHECK-OFF" 
 
 The ''check-off" means that all dues, fines, assessments 
 and fees, which the organization sees fit to levy against its 
 members, shall by the operator be deducted from the earnings 
 of all workmen and remitted to the organization before any 
 payments are made to the employes by the mining company. 
 
 These checks frequently run high and dissatisfy the miners. 
 No matter what their dissatisfaction, the deduction must be 
 made just the same. Neither sickness nor unusual require- 
 ments or needs of a miner's family will permit the mine 
 manager to take care of the miner's wants without first remit- 
 ting to the organization the dues and assessments which may 
 have been levied. 
 
 The following is a clause in the proposed scale demand of 
 
 the United Mine Workers : 
 
 •' It shall be a condition of employment that all men 
 working in and around the mines shall be members of 
 the U. M. W. of A., and all companies to this agree- 
 ment shall collect from their employes 2 per cent, of 
 the gross earnings of all day men and 3 per cent, of the 
 gross earnings of all miners, which shall have pref- 
 erence over all other collections, and turn over to 
 the authorized agents all such moneys after being 
 notified by the miners' organization." 
 
 How subversive of discipline in a mine this " check-off " 
 is can best be gauged by such sections as Section 13, Article 
 
 49 
 
XV, in the constitution of the U. M. W. of A. in the district 
 
 adjoining Colorado : 
 
 "Any member of the U. M. W. of A. found guilty 
 of giving evidence against any members of one 
 organization without first being called upon by the 
 pit committee or district board shall, for the first 
 offense, be fined $10.00." 
 
 Thus, if a mine superintendent suspects infraction of rules 
 for safety, and should call up a miner and try to find the truth, 
 should a miner tell him what he knows the company must 
 withhold $10 from the miner's pay and turn it over to the 
 
 organization. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 In this same constitution. Section 8, Article X, reads : 
 
 ** Any member or members found guilty of giving 
 DAMAGING EVIDENCE, either verbal or written, 
 to the company's representatives in case of accident, 
 vvrithout the consent of the State mine inspector or 
 his deputies or legally constituted authority, shall be 
 expelled from the union and shall not become a mem- 
 ber again for less than $100, and the local expelling 
 him shall notify the district secretary, and he shall 
 notify all locals in the district." 
 
 That is, the door is closed as tightly as possible on any 
 investigation, by the mine officials, of an accident that has 
 occurred. If the miner who assists them goes to work again, 
 they must hold out his fine of $100 and turn it over to the 
 U. M. W. of A. 
 
 * ¥r * * 
 
 HOW THE MEN ARE BLED 
 
 There are innumerable excuses for smaller fines. An 
 
 illuminating paragraph in Section 1, Article XVI : 
 
 "Each member of the United Mine Workers of 
 America in District 14 shall be assessed 1 per cent, on 
 all their gross earnings . . . for the purpose of 
 creating a defense fund for the benefit of the United 
 Mine Workers of America in District No. 14." 
 
 The constitution of District No 15, United Mine Workers 
 
 of America, which embraces Colorado, provides in Section 3, 
 
 Article VI : 
 
 ** All dues, assessments and fines shall be collected 
 by the check-off system, or its equivalent." 
 
 There is a side light in Section 1, Article X : 
 
 *• It shall be the duty of each member to ask for 
 union-label goods in stores w^here they deal, and if 
 said stores don't handle union-made goods, they shall 
 request them to handle union-made goods or not pat- 
 ronize said store." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 THE COMMENT OF A CONGRESSMAN 
 In speaking, on June 13, 1914, in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives at Washington, Congressman Kindel, himself a 
 member of a labor union , had this to say of the United Mine 
 Workers of America : 
 
 50 
 
"It has already been charged that the United Mine 
 Workers of America is a criminal conspiracy under the Sher- 
 man Anti-Trust Act. Its officers, and many of its leading 
 members, are at this moment under indictment in the courts 
 of several States. 
 
 ''In 1912 the Socialist element in its ranks secured control 
 of the organization, and its constitution was amended so as to 
 proclaim that its members are entitled to absolutely all the 
 profit derived from the business in which they are engaged to 
 the exclusion of the man — the parasite as he is termed — who 
 has invested his capital in a presumably legitimate business. 
 
 '* But if these things were not so, the demand for this so- 
 called check-off, the insistence of these leaders that an em- 
 ployer shall and must arbitrarily deduct from the pay roll of 
 every employe, whether such employe desires it or not, an 
 amount to be determined by others, is so un-American and, 
 in my opinion, so unlawful as to compel all fair-minded men 
 to condemn any organizat ion, be it a labor union or other- 
 yyise, -which insists upon such a practice as one of the comer- 
 stones of its structure. 
 
 "There is no other labor organization in the world which 
 depends upon this iniquitous practice for its existence. The 
 check-off can be defended on no possible theory." 
 
 TEN THOUSAND LOYAL MEN 
 Ten thousand men are now faithfully at work in the Colo- 
 rado coal mines. They are producing all the coal the market 
 will absorb. 
 
 To agree to the demands of those still nominally on 
 "strike" would mean that these ten thousand men would of 
 necessity be handed over bodily to the mercies of a labor union 
 which they had never joined and which they had indicated no 
 disposition to join. 
 
 Surrender to the lawlessness and riot supported by the 
 United Mine Workers of America would involve not only 
 sacrifice of what the coal mine managers feel to be profoundly 
 right, but would also mean betrayal of that daily increasing 
 army of loyal employes, who in their silent fashion have mani- 
 fested their preference to work in the "open shop" promised 
 to them at these mines — where any good workman is welcome. 
 
 51 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 No. 11 August 7, 1914 
 
 HOW COLORADO EDITORS VIEW THE 
 COAL STRIKE. 
 
 After the strike was called in the coal mines of 
 southern Colorado, and unusual acts of violence 
 were committed, editors representing 25 leading 
 papers of Colorado met in Denver to learn the 
 facts and to determine upon a policy. 
 
