The Labor enquirer., 1883-01-20
And the worst feature of the whole busi-


ness is the fact that from the present
aspect of affairs it does not look as if the.
matter would be settled until near the
close of the session. There is no change
at this writing from the first ballot taken,
and it looks now as if there will be none
until near the close of the session, when
the Republican members will be. forced
to concentrate on some one of their four
candidates to, avoid the alternative of
allowing a democratic governor to APP
point. 7 I.0 j ~
There has been no additional bills
affecting the workingmen introduced
since our last issue, but we are able at
this time to give another,bill which was
presented by that enemy of the people,
Van Valkenburg, last week but not
printed until this week, We desire also
to call attention toan error in last weeks
issue. We gave the number of the bill
at that time introduced by the old
scoundrel, as IS. 1t should have been
81. We are assured that both of those
bills will meet with strong opposition and
that there is little probability of their
being passed.
Bill No. 66 is even worse than the one
quoted last week The first section reads
as follows;
Section l. If any person or persons,
society, association, company or corpora
tion, doing business in the State of Col
orado, or any agent, employe, manageror or
superintendent for any person or per-
sons, society, association, company or
corporation doing business in this state,
shall, separately or jointly, for any pur-
pose, in any manner whatever, directly
or indirectly, attempt to influence or
control the owner, lessee or any one, in
the rightful possession of real or personal
property, from the lawful use and man.
agement Of the same, or shall prevent, or
attempt to prevent in any manner, the
said owner, lessee, or any one in rightful
possession, from employing such labor,
upon such conditions and at such COM
pensation as they may see fit, such per-
son or persons, agent, emplOye, manager
or superintendent so offending shall be
deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and
upon conviction be fined in the sum Of
not less than one hundred I00) nor more
than five hundred (5O0) dollars for each
and every offenSe, and imprisoned in the
jail not less than one nor more than
twelve months, or both, at the discretion
of the court"
There are two additional sections TO
the bill which are intended as sop or
tafy; but they won't 60 down. Those
sections make it a crime for any en-
ployer to intimidate, or attempt to in
fuence, the vote of an employe, by
threatening to discharge or refusal to
give employment. AS will be seen, sec
ton l allows an employer to employ
whom he chooses, on what conditions
he may dictate, and at any compensation
he may choose to give. This section and
he'general laws make the other sections
virtually impracticable, and the hypo;
crite that introduced the bill knew as
much when heincluded thsm in the bill
They were only added to catch the,mem-
bers who are not given to much thought,
and to boost the first section over.
1t is to be hoped the good sense and
judgment of the members will be made
apparent when these bills come up, and
that they will be consigned to everlast-
ing obscurity.
We have every hope that the good
bills introduced will become laws, and
the working people of Colorado have the
protection they are entitled to as Ameri-
can citizens.