New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-26

Otner Is SHOWN by the lelteTS eA-
changed it is that | did not in any
sense direct the strike or dictate the
policies of the company, but that, on
the contrary, several of the sugges-
tons which | made in the hope of con-
tribut.ng TO the settlement or the
strike were not followed.
THE officers and directors OF the
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company are
earnestly striving to improve condi-
tions in Colorado so as to make for
ever impossible the recurrence of such
strife as that of 1913 and 1914 We
earnestly solicit the cooperation OF
the public in achieving this result. As
means of ending the industrial con-
fiict in Colorado the President of the
United States appointed commission.
of which Mr. Seth Low is chairman and
of which Mr. Patrick Gilbay, an Off
cial of the United Mine Workers Of
America, the organization which con-
Quoted the strike, IS q member.
Conditions Are Improving.
1.-THE policy OF this commission has
been 70 allay the bitterness which was
engendered by the struggle, and to
urge that as rapidly as possible all
concerned address themselves 70 i'm
proving conditions of the present and
future We are receiving cordial help
from this commission in our efforts,
and the labor leaders, too, have shown
a friendly disposition.
"Can it be that the only factor of
Importance now tending to retard the
complete restoration of industrial
peace in Colorado is the chairman of
the United States Commission on In
dustrial Relations"
With his statement Mr.. Rockefeller
gave out the memorandum not used"
incosed in a letter of June 10, 1914, to
Ivy l.. Lee, in part as follows:
Much has been said and much con-
tinues to be said about the Ludlow
massacre and the large number Of
women and children who were wan
tonly shot down by the militia and
mine guards. There was no Ludlow
massacre. The engagement started as
a desperate fight for life by two small
squads of militia, numbering twelve
and twenty-five men, respectively,
against the entire tent colony, which
attacked with over three hundred armed
men. There were no women and chill
dren shot by the authorities of the
state or representatives of the OPP
orators in connection with the Ludlow
engagement, not one. For this state
ment reference Is made TO a report to
the commanding general OF the Col
orado militia, under date Of May 2,
1914, signed by Major Edward J. Bough-
ton, Judge advocate of the military dis
trict; Captain william c. Hanks, LIST
Infantry, and Captain Philip S. Van
Cise, LIST Infantry. (See especially
paragraphs 10, - and 49,
There was but one child shot in this
engagement, who, having, contrary to
the instructions Of his parents, gone
outside of the tents, was shot by a
stray bullet Of the strikers. The two
women and eleven children who met
their death in a pit underneath the
floor of one Of the tents, where they
had been placed by the men, apparently
for safety, were smothered.
THAT such an outcome was newt
able as a result of placing this number
of human beings in q pit Sx6x4la feet,
the aperture Of which was concealed,
without any possible ventilation, is
evident. See page % of the above re-
port. While this loss OF life is pro-
foundly to be regretted, it is unjust in
the extreme to lay it at the door of the
defenders Of law and property, who
were in no slightest way responsible
for il.
Mine Guards Not Militia.
an an article written by one who has
recently visited Colorado, the state
ment was made, alleged to have been
based upon the official reports of Adj
iutant General Chase, TO the effect that
AN overwhelming majority OF the state
militia were mine guards and other en-
pl0yes of the coal companies, who had
been enlisted wholesale, armed and
uniformed by the state and sent out to
make war upon the strikers The
facts are that mine guards were en-
listed in only one Of the companies OF
militia sent To the strike zone. While
il is true that in this company mine
guards were enlisted as miltiamen,
their number. in proportion TO the total
number of militia in the field at any
one time is insignificant. The pur-
pose for which this statement was so
grossly distorted is obvious.
ut has been charged that the en-
ployes in the mines Of Colorado are
no better than slaves, oppressed by
their employers and ground down to
the last extreme in order that larger
dividends and more profits may be
reaped by the companies. The utter
falsity and injustice Of this charge are
self-evident in so far as the Colorado
Fuel & Iron Company is concerned.
with which company alone am in any
way connected, in view of the state
ment which has been widely published,
namely that during the past twelve
years, since our relation to it. that
company has never paid single cent
on its common stock and has paid only