 These editors heard what the different interests 
 had to say, and issued a manifesto to the people 
 of the State — proposing terms upon which in their 
 judgment the strike should be settled. 
 
 The coal mine managers accepted the editors' 
 proposition without qualification. The leaders 
 of the men refused to do so. 
 
 The report of the editors' conference in detail is 
 presented below: 
 
 Gov. E. M. Ammons told why he called out the troops 
 and what he proposes to do through their operations. 
 
 Ford Cornwall, Thomas Dennison, and A. Lamont, three 
 men on strike, were selected by the strike leaders and told 
 why they struck and what they are demanding. 
 
 John C. Osgood, president of one of the large companies, 
 gave the operators' side of the controversy, and John Mc 
 Lennan, president of District No. 15, United Mine Workers 
 of America, told why that organization called the strike. 
 
 The six addresses occupied six hours. Every speaker was 
 given unlimited time and no interruptions allowed. 
 
 Following the addresses the editors went into executive 
 session and adopted the following resolutions with three dis- 
 senting votes 
 
 To the people and the press of Colorado, to the coal-mine owners, 
 And to the coal miners of this State. 
 For the past two months a strike has existed in the coal-mining 
 industry of Colorado. As a direct result of this strike human lives 
 
 52 
 
have been sacrificed, many thousands of laboring men thrown out 
 of employment, property destroyed, business conditions have be- 
 come depressed, the price of coal has been advanced, the reputa- 
 tion and credit of the State at home and abroad is being impaired, 
 and the public at large is being made to suffer beyond accurate 
 calculation. The unfortunate conditions are not in harmony with 
 the peace, prosperity, and general welfare that is supposed to be 
 guaranteed to all men and to all institutions alike under the con- 
 stitution of this State and of the United States. 
 
 For the purpose, therefore, of trying to arrive at a method of 
 assisting in terminating this industrial conflict between the miners 
 and the mine owners in a manner which will be in accordance 
 with the laws of Colorado enacted to regulate the coal mining 
 industry, the newspapers of Colorado represented, acting on behalf 
 of the general public have met in Denver, and after hearing the 
 arguments and statements of representatives of the coal mine 
 owners, of the coal miners, and of the United Mine Workers of 
 America, and a statement from the governor of this State, and 
 having given extensive consideration to each and every one of. 
 these statements, and having weighed their effect fully and carefully, 
 the newspapers represented have agreed upon a general and a 
 united policy of action, to be recommended to the press of Colo- 
 rado, with reference to the termination of this strike, based «po» 
 the authority of the existing State laws. 
 
 WHAT THE MINERS DEMANDED. 
 
 Before stating our conclusions, we desire first to state the cause 
 of the strike, viz: the demands made by the miners upon the coal 
 mine owners of Colorado, which are as follows: 
 
 The demands of the miners: 
 
 First. We demand recognition of the union. 
 
 Second. We demand a lo per cent, advance in wages on the 
 tonnage rates and the following day-wage scale, which is practic- 
 ally in accord with the Wyoming day-wage scale. 
 
 Third. We demand an eight-hour workday for all classes of 
 labor in or around the coal mines and at coke ovens. 
 
 Fourth. We demand pay for all narrow work and dead work, 
 which includes brushing, timbering, removing falls, handling im- 
 purities, etc. 
 
 Fifth. We demand check weighmen at all mines, to be elected by 
 the miners without any interference by company officials in said 
 election. 
 
 Sixth. We demand the right to trade in any store we please and 
 the right to choose our own boarding place and our own doctor. 
 
 Seventh. We demand the enforcement of the Colorado mining 
 laws and the abolition of the notorious and criminal guard system 
 which has prevailed in the mining camps of Colorado for many 
 years. 
 
 THE EDITORS' CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 First demand. Recognition of the union. 
 
 With reference to the first demand we submit the following facts 
 and conclusions: 
 
 53 
 
The question of the official recognition of any labor organization 
 or labor union by any employer or employers of labor is a question 
 not reached or controlled by law, but must be mutually desired by 
 both employer and employee to become a recognized reality. 
 
 In other words, if employers do not desire to recognize a labor 
 union as an organization in the employment of members of that 
 union, there is no law upon the statute books which can or will 
 compel them to do so. 
 
 WE HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION, THEREFORE, 
 THAT THE FIRST DEMAND MADE BY THE MINERS 
 IS NOT ONE WHICH CAN BE ARBITRATED BY ANY 
 BODY OF MEDIATORS, FOR THE REASON THAT AS 
 STATED ABOVE, IT MUST BE A MATTER MUTUALLY 
 DESIRED AND AGREED TO BY EMPLOYER AND EM- 
 PLOYEE. 
 
 However, so long as individual workmen in the employ of 
 coal-mine owners desire to belong to a union they have a perfect 
 right to do so. This right is guaranteed them by the laws of the 
 State, and therefore this first demand for official recognition of 
 the United Mine Workers of America, as such, should not be 
 further pressed by the members of that organization in accepting a 
 declaration on which this strike should now be terminated. 
 
 However, the right of the miners to belong to a union under 
 the authority of the State of Colorado should be recognized and 
 upheld and should not be objected to by any employer of labor. 
 « » * « 
 
 ADEQUATE WAGES ALREADY PAID. 
 
 Second demand . A wage increase of lo per cent. 
 
 Fourth demand . Additional pay for additional and varied work. 
 
 In our judgment these two demands should be merged into a single 
 demand, especially as both the second and fourth demands contem- 
 plate a higher net income in wages for the miners and our con- 
 clusion is, therefore, that these demands should be consolidated and 
 considered under one general proposition. 
 
 With reference to this general wage demand, therefore, our 
 conclusions are as follows: 
 
 The amount of money a miner can earn depends on the amount 
 of work he can or is willing to perform. In a published advertise- 
 ment over the name of the United Mine Workers of America which 
 recently appeared in the Denver Newspapers, a statement was made 
 to the effect that all the miners wanted was "a living wage and 
 the enforcement of the laws affecting the coal-mining industry." 
 
