The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-28
ROCKEFELLER ID CONF FER WITH
 LABOR LEADERS
Invites Them to Meet Him at New York Office.
 Will Meet "Man
 to Man"

New York, January zh--JOnn U. Rockefeller, Jr.. who for three days has been witness before the federal commission on industrial relations, has invited labor leaders who aided in di- recting the Colorado strikes of last year to meet him in his offices at 2o Broadway. The conference, 1t is ex- pected, will be held tomorrow. MT. Rockefeller made this known tonight in talk with newspaper men in which he also told something of his conference with Mother" Jones today. MT Rockefeller expects to meet the la bor leaders in a personal capacity, he indicated, and will talk to them as he puts it, "as man to man." that he may become better informed of the con- ditions which brought about last years strike and the present sltua- tion.
 Mother" Jones and Mr. Rockefeller discussed at length today here exper- fences and the situation in Colorado. MT Rockefeller set what is declared to be & precedent by inviting group | of newspaper men into his own office and talking freely of his conference with "Mother" Jones.
 Alluding to Mother" Jones, MT. Rockefeller said:
 l "She has been good enough to tell me that from listening to what have said in the witness chair she has been persuaded that her preconceived ideas about me personally have been wrong. and that she had been for years mis- understanding and misrepresenting me. Talk of Situation
 "We talked at length of what the men in the Colorado coal fields regard as their grievances. She spoke partic- ] ularly of her belief that the men should have the privilege of presenting taeiI | case at any time directly to the di- rectors of corporations by which they are employed instead of through ex- ecutive officers only. She mentioned her conviction that the employees shoulc
 have the right of free speech; that they
 should be permitted to select their owr
 teachers for their schools and tha. they should have the privilege of purehas ing in any stores where they pleased
 to deal, whether company stores ol
 not.
 l "I found Mother Jones a very clear
 minded woman. On all of the point'
 upon which she laid stress throughout
 our conversation I assured her that
 in principle. I quite agreed With he
 view. As I had already made plain il
 my testimony I believe in the right o
 free speech for all at all proper time
 so long as the exercise of that privileg
 does not trench upon the reciproca
 rights of others.
 Substantially Agree
 Our interview developed the fac
 that, so far from being hopelessl
 apart, in principle at least, we substan
 tially agreed as to the desirabilty o practically the same things.
 q accordingly assured Mrs. Jone
 of my intention to go to Colorado t
 make a further thorough personal in ] ~uiry on the ground. While there
 hope I shall have the opportunity t 2 meet and talk freely with other me 5 who took conspicuous part in tn l strike last year. In the meantime I as f sured Mrs Jones of my intention to d
 whatever lay in my power, consisten with the duties of a director and n : owner. to bring about more harmoniou
 relations and to insure more stabl r conditions of industrial peace. f There must be some way out 0
 these difficulties of ours" said Nil U Rockefeller as he was closing his tall s Industrial conflict is so wasteful, s r unhumane, so un-Christian, so useles. l All conflict is such. None of us sure |, ly can look at the European war with N out regarding it as n-Christian an . l wasteful. I do not see how we can re n frain from that belief regarding in n dustrial conflict"