Denver labor bulletin., 1915-09-25
Continued from page ~

kkaniAation VI capital tne WOrlu mas ever
known, are too prominent, too wide
spread, too numerous and too astonishing
to be denied even by those who would
decry any victory which labor has
marked to its credit.
The astounding manner in which it
has opened the eyes of the general pub
lie to the ordinary injustices and abuses
with which the worker is beset has
made it worth while and laid the foun-
dation for future dividends for labor,
and it can be set down as a hard and
fast rule that mo strike was ever lost" !"
Behind all the expense, the suffering and
the hardship are the hidden gains, which
will only be realized and appreciated in
effect on subsequent strikes. 1t must
have tremendous effect ON each subse-
quent occasion when labor confronts
capital with bill of industrial rights.
As an instance of the effects OF the
strike on the coal operators of Colorado,
the Colorado Fuel and Iron company, in
a burst of repentance and with a desire
to play to public applause, asked its
non-union men in the various camps in
southern Colorado to meet, discuss any
grievances they might have, select their
committeeman and have their wrongs,
real or fancied, brought to the attention
their having been SO kind, SO indulgent,
SO paternalistic prior to the strike The
non-union men came together in several
OF the southern camps, they formulated
demands very similar to those which the
union had asked in the first place. They
asked for a 10 per cent increase in
wages, and also something that the union
had never asked for, the discharge of
several harsh and tyrannical pit bosses.
1t was what these men had learned from
the union and its fight that made them
ask for those things. They had learned
the things which the union had demanded.
They had compared their own unhappy
state with what it would be If they were
union. men enjoying all the fruits of sue
cessful unionism, and being given u
chance, they asked for these things They
did not get them until backed by the
strength of organization.
The State Militia.
The charge that has recently been
made that union men are preventing en-
listments in the militia, and thereby en-
dangerng the safety OF the country, is
too childish to need much comment
Should the time ever come when these
United States are attacked or are in
danger of attack from "A foreign foe.
every union man will deem ii his duty
to do all that in him lies for the coun-
try OF his birth or adoption.
II is true that the self-respccting
workers generally hold aloof from the
state militia, because they have come to
the conclusion that it has been rendered
useless as means of national defense,
and has been perfected as "A strike break
ing machine. Instead of going into the
strike regions as peace Officers, unprc-
judiccd and honest, the members of the
guard have displayed a most reprehen-
sible spirit OF lining up with the money
force against the workers.. The result
was inevitable. The patriotic worker
has come to regard the militiaman, es.
pecially the militia officer. as unfriendly
and worse than that, unfriendly without
cause, and unfriendly without hope of
conversion.
In Colorado, more than any instance in
America. has this spirit of ferocious, un-
| warranted and wholly unjust unfriendli-
ness been displayed, and there must be-
a complete rehabilitation and reorgunI-
zaition Of the guard before it can ever
again become factor in state affairs.
| II is a libel on the workers to say
they are not patriotic because. they will
not take an interest in an organization
which only produces unpatriOtic scan-
! dals, unpatriotic raids on the public
treasury and loss of public esteem.
Whenever the state militia Is removed
from politics, from petty trickery, from
| class of employers who have 20 mis-
n powerful capital-when it comes under
federal control and is nodded into a vast
| and honorable organization-then the In.
Dor unions and the laboring men will
regard it with the same esteem they be-
stow on any other great governmental
institution
State constabulary.
The movement at present on foot to
establish a state constabulary is dis
tinctly suspicious one. 1t emanatcs from
u class femplOyers who have so mis-
managed their business that the people
had TO pay the expense of their mis-
management 1t was this class of en-
ployers who debauched the national
guard until it has become disgrace TO
the state.
What the object of the move TO have
a state constabulary can be, we can only
| conjecture. The whole machinery of the
country government in the districts they
have operated in has been in their hands.
and those charged with the administra-
| ton of the law were their willing tools
They controlled the militia and used
| that arm Of the government as their
| private police and stretched even the
supposed military power to enable them
| to defeat the safeguards of the peoples
! liberties. They have evaded their right
| full share of the cost of government in
| taxation.
Is is as wicked an attempt on the part
| of INSCRIPTIONS tax dodgers to saddle
the general public with the expense of
their crimes against decency and the
law Ms can be imagined. And it should
receive the unqualified opposition OF
every liberty loving citizen of the state.
The Case of John R. Lawson.
A ! L