 The question very properly arises, therefore, as to what should 
 be considered a living wage. 
 
 The average wage earned by the individual coal miners working 
 in all parts of Colorado, as published in the advertisements of the 
 coal-mine owners, we find to be approximately $4 per day, prac- 
 tically $105 per month, and working eight hours a day or less if 
 they choose. 
 
 This is said to include the wages earned by good bad, and 
 indifferent miners. The wages of some miners is said to run as 
 low as $2.25 per day, while other miners individually earn over 
 $7 per day. 
 
 54 
 
A comparison of the average coal miner's wage for the entire 
 State of $4 per day, with the wages earned by other classes of 
 laboring men in Colorado who are equally skilled with a coal 
 miner, shows that if the average wages of all coal miners in 
 Colorado is $105 per month, they are now being paid, in our belief, 
 what has been referred to as a living wage; in fact, that they 
 are already being paid a wage entirely in keeping with the wages 
 paid for other classes of labor in Colorado. 
 
 Therefore, taking the miners at their published word, we be- 
 lieve that their original demand for a 10 per cent, increase over 
 the present Colorado scale, and which as later modified in their 
 advertisements to a demand for living wages, has already been 
 met by the payment of the existing scale of wages for raining 
 coal in this State, and which is higher in the net wages earned 
 than in any other State. Therefore, this, the second and fourth 
 demand upon the part of the United Mine Workers of America 
 for living wages is now being given the miners by the coal mine 
 
 owners. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Third demand . An eight-hour day for all classes of labor in and 
 around the coal mines and at coke ovens . 
 
 This third demand is one which is guaranteed to miners em- 
 ployed in underground mines by the laws of Colorado. If the 
 laws of this State have been disregarded in the employment of 
 labor in the coal mining industry, it is the duty of the governor to 
 enforce this law, and in this he should be heartily supported. 
 
 Therefore, our conclusion with reference to the third demand 
 
 on the part of the miners employed in underground mines is thai 
 
 it should be gua^ranteed to them in accordance with the laws of 
 
 this State. 
 
 •jt * * 
 
 Fifth demand. Check weighmen at all times. 
 
 This, the fifth demand, is another to which the miners are clearlj 
 entitled, and which is guaranteed to them under the law. If this 
 law has not been enforced, or if the miners have not taken advan- 
 tage of their rights under it, it is the duty of the governor of 
 Colorado to guarantee the enforcement of this law. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Sixth demand. The right to trade at any store. 
 
 This sixth demand, also, may or may not have been accorded the 
 miners by the mine owners. It is a demand, however, which 
 should be guaranteed to them, for the reason that the laws of 
 Colorado provide that no coercion should be practiced by any 
 coal mine owner against any miner in the buying of his household 
 supplies. Therefore, this sixth demand should also be guaranteed 
 to the miners under the provision of the laws relating thereto. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Seventh demand . General enforcement of Colorado mining laws; 
 
 abolition of guard system. 
 
 This seventh and last demand upon the part of the miners is 
 not open to discussion, so far as that portion of it which relates 
 to a general enforcement of the Colorado mining laws is concerned; 
 
 55 
 
for, without question, the miners are entitled to receive the full 
 benefit guaranteed to them under the mining laws of this State. 
 
 So far as the employment of police or mine guards is concerned, 
 this practice during periods of peace is maintained solely as a 
 matter of police protection against ordinary disturbances and against 
 possible damages to property in times of petty brawls which are 
 of ordinary occurrence in many mining camps; and so long as 
 these guards or police are maintained upon a company property 
 for the purpose of preserving the peace and to protect that property, 
 there is no good or legal reason for their removal. 
 
 With the exception of this portion of the last demand of the 
 miners, our conclusion is that the seventh demand, for general 
 enforcement of the mining laws of Colorado, is clearly right, and 
 should also be guaranteed to the miners by the full power of the 
 laws of this State. 
 
 CONDITIONS OF PEACE. 
 
 Therefore, after mature and careful consideration of all the 
 factors in connection with this strike, we hereby make the following 
 declaration: 
 
 That the strike nuhich has prevailed in the coal mining industry 
 in Colorado should he called off under the folloiving terms and 
 conditions, viz: 
 
 First. That the miners should waive their first demand, which 
 is for a recognition of the union , on the ground that the recognition 
 of any union must necessarily be a matter of mutual agreement 
 and not of coercion, and not being covered by any law; and for 
 the additional reason that the laws of Colorado guarantee to every 
 miner the right to belong individually to any labor organization 
 without prejudice or discrimination on the part of any employer 
 of labor. 
 
 Second. That the miners should waive their second and fourth 
 demands for an increase in wages, not only for the reason that 
 the wages now paid to coal miners in this State are larger than 
 in most other States, and are as large as paid in most other lines 
 of industry in Colorado, but also for the reason that the modified 
 demands of the miners, as published in the newspapers, asking for 
 living wages, are, in our opinion, already met, being paid to them 
 in cash, twice a month, by the coal-mine owners. 
 
 Third. That the miners are entitled to have granted their de- 
 mands, in accordance with the laws relating thereto, designated 
 as follows: 
 
 Third demand. For an eight-hour work day in all coal mines. 
 
 Fifth demand. For a checkweighman in all mines where they 
 ask, to be selected from among the miners by the miners, to be 
 paid by them, and without interference upon the part of the 
 operators. 
 
 Sixth demand. The right to trade at any store. 
 
 Seventh demand. The demand for the enforcement of all laws 
 relating to the coal-mining industry. 
 
 Also that all competent striking miners who have not been guilty 
 of violation of the law while on strike should be taken back by 
 the coal-mine owners without prejudice. 
 
