Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-31
MINING COMPANIES
OWN EVERYTHING
John r. Lawson Declares Com.
plete Despotism Exists in
Colorado Camps.
AMOS PINCHOT is WITNESS
Advocates Government Owner
ship of Natural Resources as
Cure for Industrial Evils.

" NEW YORK. January 3o.-John r.
of America. who yesterday denounced
conditions in Colorado mining camps
in testimony before tho Industrial Re-
lations Commission. and sharply ar
ra!gned John ID. Rockefeller. Jr.. for
his alleged failure to inform himself
testimony to-day.
There is no social lifc In the camps"
Mr.. Lawson said. The companies own
all the houses. grounds. schools.
churches and stores. Complete dcspot-
ism exists In the mining camps"
Men worked In mines. he said. be-
cause they were forced, not because
they wanted to.
III they complain. X is down the
canyon for theirs" he said And If
the man who does work is hurt. no Is
taken to company hospital IL he
dies. company coroner conducts the
Inquest over the body. The Coroners
have n habit of giving n verdict OF
suicide or death duo TO carclessness
Ono coroner wrote. in certain case,
that the victim Of an accident had no
relatives and id few friends"
No coal miner. Mr.. Lawson said. has
ever shirked his duty In protecting life
and the interests of the operators.
REFERS TO STATEMENT
MADE BY ROCK EI'ELLER
Mr.. Lawson called the commissions
attention to a statement which he said
was made by John ID. Rockefeller, Jr..
on April 6, 1914. in which Mr.. Rookie
faltpr o1
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company would
never recognize tho United Mine Work
ers OF America, and that IT was a fight
to the finish.
Two weeks after that. to the day.
came Ludlow" Mr.. Lawson said II
Go not know whether there was any
connection between these two things.
hope not. y man like Mr.. Rockefeller
should be careful of the things he SAYS.
however"
Mr.. Lawson thought II was a mistake
on the part OF organized labor to re-
elect union officials who had been CON
victed Of violence.
Commissioner Weinstock read n no.
tice distributed by the United Mine
Workers of America, calling upon the
mine workers to form into companies
and arm themselves He asked II that
action did not constitute a defiance OF
the laws OF Colorado. as being a call TO
arms. n rebellion.
That Is no violation of the law"
Mr.. Lawson replied. II defy any one
to prove we violated the law
The notice was issued, the witness
said. two days after the shooting Mt
Ludlow.
MINERS UNDER INDICTMENT.
BUT OPERATORS ESCAPE
Mr.. Lawson said 5000 coal miners
are under Indictment in Colorado: and
not an operator has been indicted.
Mr.. Lawson said he was shot down
several years ago by an operator.
When the hearing came up, Mr. Law
son said, the district attorney, John
l.. Gray, said the case should not be
pressed. as il was n charge growing
out of Il strike" So the operator was
discharged.
Amos Pinchot, Ne& York attorney,
the next witness. declared government
ownership of mines and other natural
resources which are the foundation of
industry and labor. was the only doc
trtne in which there is any hope for
the allcviation OF Industrial evils
Acceptance by educational institu-
tions of donations from the Rookie
teller Foundation or the General Edu-
cation Board, Mr.. Pinchot considered a
grave danger" Smaller colleges, he
declared, were full OF Instructors and
professors who have not been delib-
erately driven from larger universities
on account OF economic opinions un-
friendly to benevolent eXploiters In In
dustry, but who. nevertheless, have
found their chairs in tho large univer-
stiles untenablc. and have left them
owing TO influences which were ire
sistible. but too subtle TO complain
about"
PINCHOT STATEMENT
PLACED on RECORD
The commission adjourned until
Monday before Mr.. Pinchot had COM
pleted his testimony, but he was per-
mittcd, to place the remainder on tho
record in the form of n prepared state
ment. In that he advocated an inves-
tigation by the commission. or a SINH
lar body, into the handling of news i'm
labor controversies.
The effect of public opinion could
only be justly eXerted, he said. when
the public was put in possession OF
the facts. lie declared that there was
mo element which gives labor n feel
ing OF such hclplcssncss and bitterness
as it's knowledge that the merits OF
its side of the question will not be pre-
scntcd to the public through the press"
The Associated Press In particular
he said, failed to carry news relating
to abor troubles in an impartial man
ner, and takes afiirmatively the side
of capital" He asserted that he had
been informed by "a Representatives
citizen Of Colorado. himself news
paper man of high standing, and n sub
scriber to- the Associated Press, that
the failure Il the Associated Press to
carry news impartially In the labor
troubles was n serious element in CIV
Ing strikers the feeling that they could
not hope for Justice"
MIsREPREsENTED
BI ASSOCIATED PRESS
Speaking Of labor troubles in the
West Virginia coal fields, and i'm tho
Michigan copper mine region in 1913. he
quoted what purported to he dispatch
of the Associated Press as Character.
istic evidence OF It's partiality to the
operators side OF tho case" .He de-
clarcd that tho Associated Press "a