Denver labor bulletin. [volume], February 06, 1915, Page Page Four, Image 4

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DENVER LABOR BULLETIN
Established 1906.
Incorporating Union Label League Bulletin.
Published every Saturday by The United Labor Bulletin Printing and
Publishing Company (Incorporated).
HARVEY E. GARMAN GENERAL MANAGER
CLINT C. HOUSTON..... V/--. EDITOH
Office. Room 28, 1824 Curtis Street
PHONE MAIN 7996
Address all communications to
The Denver Labor Bulletin, P. O. Box 107.
Entered as mail matter of the second class October 29, 1909, at the postoffice
' at Denvef, Colo., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Recognized by the Retail Aaipqpfction of the Denver Chamber of Commerce as an
advertiSTng medium of the first class.
Individual Subscription SI.OO per Year
Clubbing Rates (25 or v over) s 60c per Year
VOL. IX SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1915. No. 27
Colorado Labor Aroused By One-Sided Law
Indignation is being expressed by members of. organized labor
and thousands of othepfejus.tice-loving citizens over the wholesale
indictments and arrests,of members of labor unions and union offi
cials in Colorado upon charges extending from perjury to murder,
growing out of the recent coal strike troubles. Over five hundred
such indictments have been rendered in Las Animas, Huerfano,
Boulder, Fremont and Routt counties, where the influence of the
coal corporations over county officials, courts and juries is absolute.
Over one hundred members of organized labor are at present incar
cerated in the jails of these counties, held without bond and in some
instancces denied the customary legal rights of prisoners.
Not a single gunman, mine guard or coal company official has
been indicted by these grand juries, and of course no arrests are to
be expected of the men wbp were the real criminals and responsible
for murder, arson and theft during the strike. If this is the pro
gram to be continued by the “Law and Order” regime it is only
laying up a more disastrous eruption for the future. One law and
the jail for workers and another law and freedom for corporations
and their hirelings is not going to make for peace in Colorado.
Every leading official of the United Mine Workers, district and
local, and several officials of the State Federation of Labor have
been indicted and arrested under bench warrants charged with
“murder.” If the corporations hope by this method to “throw a
scare” into members of organized labor and intimidate them to such
an extent that further demands for industrial justice will cease, they
are certain to find that it will have a very contrary effect.
Last Saturday the Huerfano county grand jury at Walsenburg
returned 150 additional indictments against officials and members of
labor unions. Sheriff Jeff Farr, “King of Huerfano,” at once started
out to make “a Roman holiday” of it, and to demonstrate that his
confession to being an agent of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Com
pany, and responsible to its officials and not to the people for his
long rulei of power, was no joke.
While witnesses are testifying in New York before the United
States industrial commission to conditions that read like chapters
from the Spanish inquisition. Rockefeller’s agents continue to press
the screws and break men on the wheel of their controlled political
officials in the two southern counties thej r dominate more com
pletely than did the feudal barons of the dark ages.
Not content with this, they have had introduced into the
Legislature a set of barbaric laws under which, if enforced, all work
ers. whio resist gunmen and mine guards in the garb of state mili
tiamen would forthwith be declared guilty of “treason to the state"
and shot.
The Bulletin is not an alarmist, but does warn the coal company
officials and their political hirelings that reprisal will come if these
persecutions arc continued. In Colorado the working people have
suffered much, and additional tyranny will only hasten the day when
the workers will rebel in earnest. Past history should serve as suf
ficient warning that when they do turn about face there will be
something doing, and the comfort of tyrants will not be a matter
for consideration.
If these scores of union officials and members are guilty they
should be punished. Likewise the scores of coal company officials,
their imported gunmen and mine guards. When the law is made
to apply on all the guilty alike there will cease to be a protest from
the working people.
