The daily sentinel., 1912-10-11
NeWton Makes
Statement of
Labor Record
Grand Junction. Colo.
October II, 1912.

October H. 1912.
Editor Sentinel:
VIII you kindly give me space for
an answer to your local article in the
issue of the 9th, in which it was as
serted that the local laborlng men
had been advised by some labor pub
lication to vote against me because
of my unfriendly attitude toward la
bor in the 18th general assembly?
was somewhat surprised at the
charge, as | was Classed as a good
deal OF a crank by the conservatives
for my attitude on all questions af-
fcctinE the working man.
| was at one time a member OF the
Typographical Union. and have al
ways been friendly towards that
body. have caNnly studied the
house Journal ana find that there
were 80 bills introduced and referred
to the labor committee, the chairman
of which was Il coal miner. OF the
80 bills, II came to vote, so far as
the printed journal shows, most of
them being lost because of the delay
i'm legislation caused by the senator
ial squabble. some of them We're sub
stitutcd for others on the same sub
iect, some by adverse report OF the
committee | voted for 10 of the
bills. and also against a motion to
strike the enacting clause from the
employers liability bill. voted
against a motion to kill the bill re-
pcaling the civil-scrvice law, and the
only bill | voted against was No.
lI5. 1t was a pet measure of Labor
Commissioner Brake; in ii he asked
for additional inspectors, and it was
openly stated on the floor of the
house that Brake was building up a
big machine against the other state
officials. This bill was introduced
by Speaker McLachlan, and, while
he supported the bill, he allowed it
to be known that he would not weep
II the bill was killed, and it was
killed.
There were three bills on the child
labor question Brake bill, Bu-
reau OF Child 4 Animal Protection
bill and one introduced by Mrs.
Jones and drawn by Judge Ben Lind
scy. | voted TO substitute the latter
for the other two | also voted for
No. (, the woman's S-hour law, by
Mrs. Lafferty-it was passed in the
house, but the senate refused to pass
it, and substituted Senator Garmon's
bill, This came over late in the scs-
sion ana was lost in the avalanche
OF dead laws.
In my humble opinion, your arti-
cle was the result of the personal in
ycstigatious of Mr. Brake, who must
have inspired the report in the labor
paper quoted from. and | have no
apologies to make Off my single vote
against his measure. The ten laws
| voted for cover every phase Of the
labor problem, and | do not believe
the laboring men of this county will
censure me on the record as II stands
in the printed Journal
My stand in the Whitfurd matter
could not have been different after
Il hearing of tha case, lie was clear
ly inside the law, aud the voters oil
Mesa county are surely I'm favor of
obeyinS the law. ! have never Ia
yorod the law furnishing contempt,
and voted for the bill defining con
tempt and providing for the method
OF trial. This bill was killed, but is
one of the initiated measures on the
ballot this fail.
| am not afraid of II fair statement
Of my position on every question;
but it is unfair, unjust and rotten
Politics to censure without giving
the votes cast for or against any
measures. as seems to be the case in
the so-called labor publication upon
which your article seems to have
been based. A. c. NEWTON.