Mr. Rockefeller is a pleasant-spoken young man.
He says he wants to help my boys in Colorado. This is what I want him to do.
I want him to do now what he has always had a chance to do
-Mother Jones
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Friday March 19, 1915
Denver, Colorado - CF&I President Jesse Welborn Says John D. Jr. Planing Visit Soon
From The Oregon Daily Journal of March 7, 1915:
J. D. Rockefeller Jr., Will Inspect Mines
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Plans to Visit Colorado Early in April
to Get Information on Scene of Recent Labor Trouble.
Denver, March 6.-John D. Rockefeller Jr. Will probably visit Colorado early in April, but his trip will be confined to inspection of the properties of the Colorado Fuel & Iron company. This was the announcement of Jesse F. Welborn, president of the corporation, on returning here today from New York. The employment situation is to continue to be left to the local representatives of the Rockefeller interests, Welborn said.
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[Cover of July 1914 Masses added.]
From the current issue of The Masses:
"Now We Will Talk"
Drawn by R. K. Chamberlain
From The Cincinnati Enquirer of March 3, 1915:
SEARCH
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For Peonage Fails.
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Ferrets Are Unsuccessful in Seeking Evidence
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That Operators Tried To Restrain Trade.
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Congressional Committee
Files Long Report
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On Conditions in Coal Mines of Colorado-
Militia Assailed For Treatment of Strikers.
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Detail of drawing by K R Chamberlain from The Masses of November 1914
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Washington, March 2.-A scathing arraignment of the Colorado militia for its treatment of striking miners and their families is contained in a voluminous report submitted to the House to-day by the Mines and Mining Subcommittee, which investigated conditions in the Colorado coal fields under a resolution adopted a year ago in January.
While scoring conditions generally in the coal fields and criticizing many of the acts of the mine operators, including alleged violation of state laws, the committee reports that no evidence was found of a conspiracy in restraint of trade to limit the output of the mines nor conclusive proof of the existence of peonage.
The strike was settled long before the committee completed its report, so no specific recommendations are made.
Arbitration Is Urged.
From the Masses of June 1914
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The committee appeals, however, for arbitration in such conditions. It declares that these disturbances are nation-wide in their importance; that the Federal Government is the only power competent to deal with them, and, after referring to the testimony of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who disclaimed responsibility for Colorado conditions, adds:
Absentee owners or Directors, by their absence from the scene of such disturbances, cannot escape their moral responsibility for conditions in and about Properties in which they are interested.
Liberal extracts from the 2,000 pages of testimony taken by the committee are embodied in the report, with this comment:
Considerable testimony on both sides of the controversy we believe is unreliable and no confidence should be placed in it. Colorado had good ming laws, and such that out to afford protection to the miner if they are enforced, yet in this state the percentage of fatalities is larger than any other, showing there undoubtedly is something wrong in reference to the management of its coal mines.
It is contended by the miners, as one of their grievances, that the operators do not obey the law, and however good the laws may be, if not observed they are of no protection.
Said Laws Were Violated.
The testimony of James Dalrymple, state mine inspector, calls attention to the many violations of the law by the operators, and the miners claim this as one of the causes leading up to the strike.
It seemed the militia was on the side of the operators in this controversy." says the report, after reciting the action of the Governor in calling out the state troops, "and the evidence seems conclusively to prove such to have been the case."
The sooner men, armed in the service of the state, learn that men with whom they may deal may be poor and ignorant and even violators of the law, but are still human, the better it will be for all concerned.
The recruiting of mine guards as members of the militia, in our judgment, was a mistake, since intense animosity had existed for some time between the mine guards and the miners, and it was difficult or even impossible for the miners to feel that these men were neutral conservators of the peace. Some of the militiamen seized the opportunity, while clothed with the authority of the state, to engage in various lawless acts...
In other instances the acts were of an immoral kind and of such a nature as to be unfit for publication in this report. There were acts of brutality testified to before the committee which might be enumerated: men on slight provocation were thrown into jail and kept there without the opportunity of proving their innocence.
"Good Men in Militia."
There were many good men in the militia, both officers and privates, and the strikers when testifying said that certain companies were composed of kind men, and if their houses were to be searched they asked that members of these companies might be sent, but if others were sent to do the searching they would be subjected to indignities and would probably be robbed of whatever they might have that the militia wanted.