Subsidized Press Attacks Frank P. Walsh
A movement has been started in New York and Washington to
discredit Chairman Frank P. Walsh and the work of the federal com
mission on industrial relations. During the past week the subsi
dized daily papers have printed leading editorial articles attacking
the commission. This has been particularly noticeable in the col
umns of the New York Sun, limes, Tribune. Post and Press, the
Washington Post and papers controlled by Frank A. Munsey.
Disclosures made at the hearings of the commission in Denver
and New York of methods pursued by the corporations to subjugate
labor and rob the public have brought the powers of greed to a real
ization that unless the feeling of rebellion is quickly allayed through
covert attacks on the work of the commission, and its members,
that Congress will be compelled by public opinion to pass stringent
laws regulating the great funds piled up by the Rockefellers, MoV
gans, Carnegies, Garys, Schwabs and Sages.
One remark by Chairman Walsh in particular has excited the
money buzzards to a frenzy. He declared in New York the other
day that “if the Supreme Court had restored to the public the prop
erty stolen by great corporations in the past, there would be no
occasion for industrial unrest at the present time.”
This is strikingly true right here in Colorado, where a major
ity of the coal lands now controlled by Rockefeller and allied inter
ests were stolen from the government by the application of “oil”
where it would make the transactions run smooth.
Chairman Walsh and the industrial commission are performing
a great service for the common people, and the aroused opposition
of Mr. Moneybags and his satraps is the best evidence that this is
true. It ,s fortunate that a man of such sterling qualities was select
ed by President Wilson for this herculean task, and there is no rea
so nto fear that the calumny heaped upon him by a subsidized press
will in the least swerve him from his purpose or duty to the neonle
as he sees it. ‘ p
DENVER LABOR BULLETIN
Chairman Walsh On
Industrial Conditions
The trouble with industry is the low 1
wages that are paid; that is the differ
ence between earnings and wages.
Under present conditions the employer
pays the worker on Saturday night ami
says: “Jlere, you can hold this until
Monday morning.’’
There would be no industrial question
it the Supreme Court would rule that
the land which has been stolen from i
the people should be given back to them.
There is precedent tor such ruling in
our law.
A corporation in Colorado absolutely
controls two counties. These counties
have been known to swing the state
from one party to another. They may
control a presidential election.
The absentee directors of this corpor
ation are so powerful that they have
succeeded iii keeping certain papers ami
magazines out of certain communities.
I know of one case where only Puck and j
Judge were allowed to come to these i
communities through the mails.
How can working people be called free |
unless they control all the conditions |
under which they work?
How can there be a right to work |
without a living wage, without certain- i
ty of employment?
’ A certain* Foundation spent $250,0*10
in establishing a retreat lor migratory j
birds.
Workers who had no retreat furnished j
$250,000,000 to this Foundation.
Where does the money in these Foun 1
dations come from except from laboi ?
>\ ho should have a right to dispose of 1
it except labor?
The government should withdraw its 1
protection from all industries that urn ,
not run on a democratic basis, or that j
exploit their workers.
America’s greatest thinkers are today '
directing their attention to disclosures
made by the United States commission .
on industrial relations. In a speech at I
Chicago a few days ago Speuker Champ
Clark said: “I am fain to believe thnt
the crowning glory of the philosophy, |
statecraft, humanitarainism and religion
of the twentieth century will be to de- j
vise a scheme whereby every man and
every woman, too, shall enjoy the umi
fruct of his own labor, and to prevent
one greedy soul from monopolizing the
toil and sweat and lives of thousands.” 1
The Bulletin is in receipt of the latent
revised list of international, national,
state, city eentrals and local tnule*
unions affiliated with tin* American Fed
eration of Labor. The total now num
bers 1,357. This comprises 110 national
and internationals representing 22,*HH)
local unions, five departments. 44 state
branches, 650 city’ central bodies and
542 trade and federal unions chartered
direct by the A. F. of 1.. The only un
affiliated bodies are the Bricklayers and
'Masons and the .four railway brother
hoods.
Arkansas will lm dry after June 1.
