Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-01-30


Fourteen months thousands Of men,
women and children suffered on the
mountain sides and prairies. and two
months have gone since we called of the
strike as a result OF President Wilson'S
appeal, and yet ne has not had the OPP
portunity for a personal investigation.
Excuse TOO Busy"
His excuse for his lack Of knowledge
and his failures is that he is too busy.
What is his business? He explained II
by stating spend large part OF my
time in directing with others various
foundations which my father has esta6-
, lished and in giving time to questions
Of invest uent.'
1T was only through questioning that
he confessed his father had received
s., sS9,000 from his bonds" M. Lawson
continued. land that the assets OF the
company We're So. $50 in excess Of liabili-
It's, and that this item did not take il
an appreciation in property values OF
some $4,000, 600 Nor did he mention the
vast holdings that the company refuses
/ to develop, keeping them Idle while the
population increase adds TO their value.
Stupid and Corrupt Policy"
Whatever appearance Of poverty
ClIngs TO the company is not due TO any
thing but It's own stupid and corrupt
policy Had it taken the money II had
spent III controlling officials and the
electorate in purchasing machine guns,
the employment OF gunner and in crush
!ng the aspirations of human beings,
auG spent il in wages and the improve
rnent OF working conditions, they would
! have had rich returns in increased pro-
ductivity.
"These-this record OF Indifference re-
specting human life and human happi-
uess-are vital causes Of industrial dis
content. An employer who is never seen
ana whose power is handed down from
man to man until there is q chain thai
no individual can climb; our lives and
OR Liberties passed over as q gift or by
VIII: our energies and future is capital
lied by financiers in distant cities. THESE
are TOO often men who have never seen,
care nothing for US and who Will not or
cannot hear the cry of our despair.
Another Cause
There is another cause Of industrial
discomfort and this, too flows from a
Rockefeller source This is the skillful
attempt that Is being made to substitute
,hiIan, aropy Tor justice There is not
one Of THESE foundations. now spreading
their millions over the world in snowy
generosity. that does not draw those
millions from some form OF industrial in
Justice. II is not their money that these
lords OF Commercial Virtue are spending
but the withheld wages Of the American
working class"
MY Lawson related some of MT.
! Pockcfellers testimony concerning
the activities Of the Rockefeller foun-
dation.
Wave Of Horror
a wave Of horror swept over me
during that reading and / say that
that same wave is now rushing over
the entire working class in the Unit
cd States Health for China, refuge
I for birds, food for the Belgians, pen
sions for New York widows. university
/ training for the elect-and never &
thought or dollar for the many
thousands Of men. women and chill
. erer who starved in Colorado, for the
! widows robbed Of husbands, children
! Of their fathers, by law-viola1ng con-
/ ditions in the mines, or for the glarins
/ ilIite-ccy Of the coal camps. There
are thousands Of MIR Rockefeller's eX-
! employees in Colorado today who wish
! 10 God they We're in Belgium to be fed,
I or a bird TO be tenderly cared for
MIR. Lawson referred to the Rookie
Teller Foundations appropriation OF
/ 81 Onn GOA 10 defray the expenses OF an
/ investigation into the causes Of indus
/ trial unrest as what this commission
was appointed to do
Control Of Commission
Who are the directors on this
/ foundation. out Of which comes this
investigation" MIR. Lawson asked.
The two Rock their profess
sio.Ial advisers. Murphy, Gates, Green
! and Heydt, their secretaries, F4eXner
/ and Rose on the Rockefeller payroll,
! and three others, Eliot, Hepburn and
/ Judson. who furnished an outward ap-
/ pearanca Of independence-the sane
/ control that has directed the affairs
( Of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co; the
! same voice that declared Though
Young Rockefeller that the defeat OF
! the union in Colorado was great
( American principle for which he was
willing TO sacrifice his money and the
! lives Of his workers. And they ask
the lahoring class to believe that what
they will feel as coal company direc-
! tors they will not feel as directors OF
/ the Foundation. Who is the man chos-
( en- TO conduct this million dollar in
vestigation into industrial unrest? One
Mackenzie King. an alien, whose con-
| trihution to the industrial problem is
! a law that prescribes a jan sentence
fo- the worker who dares TO lay down
his tools IF labor had any doubt as
To his real intent, that doubt was re-
! moved by the letter read at this hear
! ing"
Quotes Letter
Here Mr.. Lawson quoted what pur-
ported copy of a letter written by
Mr.. King, Aug. 16, 1914. TO John D.
/ Rockefeller. Jr., in which Mr.. King
said
! 1t will not be long before the IN
| evitable effects of the European war
| are certain TO make themselves fe-t
and once this becomes apparent, the
unions will have to revise consldera-
! blv some Of their present policies
! Looking at the ultimate, rather than
the immediate effect, there is. gener-
o D~rE