 56 
 
ALSO, THAT ANY COAL-MINE OWNER HAS A LEGAL 
 RIGHT TO EMPLOY ANY PERSON OR PERSONS WITH- 
 OUT INTERFERENCE OR THREATS UPON THE PART 
 OF ANY OTHER PERSON OR ORGANIZATIONS, AS 
 PROVIDED BY LAW. 
 
 Also, that we declare it to be the duty of the governor of this 
 State to compel the enforcement of the State mining laws, to which 
 we pledge our earnest support and co-operation; and that, to 
 obtain for the miners every right to which they are entitled under 
 the law, the rigid enforcement of the State laws is alone necessary. 
 
 NECESSARY TO INSURE THE PEACE. 
 
 We commend Gov. Ammons for sending troops into one disturbed 
 district of the State, and express our full confidence in the integrity 
 of his purposes respecting the unfortunate industrial strife that 
 exists there. However, we believe the troops should be adequate 
 in number to become sole protectors of life and property in sections 
 of the State where such strife exists or is threatened, and that the 
 National Guard should be recruited to meet conditions as they 
 may arise. That is our opinion that until such time as the 
 National Guard may safely be withdrawn from the affected dis- 
 tricts and law and order restored that all offenses and violations 
 of law pertaining to the strike should be immediately tried before 
 military courts. 
 
 We further request the governor to take such action as will 
 prevent the importation of firearms into this State by any individual 
 or any organization, because we believe that no one has a right to 
 bear arms here except those legally authorized to do so under the 
 laws of the State of Colorado. 
 
 * » « 
 
 Thus it will be seen that we have found in favor of the miners 
 in four of the six general demands they have made and have recog- 
 nized their right to work as union. 
 
 That in declining to side with the miners in the other two de- 
 mands as stated, we have concluded that the miners are already 
 receiving living wages; and have, at the same time, found for 
 the miners in their first demand, by insisting that one of the condi- 
 tions under which this strike is to be called off is that all competent 
 miners shall have guaranteed to them under the provisions of 
 the la vs of the State the right to belong to any organization without 
 prejudiv'e or discrimination on the part of any employer, which 
 means th^ir right to work as union miners on the open-shop plan. 
 
 • « « 
 
 Therefore, in the interest of the miners, of the coal owners, and 
 of the p:eneral public, we hereby declare that this strike should 
 be called off under the conditions stated above, in order to insure 
 the future development of the coal-mining industry of Colorado 
 and the peace and prosperity of its people. 
 
 In the carrying out of this policy by the governor of this State, 
 we pledge the support of the editors and papers here represented 
 and ask for the cooperation of all our fellow editors in Colorado, 
 who could not conveniently ccnne to this conference, in support 
 ©f such policy, 
 
 57 
 
Also, that a copy of this declaration be furnished to the officials 
 of the United Mine Workers of America, a copy to the coal-mine 
 owners, a copy to the governor of Colorado, and that copies be 
 sent to the press of this State for the purpose of advising the 
 people concerning what we believe to be a just and fair declaration 
 under the terms of which this strike should now be immediately 
 called off and industrial peace restored, and that we pledge our- 
 selves to support this declaration, based on law enforcement, in 
 the editorial columns of our newspapers. 
 
 John C. Shaffer, of the Rocky Mountain Nenus. 
 Frank S. Hoag, of the Star Journal. 
 H. E. BowDEN, of the Trinidad Advertiser. 
 L. C. Paddock, of the Boulder Camera. 
 Fred Marvin, of the Pueblo Chieftain. 
 
 THE ANSWER OF THE COAL-MINE MANAGERS. 
 
 Messrs. John C. Shaffer, Frank S. Hoag, H. E. Bovvden, L. C. 
 Paddock, Fred Marvin, Denver, Colo. 
 
 Gentlemen: The undersigned, coal-mine operators, are in receipt 
 
 of a copy of the proceedings of the conference of editors, held in 
 
 Denver, Thursday, November 13. In this statement you specify 
 
 the conditions suggested by the editors under which the coal miners' 
 
 strike in Colorado should be terminated. We agree to comply 
 
 fully and in good faith with the conditions suggested by you in 
 said statement. 
 
 When the operators receive the protection from the civil authori- 
 ties for the men who desire to work and for their properties to 
 which they are entitled, are not interfered with in employing men 
 to take the places of those who are now on strike and who left 
 before the strike was called, and are enabled to operate their 
 mines under normal conditions to normal capacity, on the open-shop 
 principle, which has prevailed in Colorado for more than 30 years, 
 we will put into effect the scale of prices for coal heretofore 
 prevailing. 
 Sincerely, 
 
 J. F. Welborn, 
 President Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. 
 D. W. Brown, 
 Vice President Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. 
 J. C. Osgood, 
 Chairman Board of Directors, The Victor- American Fuel C«. 
 
 F. B. Lewis, 
 President Oakdale Coal Co., South Canon Coal Co. 
 
 F. A. Perry, 
 Leyden Coal Co., Moffatt Coal Co. 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 No. 12 August 11, 1914 
 
 WHAT THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO 
 
 SAYS OF THE "GUNMEN" OF 
 THE STRIKE. 
 
 In reply to an inquiry as to the assertion that 
 what was tantamount to private war being made 
 on behalf of the coal mine managers against the 
 strikers, Gov. Elias M. Ammons, of Colorado, 
 wrote the following letter to the Editor of the 
 Boulder (Col.) "Daily Camera": 
 
 "Replying to your inquiry concerning *gunmen* con- 
 nected with this strike question, it is interesting to note what 
 the facts really are. 
 
 "The National Guard was called into the field on Octo- 
 ber 28. 
 
 "They found a very serious condition in the strike zone, 
 and a most difficult situation to control. 
 
 "They successfully handled numerous severe ordeals 
 without firing a shot, refraining from resenting insult and 
 abuse even under most exasperating circumstances. 
 
 "Maintaining as many as forty stations scattered over a 
 territory greater in extent than some station, the guard han- 
 dled the situation for almost six months without shooting a 
 single striker. 
 