1915, unless the courts interfere: The
House of Representatives Monday
passed the state-wide prohibition bill by
a vote of 74 to 22, after defeating all
amendments. June 1 was the date
for the closing of all saloons
state. The same bill ]»eiidiiig In ' tne
.Senate is said to be assured of pa-*age.
Some members of the flenerul Altera
bly are advocating a provision in the
biennial appropriation bill for th>- con
struction of a special padded apaitiuent
at the Pueblo insane asylum to accom
modate the Hon. Alphone P. Anloure!
of Boulder, who is accumulating more
wheels in his head than lie can prop
erly regulate.
As a “Sacred 36 Society” man Gov
ernor Carlson has failed to measure up
to the pace set by selected Clapitol Hill
flivvers. He attended a dinner given
by Mrs. Crawford Hill hist Saturday
night ami the strenuous function re
sulted in the governor being confined to
his home for three or four days.
Prosperity has hit the steel \»inkers
in tin- Pittsburg district. Eight tliou*
sand men returned to Mork at the
Homestead works of the Carnegie Steel
Company Monday. The plant re-umed
operations almost in full.
COULD WELL AFFORD A SMILE.
"Red” Saunders suys in his I’mali
Republican:
"Robert W. Speer, the mayor that
made Denver famous, sat in a box at the
Auditorium the other night during the
inaugural hall. Seventeen thousand peo
ple crowded the floor and galleries of
the magnificent building which he built
for their use. He could well smile with
satisfaction at the abuse heaped upon
his head in the past, when he was
achieving things for Denver and build
ing the Auditorium us a monument of
his efforts. The people of Denver will
probably’ appreciate him more as the
years roll on and he will go down in
Denver history as the one man who
built up the city instead of tearing
down its institutions.”
HE UNDERSTOOD.
A teacher was trying to find from a
tiny child the name of his father. * He
seemed quite nimble to think of It; so,
to help him, she asked:.
“What, do you call him?”
“f call him father,” was the reply.
“Well, what does y’our mother call
him ?’*
The response was eloquent of the
munuers of the neighborhood. "She
doesn’t call him anything; she likes
him.”
AMBIGUOUS.
Uncle Sol threw aside the letter he was
reading and uttered un exclamation of
impatience.
"Doggone!” he cried. "Why can’t peo
ple l»e more explicit?”
"What’s the matter, pa?” asked Aunt
Sue.
"This letter from home.” Uncle Sol
answered, “says father fell out of the
old apple tree and broke a limb.**
NOT SO PARTICULAR.
“T give you a cold bite,” said the
woipan.
"Why not warm it tip?” asked tb*
r ramn.
"There ain't any wood sawed.”
"8o? Well, give it to me cold.”—
York Sun.
The General Manager’s Comer
TIME TO CALL HALT!
W ith the gradual approach of the municipal
election, due in May, comes all kinds of rumors of
what is going to happen. There is one floating
around to the effect that some members of organ
ized labor are organizing with a view of getting
into the game as a sort of going corporation;
that is, going to certain interests that might be
interested in candidates and measures and. assur
ing them that for value received, or assurances of
future place or preferment, the organized labor
vote of Denver can be delivered to this or that
candidate, or diverted from this or that person.
It is whispered that already one combination has
been made and negotiations opened with an or
ganization of employers, which includes in its
ramifications the running of some member of or
ganized, labor, not with the hope of election, but
with an eye and anchor to windward for anything
and everything that may turn up. During the
past few years there has been considerable smoke
and likely some fire along these lines. It has
been repeatedly charged that individuals claim
ing to control the labor vote went out into the
market and sold it here and there for a cash con
sideration. If they did they delivered nothing,
and if anyone dealt with them they received no
value for whatever may have been banded out.
