Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-06-20

lHe oiii VI Il portloH Oh IL mas Deen StO-
len it has been done deliberately and
with the sole intent of invalidating
the law. 1t is certainly startling
piece of business. am not much sur
prised. either, that such measures
should be taken. / know that when
the bill was pending it was fought
both above-board and by underhanded
means. Every effort was made to de
feat it,
Stealing the record of the bill is
one of the most damnable methods
ever resorted to- The duplicate cop
les will do us no good. The courts
will accept only the original and. con
sequently. the copies are of no avail.
There are one OF two copies extant of
the record.
Il do not suspect any persons or
person in this work. do not know
whether the part of the record alleg-
ed to be missing disappeared after
it was given to the secretary of state
or before. / am. however, inclined
to believe that the portion was stolen
before it reached the secretary of
state. The secretary of state checks
over the journal, but it is not prob.
able that he inspects every page. 1t
is also probable that he is not versed
in law, and even had he missed the roll
call. would not have known that it
world invalidate the bill. Mind, do
not say that he did miss the portion
or that he had any knowledge of its
disappearance previous to his notifl-
cation a few days ago.
The disappearance is a grave ques.
ton. 1t puts us up to the question:
What good Is it for us to pass laws
If n thief can steal part of the record
and make the law invalid?' That is
n question in which every man and wo-
man in Colorado is vitality interested.
This theft comes as stunning
blow to the working people of Colo
RADIO. The employers liability bill
was one law in which every working
man and woman in Colorado was In
terested. 1t was the one law that
the working people wanted passed and
the one for which the friends of la
Dor made their hardest fight, too; n
contest that began long before the ses-
sion began and continued uninterrupt-
edly until the bill was passed and
signed.
-Four years ago portion OF the rec
ord OF the passage of the scrip bill
was stolen and that bin was invalid
ated
Just what we can do In the matter
I t1,at ret
efforts will he directed towards secur-
ing evidence to lead to the capture of
the thief. doubt whether the thief
if captured could be punished for any
thing more than petit larceny. If he
broke into where the bill was and
stole the sheets, then, | suppose, bur
glary could be the charge"
At conference held in the offices
of the State Federation OF Labor yes
terday afternoon, at which We're pres
ent President Garman of the fedora
ton, Lemucl Smith. reading clerk of
the senate and Lieutenant Governor
Coates. it was decided that the three
together. with Secretary Robinson of
the Federation. should go to the senate
this morning and search the records
for the missing portion of the journal
which contains the roll call and proof
of official action by the senate on the
employers liability bill.
I'VE have reason to believe" said
President Garman yesterday. that
whoever the thief is, II there has been
a theft, he did the work completely.
We will probably discover that not
only the original but the duplicate rec
ords have been stolen"
All the parties interested were still
angry yesterday. President Garman
declared that If the employers iiabil-
ity bill was declared to be void by rea-
son of the theft. that organized labor
in the state would expend thousands
of dollars in finding and convicting
the guilty party. THE best detec-
tives we can get will be put on the
case" said he, "and every effort will
be made to trace the papers. The
time has come when stop will have
to be put to this sort of thing. We
worked too hard for the passage of the
bill to see all our work go for moth
ing"
w II. Kelly. secretary of the senate
was expected to come to Denver yes
terday. He was notified by wire OF
the disappearance of a portion OF the
record. and it is known that he has
duplicate copy. Mr.. Kelly, however
may not come. While he will be In
structed to carefully guard his dupli
cate copy. yet 1t will be OF no ser
vice or benefit to the state unless there
is decision by the courts that copy
can be placed in the journal and be
come official. But according to Lieu
tenant Governor Coates. the courts
will not accept the duplicate copy.