 * * * 
 
 WHO WERE SHOT BY SOLDIERS 
 
 *'It is true two men were shot. 
 
 "One a non-union miner was accidentally killed while 
 trying to break through the picket line; another non-union 
 miner, having shot a town marshal, was killed by the guard 
 after he had fired twenty-eight shots at them in resisting ar- 
 rest. 
 
 "It must be admitted that this is a pretty record. 
 
 * * * 
 59 
 
WHO WERE KILLED BY STRIKERS 
 
 "But there are other 'gunmen.* 
 
 "Five men in an automobile near La Veta were ambushed 
 and shot, four of them fatally. 
 
 "This was the result of a plot by certain strikers. 
 
 "A non-union miner named Smith was beaten to death 
 and his body thrown on the railroad track to be run over by 
 a train. 
 
 "A cowboy, mistaken for a deputy sheriff, was shot to 
 death near Ludlow. 
 
 "Nine men guarding the Forbes mine were shot and 
 killed and part of the property burned. 
 
 "Two children were shot in bed at Tabasco. 
 
 "A man guarding a railroad bridge to prevent its de- 
 struction by fire was shot and killed. 
 
 "A Trinidad business man who had the temerity to sign 
 a resolution upholding the constituted authorities was beaten 
 and left for dead. 
 
 * * * 
 
 "In the Louisville district for most of a night and a day 
 a perfect rain of bullets was poured into buildings containing 
 
 forty or fifty wo(men and children, and one man was killed. 
 
 "In other sections mines were fired on, women and chil- 
 dren placed in jeopardy, and men employed in their protec- 
 tion were shot and killed. 
 
 "Large numbers of men were in armed insurrection 
 against the authorities, and many of them were not citizens 
 of the United States while several of the leaders were not 
 even residents of Colorado. 
 
 "After the battle of Ludlow, where hundreds of armed 
 men attempted the annihilation of the handful of national 
 guard left in the field, imported leaders and an inflammatory 
 press through exaggeration and untruth incited thousands to 
 riot and insurrection, the burning of property, and the killing 
 of men. 
 
 * « * 
 
 WHAT THE LOYAL SOLDIERS ENDURED 
 
 "The local authorities being powerless, the National 
 Guard, the only men provided for such emergencies, were 
 called back into the field. 
 
 60 
 
"Although the men had not received their pay for three 
 months and were not even comfortably clothed, notwith- 
 standing they were villified from behind and confronted with 
 overwhelming armed forces, they responded to the call to 
 duty. 
 
 "Under most trying circumstances, the meager force of 
 a few hundred men that could be gotten together hurriedly 
 acquitted themselves carefully, and successfully checked the 
 insurrection. 
 
 "In face of the greatest danger, maligned by the public 
 press, the insurrectionists encouraged by inflammatory ap- 
 peals in the centers of population, the men conducted them- 
 selves with grim heroism and performed a notable service to 
 the state. 
 
 * » * 
 
 A CASE OF BUTCHERY 
 
 "The almost savagery of the 'gunmen' with whom they 
 had to contend is illustrated by the butchery of the wounded 
 soldier, Martin. 
 
 "Weak from loss of blood and unable to defend himself, 
 a revolver was placed in his mouth and his head blown ofF, 
 his limbs were broken and his body horribly mutilated. 
 
 "At Walsenburg, Major Lester, while engaged in caring 
 for a wounded soldier and while wearing the Red Cross, 
 was shot down and his body rifled of valuables and even 
 clothes. 
 
 "IT WAS THE ACTS OF SUCH 'GUNMEN' THAT RE- 
 QUIRED THE PRESENCE OF THE NATIONAL GUARD 
 IN THE FIELD AND KEPT THEM THERE. 
 
 "In the light of misleading agitation I fear the people do 
 not fully realize the importance of supporting the military 
 arm of the government. 
 
 "Without this instrument of strength in times of great 
 disorder there is nothing effectual to suppress insurrection; 
 and until order can be restored there can be no assurance 
 through civil authority for the protection of either life or 
 property. 
 
 "It seems to me we should honor the brave boys of the 
 National Guard, most of whom come from the best families 
 of the state who gave or risked their lives for the restoration 
 of peace ; the reestablishment of personal and property rights 
 and lawful organized government." 
 
 61 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 No. 13 August 17. 1914 
 
 THE ACTIVITIES IN COLORADO OF 
 "MOTHER JONES;^ 
 
 While it is undesirable to deal with personalities 
 in connection with any great economic question, 
 the necessity for some statement of facts is created 
 by a peculiarly inaccurate article published in the 
 Metropolitan Magazine for July, 1914. 
 
 In this article much is made of the activities of 
 '^Mother Jones," whose name has frequently ap- 
 peared in connection with this strike. Among 
 other things, the following is cited: "When she 
 returned to Colorado this old lady of eighty-two, 
 who was opposing extreme measures, who told the 
 miners not to shoot, but to keep quiet when the 
 'gunmen' were irritating them, this apostle of 
 peace was seized ,by the militia and put under 
 arrest." 
 
 As so many unwarranted inferences have been 
 drawn from this and other episodes — as so much 
 public sympathy has been sought on account of the 
 alleged mistreatment of "Mother Jones," attention 
 should be given to the Official Report to the Gov- 
 ernor of Colorado and also to the President of the 
 United States, by Gen. John Chase, in command of 
 the Military District of Colorado during the strike. 
 
 Gen. Chase says: 
 
 "MOTHER JONES" 
 
 "The person known as 'Mother Jones' has occasioned 
 considerable publicity, and some embarrassment during the 
 occupation. 
 
 "The embarrassment of her presence is not, however, 
 confined to the military authorities by any means. 
 
 "It was at one time stated to me and the Judge Advocate. 
 by Mr. McLennan, one of the principal strike leaders, that 
 
 62 
 
Mother Jones was invaluable as an organizer in the early 
 stages of the strike, because she excited the men, but had al- 
 ways proved very embarrassing to the union chiefs in the 
 latter stages, particularly v^hen there was possibility of a 
 compromise or adjustment. 
 
