United labor bulletin., 1913-09-27
Reports from Coal Camps in
State ShowPeaceful Status;
One Man Killed By Strike
breaker in Las Animas
County.
Indications Are That Miners Will Be
Successful; Steel Works in Pueblo
Threatens to Close Down Because
Lack Of Fuel.

Moro than ten thousand coal miners
in Colorado are now out on strike. Ac-
cording to schedule. the order was is
sued last Tuesday and there was a
ready response. While the mine oper-
ators had confidently expected ma
jority of their employees TO remain in
slavery, at least 80 per cent of all
coal miners in the state quit work TO
sustain union demands and humane
conditions. Every man and his family
who quit work is being taken care OF
by the $4,000 members OF the United
Mine Workers OF America and VIII be
until. settlement Is reached. which
is only upon signing union conditions.
Colorado Is now the battle-ground OF
organized labor for the entire nation.
One man vas killed in Las An.mas
county Wednesday. He was employed
lIy the Colorado Fuel & Iron COMPANY
and deputized as town marshal OF n
mining camp. His assailant WAS an
imported strikebreaker. Otherwise
peace reigns.
Tents and provisions are being sup
piled for the strikers and union offs-
-cials In charge have cautioned them
10 refrain from any acts that would
place them In jeopardy,
Governor Ammons has refused to
grant state militia protection for the
mines because there has been no need
/ Tor Il. The c. F. & /. Company has
hand of 200 gun men on the ground
10 intiuidasc the miners. but they are
~ fhRfF mis-
sion.
In Pueblo the Colorado Fuel & Iron
Company have threatened TO close
down the steel works and throw 5000
n men out Of employment ore smeiterH
there and IN Colorado City are assutn-
the same position. Railroad com
~nanies are captainizing coal shipments
for transportation purposes. There
has been no coerciye action In Denver.
The general sentiment is that the
miners have a good cause and that
they will win the fight. Adviees re-
ceived by The Bulletin from Trinidad
and Walssnburg IS that the business
element is with the miners. Too long
las the coal trust held It's employees
hy tho throat. paying low wages ana
compelling them TO buy at company
stores.
An exodus OF miners from houses
owned by the coal companies was n
pathetic sight They were OF almost
every nation. President MoLennan
states that 5000 men formerly en-
pioycd in the mines have already left
the state and arc seeking work In the
East.
From the numerous coal camps
about Trinidad they came in droves to
the tent stations Miners and wives
and children crouched pitifuliy on Top
of high.piled little wagons. bending
low in futile effort to avoid the rain.
The faces OF the men were set
heavy with foreboding; the faces OF
the women stolid with the memory oi
suffering that had gone before and the
sure knowledge OF more to come; the
faceE of the children were twisted In
misery.
when steep hills came-and the
roads about Trinidad mostly stand on
,nd-the men and women got out ana
pushed through the thick. greasy mud.
Sometimes the children pushed, too
No one who did not see that exodus
can imagine Its pathos. The exodus
from Egypt was n triumph. the 60
ing forth of people set free. The
exodus OF the Beers from Cape Colony
was the trek of an united people seek
ing freedom. where nothing else was
known.
But Tuesday 1t wound its bowed.
weary way between the coal hills on
the one side and the far-stretching
prairie on the other. through the rain
and the mud. was an exodus OF woe
of a people leaving known fears FOR
new terrors, hopeless people seek
ing new hope. n people born to SUI
fering going forth to certain new suf
iering.
And they struggled along the roads
Interminnbiy And again today.
In an hours drive between Trinidad
and Ludlow. 81 wagons were passed.
and others seemed to be streaming
down to the main road from every by
path.
Every wagon was the same. with