The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-05-20
AS LABOR'S FRIEND.
Continued from Page one.l

continued from PAGE one.l
the president of the United States and
to the governors of the states over the
signature of the governor of Colo
RADIO"
After quoting from the statement
he made at the commissions hearing
in New York last January, to the eff
feet that he never sought to dictate
policy or arbitrarily to control any
situation relative to the strike. Mr..
Rockefeller said that "all policies as
well matters of detail, were de-
cided upon and carried out by the
executive officers at Denver without
asking our advice
Neither my New York associates
nor 1 conducted the strike. AS my
associates and 1 acquired fuller
knowledge of the situations, our eff
forts were directed to making sug-
gestions which we hoped might help
in terminating the controversy
"Substance of Every Suggestion
Mr.. Rockefeller then gave the Sub
stance of every suggestion which we
made to the Denver office during the
strike" quoting the letters and te1e-
grams bringing forth these sugges-
tions.
The suggestions Mr.. Rockefeller
grouped under ten headings, as fol-
lows:
That an investigation by three fed
be made for injured employees and
their families; that disinterested medi-
ators be appointed to intervene; that
the operators reiterate their accept
ance of Governor AmmonS' PROPOSE
ton of settlement; that a plan to get
together be developed; that disputed
points, other than union recognition
be submitted to a board to be APP
pointed by the president of the
United States; that plan of publicity
be developed; that plan of organiza-
ton to secure collective bargaining
and opportunity for presenting en-
suggestion in regard to President Will
sons plan Of truce, and that plan of
self government for employees be
considered
Mr.. Rockefeller denied the state
ment that It knew on the admission
of my own agents in the field that the
Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. controlled
the prices and fixed the working con-
ditions at the Mines"
Wrong Conclusion Drawn.
He said the wrong conclusion was
drawn from letter of Mr. Bowers to
him in which Mr.. Bowers referred to
the prices of wages paid for men for
mining coal and not to the prices at
which coal was sold. The Colorado
Fuel & Iron Co, as the largest factor
in the field. he said, was usually first
in making changes in operating con-
ditions, their lead being sometimes
Regarding statement that he and
his associates participated in the
prosecution of John R. Lawson, Mr..
Rockefeller said:
Il desire to state uneQuivocaIly that
neither 1 nor any of my associates has
had any connection whatsoever with
this case. 1 feel, and have so eX-
pressed myself explicitly, that when
private interests, either individual or
corporate, participate in criminal
prosecution the proceedings tend to
lose that impartial quality which
should characterize the administration
of justice"
Says He Was Assured.
Mr.. Rockefeller declared that when
he learned that the trial was coming
on he made careful inquiry "to assure
myself that the Colorado Fuel & Iron
Co. was not participating in any way
in the prosecution and he was as
sured that this was the fact and no
deviation from this policy would be
permitted by the officers of the COM
pany in any prosecutions
In reviewing recent events in Colo
doubtless true that many of those who
had a part in them would in the light
of present knowledge have acted diff
ferently in many respects, 1 can only
say for myself that at each step 1 did
what at the time seemed to me right
and wise AS 1 see it, the vital ques-
lions now are these:
Are conditions as they ought to be?
If not, are sincere and effective eff
forts being put forth to make them
better?"
Mr.. Rockefeller then told of his in
tention to visit Colorado 1'aS soon as it
can be arranged, with due regard to
other obligations" and said that ir
the meantime tho officers of the Colo
RADIO Fuel & Iron Co. are meeting sue
cess in their efforts to improve con-
ditions among employees
He told of his informal conferences
with labor men following the January
hearings of tile commission IN New
York and said he was glad to avail
of the opportunity to get their
view concerning the Colorado situa-
ton.
LAS to the future he added, I'VE
are bending every energy toward the
of sound conditions and
in that effort We seek the CO. opera
ton of those interested in establishing
rela lions of mutual confidence and
between the various e1e-
mentS associated in the Industrial life
of the state of Colorado