The Butler County press. [volume], June 04, 1915, Image 1

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Charges that union miners have been
convicted of murder by a jury packed
by the Colorado mine owners and that
hundreds of miners now under indict
ment for offenses alleged to have been
committed in the course of the great
strike are held under exorbitant bail
have been tiled with the United States
commission on industrial relations by
the executive board of the Colorado
State Federation of Labor. The letter
to the commission is us follows:
To the United States Commission On In
dustrial Relations, the Hon. Frank P.
WalBh, Chairman, Washington:
It la respectfully submitted that the
system of i -ofceeution conducted In the
courts of southern Colorado against the
coal miners recently engaged In strike
|'iould be investigated by your comniis
tsion.
Hundreds of miners are now under In
dictment in the courts of Las Animas and
Huerfano counties. They are denied trial
excepting In a few instances, and bail has
been fixed in such exorbitant amounts that
the Jails of these two counties are now
crowded with miners.
The methods pursued by the coal com
panies to secure convictions form a hor
rible example of the extent to which, un
der the form of law, prosecution can be
resorted to. Two cases have now been
tried in which verdicts of life sentence
have been secured. One of these cases is
that of John R. Lawson, the union labor
leader, a man of the highest character
and national reputation. The other ie the
case of Louis Zancannelli, a union miner,
accused of the murder of a Baldwin-Feltz
strike breaking detective. This case was
tried first, and a jury fairly selected in
the first Instance was so doubtful of the
guilt of the accused that eight out of the
twelve members voted for acquittal. The
coal operators, seeing with a fair jury
Who would fairly try the case the accus
ed would stand some chance determined to
pursue their methods in the trial of the
cases, and the infamous open venire sys
tem was thereupon resorted to, and the
notorious partisans of the coal companies
were brought In as jurors. Coal company
doctors, conl company managers, kin peo
ple of coal company managers and men
who had participated in battles with the
striking miners were selected, and before
this jury Lawson and Zancannelli were
•convicted.
The judge of the court, who has presid
ed at these trials and who proposes to
preside at the other trials, is a Coal com
pany attorney and was employed in otiiei
eases against the miners. To secure the
services of litis judge and to prevent the
possibility of the trials being heard before
an unprejudiced judge the coal companies
secured ttie passage of an act by the legis
lature of the state of Colorado for the ap
pointment of a judjw for the district, and
they thereupon secured the appointment
of a man who had been their attorney In
cases against the strikers, find this judge
calmly holds, in the face of affidavits set
ting up the facts, that he 1s in no way
disqualified to try the miners' oases. On
the trials he refuses to permit jurors to
be asked the question as to whether or
not they could give the defendants the
benefit of the rule of law which provides
that a man accused of crime shall at the
outset of the trial be presumed to be In
-fioeenf. lie even permitted to serve as
Jurors in one of the cases a juror who,
according to the undisputed affidavits, had
a gambling wager on the result of the
verdict.
We respectfully submit that these mat
ters constitute a fair subjcct of inquiry
at the hands of your commission.
The workingmen of the United States
have often made claim tiiat they do not
Secure justice at tlie hands of the courts:
that the corporations control the courts
Tf this claim is well founded It is a ter
rible arraignment of our judicial system
Your commission, constituted as It Is of
able and competent men, can do much to
determine the truth or untruthfulness of
this accusation, and we appeal to you to
make the suggested investigation.
EXECUTIVE BOARD, COLORADO
STATE FEDERATION OF LABOR
NO WORK ON THE COAST.
Girls Warned That There Is an Over
supply of Labor at San Francisco.
Owing to the shortsightedness of
many hundreds of business girls who
thought they might earn their way to
the Panauja-I'acilic exposition at San
Francisco this year, the Pacific coast
la now confronted with a new prob
lem in unemployment. So serious are
the conditions of oversupply that the
national field commit fee of the Young
Women's Christian association, on the
recommendation of the employment
auxiliary, at a recent meeting adopted
the following resolution:
"That advice should be sent to all
tbe associations advising girls not to
come to the coast seeking employment
because the supply far exceeds the de
mand."
Letters have already been sent to the
governors of all the states and to all
the religious papers urging them to
*warn girls not to go to the Pacific coast
peeking employment
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NOTES OF LABOR.
tfi ffii rfliffti rtti r2i rSi
There are forty breweries in Phila
delphia. Every one is a union shop.
About 3,000 meu are employed.
The American Federation of Labor
lias withdrawn its indorsement of the
Journeymen Tailors' union label.
The strike of the employees of titfe
Summit (N. J.) silk mill was settled by
putting the strike breakers on a night
shift.