The real and earnest workers in the labor field
have “hollered” about these things for some
years, but never taken any real steps to find out
the truth and hold those interested up to the gaze
of their fellow's. I believve a new era is dawning
in Denver labor circles that calls for the putting
of a quietus on this system of sandbagging and
pocketpicking, and The Bulletin proposes to keep
a cloSe watch for signs of it breaking out this
spring. Should anything develop, the columns of
this paper will contain a few facts and figures that
may prove very interesting reading. While it may
have been fashionable to milk certain corpora
tions and individuals at such times in the past, it
may not prove as profitable in the future. And
the corporations, or individuals, or organizations
interested will be served in the same style as
those who are trying to push the good thjng along
♦ * *
PROSECUTE BUT NOT PERSECUTE.
The wholesale indictments of labor people by
the Huerfano county grand jury, followed by the
arrest of Secretary Hickey and Factory Inspector
Eli M. Gross, as well as many members of the
| United Mine Workers and others alleged to have
j been mixed lip in the troubles in that county dur
ing.the late strike, is only the natural result of
| political conditions that exist there. It goes
I without question that juries of all kinds down
[ there are in sympathy with those who control af
fairs, and can be expected to do their part. Of
course, if those under indictment arc guilty of
! crimes of the character charged .they should be
] brought to justice, but hardly one fair-minded
i person in the state, prejudiced as may he, can sec
anything more in this latest development than the
following out of a program that will put the’fear
of God on political power in the hearts of those
who oppose the order of things as ordained. I
don’t look for any convictions, notwithstanding
the situation. There will be changes of venue,
delays, and everything done to put off the tri£l
j days. One of the main points hoped for by the
| Huerfano people ,is that incarceration in jail will
serve to humiliate those who come under the ban.
! It is quite likely that Judge Butler of Denver,
who has gone down there to try cases of this kind,
will take a, hand and promptly see that prosecu
tion is not turned into persecution. It is more
than probable that he will frown down any at
tempt by the authorities to have prohibitive bail
j fixed. To me it looks as if the whole thjng is
really one of the moves in the political game and
i those who run affairs down there, realizing what
is coming, arc actively getting to work fixing up
! fences and preparing for the future. 1 know most
j of the men in that neck of the woods personally,
and can say that they are a wise and versatile ag
i gregation.
# * *
THE FUR WOULD FLY.
j There is a very strong current of feeling
among members of the Legislature that Governor
| Carlson will not re-appoint Volney T. Hoggatt as
i register of the state land board. And many of
those who are doing things in the big building
on the hill say they are in possession of the dope
on this question that will warrant them in back
, ing their opinions with sufficient coin to buy the
! eats and a little something on the side. Be it
known that Mr. Hoggatt is an oldtimc personal
friend and business partner of Fred Bonfils of the
Post, and everybody believes that he was named
for the place by Ammons at the request of
Champa street. No question but what the Post
boosted Carlson after primary to the limit, and I
for one believe such support brought him many
votes. For weeks the Bonfils paper has boomed
and boosted Hoggatt to such an extent that the
uninitiated would be led to believe that he was
more than a mere man and was some sort of su
perior being. All this was for a purpose. The
Post people don't want anything from the Carl
son administration, and it must be true, for they
say so themselves. It was probably a base canard
circulated for a deterrent effect, that Secretary of
State Ramer was asked by them to appoint ex-
Chief of Police Michael Delany, now an attache
of the Post's editorial rooms, as deputy labor
commissioner and were turned down. Be that as
it may. and taking for granted that the Champa
street/ people have no care regarding the Hoggatt
appointment, should the governor throw him
down, there will he some rich, rare and racy read
ing in the paper with a heart and a soul for many
days after such a catastrophe.
* * *
TOOK THE RIGHT STEP.
Mr. Charles A. Tarbell, advertising manager oi V
the May Company, was married last Saturday jJ
night to Miss Ethel Raisor, one of Denver’s
voung daughters. While the wedding was a sort
of surprise to the many friends of the young cou
ple it was not entirely unexpected. Yet they real
ly put one over on those who thought they were
wise. Mr. Tarbell was for some time formerly
connected with Chicago and other Eastern papers,
bjlt for the past few years has successfully con- .
ducted the trade-bringing campaigns of the May
Company. . He is a pleasant and courteous gen
tleman, and I should say that he has all the ear
marks of making a successful and docile husband.
