Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-02-10
COLORADO'S COSTLY
INDUSTRIAL WAR

INDUSTRIAL WAR
struggle between Organized Labor and Or
gained Capital, which has cost some $50 900 900.
kept 3d. 600 men idle for months, increased the
State National Guard from 800 men to 5000, and
been the cause OF 80 murders, in addition to
many other crimes,
In the grim tenacity of purpose. in
the methods employed, in the number
enlisted on both sides in proportion
to the population of the State,
and in the appalling COST both
in life and property, the Industrial war
now going on in Colorado is one of the
most far reaching ever recorded in
labor history of the world.
Thirty five thousand workmen idle
on an average of five months each:
1000, 600 working days lost; $1O,OOO,-
000-a low estimate-as wage loss:
$50 900, 1000 conservative estimate
loss from direct damage aud non-pro-
duction; 100000 cost of National
Guard ordered to three different parts
of the state within nine months for the
protection of life and property. A
total loss-at the most conservative
estimate-of $50, 100000. And this in
state where the total assessed valna-
ton is less than $3.50, 100000,
This the stupendous cost to Colorado
of the labor troubles OF the year 1908.
Sixteen strikes. That is the years
record. Sixteen strikes affecting from
800 to $1,000 men each and lasting
from ten days to ten months each.
The results: A declaration OF war
between capital and organized labor as
represented in the state; the increase
of the National Guard from $50 men,
in March, 1908, to 5000 men fully
armed and equipped; courts and civil
writs superseded in the mining districts
and martial law declared; the suspen-
sion of the writ of habeas corpus and
the enforcement of the "vag'' law in
the miuing camps and the subsequent
deportation of all men who refused to
work. And with all of this, the 25. 900
miners in the metalliferous and coal
camps are still out, and threaten to
stay out for months to come, although
their places are gradually being filled
with imported non-union men.
1t has passed the point where one
can refer to it as an industrial up
heaval = 1t has become a social re-
bellion against every recognized stand
ard Of business as it exists to-day-a
| rebellion brought about by the deter
mination Of organized labor to reign
supreme in Colorado.
To get at the real beginning of this
trouble, you have to go back just three
years. In 1901, the state legislature,
at the insistent demand of the labor
unions, passed an eight-hour lew,
applicable to all classes of labor
in the state. A few months later, the
the Supreme Court declared it uncon-
stitutional at the behest of the mine
owners, so the labor leaders declared.
But whatever the cause, that started
the fight. Labor in Colorado
organized for an eight-hour law.
They went into politics and united with
the Democratic party, and at the sue
ceeding session the eight-hour law
failed TO pass. Then the unions took
the matter into their own hand. They
formally espoused the cause of Social
ism-in June, 19O3-and supported
the Socialistic platform at the next
election. They failed to win at the
polls, and then came the threate ned
deluge of strikes, with a war cry:
.'We'll fight until we force an eight
hour agreement over the state. -
Golfers Weekly.