The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1916-08-05
CHARGE BALLOTS
WERE PROHIBITED
CONTINUED from page ~

the corporation.
These companies plainly connived
with certain county officials to Sc
cure the creation of election pre-
clncts, bounded so as to include their
private property only, and with lines
marked by their own fences, or
guarded by their own armed men.
and within which were only their
own employees.
They excluded the public from
entrance to such election precincts.
labeled the same as private property,
and warned the public that entrance
thereon constituted trespass. They
denied the right of free public as
sem blage within such election pre-
cincts, and likewise the right of free
or open discussion of public questions
therein.
They denied the right to circulate
election literature or the distribution
| Of cards of candidates within such
precincts. They secured. the. selection
| OF their own employees exclusively as
Judges and clerks of election, and by
the location OF precinct boundaries no
! other than their employees could so
| serve. They >. apparently made the
| registration lists from their pay rolls.
They kept such lists in their private
places OF. business and in charge Of
their employees:
'"They prohibited all public investi-
cation within such election precincts
| as to the qualification Of the persons
so registered as electors of the pre-
| cinct. 80 -,
Through their employees acting as
| ELECTION officials, they assisted numer-
GUS non-English speaking persons to
| vote by marking their ballots for
| thine, IN plain violation Of the law.
They provided other non-English
speaking persons with a. fraudulent
device by which such persons might
be enabled to vote the Republican
ticket, d without, being able to rea
either the name of the candidate or
the party ticket or which they so
voted. -
They coerced and intinaidated their
employees In many instances.
Corruption and Intimidation.
1--WE find no such example OF fraud
| within the books and must seek the
letter and spirit of the law in q free
government: as g. scale in which to-
! weigh such. conduct -.
This Is the courts summing up Of
| review OF the evidence which bristles
| with amazing instances of corruption
and intimidation perpetrated by the
| company in close cooperation with
Sheriff jeff Farr, known as the liking
| of Huerfano county" This is the
same Farr who deputized strike
guards who, he admitted, might have
been. for all he knew, "red-handed
murderers''
Most amazing of all is the admis-
sion of the attorneys for the Rookie
feller-Farr combination, in their
that: ..
ut is a. matter of present, or of
only recently past history, that the
Republican party of the whole state,
from the candidate for governor
down, and particularly those in Huer-
fano county, ran on what they were
pleased to call a law and order
platform. THIS MEANT, OR WAS
TAKEN TO MEAN THAT THE RE-
PUBLICANS SIDED AGAINST THE
STRIKERS. INDEED THIS WAS
THE OPEN ATTITUDE OF THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE
STRIKE DISTRICT"
This is brazenly offered as justifica-
ton for the Rockefeller arr meth
ods. T.. -" :r;..:
Every Judge. clerk or officer of
election with the exception Of a sa.
loonkeeper was an employee of the
coal companies, the court finds. The
one exception was saloonkeeper and
partner of Sheriff F'arr. Remember
that Rockefeller and his agents pro-
tested that their interest in the cam
paign was prohibition.
After describing the process by
which economic mastery was used to
seize political control, the supreme
court says. ISL -
THUS were the public election dis
tricts and the public election machin-
cry turned" over to the, absolute domi-
nation and imperial control of pri-
vate coal corporations, and used by
them as absolutely and privately as
were their mines, to and for their
own private purposes."->. 80
Now for a specific instance Of how
industrial : absolutism accomplishes
political absolutism. The court says:
again, it appear that the ballots
were printed so that the first letter
Of the name of each political party
was printed in unusually large type.
The coal company employees provided
voters not familiar with the English
language, a card upon which was
printed a, large capital r. correspond
ing with the letter. r., on the ballot in
the word .Repu blican,'' and the testi-
mony in relation to the use of this
card is as follows: F..
'This card could be slipped right
down the ballot until the letter r on
the card correspondent with the first
letter Of the word Republican, and a
mark placed right at the top. The
card was of the same length as the
column on the ballot having the names
Of the candidates, and the r. was so
arranged that If the card was placed
lengthwise it would meet the r in
the word Republican"
Disposing Of the coal company de-
tense; the court says:
1.-THE defense relies not upon con-
f1tcting evidence, but upon the con,
tention that the conduct of the cleo
ton was justified as an industrial ne
cessity.'