Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-08-18
THE ORIGIN OF COLORADO'S
MINING TROUBLE.
How the Great Civic Disturbance Ne
gan and the Causes That
Led up to II.
(Chauncey Thomas in the August Sue
CeSS)


(Chauncey Thomas in the August Sue
cesS.)
The gold miners Of Cripple Crock struck
for an eight-hour day and n white mans
pay. Trouble followed. with murder.
dynamite and outrages. Law was for
gotten by the Cripple Creek miners; and
law was just as promptly forgotten by
the mine owners. Capital sent to Cripple
Creek private army of l,6o0 hims'y
sworn deputies" Labor built Il fort.
between the two the governor threw the
National Guard. This was the Ball Hill
War of 1923. Peace was restored.
Labor and capital each went unpublished.
The dynamite mines were repaired and
The murdered were forgotten. The miners
went to work ON the new scale of fpurs
and pay, Cripple Creek doomed and the
la Dor unions wdXcd strong, then tryan-
meal then unbearable. In the gold
mines. capital was helpless and labor ar
! rogant and ignorantly intolerable: in the
| coal mines, capital was merciless and
labor was cnslaved.
( That was IL years ago. Since then and
until the outbreak OF the present trouble
in Colorado things in Cripple Creek grew
worse The labor unions not only pressed
! all forms of employers, but also, as in
/ many other places, gradually fell into
the power of a few hands-and those
hands criminal. Between capital and
/
less men, whose chief purpose was to
run them, one against the other. to the
| i'll of both Such were the conditions for
the preceding 10 years. The immediate
fault has been labors: the indirect fault,
capitals
Now ore is of no use until it has flow
| cd white hot, through the smeter. Capt.
tai controlled the smelters, also the rail-
| roads. All over the State were and are
and there should be and might be n
thousand times moro.--small one-nan
| mi'es. Besides these there were some
what larger properties ranging from the
| lone prospect hole up-or rather down.
to the great million-a-y yielding boz
nanzas. Capital owned the great mines.
also the smelters and the connecting
railroads. incidentally there were the
coal fields that were-and are-mined
conveniently cheap. The small mines
virtually belonged to labor,-thc poorer
men. The Smelter Trust was organized.
Railroad rates or ore 50 fixed that hum
dreds of small mines became, under such
oonditions. worthless-to all but capital,
which controlled the situation. The
Smelter Trust with the aid of its allies,
the railroads, the Standard oil trick
squeezed the small miner to death with
one hand while with the other it held
American manhood T. hours day. Sun
day included before the never ending
stream of white hot lava and bubbling
poisonous gases.
have worked with shovel in a Den
Yer smelter and know the condition there
they are inhuman. They turn stone into
gold, and men into stone. Three shifts
of eight hours each can he worked JUS,
as well rs two shifts of l. hours EACH
bat the l2-hour shift is chcaper.-cheap-
or III money,--but not in men. The smelt.
er men asked for shorter hours. Capita
rofused,-or lodged, gave excuses delay.
ed, and acted in bad faith. The smelte,
men did not strike. Labor and capita
and the people in gcneral.-all three
dreaded a strike; so labor, through the
ballot, requested the public to give il
; human hours before the furnaces, ant
when the ballots were counted it WA.
: found that the people had said, yes"
But capital said: "No." and caplta
fought its determined fight, fought it a.
slowly as ever paid lawyers could dral
1t, through one court to another and n
| length up to the supreme Court of Col
orado There capital won. The law tina
the people of the whole State had sale
should he Il law. the supreme court holt
! to he unconstitutional. although hv.
n'ghboring States-ttah. in particular.
hdu almost exactly the same law whict
tho supreme courts of those States al
l had held to be valid in itself and good fu
> tn" people Of their respective states
capital paid its lawyers,-and smiled. Tn,
sm"lter men still swcated y hours sever
> days week, IN the cool furnace glow
They did not strike.
= one" more they asked the pcople 70
5 help. that they might he men and no
p hrUt"S, and once more the public through
the ballot box, by the overwhelming vot
: of 800" majority,-irrcSpoctivc Of politl
cal parties,-in voting population o
f about l25,o)3-two to one,-said "Y,s
+ the State constitution shall be so amend
cd. Capital again said. No but in
= whisper. When the Legislature mot