Denver labor bulletin., 1918-03-16
OIJSTED DELEGATE TO DISTRICT 15
CONVENTION TELLS STORY HOW ITS
INVADERS AND ORGANIZERS ACTED

them what l had done, one of them
said to me, Get report if you can,"
so l said, Il will get one if it is possi-
BILE to do so," so when l went back
Wednesday morning / felt like making
another attempt to get report.
Second days session. Convention
called to order by Acting President
James Moran at 9 a. m. Some of the
committees made partial report, one
of them being constitution commit
tee.
Now, here is where the gang start
their work They had amended the
constitution so any national organizer
could hold any district Office. He must
have three years experience in the
mine and belong to the union at least
two years before he can run for office.
Some of the real coal diggers there
objected to that and wanted it changed
to read, "He must be man that was
working in or around the mine," so
as to give the rank and file a chance,
but it was not changed. Another
amendment was that no one would be
seated in the district convention who
was not an actual coal miner working
in or around the mine and had been
member for at least two years and
had attended at least one-half or three
fourths of his local meetings six
months previous to the convention.
This, of course, does not include dis
trict board members or district or ma
tional organizers" Why, of course
not; that would not do to keep the ma
tional and district organizers out of
the conventions. They would not be
able to pack the conventions if they
did that.
They have fixed the presidents sal
ary at S155 per month and expenses,
the vice-president at $3.50 and ex-
penses, the secretary-treasurer at $3.50
and expenses, and the district board
at Sc per day and expenses when
working for the organization.
There was considerable discussion
concerning the amount of money the
secretary should keep on hand. At
first it was 81 900 and all over that
amount must be deposited in two or
more banks, but that did not seem
to be enough cash to keep on hand, so
they made it $4,000 and all over must
be deposited in a bank and cannot be
withdrawn without the consent of the
president, vice-president and secre-
ry-treasurer.
There was some discussion over the
question of expenses of any officer that
was working for the union, but it was
finally made plain they must be away
from home in order to get expenses.
During the afternoon session of the
second day some gentleman came in
the hall and extended an invitation to
the convention to attend in body
big mass meeting to be held at the
Auditorium Thursday night to hear
Mr. Charles Duncan and Mr.. William
Moses, both of England, deliver ad-
dresses on the labor movement. The
convention voted to accept, but they
did not know at that time that John
r. Lawson was going to be chairman
of that meeting or I'll bet they would
not have done so. In view of the fact
that when they did find it out, they
used all their power which, thank God,
is not very great, to have Lawson re-
moved, but failed in the attempt.
Later on Moran made his report, in
which he laid great stress on the de-
plorable condition of District Is when
also laid great stress on all the good
things he had done for the U. M. w.
of A. and the many contracts he had
got signed up. The most important
one was the Victor-American Fuel
Co., which we all know was "peach."
He also condemned the industrial
commission in no gentle terms, as
well as "that scab sheet, known as The
Denver Labor Bulletin" which he and
Mr.. Pippin referred to quite often dur
ing the convention. Jim also recon-
that the convention go on rec
ord as endorsing Frank Mancini's Ital-
ian paper. Its editor was also given
a vote of thanks for the fearless and
unbiased stand he had taken in their
support" after which Mr.. Pippin read
10. 10
make on that, except that it was a
short report, made so on account of
Mr.. Pippin not having sufficient time
to make up a longer report.
After this came Frank Spiegl of the
Musicians Union. He had just got
the report of the board meeting of the
Colorado State Federation of Labor
members. He said he had not even
looked at it himself, but it was so
good he could not keep it. He con-
demned the action of the board in
electing Mr.. Young of Pueblo to sue
coed John R. Lawson as president
of the Colorado State Federation of
Labor. He took great pains to tell
the convention that he had voted
against it. He also stated he under
to withdraw from the Federation. He
said, For Gods sake, don't do it;
that Federation is gang-ruled now and
you must stay in it and get control
and rule it yourselves and by all
means he hoped the rank and file
would vote down the action of that
board, so he wants the Colorado State
Federation of Labor gang ruled, pro-
vided the right gang rules.
After him came some man from
Leadville; don't remember his name,
but he had beautiful mustache that
curled up on both ends. He had
roll of documents, as well as Mr..