Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-07-16
JUDGE LINDSEY ON
THE STRIKE.
The Denver Man Tells the Industrial
Relations Commission His Views
on the Colorado situation

on the Colorado situation.
(From report by the New York Times)
Judge Lindsey asked permission TO
make general statement on the con-
ditions In Colorado where he had lived
all his life, the social economic and polit-
zeal conditions of which State he could
say that he really understood
This" he declares, lis a bigger uues-
ton than State question 1t Is not To-
cal; 1t is national. AS a boil may break
out anywhere on the body that Is infect
ed, so Will this trouble occur now in Colo
RADIO, now In West Virginia, now in
Pennsylvania as long as the evil IL indi-
Gates remains. 1t Is useless to apply n
local salve while the blood is impure. 1t
goes deep to the rights of citizens and
the rights of property"
Then Judge Lindsey spoke Of his IS
years experience in the childrens courts
and declared that he recognized the flu
ttlity OF 1t all. as far as providing a per-
manent cure of the ills was concerned
The number Of children who came be-
fore me-" he said Increased by leans
and bounds In the last two or three
years from only a few counties 700 chill
dren have been rendered orphans by min
Ing explosions, the great majority of
which need not have occurred. Three
times as many persons are blown up in
our mines as in those Of other coun-
| tries"
1t was this fact that Judge Lindsey
considered the cause Of much Of the feel
Ing which he said prevailed In Colorado
between the miners and the operators.
| The incompetency, the carelessness, the
unw1llngness to spend dividends on safe
ty appliances which the operators showed
| had embittered their men. State inspect
ors have been refused permission to in
spect, the Judge said, and he desired to
| express publicly the belief that there was
| no more lawless corporation than the
Colorado coal and iron company. Then
| he turned his sarcasm upon Z. A. Cole
man, It's president
| He Is president" Judge Lindsey said
| of the children's aid society and. IL you
please OF the State board for the pro-
| lection of children and animals II is
this board which has fought every effort
to enact laws against the employment,
OF children In the mines, but will arrest
a man for beating a mule in mine
That, you see, Is a spectacular thing &c
do. They pirate about religion and mo-
rality, but they fight practical measure,
of relief
Conditions in Colorado are not gen
orally understood, BY a bill supported
by this board. a widow. whose husband
has been killed in the mines and whc
has been forced to take a ledger in he
two-room cottage may have her chill
dren taken from her Her lodger is no
married to her. and so 1t is immoral tina
he should live in the same house. Tn
children may be sent to an institution
and may be adopted without their moth
err having the right to know what he
comes OF them. oh, 1t is worse thai
the old slavery days
Then Judge Lindsey spoke OF the maj
, who had seen Colorado develop aroun,
, him, whose father and whose son ha
been killed IN the mines and who ha
, himself been manned there. Then whel
people In New York decide to reduce hi
pay or refuse him safety appliances.
he objects he Is told there Is nothing T.
, prevent his leaving. Passing on to con
slider the political conditions the judg
said
/ Il say to you that these corporation
own the judges, the district attorneys
even the governors. as they do their of
flee boys They not only mako tn
; laws but when occasionally after lon
struggle we get a good law passed the
know how to nullify II. What Is this? !
is violence. II will be exploded some day
for faults are on both sides. and. as al
ways, violence produces violence and hat
produces hate"
Judge Lindsey then sought to dscredi
the testimony of Maj, Boughton by point
ing out that he was the attorney for tn
: metaliferous miners association Of Grip
pie Creek. and that there was great syn
/, patty between one set of mine owner
4 and another He was, the Judge declar
ed. subject TO the old scientific game c
corruption which made II impossible for
young lawyer to get on unless he wa
subservient to the capitalists.
Then he spoke OF the order given I
burn the Ludlow tent colony and of an auto
mobile being taken on which to place
Q machine gun to be turned against the VIC
, men and children. Such orders as thes
such responsibility, he said, have pl
terrific hate into the mind of the Stat
g and have taken away the feeling Of RI
I spect for authority.
. Il believe" he went on ut Is all du
o to the laws OF property. l warn You
3 there Is peace after this strike 1t will b
o Ionly a lull. IL they do not realize thei
= responsibility and withdraw their ARC
Y CANT refusal to arbritrate. The seat c
Il the Industrial government is in New Yor
and 1t Is as much superior to the Pres
,, dent of the United States as the boss
d to an office boy. 1t should consent
e an arbitration, and II 1t refuses the Pres
l. dent who Is bound by the constitution
o guarantee to MS the republican form {
= government. should compel 1t to assent
,. Then Judge Lindsey related how /
u had asked Mr.. Rockefeller to see hin
J. and his refusal
q II thought he would hear me,
thought he would hear the miners wive
q He has no right to take the imperson
q view. Kings have gone down to lists
to their subjects woes Rockefell
is no greater than a president than
kAps. But tina new form Of feudalis