The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-22
ROCKEFELLER AND
 CHAIRMAN WALSH
 CLASH AT HEARING
Witness Put Through Grill ling Examination Which Arouses Him to Expres-
 sions of Resentment


 Washington. May 2.-Freauent sharp ella shes between John D. Rockefeller, Jr, and Chairman Walsh marked today's ses- son of the industrial relations commits sion with Rockefeller again on the stand testifying about conditions in the Colo rado coal fields Although two members of the commission had protested against what they regarded as the hostile atti- tIde of the chairman yesterday, Walsh through a griling examination, time after l time arousing him to expressions of re- sentiment.
 l Rockefeller demanded that he be ac- corded rights given other witnesses. and firmly insisted that Chairman Walsh was seeking to inject itto his questions im- plications against the Colorado Fuel and Iron company and it's officers. Some oues- tions he declined to answer as improper and others he characterized as useless. | Rockefeller will be on the stand again l tomorrow.
 | Executive. Session
 
 held an executive session at the instance of Commissioner weinstock and Mrs. J. Borden Hartman. who informed Chair man Walsh that they believed the atti- tude he assumed yesterday toward Rock efeller had the appearance of hostility. Walsh said he had no intention of display | ing hostility, but that he was unusually interested in affairs connected with the Colorado strike and naturally could not restrain a tendency to conduct the ex- l animation vigorously. He informed his colleagues, however that he was deter mined to conduct the examination as he saw fit. Later in the open hearing the chairman emphatically told Rockefeller he was running the examination and did not propose to be dictated to by the wit ness.
 MT Rockefeller arrived at the hearing room with a prepared statement based OF disclosure yesterday that one of the jurors who convicted John R. Lawson, a member | of the executive committee of the United Mine Workers of America, of murder, had exclusive sales privileges in the Colorado Fuel and Iron company camps MT. Walsh had appealed to the witness to in tercede for Lawson and get him a new trial
 | Were I, either directly or indirectly to attempt to influence the judiciary of Colo rado as respects the appeal of MT. Law sons trial, said the statement, q should be guilty of the very procedure against which witnesses before this commission have so strongly protested, and which I myself have not less strongly con- demned."
 l The questioning today covered a wide | Iange of subjects, strike violence, re- sponsiblity of officials, political influ- ence and correspondence relating to the | strike. As to violence Rockefeller said where constituted authority failed to pro- tect life and property the citizen was justified in using force for~his own pro- tection
 In response to questions regarding re- sponsibility for violence and use of mili- tary force during the strike he declared that the conduct of measures against the strike had been left to officers of the coal companies and that he personally could not pass upon the necessity for the | use of force.
 But suppose you. yourself. had to de- eide the question: demanded Chairman 1 Walsh.
 T believe it is always proper to defend life and property" the witness replied.
 If the constituted authorities fail to do
 30. you would protect your life and prop erty yourself7"
 Yes"
 | And you would use force?' II 'Yes, all the force necessary to pro-
 teet my life and property. I think anyone
 would do that"
 Rockefeller reiterated his belief in the
 right of labor to organize, asserting that
 he believed in it as firmly he did that
 capital should organize. He said he had
 made no personal effort to bring about an interview between officials of the Colorado
 I during the recent strike. though he would not have had objection to such an inter- view The chairman argued that such an interview would have averted the strike. l Did not you, IS 40 per cent stock | holder and director, assume responsible ity for all that followed when you failed 10 use your influence to bring about that interview"
 q have assumed full responsibility that is mine in the condition said Rockefel- Ter. "1 did what l thought was right and propery. assume such responsibility as stockholder and director as really devoves upon me. It is simply your opinion that that interview would have laverted the strike. I don't know that it would have"
 Rockefeller's attention was called to articles written by the presidents of the | Denver university and the Colorado col lege favorable to the coal companies in the strike.
 Do you know that sometime after these articles were written the Rockefeller gen. eral education fund contributed sl00, ,00( te Denver university and $1O0,o0O to the Colorado couege?' asked Walsh
 II do not know that" answered Rock efeller emphatically. but If such con- tributions were made they had absolutely no connection whatever with the state- ments made by those gentlemen