The committee denounced John M. Chase, Adjutant General of the militia of the state, for his refusal to testify except upon condition that he would not be questioned by any representatives of the miners, and declares that he "was overbearing to all who came in contact with him."
Reviewing testimony of many witnesses, the report says from the time the strike was called until the Federal troops were sent into the field by the President of the United States, there was a series of battles which seemed to be fierce while they lasted, and a number of people were killed and wounded on both sides. It condemns as inexcusable both the attack on Berwind Camp by men alleged to have been strikers, as well as the assault upon Forbes tent colony by armed guards using a machine gun.
Tells of Using Gun.
Some of the men brought into Colorado by detective agencies employed to guard the mines, the committee finds, had been in the same kind of service in West Virginia, and they brought with them the same machine guns which had been used in an armored car against the strikers in that state.
Concerning the charge that the operators were guilty of peonage, the committee reports:
We did not find it clearly proved that a condition of peonage existed in the coal fields of Colorado, but we found that during the strike men were brought in from other states by the car and train load and were delivered to the mining camps under guard of the militia.
The committee criticizes the state authorities for failing to prevent the sale of firearms to the contending forces.
[The report stated:]
The mine-owners shipped four machine guns from West Virginia for use during the strike...The evidence conclusively shows the miners bought arms and ammunition in quantities, though the amount we do not know....And it seems strange to your committee that in these counties, where the strike was in existence and where acts of violences were constantly occurring the authorities of the state should not have taken some precaution to control the sale of firearms.
Rockefeller Is Assailed.
From The Masses of June 1914
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The committee declares that John D. Rockefeller, Jr., did nothing to improve the condition of the employees of the company in which he is stockholder and Director.
[Says the report:]
Mr. Rockefeller...was not a good judge of conditions in Colorado and knew nothing about them. He was not willing to submit to a fair board of arbiters to settle this strike. He was obstinate, and the statement that he was fighting for liberty for the workingmen will not bear investigation. The strike could have been settled without recognition of the union had he desired to do so, and the employees could have worked for him whether members of a union or not.
We believe he did not desire to arbitrate and in that way end this strike, and one must conclude he would rather spend the money of the company for guns, pay of detectives and mine guards and starve the strikers into submission.
On the other hand, the miners were insistent on the recognition of their union. In the employment of force to win the strike they went beyond the rights of law-abiding citizens and committed acts of violence. They always, however, seemed willing to meet and endeavor to settle the dispute by arbitration, and it is believed that a settlement could have been made on a basis fair to both the employer and employee.
Minority Reports Filed.
Minority reports were submitted by two members of the subcommittee, Representatives Byrnes, of South Carolina, Democrat, and Austin, of Tennessee, Republican.
Byrnes holds that the resolutions ordering the investigation did not authorize a report upon the relations between capital and labor, the causes of industrial unrest and allied subjects. The conditions complained of, if they exist, he declares, can be remedied by Colorado, and not by the Federal Government and that the majority report fails to disclose either a Federal question or a remedy.
He reports the evidence showed no interference with postal facilities, no violation of the immigration laws, no agreements contrary to Federal law to control production, sale and transportation of the coal, and that there was no testimony proving that persons had been arrested, fined or convicted in violation of Federal laws.
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[Emphasis and drawings from The Masses added.]
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SOURCES
The Oregon Daily Journal
(Portland, Oregon)
-Mar 7, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
The Cincinnati Enquirer
(Cincinnati, Ohio)
-Mar 3, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
See also:
Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado: Hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on mines and mining, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, pursuant to H. res. 387, a resolution authorizing and directing the Committee on Mines and Mining to make an investigation of conditions in the coal mines of Colorado
-United States. Congress. House. Committee on Mines and Mining
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1914
Vol. 1, p.1-1477
http://books.google.com/...
Vol. 2, p.1479-2916
http://books.google.com/...
Vol. 3 p. 2059-2940
http://books.google.com/...
JDR Jr: 2841-2916
http://books.google.com/...
JDR Jr's "Great Principle": 2872-2874
http://books.google.com/...
Mother Jones: 2917-2940
http://books.google.com/...
IMAGES
All images are drawings from The Masses:
http://dlib.nyu.edu/...
http://dlib.nyu.edu/...
http://dlib.nyu.edu/...
http://dlib.nyu.edu/...
http://dlib.nyu.edu/...
http://dlib.nyu.edu/...
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WE NEVER FORGET
Written by Woody Guthrie & performed by Christy Moore - Ludlow Massacre
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