Denver labor bulletin., 1918-03-16


wrong, as Mr.. James F. Moran has
accused me, that / start to write o
report of the recent convention of the
U. NJ. w. of A. that was held last
week in what is known as the Dutch
room of the Oxford hotel, Denver,
Colo.
First, l wish to state that l went
to the convention wholly unbiased and
in favor of no particular union, and
/ will state right here my local was
opposed to any split and was still for
the United Mine Workers. We had
a delegate there, but after we gave
him his credentials the other local
officers and myself talked the matter
over and we were afraid our delegate
would not come back and give US
fair and impartial report, so the rest
of the local officers decided to send
me to the convention to get first hand
information, if l would go. As l was
not doing anything at the time l told
them l would go, so on Monday eve
ming, March A, / went to Mr.. Thomas
]. Bynon's house, who is our financial
secretary, and asked him if he wanted
me to go. He said he thought i had
better go, so | told him / would go
on the early train, leaving at 7:40. He
said to me, "Do you want some
money!" and l told him l would need
some, so Tom gave me two five dollar
bills, $40 in all, to pay my expenses,
and | left Tuesday morning, March 5,
for Denver to attend the convention.
i went to the Oxford hotel, where
/ met a number of delegates stand
ing on the corner, and / stopped and
began talking to them and the first
thing they started to talk about was
the strife and turmoil that Lawson and
nnNrlp kiclSinCr and that thav
were no good so of course, / had to
butt in and l told them there was
something about the district election
that / did not like, not that ! was
sticking up for Lawson and Doyle, but
we wanted a square deal, and / said,
Gentlemen, if we had got a square
count of just the locals that were in
good standing, Lawson and Doyle
would have been elected"
Right here is where my downfall
began and finally ended by me being
ordered out of the convention on the
morning of the third day. The gang
began to think they knew where /
stood OF course, the word was passed
from one to another to keep an eye
on me, and that, along with a great
deal of assistance from myself, by
telling first one and then another
what | thought about this, that or the
other of what had been done by the
acting district officers and their army
of well paid national and district or
ganizers they always carry around
with them to pack the conventions
that they attend so they may rule or
ruin l really feel sorry for the or
ganizers, for they are not so much to
blame as great many people think.
1t is the higher-ups that manufacture
the bullets and the organizers go out
and fire them.
First days session opened at $3.50
or thereabout, Tuesday morning,
March 5, Acting President James F.
Moran in the chair. The convention
was opened by some good man, / do
not know his name. Following him
was an attorney sent down by Mayor
Speer, who made an elegant address
of welcome to the delegates. He
wished them a harmonious convention
and turned the keys of Denver over
to them, but made the remark they |
would of course live within the laws,
after which the president appointed
two committees, rules of order and
credentials committees, after which |
the convention waited some little time
on other speakers, who did not come |
before dinner, and the convention ad-
journed until 1:30.
Afternoon session called to order at
l 80 by President Moran, after which |
other committees were appointed
grievance committee, committee on
constitution and resolutions commit
tee-after which the convention ad-
journed early in order to give the |
committees a chance to get busy. They
adjourned until 8 a. m. Wednesday.
Now here is where / start. l had
been thinking of how l could get
nf thn Trppap1inUS of the |
convention to bring back to my local,
as / had not been taking any notes
| had also taken notice that our dele |
gate, Mr.. Robert Bolton, was not TAX
ing any notes, so | did not think that |
Mr. Bottoms memory was any better |
than mine, and / did not think | could |
remember well enough to come back /
to my local and make a good, intelli- |
gent report without a copy of the |
proceedings, for / always like to be |
able to tell what the different speak |
ers have to say as near as / can. |
determined to get a report if ] could. |
and asked her if she would make me |
copy. She said she would be pleased |
to if Mr.. Pippin would permit her to
do so. She pointed him out to me and |
! tried to get chance to speak to him, |
but could not. The stenographer got |
a chance to speak to him and she asked |
him about it, but Mr.. Pippin said moth |
ing doing so of course that made me |
all the more determined to get a re-
port, as it is human nature to want |
that which is the hardest 20 get. /
did not want the report for any illegal
purpose, as Mr.. Moran would have the |
rank and file believe. No living soul
had told me to get one, but felt as if |
nv local was entitled to one, that be- |