May the future bring them joys and blessings and
prosperity, and sorrow and disappointment find
no place in the long life that should come to them.
« * «
STILL CONFINED AT HOME.
It will be pleasing to the numerous business
and personal friends of William J. Barker, vice
president and general manager of the Denver Gas
and Electric Company, to learn that he is getting
along very well and gradually recovering from the
accident he met with on Christmas day, when lie
broke his hip by falling from a ladder at hi* home.
At one time his life was despaired of, hut the la-t
few weeks has shown a marked improvement,
and he will completely recover. He is now able
to sit up in bed. smoke an occasional cigar and
chat with and enjov visits with his friends wh>>
call. He has the injured leg in a plaster cast that
will have to-remain on for several weeks'longer.
He chafes a little over being compelled to remain
away from his business activities, the first time
such a thing has happened in his more than thir
ty-five years of energetic endeavor. There will
lie great -"cjoicing when he again shows up in liis
office.
* • *
JITNEY BUSSES STILL IN AIR.
The jitney bus situation is yet in the air. Ap
plications for licenses to run the same have been
denied and the commissioners say by ordinance
that they must have a franchise, that can only be
granted by a vote of the people. The backers of
the bus proposition arc going to appeal to the
courts. The agitation has caused the Tramwav
peoplc to sit up and take notice, and Manager
Beeler has come out in an interview that sets
forth some astounding statements as to the situ J
ation with our city transportation system in the
way of business and finance. However, no im
provement has been made in the service on some
of the lines, and it seems to me as though the best
way to head off any possibility of the citizens get
ting behind a new scheme would be to so arrange
the hauling plan that criticism and complaint
would fade away. There is lots of room for im
provement.
• • •
CIVIL SERVICE WILL STAND.
There is considerable talk at the State/ House
about doing away with the civil service law, or at
least administering a knockout drop or two that
will have the effect of making any operation per
formed less painful, and a hill has been introduced
for that purpose. I don’t think it will pass, al
though a majority of the members of the Legis
lature are opposed to the law as it now stands. It
is understood that the Post people have served
notice ,on Governor Carlson that if lie allows his
boys to go the limit on the cruel work of separat
ing people from jobs by means of hamstringing
the law, there will be an opening up on him that
would make the pre-primary effort look like a
school boy composition. Let that be as it mav.
there arc going to he many changes, and sonic
have already taken place. The Republican breth
ren are going to get those that have the XX sign
hung on them, but the dear people will not be
aroused over a too flagrant violation of a voter
made law. It is not always neccsshry, when be
ginning the operation of removing the cuticle
from a feline to start at the head.
* « «
LITTLE HOPE FOR THE WICKED.
Any hope that may have lingered in breasts
that something would happen at the State House
to stave off the enforcement of the state-wide pro
hibition law January 2, 1916, seems to have been
sent glimmering by recent utterances and devel
opments at the State House. I still am of mv
original opinion that we arc going to have a taste
of the dryness like unto Kansas, etc., though the
thought runs contrary to the wish. But if we
must go on the aqua cart let it be on the square.
No persecution of individuals who. desire liquors
in their homes for private consumption, but a
fierce law, with sharp teethi, that will prevent
bootlegging and similar evasions.
SCHOOL BOARD ROW.
We now have another nice row in the sclioot
board, confined to the members. This thing is
getting to be a nuisance. /There is entirely too
much politics of a backyard kind allowed to pre
vail in the hoard. The whole caboodle should he
forced out and people selected who have no axes
to sharpen put ,in. Rows and bickerings cannot
help but hove a had effect on our school system
and should be stopped, no matter by whom start
ed. One faction is just as much too blame as' the
other.