Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-10-13

i
critics, In deals the district has eve
were being made daily. new work wa.
being started. new companies formed
| There was much work for the wage
| earners. much being done and muci
more planned, capital was flowing II
| for Investment. None could foreses
but that the period of busy times. o.
progress and prosperity would las
long. Everybody was sharing in the
good times. Men in the mines were
investing their wages in stocks that
| made them more money while the,
worked their daily shift than the,
could earn in month pounding 8
| drill; merchants. brokers. spectators
the girls and women in the Offices and
-everybody-was getting ahead
Through Cripple Creek the state was
prosperous. all Industries sharing in
its wealth and feeling the influences ol
this business.
Stratton's Independence had been
losing thousands OF dollars a month In
ores stolen from the slopes by its
workmen. II was determined to put a
stop to 1t II possible. A change room
was built and the men notified thai
thereafter every one coming on shift
would be required to submit to inspec'
ton. The Western Federation of Min
ers took 1t up; they called the men
from the mine and after a parley oil
several days, on Oct. 81. forced the
Independence management into com
promise that would only partially
check the ore stealing and at the same
time stipulated that thereafter pref
erence work in the mine should be
given to union men.
That was the first open violation
Of the contract that had been made
at the termination of the Bull Hill
strike OF 1894, under which there was
TO be no discrimination in the employ
ment of union or non-union men. The
boom was at its height This breach
causing some discussion among mine
owners, and all interested In the wei.
fare of the camp. People began to
ask what 1t meant. what the outcome
was to be.
About month later the officers OF
the Victor union appeared at the shaft
house Of the Portland mine one morn
ing and without asking permission oil
any one In authority, without consul
alton. posted at the shaft collar a no
ice to the effect that after given
date no miner would be permitted to
work on that mine unless he should
show card proving that he was in
good standing with local union.
This created sensation. Mine
owners saw at once what was on foot
There was sudden pause.
James Burns rushed to Cripple
Creek. He was the maddest man in the
state. He tore the notice from the wall
and stamped It into the ground and
declared in characteristic language
that he was running that mine and
that no man nor set OF men could die
tate terms to him. The Portland was
shut down. So far 1t was the only
mine affected. A promise had been
secured from Stratton's Independence
to give union men the preference the
union leaders had advanced another
step and arbitrarily expressed their
power over the Portland. Mine own
ers could see evidence OF n stealthy
progression toward a power that later
was to be exerted over ALL
Nothing could have more effectually
killed the boom Terror had been
struck into the heart OF every opera
tor; no one wanted labor war-the
last thing an employer of men will
ever invite. That one was to be forced
upon them. all could see
From that day Cripple Creek be-
gan TO wane. Operators who had start
ed new work began to retrench. to
reduce forces. to draw in their CAPT
tai. Work that had been projected was
Abandoned; the stock market began
to show the effect of the fear that had
struck into the minds OF all: sales
that were pending were stopped, op-
tiohs surrendered. Certain far-seeing
stockholders began to unload their
holding on the market: stosks went
lower and lower and their decline was
helped along by the farseeing ones
selling short against future delivery.
. h' booh hhu hVa'h DloW
the era OF good times was ended.
Thousands saw their all wiped out
by the decline. Men who had been
millionaires were driven to the verge
of bankruptcy.
How Burns fought his strike and
how bitterly he denounced the union
and its leaders how he was the only
man in the camp who ever. from the
day tn, Bull hill war ended to this.
made an attempt to cut the wages
that the union had then put in force,
how he was the sole fighter OF the
Federation at that time and its most
bitter antagonist until under the in
Huence of Senator Patterson. acting
as the moderator for the Federation, a
political bee was lodged In his bonnet
that has buzzed there from that to
this day. all makes another story.
Orman Elected on Promise
Not to Call Out Troops
The work OF retrenching on the
part OF the mine owners went on; en-
terprise was dead The state campaign
had come close upon the heels of the
first break on the part of the Fedora
ton TO disturb labor conditions: the