Pittsburgh bricklayers ask a 5 cent
an hour increase in wages, from 70 to
75 cents an hour, making the rate $6 a
day of eight hours.
Ten million dollars was the estimated
cost to Chicago for the first month of
the tleup of building construction work
brought on by the strike and lockout
of 10,000 carpenters and other work-
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MINERSGONV1GTED
j* CHARGES MAOE BY COLORADO FEDERATION OF LABOR Jt
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DIVIDENDS AND WAGES.
Notabl« Instance In Which Capital De
fers to Labor.
Chairman Gary's remarks on the
subject of dividends and wages at the
meeting of the stockholders of the
United States Steel corporation cannot
fail to make a good impression. When
the greatest but by no means the most
popular of our industrial concerns
passes dividends on its common stock
in preference to reducing wages and
defends its action on ethical grounds
It must be admitted that new ideas
have taken root in places where they
used to be strangers.
Stockholders have rights as well as
labor, aud no doubt full consideration
has been or will be given to them, but
as regards its effect upon business in
general, upon labor, upon politics and
principally upon the moral sense of
the people, the cut In dividends was
wiser in every way than a cut. in
wages would have been. Heretofore
in too many cases wages have suffered
first Judge Gary is not sure that
some reductions may not have to be
made in that respect even yet, but if
so the hardship will be borne more
cheerfully perhaps with the knowledge
that It was not inflicted hastily or
greedily.
The business revival everywhere re
ported will take care of dividends as
well as wages if employers and em
ployees manifest the same fine consid
eration of each other's interests that
the directors of the steel corporation
revealed in this instance toward their
workingmen.—New York World.
LAWSON CONVICTED.
Colorado Mine Worker Senteneod to
Life Imprisonment.
John It. Lawson. member of tbe In
ternational executive board of the
United Mine Workers of America for
district No. 15. who was tried at Trini
dad, Colo:, was adjudged guilty by the
Jury. Under the Colorado statute it is
the duty of the jury to fix the penalty
at death or life imprisonment and it
chose the milder punishment
Lawson was charged with the mur
der of John Niinmo, a deputy of Las
Animas county. Colo., who was killed
in a battle between deputies and strik
ing coal miners near Ludlow on Oct
25, 1913. lie was oue of the promi
nent leaders in the recent coal miners'
strike in Colorado.
The strike was called for Sept 23.
1013. On that date thousands of min
ers laid down their tools. Those living
upon the property of the coal compa
nies moved out. most of them settling
in tent colonies established by the un
ion. The largest of these was at Lud
low, a few miles north of Trinidad.
It was in one of the Ludlow tights
before the arrival of the state militia
that John Xinmio was killed Uw
son was charged with the homicide on
the theory of the prosecution that he
was in charge of the tent colony and
in command of the strikers during the
battle.
Lawson was given thirty days in
which to move for a new trial, and
he was released on a $20,000 bond
The case will be appealed.
Labor Seceders Organize.
Several hundred seceding members
of the Amalgamated Association of
Iron, Steel and Tin Workers met re
cently at Martins Ferry. O., and per
fected the organization of the United
Iron. Steel and Tin Workers of Amer
ica. Natioinil officers were elected, and
plans were made for the organization
»f locals.
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OF INTEREST TO LABOR.
San Francisco labor council has in
dorsed proposed legislation providing
for a state tuberculosis hospital.
The minimum wage and maximum
hour bill for female labor was defeat
ed in the Iowa senate, the vote being
17 to 32.
Governor Johnson of California has
signed a convict labor bill permitting
prisoners of the state penitentiaries to
build state highways.
Medical opinion is overwhelming that
a ten hour factory day is a physical
worry to the childhood to today and to
the citizens of tomorrow.
Convict labor in the less progressive
states is still with us and promises to
Btay for a few years longer, to the dis
credit of the states in which It seems
Jestined to remain.
An Example
"People of this quiet, cold blooded
disposition don't get Into rows.'"
"I don't know about that. Nothing
could be more phlegmatic than the
oyster, and he's continually getting into
broils and stews."—Baltimore Ameri
can
Imitation.
"Whj, Glad rs, you are spotting your
doily.'
"No. mamma 1 am painting its
cheeks with the same color that you
006,"—J&ftClUUigti*
I*, -V-
XV. NO. 8 HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1916.
MOST J000ES
AGAINST LABOR
Many Wrongs Practiced at Ex
pense of the Humble.
S
I'EI'ITEN S. GHK
MiY. presi­
dent of the America it Bar asso
ciation. testifying before the in
dustrial commission at Wash­
ington. declared thai: the decision of
the United States supreme court in the
Danbury hatters' case was unsound
from the standpoint of sociology. Mr.
