Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-01

! Asked the question if he Intended to
convey to the House the statement that
the laws passed by the legislature OF
Colorado are enforced throughout Colo
! RADIO except in the mining territory con-
| trolled by Mr.. Rockefeller's mines. Mr.
| Heating replied:
What l mean to say is this: Colorado
/ is progressive state: Colorado is a law
abiding state. So far as law enforcement
! is concerned in my judgment the law is
enforced as impartially and as consist
| emily in every county in Colorado-with
| the exception of the two counties | have
noted-aS it is in any county in any state
in the Union.
In the counties OF Huerfano and Las
Animas, the two counties where Mr.
| Rockefeller and his associates dominate
| the situation, they have owned every pub
| lie official for the last ten years as abso-
| lutely as the members Of this House own
| their coats, and it has been impossible in
| those counties to secure an enforcement
| Of the law. As result Of that fact l Will
| say that while in those two counties we
| killed twenty-six times as many men in
| our coal mines in proportion to the num-
| Der employed as We're killed in Austria
| in 1910. not a single coroner's jury dur
| ing ten years brought in verdict holding
! q coal mine company responsible.
| But even this 'law-abiding' faculty on
(, the part of Mr.. Rockefeller's associates is
| not the worst of it. or the best" of it,
| as ones individual viewpoint may dictate.
| In spite of a packed coroner's jury,
| once i'll a while the widow of killed
/ miner has determinedly overridden the
decision of that jury and tried to initiate
| a suit for damages. No less person
| than former President Taft has told us
| time after time that the judiciary is the
| fountain head of civil liberty and stands
between the aggressor and the aggressed
! at every stage of the proceeding. Ac-
n ,f1fi Il ting
! might be well for Mr.. Taft to take a
| specimen of Colorado judicial Justice to
his legal laboratory. AS to damage suits
| Mr.. Heating said: In ten years in Huer-
| fano county, despite the great number Of
deaths and great number of men injured
not single damage suit has been filed
| against coal mining company. and in
Las Animas county a judge has not per-
mftted a single damage suit to go to a
| jury in ten years.
| To those unfamiliar with the lawmak-
! ing and law-enforcing machinery OF the
western states it NAV be well to observe
that the laws passed by the state legis-
| (atures are enforced by county officers.
The state law provides for damage suits,
but the judges before whom those cases
| appear are county judges. Not being able
4 to prevent the enactment of these laws
| by the state legislature. Mr.. Rockefeller
! and his associates get control" of the
local officials. from the coroners to the
/ sheriff and the county judge. and in that
way, according to Representative Keat-
ing. succeed In suspending the enforce
! ment of the laws
| To enforce these laws passed by the
state legislature of Colorado the miners
of Colorado have been on strike for
months To prevent the enforcement of
| these laws Mr.. Rockefeller and his asso-
! GATES unable to control the situation
through their confiscation of the govern
mental machinery of Huerfano and Las
Animas counties. not only ordered the
state militia sent to thefE aid, but as
private citizens purchased and imported
| into Colorado machine guns to kill such
miners as were foolish enough to ina CINE
| that a law passed by the state legislature
should be enforced
| To the thoughtful citizen this question
| arises: When in county the govern
! mental machinery" is con tiScated by
group of capitalists and its functioning
nullf1ed, to what extent are the citizens
| of that community justified in going. so
far as physical force and armed vio-
| lence' are concerned. in order to secure
! the proper and orderly functioning of the
! machinery of government?
This is the situation in Colorado, if Rep
resentative Heating accurately presents
| the case. JULIAN Plf-RCE.