Gilpin observer., 1914-02-05
Will INVESTIGATE
THE COAL STRIKE


gressman Keating on the floor of
the House the fore part of last week
in support of his resolution calling
for congressional investigation into
the Colorado coal strike. Mr.. Keat-
ing IS forceful speaker and a very
effective debater, and, needless to
say, when he addresses the house
his remarks receive the rigid atten- .
tfon of the members of that august
body, and applause invariably greets
what he has to say on important
problems. Mr.. Keating spoke but
five minutes and in his terse style
covered more ground than some
speakers would in an argument last
ing half an hour. He spoke in part
as follows:
'fMr. Speaker it is scarcely neces-
sary for me to occupy the five min
utes allotted to me. 1 have been dis
cussing this resolution with Members
of this house and the executive Off
GERS of this government for three
months, and it is time for me to sur
render the stage and give my col
leagues chance to be heard.
Il want to congratulate the Men,
bers of this House upon the unani-
nifty they have displayed upon this
question, and / am particularly glad
the Members on the Republican side
of the aisle are just as anxious as
the Members on this side of the
aisle that we should go into the sit
uation in Colorado. So far as Colo
RADIO is concerned, we have apparent
ly the same unanimity of feeling, be-
cause the coal operators of my State
assure us that they want this inves-
tigation to be pressed, and the min
ers have petitioned this House on a
number of occasions asking for the
appointment of this committee.
THE situation in Colorado briefly
is this: A strike was declared in the
months ago. Twelve thousand men
|are Saffected. During the progress
of the trike perhaps hundred lives
have been lost. The coal operators
are represented by three great COM
panies, the most important of which
is owned by the Rockefeller interests.
These companies have insisted that
they had nothing to arbitrate.' The
Labor Department and various otLer
representatives of the Government
have made repeated attempts to
bring about an understanding. All
these attempts have failed, because
the operators have taken the posi-
tion that they would not consider
any proposition looking to arbitra-
ton.
MY friends, the people of Colo
RADIO trust that this investigation will
produce the same results in our state
that the Senate investigation produc-
ed in the State of West Virginia.
They had similar conditions in that
State, and after the Senate commit
tee had visited that State and had
laid bare all the facts in connection
with the controversy, public opinion,
the most powerful weapon for good
in this country, compelled settle
ment.
Il am not going into the legal
questions involved. Even IL / had
plenty of time it would be impossible
for me to do that; but l think 1t
is a pretty safe proposition to lay
down that this House has as great
power as the Senate of the United
States, and the resolution you are
about to vote upon is practically a
duplicate of the resolution passed
by the United States Senate after a
very extended debate, and which
brought industrial peace to the State
of West Virginia
Now, If the United States Sem
ate could conduct that sort of an in
vestigation and bring about those re-
suits, surely the House of Represen-
tatives can bring them about.
And l want to say to gentlemen
who are inclined to quibble about
legal technicalities. that we have
stretched the Constitution In this
country so that 1t very effectually
covers the dollar and what we are
asking is that you stretch 1t little
further. so that 1t will cover the man
That is our proposition in a nutshell.
We want this committee to go out
to Colorado. We want them to probe
- a.. "a
and we believe that the radium of
publicity will prove an effective rem
edy."