Gregory was asked to testify on labor
in its relations to the law. A list of
questions was furnished him by the
commission in advance as an outline
for his discussion of the subjects em
braced in the scope of the hearing.
Mr. Gregory sketched rapidly the
rights that belong to the laboring man
in common with all citizens of the re
public and cited the West Virginia and
the Moyer cases, which lie regarded as
subject to criticism because they were
in violation of constitutional rights.
All the rights that safeguard the life
of the individual, including that of trial
by jury, free speech and free press, he
held to be vital. He quoted the famous
saying of Jere Black before the su
preme court in the Golden Circle cases
—that Iviug Alfred was the greatest of
all kings because he secured for his
subjects the right of trial by jury and
of habeas corpus and maintained those
rights, although he had to hang forty
four judges in one year in order to ac
complish this result.
Iteference was made to the declara
tion by Judge Daniel Thew Wright of
the supreme court of the District of
Columbia that a man could be enjoin
ed against committing libel, and Mr.
Gregory came to the conclusion that it
was bad law and that the individual
could not be deprived of the right of
free speech, although he must always
be answerable for what he said if an
injury was done another. The right
to a free press, he thought, was on
more secure ground because of the
power of the press, which at times, he
admitted, was prone to go to lengths
that seem to be an abuse rather than
a sane enjoyment of a right. But
after all, the witness said, he was in
clined to agree with Jefferson that It
was better to have newspapers with
out government than to have govern
ment without newspapers because of
the great good they do in the protec
tion of popular intelligence and lib
erty.
"Wrongs practiced at the expense of
the humble." said Air. Gregory, "are
not so much noticed as those which
the rich and powerful may suffer. One
of the injuries often is excessive bail.
"In all these matters of right there
is not much, in my judgment, that can
be done by legislation. The Clayton
act has afforded a remedy in many re
spects. As a rule, the attitude* of the
courts in labor questions is largely a
matter of the temperament of the
Judge, which is always an uncertain
factor. It is to be admitted that
judges become prejudiced against la
bor. This is due to the excesses that
are sometimes committed in strikes.
Such excesses imputed to all labor men
who go on strike prejudice .'ill meu. in
cluding judges, and judges, more than
average men. are impressed by vio
lence and so become prejudiced against
labor leaders.
"The social aud legal aspect of the
consequences of a denial of these
rights is a serious one. .When men
and women feel that they have been
dealt with unjustly their complaint
must be looked into. If there is any
denial of right that must be investi
gated. no matter how small or trivial
the right Governor and state officials,
sheriffs and others, are much burden
ed, and their task is a very heavy one
at times, but the poor and the humble
must be protected in their rights.
State officials often have very limited
appropriations and are unable to do
justice in their efforts to protect the
rights of all concerned in a labor con
troversy."
Mr. Gregory declared that If the
Clayton act should be followed In the
states and made effective it would be
as good as anything that could be de
vised for tlie labor interests. He de
nounced the idea of dealing with crim
inal matters uuder equity proceedings,
which should always deal with prop
erty rights. The reason why such a
use of the law was objectionable was
that the individual was deprived of
the right of trial by jury and dealt
with under contempt proceedings.
LA
LABOR GOSSIP.
The Springfield (Mass.) Central Labor
uniou has perfected plans for a labor
forward movement.
Pennsylvania's new child labor law
prevents employment Of children un
der fourteen years of age.
Pennsylvania manufacturers threat
en a wholesale discharge of minors be
cause of the passage of the child labor
bill.
Thirty states at the beginning of the
present year had on their statute books
laws providing for the employment of
state prisoners in road building.
Frank Duffy, secretary of the Broth
erhood of Carpenters and seventh vice
president of the American Federation
of Labor, has been appointed a mem
ber of the Indiana board of education
by Governor Ralsttto.
FAVORS CANADA WAT
IN
LABOR DISPUTES
Railroad Head Umitis in
tension ol Mnds Act.
ments. Mr. Lawson did not shoot the
deputy. It was never contended that
he had. The charge of murder sus
tained against him was made on the
theory that he was in command of the
strikers during the battle. Neither did
Mr. Rockefeller or his partners in the
Colorado Fuel and Iron company shoot
the score of strikers and women and
children. But they were shot and kill
ed as surely as the deputy was shot
aud killed.
-,wr nagv?.-
Julius Kruttsehnitt, chairman of the
board of directors of the Southern Pa
cific company. In a letter to Frank P.
