The Colorado statesman., 1908-03-21
RIO GRANDE MEN STRIKE.
Strike Breakers Reach Denver and
Strikers Issue Statement.

en- Immediately to the Denver &c Rio
Grande shops at Burnham, having
been employed to take the places of
the striking machinists, boilermalers
and blacksmiths. 1t is reported that
300 more men are now on the way and
will be distributed over the system.
The following communication to the
public was made by the press commit
tee of the strikers Thursday:
"(To the public:) Believing that
the good people of Denver and Colorado
are interested in our struggle with the
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Com
pany and it is proper and right they
should know the causes leading up to
the controversy, we respectfully here
in set them forth.
1T has been customary of late years
for all railroad corporations to make
contracts with their employees. The
Rio Grande is not an exception to that
rule. Now to our utmost surprise and
astonishment, on the twelfth of Feb
ruary a notice was posted in all the
shops of the Rio Grande, signed by Mr.
T. b. Purves, Jr., superintendent of
motive power and machinery. 1t
stated that on and after March 14th
all contracts and agreements with
their machinists, blacksmiths, boiler
makers, pipemen, carmen, etc, would
be null and void, and discontinued in
the future.
Now we wish to state that this
means life or death, not only to our
craftsmen on the Denver e Rio
Grande, but to the labor unions
throughout the United States. We
wish to say further that when said no
tees were posted, our committees got
busy at once and met the manage
ment, with the hope that our differ
ences could be amicably adjusted.
To our amazement we met with the
declaration that they were tired of
doing business with labor unions, and
that they would make rules and regu-
lations of their own, and henceforth
we would work under the same or not
at all
Our committees went to the high
est officials, with proposition to
make concessions in our former agree
ments; hoping they would meet us
half way. But alas! We were doomed
to bitter disappointment. Our only
solace was, there were thousands of
men to take our places.
Now what do these shop rules i'm
ply?
81. The disruption of our unions.
"2. A reduction in wages.
"3. Longer hours.
"a. The undoing of our apprentice
ship system.
"5. Classification of pay.
"6. Dealing with us individually,
instead of as a dody.
And now for our final and chiefest
reasons for opposing these shop rules.
The labor unions will cease to exist.
Every man for himself and the devil
take the hindermost. The spirit of
rivalry and jealousy will be introduced
among us. The corporation officers by
favoritism and other means, well
know how to divide us, and keep us
divided, will rule over us with an iron
hand. They know this to be true and
so do we.
"They know how to handle Legisla-
lures and courts and who are we that
we could hope to hold our own against
the all but omnipotent power of cor
porate wealth and art. We must stand
sternly together, shoulder to shoulder,
in the strong union of our several
crafts, and then in the strength of our
federated bodies. This we propose TO
do until the end of this struggle
"The corporation managers every
where realize the weakness of unor-
ganized masses of men; Who are de-
pendent on their daily wage to buy
bread for themselves and families.
They know if the federated body of
union men are destroyed they can
play us off one against the other and
cut wages to the starvation point.
"They claim they do not want to be
dictated to by their men; yet they
seek at our expense position where
they can dictate to us. We only want
to stand where we can control our
own crafts; where we can say on
what terms we shall sell our only
property, our only stock in trade-our
labor. The corporations are fighting
for higher dividends. We are fighting
for bread for our wives and children.
1--WE are persuaded that we have the
sympathy, friendship and good will of
the press of Denver and the people of
Colorado. We prize same very highly,
and hope to maintain it through the
conflict.
'All of us are peaceful and law
abiding citizens; some have been in
the employ of the Rio Grande for the
last twenty-five years, and have al
ways been loyal and true to their in
terests. Yet the company has posted
rules where the parting of the ways
must come unless they recede from
their position.
I'VE feel that we are only doing our
duty and fighting the battle of labor
everywhere. We realize the might and
power of our opponent yet we feel no
fear about the outcome of this con-
flict; for thrice armed is he whose
cause is just
Respectfully submitted,