coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE CONDUCTS
INVESTIGATION OF COLORADO STRIKE.
The Congressional sub-committee appointed to
investigate the Colorado strike, took up its work
recently and now is in the Colorado coal fields,
going into the details of the strike.
This sub-committee, consisting of Representatives
Martin D. Foster, Illinois, chairman; James
Francis Byrne, South Carolina; John M. Evans,
Montana; Richard Wilson Austin, Tennessee, and
Howard Sutherland, West Virginia, began its work
with a conference with Gov. Ammons of Colorado
and Jesse F. Welborn, president of the Colorado
Fuel & Iron Co.; John C. Osgood, president of the
Victor American Fuel Co.; D. W. Brown, president
of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Co., and Frank E.
Gove and Fred E. Herrington, attorneys, representing
the operators, and John McLennan, president
of District 15, United Mine Workers of America;
John R. Law-son, member of the union's international
executive board, and James H. Brewster,
attorney.
After some minor testimony had been heard,
Mr. John C. Ogden, chairman of the board of directors
of the Victor-American Fuel Co., was placed
on the witness stand to tell of the strike from the
operators' viewpoint. His testimony in part was:
" It is my belief that the strike in Southern
Colorado is a direct outgrowth of the Northern
Colorado trouble. We have information that the
officers of the United Mine Workers have at some
times considered calling the northern strike off.
as it is utterly lost. Later, according to evidence
furnished by their own publications, they
took up the matter of calling out the southern miners
to aid in the fight of those in the north.
"Last summer Frank J. Hayes, international
vice president of the union, visited Colorado. At
that time I was appointed by Governor Amnions
on the subject of meeting officers of the mine
workers in a conference. We told the governor
that we did not want to make a contract with the
United Mine Workers of America, and we refused
to meet Hayes. Some time before we had granted
the eight-hour day, and had increased wages 10
per cent.
"I had had bitter experience with the United
Mine Workers of America in Iowa and 1 did not
want to have anything- more to do with the organization;
I did not believe it a responsible body.
In Iowa a mine in which I was interested was
ruined after the company signed a contract with
the union. We abandoned the mine although it
represented an investment of $400,000.
"I do not question the right of workmen to
organize and do business collectively, but I think
a business man has a right to do business with
whom he pleases."
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 27
Mr. Osgood then told of the wage scales in Colorado
and neighboring states. He showed that
wages in Colorado were not substantially lowei
than those in Wyoming, and were 20 pei cent.
higher than in Kansas, Oklahoma and Illinois,
where the employes have contracts with the United
Mine Workers.
Discussing the subject of check weighmen, he
declared his company was willing to allow the
miners to have their own men at the scales, but
that in most cases the men had failed to avail
themselves of the privilege. Osgood then touched
upon the subjects of company stores and the use
of scrip. He said the men were not required to
trade at company stores and that the use of scrip,
under the present system, was legal and not compulsory,
the scrip being issued only at the request
of the men as a matter of convenience.
Mr. Osgood directly contradicted the testimony
of witnesses who had told the committee that 95
per cent, of the niiners in the southern fields
obeyed the strike order. He declared that not
more than 50 per cent, of the workers were out.
"We would like to explain the guard system,"
he continued. "Before the strike was declared
we never had any guards except one marshal and
a night watchman at each camp. When the
strike was called, we realized that we would have
to protect our property and the lives of our workmen.
The maximum number of guards employed
at any time by the Victor-American company was
100—never more than 15 or 20 to a camp. We
instructed these guards never to leave company
property except in case of necessity. If we could
have moved our mines a few miles away from the
tent colonies w-e would have done so.
"When the strike started violence started with
us. The day after the men went out, the town
marshal at Segundo was killed. Shortly thereafter,
the strikers took two women from a stage
and held them prisoners in a tent colony until the
governor interfered and secured tbJeir release.
Dining this strike 14 men have been killed, three
of them strikers."
Mr. Osgood then told of the efforts he said the
operators made to secure protection from the local
authorities or the militia. "The governor did
not call out the troops, and the sheriffs could not
protect us," he said. "Then we got machine guns
We got them on the same theory that you gentlemen
build battleships. We thought it was in the
interest of humanity to provide our guards with
weapons so formidable that the strikers would be
afraid to attack them.
"At some of our mines 20 guards were facing
500 armed strikers."
"At present.' he said, "we have all the miners
that we can use and are mining more coal than