Walsh, chairman of the United States
commission on industrial relations pro
vides a number of suggestions for fur
thering settlement of labor disputes.
He advocates an extension of the New
lands act to include in its arbitration
features all employees of railroads en
gaged in the Interstate business of the
lines, in addition to those engaged in
train operation, as at present.
In view of the expense of arbitration
to the railroads Mr. Kruttsehnitt ad
vocates the placing of the arbitration
board under the control of the inter
state commerce commission so that
"the same authority responsible for
increasing expenses of the carriers
should at the same time incur a cor
resi*onding responsibility for provid
ing revenue to meet the expenditures."
Mr. Kruttsehnitt is in favor of mak
ing arbitration obligatory on both par
ties to a controversy when offered by
the board rather than optional as at
present. He recommends that the Ca
nadian method be followed, under
which a strike or lockout is unlawful
until the questions at issue shall have
been investigated and made public.
"Reports of the satisfactory opera
tion of the Canadian act and a con
viction that like benefits would accrue
through the adoption of some of its
provisions in the United States," says
Mr. Kruttsehnitt, "induced me to send
an assistant to Canada in September,
1014, to learn at first hand from the
managers of Canadian railways and
from the Canadian department of labor
their experience. The opinion alike
of railway executives and of the com
missioner of labor was that their dis
putes and investigation act was satis
factory and very successful in prevent
ing lockouts and strikes.
"In discussing the results of our ob
servations with the executive heads
of some of our important railway sys
tems the opinion was expressed with
out exception that the provisions of the
Canadian act were most helpful in the
Interests of employers, employees and
the general public, the three parties to
every industrial disturbance."
CONVICTION OF LAWSON.
If the Strike Leader Is Guilty, Then
Operators Are Equally So.
The conviction of John It. Lawson,
chief of the striking miners of the
Colorado Fuel and iron company, on
the charge of murdering a deputy
sheriff during the bloody battle in the
Ludlow tent colony is justified only
when the heads of the company and
the commanders of the militia are
tried and convicted
on
Mr. Lawson was in charge of the
miners In their protest against condi
tions imposed by the company. Mr.
Rockefeller and ills associates were
in supreme command, although tnauy
miles away, of the armed guards
hired to protect the company's proper
ty in its fight against the strikers aud
against their demands. Mr. Lawson
and Mr. Rockefeller and his partners
are equally guilty or equally innocent
of the deaths at Ludlow. Either all
the gentlemen are murderers, because
subservient individuals over whose
gun firing proclivities they had no con
trol shot innocent people, or they are
not. If Mr. Lawson is. then the oth
ers are.
The stench of Ludlow will revile his
tory sufficiently without the courts
adding to it by sentencing, as the jury
in Lawson's case suggests, the leader
of one side of a bloody conflict to a
life in prison while the leaders of the
other are not even prosecuted.—C. P.
Sweeney in Philadelphia Ledger.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
COLLECTIVE POWER.
Any one having the slightest
conception of organized labor
knows that it rests upon the
principle of bringing many work
ers together as a unit, so that
their collective power may be
great when used In all reason
able ways for thfelr Improve
ment
It is equally clear that the
splitting of that movement into
two or more units means to les
sen its efficiency and to run the
risk of the units working against
each other. Yet wage earners
are too prone' to listen to the
specious arguments or to believe
in the monstrous falsehoods told
by those who undertake to justi
fy the act of dividing the forces
of labor. That is nothing more
nor less than an act of treason.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
y-^f^ war f^r -^v M^jy.^T t^-v^
similar indict­
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COUNTY PRESS.
THE TRADE UNION.
The trade union movement has
become the greatest factor in
the lives of the masses of the
American people because of its
practical idealism. Those who
have made the organization what
it is have recognized that they
were confronted with conditions
rather than theories. They have
recognized that in counseling
those In need of more and better
food, clothing and the necessities
of life they were dealing with
the raw stuff of life, with human
beings who live in the present
and whose destinies depend upon
present aid. Any organization
that has in its keeping the wel
fare of human beings has assum
ed a tremendous responsibility.
The welfare of the hosts of toll
ers is intrusted to the American
trade union movement—Ameri
can Federationlst.
STRIKE BREAKING.
Public Opinion Likely to Be a Factor
In Industrial Warfare.
It Is interesting to notice that when
tbe federal troops went into Colorado
the first thing they did was to forbid
the importing of any more strike
breakers. They showed by this that
they understood their task. They seiz
ed the real issue with which the states
manship of labor will have to grapple,
for in various ways our state govern
ments have recognized already that
strike breaking is not unreservedly
Justifiable. Many state employment
bureaus, for example, are compelled to
tell men that a strike is In progress be
fore they offer them strike breaking
jobs.
