Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1903-11-28
The Anarchists at Cripple Creek.

he AudI ~
The strike of the miners at Cripple
Creek. Colorado, has reached the last
phase. the stage of anarchy. The
strikers. having lost their fight the
violent members of the organization
are resorting to murder. Last Satur-
day a great quantity of dynamite was
exploded in the Vindicatcr mine by the
miscreants, and two men were killed.
Developments since then point to con-
spiracy which contemplated wholesale
murder Of non-union men by dynamite
and the destruction CT all the mines
and mills. so far as possible.
A number of men have been arrested,
and the partial confessions already eX-
tracted from some of them leave no
doubt that it was-and is the inten-
ton of the anarchists among the strik-
ers 10 maintain 4 reign of terror in the
Cripple Creek district. 1t is to be
hcped that the authorities of Colorado
will have the firmness to deal with the
situation as it demands. Every man
guilty of any part in these outrages
should be sent to the penitentiary, and
the men directly guilty OF the murder
of Superintendent Mccormack and
Melvin Beck in the Vindcator mine
should be promptly hanged.
Neither the people of Colorado nor
the friends Of union labor elsewhere
can uphold for a moment the course of
the Cripple Creek strikers. The worst
enemies of union labor are the mid
night assassins who are committing
these outrages in the name Of organic
ed labor, and the labor leaders of Colo
RADIO are themselves doing irreparable
injury to the cause they purport TO
represent when they fail to cooperate
with the officers Of the law in running
down the anarchists. A mistake fully
as great and fully as injurious TO or
ganized labor is made by the unions in
general which extend any form of SYM
pathy to the lawbreakers. Zeal in the
cause Of unionism leads many work
ingmen of excellent character to de-
fend, tacitly or openly, such crimes as
are now reported from day to day by
mining districts in Colorado and Utah,
but skilled labor should recognize that
the sO-called unions in some lines of
work are mere organizations for the
purpose of making force the dominant
law of the community. The Denver
Republican, Which has intimate knowl
edge of the Cripple Creek situation,
says:
Unions composed of unskilled labor
are at best mere labor trusts. They
are often combinations for the purpose
OF cOercing employers to yield to de-
mands for increases in wages, reduc-
ton of hours, or whatever else the
leaders may see proper to incite the
men to ask The fundamental princi-
pie OF such organizations is coercion,
and hence it is their fundamental err
ror that. when mild methods of coer-
cion fail, those of more extreme char
acter are resorted to. The men have
nothing but their physical but untrain-
ed strength TO offer their employers,
and they also have nothing but the
same kind of strength with which to
secure compliance with their demands.
"A person might suppose that to be
a member of miners union called
for some special skill and that an ap-
plicant would have to show that he
had passed through a period of train
ing. But such is not the case. 1t is
true that to become an expert miner
a man must have experience and train
ing but he does not have to be an ex-
pert miner to become a member of the
union. 1t is notorious, and practically
every mine manager in the Cripple
Creek district viii bear out the state
ment, that men are received into the
miners union without any evidence of
skill or other special fitness for the
work. 1t is so in coal mining. also Ig-
noTant, unskilled men are received by
hundreds into the unions. Their
strength is in numbers, and hence
their final appeal is TO violence and
force. Intelligent unionism should de-
mand that organizations Of this kind
mere labor trusts at the most-should
raise their standard of admission and
thereby exclude violence and lawless-
ness as a means for the accomplish
ment CT the unions aims, and violence
must always fail because the govern
ment is bound to maintain law and
order"
1t cannot be doubted that during the
past year the cause of organized labor
has lost in the public favor more than
ever before, and it has been because
the organizations have permitted
themselves to stand responsible for
violence and unreasonable demands.
Their greatest weakness, as our Den
Yer contemporary points out, is in fail
ing to control the lawless element
within their ranks. and this weakness
will ALWAYS pertain 10 Orara MIA ttouS
made up Of fgaorant men.