 "McLennan stated in that conversation that Mother 
 Jones was a very headstrong old woman, who would not 
 submit to guidance or suggestion of any kind, even from 
 her own people, and that they had to suffer her to do as she 
 wanted, oftentimes to the great annoyance of those in charge 
 of the strike. 
 
 "She is an eccentric and peculiar figure, I make no 
 mention of her personal history, with which we are not con- 
 cerned. 
 
 "She seems, however, to have in an exceptional degree 
 the faculty of stirring up and inciting the more ignorant and 
 criminally disposed to deeds of violence and crime. 
 
 "Prior to the advent of the state's troops she made a 
 series of speeches in the strike zone, of which I have authen- 
 tic and verbatim reports. 
 
 "These speeches are couched in course, vulgar, and pro- 
 fane language, and address themselves to the lowest pas- 
 sions of mankind. 
 
 "I CONFIDENTLY BELIEVE THAT MOST OF THE 
 MURDERS AND OTHER ACTS OF VIOLENT CRIME 
 COMMITTED IN THE STRIKE REGION HAVE BEEN IN- 
 SPIRED BY THIS WOMAN'S INCENDIARY UTTER- 
 ANCES. 
 
 "The fact that she is a woman and advanced in years 
 she uses as a shield, as well as a means of invoking popular 
 sympathetic sentiment in case of her incarceration. 
 
 "She is undoubtedly a most dangerous factor in the 
 
 peace problem. 
 
 * * * 
 
 "I am informed that she was so found in West Virginia 
 and elsewhere that disturbance and anarchy held sway. 
 
 "She was held for murder in West Virginia, and I am 
 advised that her police record is In the possession of the 
 PInkerton Detective Agency.* 
 
 DEFIED THE STATE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 "As Your Excellency is fully aware, she defied all gov- 
 ernment and all authority of the Governor to Your Ex- 
 cellency. 
 
 [•Referred to in detail in speech by Congressman George Kindel 
 of Colorado, before House of Representatives, June 13, 1914. Pub- 
 lished in full in "Congressional Record" for that date.] 
 
 63 
 
"Every effort was made to induce her to remain away 
 from the troubled district, and the co-operation in that 
 respect of the strike leaders was invited. 
 
 "These latter, however, while evincing a disposition to 
 keep Mother Jones out of the territory, frankly confessed 
 their inability to do so. 
 
 "She came to Trinidad, after publicly declaring her in- 
 tention to incite trouble. 
 
 "In view of her history in other places and the evident 
 effects of her incendiary utterances in Colorado, Your Ex- 
 cellency deemed it wise and even necessary, as a military 
 measure, to restrain Mother Jones of her liberty so long as 
 she persisted in remaining in the strike region. 
 
 "Accordingly, upon the day of her arrival in Trinidad I 
 arrested her and placed her in San Rafael Hospital, upon the 
 outskirts of the city, where she was given every attention 
 conducive to her comfort. 
 
 "She was advised that she was always at entire liberty to 
 leave the disturbed parts of the state, but she pertinaciously 
 and with great contumacy insisted on remaining in imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 "It was avowedly present in her mind to excite sympathy 
 for the union cause by submitting to a continued incarcera- 
 tion, and with that in mind she was at first very angry that 
 she had been so nicely restrained at the hospital, instead of 
 being confined in a common jail , of which she felt she would 
 be able to make more capital. 
 
 "After many weeks' confinement, however, she sought a 
 confidential interview with Colonel Davis, commanding the 
 central camp at Trinidad, in which she discussed ways and 
 means of bringing about her departure and at the same time 
 saving her face. 
 
 "Being anxious only to get rid of the incendiary woman, 
 her suggestion that she be permitted to go to Denver, osten- 
 sibly to see Your Excellency, and that, if liberated at that 
 place, she would depart upon some excuse of her own, was 
 readily adopted. 
 
 REPUDIATES HER OWN PROPOSAL. 
 
 "Upon her own suggestion, she was brought to Denver 
 and liberated as suggested, but she promptly repudiated the 
 rest of her proposal , and, after interviewing her attorney and 
 strike leaders, and remaining in Denver for three or four 
 
 64 
 
days, she returned to the strike district, where again, by 
 Your Excellency's directions, I have had the unpleasant duty 
 of detaining her. 
 
 "She was again notified that she was free to leave the 
 district at any time she wished. She returned to the strike 
 district, not for the transaction of any business, or for any 
 other purpose than to defy the power of the state, and, as 
 she stated in numerous interviews, *to establish her constitu- 
 tional right to go where she pleased,' and in open defiance of 
 the power and authority vested in the chief executive.'* 
 
 TELEGRAM TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 "I am directed by the Governor of Colorado to Inform 
 the President of the United States that one Mary Jones, 
 alias 'Mother' Jones, is and always has been at entire liberty 
 to leave the disturbed district, but insists upon remaining, 
 avowedly to make incendiary speeches. 
 
 "She is confined with comfort in a pleasant room in a 
 large church hospital, as a necessary peace precaution, in view 
 of her history elsewhere. 
 
 "March 8 a non-union miner was atrociously murdered 
 near the union tent colony at Forbes in the strike zone, to 
 which colony the murderers were easily tracked. 
 
 "This murder was significant just at this time. 
 
 "At the urgent request of the sheriff, all of the inhabi- 
 tants of this small colony were arrested — sixteen men. 
 
 "There were no women or children. 
 
 "The tents were ordered removed, to forestall further 
 outlawry. 
 
 "Colorado has maintained peace and preserved its consti- 
 tution and laws with its own patriotic volunteer militia, 
 thankless, self-sacrificing, patiently, silent under abuse. 
 
 "The silence that military rule and necessity enjoin I am 
 directed to break, that the President may be advised." 
 
 (Signed) JOHN CHASE, 
 
 Brigadier General, 
 Commanding the Military District of Colorado. 
 
