You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday November 29, 1914
Washington, D. C. - President Wilson Considering Plan to End Colorado Coal Strike
President Wilson
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Following a visit, last week, by officials of the United Mine Workers of America, President Wilson has been considering a plan to end the strike in the southern coalfields of Colorado. The strike has been on since September of 1913 and the strike zone is now occupied by federal troops. It is said that the president is considering the appointment of yet another commission to investigate the strike, with the expectation that the strike would be called off pending the outcome of the investigation. Federal troops could then be removed from southern Colorado.
Sources say that Seth Low, President of the National Civic Federation, and Patrick Gilday, President of the District No. 2, United Mine Workers of America, are being considered as possible members of the commission. Mine operators and business leaders are also being considered. The commission would most likely be made up of three to five members.
From The Indianapolis News, November 28, 1914:
EXECUTIVE BOARD TO MEET.
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Miners' Official Expect Wilson
to Act in Colorado Strike.
The general executive board of the United Mine Workers of America will meet next Monday at the international headquarters of the union in this city. The board has just adjourned a meeting held in Philadelphia following the convention of the American Federation of Labor.
Action from President Wilson on the Colorado situation is expected soon, according to officials of the mine workers, and the meeting of the board is for the purpose of taking action in behalf of the miners on the decision of the President.
President Wilson this week received a delegation of miners' officials and with them discussed the situation in Colorado. The miners' representatives were: President John P. White, Vice-President Frank J. Hayes, Secretary William Green, James Lord, president of the mining department of the American Federation of Labor, and John R. Lawson, board member from District 15, Colorado. W. B. Wilson, secretary of labor, was also at the conference.
Mine Workers Officials at White House:
F. J. Hayes, James Lord, Secretary of Labor William B Wilson,
J. P. White, William Greene, J. R. Lawson
It is understood that President Wilson assured the miners' officials that he had by no means abandoned his plans for settlement of the strike. He emphasized that he was attempting to find some method by which he could bring about an acceptance of his plan of settlement. Following the sending of federal troops into the strike zone of Colorado, President Wilson submitted a truce plan of settlement to the operators and coal miners. The plan was accepted by the United Mine Workers of America, but was rejected by the operators.
Since that time state officials of Colorado have asked that the federal troops be removed, contending that the state officers are prepared to preserve order. The union officials have said that a removal of the federal troops will result in worse conditions than existed before the federal interference. They are asking that the President exert some means to influence the operators to accept his plan of peace. This plan embodied the calling of a three years' truce, with the submission of the dispute to a board of arbitration to be selected by the President.
Some definite action in the matter is expected to be taken soon, according to officers of the miners' organization.
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[photograph added]
From the Oakland Tribune, November 29, 1914:
WILSON WILL TRY TO STOP STRIKE
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President Considers Plan of
Having Investigation Made by Commission.
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 28.-President Wilson will take important steps within the next forty-eight hours to force settlement of the Colorado coal strike. While no official information regarding his plan has been made public, it was understood tonight that he is considering duplicating the action by which former President Roosevelt forced the end of the anthracite strike. The plan, which is understood to have the endorsement of the National Civic Federation , the United Mine Workers of America and Secretary of Labor Wilson, is the naming of a commission to investigate all the questions at issue and to suggest a plan of settlement.
Seth Low
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According to the reports in official circles, the president is so far convinced that the plan is a good one that he has already decided on two members of the commission. They are said to be Seth Low, president of the National Civic Federation, and Patrick Gilday of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, President of the District No. 2, United Mine Workers of America.
SELECTING MEMBERS.
If the commission is to be of three men, a representative of the mine owners will be named. If it is to be of five members, two representative business men will be drafted.
The president has prepared a complete review of the Colorado situation. This deals with the causes leading up to the strike, explains steps already taken to force a compromise and declares that the public interest demands that mutual concessions to restore tranquil conditions must be made.
The president also, it is understood, will incorporate in his statement the opinion of the solicitor of the department of labor that he has no legal right to obey the recommendations made to him by the American Federation of Labor, that the department of justice apply for a federal receiver to operated the mines until the mine owners accept the compromise suggested by the president.
WOULD GAIN SUPPORT.
While a commission named under the proposed plan, it was agreed, would have no compulsory power, it has been pointed out to the president that its recommendations would have the support of public opinion to an extent that neither of the parties at issue would dare defy it.
Already several requests that the federal troops now on duty in the Colorado strike zone be withdrawn have reached the White House. They come from organizations in Colorado and have been referred to Secretary of War Garrison. President John [P]. White of the United Mine Workers told the president a week ago that the withdrawal of the troops would be followed by more widespread disorder.
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[photograph added]
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SOURCES
The Indianapolis News
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Nov 28, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Oakland Tribune
(Oakland, California)
-Nov 29, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
See also:
United States Congressional serial set,
Issue 7099, 1916
(search with "labor difficulties colorado")
http://books.google.com/...
IMAGES
Woodrow Wilson
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Mine Workers Officials at White House
http://www.loc.gov/...
Seth Low
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
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"Now It's Here" - Tom Breiding
"We'll find strength, power and justice in the U. M. W. A."
Tom Breiding: Now It's Here (Victory Song for Fairness at Patriot)
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Gotta love a kid who supports his mom!