Gilpin observer., 1904-06-16
A MINERS PLEA
IN DEFENSE OF THE STRIKERS
statement Issued by Secretary Hay
wood In Behalf Of the Western
Federation Of Miners.

statement Issued by Secretary Hay
wood In Behalf Of the Western
Federation Of Miners.
Denver, June 14.-Secretary w. D.
Haywood of the Western Federation Of
Miners has issued statement for sew
eral eastern papers. in which he sets
forth his views with reference to the
present strike in Colorado. The execu-
tive board of the Western Federation
was requested to prepare statement
of their side of the trouble by an East
ern news service which supplies tele-
graphic matter to more than 200 East
ern newspapers.
The statement follows in full:
The cause of the strike of the West
em Federation of Miners in Colorado
is one of Long standing and involves
the failure on the part Of the mine
managers in various parts Of the state
to live up to their own written agree
ments. AS far back as 1894, as a re-
suit of the strike at that time, the
mine owners agreed that eight hours
should constitute a days work; that
the minimum daily wage should be
$500 and that there should be no dis
elimination against union men In the
hiring and discharge of labor. At the
outset of the present trouble Manager
MacNeill of the Standard mill at Colo
rado City peremptorily discharged for
ty-five men, members of the Western
Federation OF Miners for no other rea-
son than that they had become .nion
men. All of these were old employees
of from two to six years standing.
Millmen are affiliated with the
Western Federation of Miners and
are entitled to all of the protection
that goes with such membership.
To-day the only questions involved
are the enforcement Of the efght-hour
day, the right of men to organize in
the unions and to prevent discrimina-
ton against union men of all kinds.
The responsibility for the lawless-
ness connected with the contest rests
entirely on the shoulders of the mine
operators, the Citizens alliance and
their allies, backed up by the assumed
military power of the state govern
ment. The responsibility has been
placed on these persons and organiza-
tions by District Judge Theron Stew
ems, who denounced the military usur-
patton in Telluride in strong language
from the bench; by District Judge N.
Walter Dixon, Republican, who openly
condemns Gov. Peabody and severely
criticises his acts involving the depor-
tation of men from the state without
trial or other chance of hearing; by
Ex-Governor Charles S. Thomas, who
plainly points to the Mine Owners As
sociation and Citizens Alliance as be-
ing responsible for the many out
RACES committed on the persons Of
helpless and innocent miners; by the
nan1NnrQfin convention
which denounced in scathing terms the
line of policy pursued.
The events of the present week in
the Cripple Creek district justly every
accusation contained above. The fol-
lowing crimes upon citizenship have
followed swiftly upon one another:
The resignation of Sheriff Robertson
of Teller county, forced by a mob at
the point of the pistol, and the coil OF
the rope; the forced resignation Of
Coroner Doran of Teller County; of
the city marshal of Victor; of various
aldermen and justices of the peace in
the district; the entire official direc-
tory Of the city of Goldfield; assault
upon and demolition of the union hall
in Victor; forcible entrance into the
four union cooperative stores and de-
struction of the contents; destruction
of the Victor Daily Record by an armed
mob; invasion Of Dunnville. outside
the military lines, by armed force
under military command; arrest Of
men at their work and Incarceration
within the military lines; hundreds Of
men confined in unsanitary bull-pens;
forcible shutdown of the great Port
land mine. employing union men. by
order of the military commandant on
49, .r<~ <xf nd
seQuent deportation of men therein
employed.
Concerning the explosion which
wrecked the depot at independence
and killed sixteen unfortunate non
union miners. 1t need only be said that
the self-confessed train wrecker, Nc
Kinney, in tine employ Of the Mine
Owners Association, had q few days
previously been released from custody
, at the behest Of the attorney for the
association, and that this same Nc
Kinney was observed going down
Potts canon in the immediate vicinity
Of the wreckage only short time after
the disaster. Mckinney stated under
cross-examination during the trial OF
the union miners who were accused OF
the attempted trainwrecking, that he
and other detectives did, that for a
money consideration he would pull
spikes and wreck a train. Blood
hounds used to follow the trail Of the
criminal went directly to a house occu-
pied by q detective in the employ OF
the Mine Owners association and were
promptly called on.
Photographs OF marked miners re-
ferred to by General Bell who. he
claims, were marked for death. must be
regarded as an invention Of his own
brain. The photographs in question are
those Of strike breakers and were kept
for the purpose Of publishing q .scab"
list with the pictures Of the men ac-
companying their description. SO that
nier bers Of organized labor all over
the country would become thoroughly
nc nuainfed with these men who have