The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1914-05-02


case, has returned a verdict holdins
the companies responsible, the blalat
being placed on the dead miner"
The deputy labor commissioner and
the chief factory inspector of the trou
bled state have publicly charged that
| the coal companies have repeatedly
violated the laws" Similar quotations
and specific instances multiply indefi-
nitely in the reports Of state officials
and investigators.
! In statement issued by GOV. Am
mons October 2S, the day he first call
cd out the militia in the present strike,
he said
Il discover that what are claimed to
be the real differences between the
operators and the miners out on strike
are really provided for by the statutes
OF the state.
Gov. Ammons then proposed set
tlement based on these laws. His
plan was rejected by the mine opera
tors in a counter proposition which
recited the different statutes and
urged all operators to accept and en-
force them. The governor called their
proposal inefficient" and expressed
accept it. He was correct. The min
ers uld not accept It.
The miltiamen ever instructed to
disarm both Atrikers and mine guards
and to keep out imported strike break
ers In an effort to prevent further vio-
lence. But the strikers refused to
surrender their arms.
The hold which the strikers have
taken on their arms is lie principal
act for which they are condemned by
the Amercai people. Being handy
with gun is not a sufficient explana-
tion Of the recent violence, but q
knowledge of the conditions under
which the strikers have come to adopt
such desperate measures will help to
understand their side of the question.
The miners live under the feudal
system of community control. The
land either is owned by or IS leased
by the company for which they work
IN this case the Colorado Fuel and
Iron company. The houses on the
land belong to the company The
streets in camp and the roads, fur.
nishing often the only means Of egress,
are owned by the company.
1t is rare that miner can buy a
house or a foot of ground If he wishes
to do So He is absolutely under COM
pany control. The streets are pa
troled by armed guards who protect
company property and exercise all the
authority in the camp.
In the 1903 strike these armed
guards assisted in the settlement OF
the trouble by using violence of a
most brutal kind
In the last ten years these hired
guards have had a free hand. They
have been at once policemen and
spies and suppressers OF union organi-
cations. At many camps stranger
is met at the entrance and compelled
by the guard to state his business
before he may enter.
The only law or authority the in
habitants of camps ever see is that OF
firearms and guards. Yet these places
areAmerican towns, many Of them in
habited by American citizens who can
not receive in their homes for social
or for business purposes any except
those approved by the gun carrying
man at the town gate.
The other important controversy
which has precipitated the fight, be-
sides the non-enforcement of the state
laws, is the insistence on the part OF
the strikers for the right to organize.
This the operators persistently re
fuse,
Operators will not even meet in con
ference with union officials. In re-
fusing them the union the miners
claim the operators are taking from
them the only agency remaining un-
tried which offers any guaranty their
rights win be respected and the laws
obeyed 1t is claimed that union con
tracts with coal companies are justi
fable on pnfsly economic grounds;
and that conditions in Colorado are
such that these contracts are neees-
sary IL the individual miners IS to pro
cure even his legal rights.