It Is Ideas like this which will have
to be developed if the state is to use
any better weapon than the club to
deal with labor violence The time
may come, not so far off. wheu the
state will refuse to allow strike break
ing until after there has been a public
hearing of the causes which made the
strike. Such a hearing would give the
strikers their chance to appeal to pub
lic opinion, and public opinion when
ever it is aroused is decisive, if opin
ion goes against the men the police
will have comparatively little trouble
in preserving order if opinion is with
the men strike breaking is exceedingly
difficult
This is the direction to be taken as
regards public policy. But public opin
ion cannot rest there. It must insist
and insist that refusal to deal with
unions is arbitrary and barbarous. It
must encourage every step by employ
ers which tends to give the men col
lectively a greater share In the man
agement of industry, for that "recog
nition" if it is genuine is the only x*eal
substitute for violence, the only meth
od by which the workers can make
themselves heard in a civilized fash
ion.—Walter Lippmann in Metropoli
tan Magazine.
WOMEN POORLY PAID.
Female Workers of Philadelphia Earn
Less Than Living Wage.
Approximately one-third of the wom
en and girls more than ten years old
In Phiidelphia earn their own living,
according to the annual report of the
Consumers' league. Wage statistics
gathered by this organization reveal
the fuct that $7 to $8 weekly is receiv
ed by a majority of the saleswomen,
$0 a week by the greatest number of
female clerical workers, from $G to $7
by cashiers, while only $4 a week is
paid to inspectors and stock girls. The
greatest number of messengers receive
$-.50 a week each.
One-fourth of all the women workers
in Philadelphia receive salaries of less
than $0 a week, one-third of them less
than $8 and four-fifths less than $10.
A careful Inquiry conducted by the
league showed that $8.50 a week is nec
essary to maintain a woman In health
and efficiency in that city. Almost sev
en-tenths of the women in the stores
receive less than that amount, accord*
ing to the report
Labor Leaders Indicted.
The federal grand jury handed to
Judge K. M. Landis, sitting at Chicago,
indictments against eighteen labor lead
ers, eighty-two contractors and con
tracting firms and two alleged trusts.
The charges in the indictments were
conspiracy to restrain trade, combina
tion In restraint of trade, interfering
with interstate commerce and restrain
ing interstate commerce. Each of the
defendants was required to furnish a
bond of $5,000.
NOTES OF LABOR.
The strike In the eastern Ohio coal
fields has kept 15,000 men Idle for
more than a year.
The United States commission on in
dustrial relations began three weeks
of public hearings at Washington on
May 4.
The number of unemployed In Great
Britain showed a large falling off the
past March and April as compared with
the corresponding months of last year.
Free trips to England and return are
foreshadowed for skilled workmen in
the United States and British colonies
who are willing to work in English
armament factories.
The new wage scale of San Francis
co Chauffeurs' union provides for a
wage of $4 per day for chauffeurs on
sightseeing cars and a monthly wage
of $100 for ticket sellers and g«j|dy
•ofcissIL
The
Arrive Buffalo
Square is the name. Spare is our aim
All^Suits and Pants made to your
individual order in a
Union Shop
The SquareTailors
106 HIGH STREET
Holbrock Bros.
Reliable Dealers in
Dry Goods, Carpets, Cloaks, Queensware
Millinery. House Furnishings
Voss Holbrock Stamps with
all Cash Purchases.
Meet him at
MORNEB'S CAFE
Cor. Front and High Sts,
Merchants' Dinner Lunch
Served every Day
Lunch Counter Connected
i I
$322
FARTS
The Great Ship "SEEANDBEE"
K ui 1 :=t costly steamer on any inland water of the world. Slee.
"CITY OF ERIE" 3 Magnificent Steamer*
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CLEVELAND-Daily, May 1st to Dec. l*t—BUFFALO
Leave Cleveland 8:ffl I'. M. Leave Buffalo 8:00 P.
Just Bear In Mind
The Ohio Union Bottled Beer
When you want a good Beer, all who have drank
it are delighted. Nothing but Hops and Mall of
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ZunMleit, Special Brew and Tannhauser
Sold by all Leading Cafes in Hamilton
Ohio Union Brewing Co.
Cincinnati. Ohio
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We make Loans on Live Stock, Imple
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Long time. Low rates. Gall, phoae
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The Hamilton Collateral Loan uo.
208 S. Third St. Both Phones 28 „, „u
READ THE PRESS
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Connections at Buffalo for Niagara l-'aily and all Eastern and Canadian points. Railroad tick
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