Denver labor bulletin., 1915-10-02

| S,,tos commission on industrial Fela-
,;ons covering the Colorado coal strike,
of which the accompanying article Is the
fifth installment.l
..ybon the miners left their homes on
company property ana estapnshea te IN
coIon;es on land leased by the United
Nine Workers, they knew that they
could expect no protection from officers
of III. law. A sheriff who at the com
nanv's behest would deputize hundreds
af mon whom he had never seen, ana
Who for all he knew, might be red
II handed murderers fresh from the scenes
of tbeir crimes" could not be counted
unon TO safeguard the rights OF strklhG
amnloyes of a company that was ms
mariner in the liquor business and his
nol;tical master. Mr.. Lawson, the most
| prominent Colorado official OF the United
| Mine Workers knew from bitter eNpe-
| rience how low the sheriff OF Hueriaho
county would stoop to aid the operators
and to crush the strike. The scene was
set, so far as the operators were con
| cerned. for a repetition of 1908 and 1904,
when every constitutional right OF tine
strikers had been violated and they had
been deported, imprisoned and assaulted
| AT the inception of the strike it seems
| cleor that the union officials and the
strikers determined that 1908 was not
| To be repeated; that the first attempt OF
the operators private army to override
| their rights. there should be resistance.
But it is clearly established that the
| operators had employed 326 armed mlhe
| nnards in Huerfano county alone pnor
| to September / and that no step to arm
the strikers was taken by union ON
ciRls until twelve days after that date
| MIR. Welborn gives September ~ a the
| first date when. it is alleged by the
operators, arms were purchased "i
| Pueblo hardware dealer by agents OF the
| union.
Importing Strkebreakers.
In addition to the presence OF large
numbers OF armed guards and the alb
sence OF honest and impartial public Of
ficinIs to control them. there existed the
elements OF violence that are common
to all large strikes. The strikers had
| established tent colonies at strategic
positions near the mouths OF the cauOns
| i'm which the mines We're situated, so
that strike breakers going from the rail
| road stations to the mines were forced
to pass near them. The history OF
strikes shows that workmen on strike
feel that they have property interest
| in their jobs. and that other workmen
who take their places and thus aid their
employers to defeat the strike are mt
| subjects for abuse, Tidiculc and violence.
| 1t is only by ostracising and ntimi-
dating strike breakers that organized
workmen can hope to discourage the
practice and thereby win in a struggle
| for higher wages or for industrial
democracy. For after negotiation fails,
their only means OF exerting compell-
| ing influence on the employer is TO stop
production by quitting work and to pre-
| vent a resumption OF operations by Keep
| ing out strike breakers. And society,
| if it wishes to prevent violence IN INDUS
| trial disputes. has only two courses
omen: to prohibit strikes. and in so do
| ing to establish involuntary servitude;
or TO prohibit the importation oi strike
| breakers at least until the employers
consent to meet officials OF the strikers
union"
Government of Tyranny,
The report gives an account of the
various riots and disorders and says;
"In all discussion and thought regard
| ing violence in connection with the strike,
the seeker after truth must remember
that government existed in southern
| Colorado only as instrument OF
| tyranny and oppression in the hands OF
the operators; that. once having dared
to oppose that tyranny in strike, the
| miners only protection for themselves
and their families lay in the physical
| force which they could muster.
at remains to be seen how even the
supreme authority 1t the state failed
to protect them in their struggle Tor the
right to work and live as free men and
to bring up their children in an atmos-
phere where law and order was not syn
| onymous with the anarchistic viii of
| lawless corporation
| One chapter OF the report is devoted
to the part played in policing the strike
by the Colorado militia. 1t states that
| Governor Ammons when he called out
the militia issued orders that they should
not be used to escort imported strike
breakers from the railroad station to
| the mines The report says:
That this policy of Governor Am
mons was not out of line with the cor
rect theory of policing strikes is indi-
Gated by the fact that when the federal
troops entered the field seven months
later similar orders were issued 10 them
by the secretary OF war.
Hordes of Private Detectives.
'The wisdom of prohibiting the impor-
tation of strike breakers as means OF
maintaining order has been amply dem
onstrated, but this policy rests on n
firmer basis than its mere cxpediency.
The record in Colorado shows that in
1909 and 1904, and again during the
strike under discussion, the coal opera
tors had no scruples in taking steps to
displace men who for years had been at
tachcd to the mining communities by
ties of family, friendships and love OF
state, with homeless and pennless i'm
migrant workmen from distant states.
"The record shows that strikebreakers
were imported in carload lots under the
11nrd OF privnte detectives who recruit