 65 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 14 DENVER, AUGUST 25, 1914 
 
 WHY THE STRIKE WAS FORCED 
 ON COLORADO MINERS 
 
 Of transcendent consequence is the fact that the 
 Colorado coal strike was not due to dissatisfaction 
 of the men with their working conditions. 
 
 There were petty grievances, of course. The 
 14,000 men working in the mines of this district 
 earned the highest wages paid in any coal mining 
 region in the United States. They had made no 
 demands for general changes in conditions. 
 
 But the Union decided at its headquarters in 
 Indianapolis that there should be a strike. 
 Agitators were accordingly sent to Colorado to 
 stir up trouble and to arouse the men to fancied 
 grievances. 
 
 Recognition of the Union was the underlying 
 motive of the strike plan. 
 
 Why should that be so important to the Union ? 
 Why should it be of importance for the Union to 
 force itself upon a mining community, even when 
 there were no wrongs to redress, no demand by 
 the men for the Union's assistance? 
 
 # * * * 
 
 WHY COLORADO WAS ATTACKED 
 
 Colorado miners are the best paid in the country. 
 "Recognition" of the United Mine Workers of America 
 means in effect that every man in the mine must be a member 
 of the Union. Every mine is required to pay the Union dues 
 and assessments first out of the man's pay. 
 
 In brief^ " Recognition " of this Union means submission 
 to this system of " checking-off " Union dues, fines and assess- 
 ments before any man can be paid the wages he has earned. 
 
 These assessments may be made by the Union's officers at 
 any time and for any purpose. For example, out of the wages 
 
 66 
 
oi miners in other sections of the country than Colorado had 
 to be '' checked-off " the funds to meet the expenses incident 
 to stirring up the strike in Colorado. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The Committee in charge of the campaign in Colorado 
 consisted of Frank J. Hayes, John McLennan and John R. 
 Lawson. The report of the Secretary-Treasurer of the general 
 organization covering the period ending November 30, 1913, 
 shows that out of the daily wages of the miners of the country 
 there had been collected money to pay, among other things, 
 salaries and expenses as follows : 
 
 Frank J. Hayes, nine weeks' salary . . $4052.92 
 
 Frank J. Hayes, nine weeks' expenses . 1667.20 
 
 Total for salary and expenses . . $5720.12 
 
 Frank J. Hayes was thus paid over $90 a day, or at the 
 rate of over $32,000 a year. 
 
 For this same period of nine weeks, John McLennan 
 received for salary $2683.55; for expenses $1469.55 — 
 $66 a day. 
 
 John R. Lawson received for nine weeks* salary $1773.40. 
 
 Mother Jones, whose sole duty was to agitate, received 
 $2668.62 as salary for the same period— $42 a day. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Colorado miners with their high wages evidently offered a 
 glittering prospect to the treasury of the United Mine 
 
 Workers of America. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 MINERS NOT RESPONSIBLE 
 Up to the time the strike was called, however, but few of 
 the workmen had responded to the urgent appeals to join the 
 Union. The records showed that on May 31, 1913, in the 
 three States of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, where 23,000 
 men were employed in coal mines, only 2048 were members 
 of the Union. 
 
 The strike in southern Colorado was nominally called by a 
 so-called convention " held in Trinidad. Two hundred and 
 fifty "delegates" were present: 100 were striking and idle 
 miners from the northern Colorado coal field ; about 50 were 
 officers and paid employes of the Union ; the rest were selected 
 by those in charge of the convention. 
 
 A careful poll by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company at 
 its mines a few days before the strike showed from 90 to 99 
 per cent, of the men opposed to the proposition. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 When the strike was called only 4650 men laid down their 
 tools. Many left through intimidation; others took their 
 
 67 
 
families away to avoid the threatened bloodshed. Many men 
 returned to work almost immediately. 
 
 The Union provided tents for the strikers to live in while 
 the strike was in progress. Many nominal "strikers" were 
 naturally employed from outside to go and stay in the tent 
 colonies. 
 
 As the real strikers returned to work or left the district, 
 other outsiders were sent to recruit the tent colonies. 
 
 At the present time, although the mine managers are pre- 
 vented by the Federal Government from soliciting new men 
 to work their mines, the tent colonies are constantly receiv- 
 ing additions from outside — not from the w^orking miners. 
 
 Instead of the managers hiring miners, the Union is hiring 
 
 ** strikers." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 TESTIMONY OF A SOLDIER 
 
 That the Union men of the country who are contributing 
 to maintain this appearance of an effective strike are being 
 misled is indicated by the following statement by Captain 
 Hildreth Frost, of Company A, Second Infantry, N. G. C, 
 who was also Judge Advocate in one of the districts of 
 Colorado during the military occupation of the strike zone : 
 
 "My district included the producing mines of Wocton, 
 Morley, Starkville, Piedmont, Sopris, Cokedale and Mc- 
 Laughlin and the coke ovens of Sopris and Cokedale, with a 
 population of the district of between six and eight thousand. 
 
 "There was one tent colony in my district and a large 
 number of strikers and their supporters. 
 
 " I took a careful census of the entire district and either 
 myself or one of my lieutenants personally examined the Union 
 cards of practically every Union man in the District. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " We found approximately 700 men in the District holding 
 Union cards. Every card bears the stamp of the date the man 
 joined the Union. 
 
 **I found only ONE card of a resident of the District w^ho 
 was m member of the United Mine Workers of America prior 
 to or at the time the strike was ordered a year ago this July, 
 AND ONLY FOUR OR FIVE WHO WERE MEMBERS 
 OF THE UNION PRIOR TO THE TIME THE STRIKE 
 WAS ACTUALLY COMMENCED ON SEPTEMBER 
 23, 1913. 
 
 * * ¥t * 
 
 "I found that less than 300 of the approximately 700 
 Union card holders in my District were actually in any coal 
 mine in southern Colorado at the time the strike was called. 
 
 " The balance of the 700 had simply joined the Union to 
 swell its apparent strength and to draw the $3.00 a week 
 stipend." 
 
 68 
 
THE STRUGGLE IN COLORADO 
 FOR INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 BULLETIN No. 15 DENVER, SEPTEMBER 4, 1914 
 
 THE EFFECT OF CLOSING SALOONS IN 
 
 COLORADO COAL MINING 
 
 DISTRICT 
 
 In the Western Christian Advocate for June 8, 
 1914, a writer criticises Colorado coal mine 
 managers for their policies in respect to 
 
 Camp Marshals, 
 
 Deductions from Employes' Pay Rolls, and 
 
 The operation of saloons at the mining camps. 
 
 Concerning these criticisms, Mr. J. F. Wel- 
 born, President of The Colorado Fuel and Iron 
 Company, the largest of the Colorado mining 
 companies, makes this statement specifically as 
 to the practices of his own company : 
 
 CAMP MARSHALS 
 
 "Camp marshals, who in many instances are regularly 
 elected constables, are employed only in the larger coal camps. 
 
 " Their general duties are very much the same as those of 
 the peace officer in villages and small towns throughout the 
 United States. In addition, they have charge of the sanitary 
 conditions of the camps and the general repair and care of 
 tenant houses. 
 
 At Colorado Fuel and Iron Company camps, numbering 
 22, and employing from 5000 to 6000 men, representing a 
 population of approximately 15,000, there were employed im- 
 mediately prior to the strike only seven camp marshals, or one 
 for every three camps. 
 
 69 
 
" The camp marshals are neither ' gunmen ' nor thugs , and 
 are chosen for the duties assigned to them with the same view 
 to their fitness for that work that is exercised in the selection 
 of other employes for particular work. 
 
 " The marshal is often the one man in the camp to whom 
 the employes tell their troubles, both real and imaginary. 
 
 '* He does not, as is charged, assault the miners, and they 
 are free to complain of him or anyone else without danger of 
 being discharged. 
 
 ■Jt * -x- -x- 
 
 DEDUCTIONS ON PAY ROLLS 
 
 '* The statement is made that ' a study of the pay rolls 
 shows how few of the miners receive in cash anywhere near 
 the amount of their earnings.' 
 
 " Colorado coal miners are paid twice per month. During 
 the fiscal year preceding the strike the employes at The 
 Colorado Fuel and Iron Company coal mines received 80.9 
 per cent, of their earnings in cash. 
 
 " Of the 19.1 per cent, of all earnings deducted by the 
 company before making payment to the men, 11.73 per cent, 
 represented purchases at our stores ; 2.25 per cent, represented 
 rent of houses; and the remaining 5.12 per cent, represented 
 coal, board, hospital, powder and the customary charge of 50 
 cents per month for sharpening tools. 
 
 ■X * * * 
 
 " During the same fiscal year The Colorado Fuel and 
 Iron Company mines worked an average of 248/^ days. 
 
 "THE MINERS EARNED AN AVERAGE OF $4.02 
 PER DAY, AND $999.36 FOR THE YEAR. 
 
 ♦•THEY WERE PAID IN CASH AN AVERAGE OF 
 OVER $800 FOR THE YEAR'S WORK. 
 
 " They do not have to wait two weeks after their month's 
 work before being paid, but receive payment on an average of 
 not more than seven days after the closing of each half 
 month's period. 
 
 70 
 
SALOONS 
 
 It is charged that some of the coal companies maintain 
 their own saloons for their men and issue scrip to their em- 
 ployes for use in the company saloons; while in other places 
 exclusive saloon privilege in a camp has been granted to a 
 saloon keeper, and he is charged 25 cents to 40 cents for every 
 man whose name appears on the company pay roll.' 
 
 The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company neither operates 
 saloons nor grants saloon privileges for a consideration based 
 on the number of men employed or the amount of liquor 
 consumed. 
 
 At five of its camps, located some distance from the 
 nearest town, it gives leases, revocable at will, on buildings at 
 a reasonable rental rate to tenants who operate saloons under 
 very strict regulations providing for early closing, the main- 
 tenance of strict order, and the closing on occasions of any 
 unusual excitement on request of the mine superintendent. 
 
 "The other camps of The Colorado Fuel and Iron Com- 
 pany are located within or near towns having a number of 
 saloons, with which the company has nothing to do either 
 directly or indirectly. 
 
 •X- -x- * * 
 
 ** The officers of The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company 
 believe in the policy adopted by certain important railroads 
 prohibiting the use of intoxicating drinks by their employes 
 both on and off duty, but many of the coal mine employes 
 demand their liquor, and unfortunately some will not work 
 where it cannot be obtained. 
 
 " Experience shows that where no saloon is immediately 
 available many workmen go as far as is necessary to find one, 
 and there spend Saturday nights, Sundays and holidays, often 
 returning unfit for work until after a day or two of rest, and 
 the general service is always greatly disorganized by the inca- 
 pacity of a few. 
 
 *' With the advent of the Federal troops all saloons in the 
 coal mining districts were closed, and as a result the efficiency 
 of the workmen has greatly improved, the average production 
 of coal per man increasing about 10 per cent. 
 
 71 
 
"The production at this Company's mines in the Southern 
 district of Colorado for the first eighteen days of April aver- 
 aged 5.85 tons per day for each miner at work. That was 
 before the Federal troops closed the saloons. 
 
 '*For the first eighteen days of June (with all saloons 
 closed) each man produced 6.52 tons, which meant an average 
 increase in wages of over 11 per cent, per man. 
 
 " This has confirmed the view long held by us, that if sa- 
 loons and drinking could be eliminated from the coal districts, 
 not only the miners but the companies ivould be greatly 
 benefited. 
 
 "What I have said applies specifically to the Colorado 
 Fuel and Iron Company, but I think, in a general way, is true 
 of the coal mining industry in the State." 
 
 72 
 
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