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Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 20, 1903
Colorado City, Colorado –Mill and Smeltermen’s Union on Strike, Part I
From The Miners Magazine of April 1903:
THE STRIKE IN COLORADO CITY.
[Part I of V, The Strike Begins]
On February 14, 1903, the Mill and Smeltermen’s Union No. 125, of the Western Federation of Miners, was forced to strike a blow on the industrial field against the arrogance of the mill trust, whose employes were denied the right to organize for self-protection under the penalty or a forfeiture of employment. Previous to the Western Federation of Miners sending an organizer to Colorado City to establish a local of the W. F. M., the employes of the mills had maintained a local union which was disrupted and shattered through the employment of Pinkertons by the corporations.
***
When the Western Federation of Miners invaded the domain that was considered sacred to MacNeil, Fullerton and Peck, and organized the Mill and Smeltermen’s Union, corporation coin secured the services of a Benedict Arnold in the union by the name of A. K. Crane, who, for Judas money, prostituted his manhood and betrayed his fellowmen by furnishing the corporations the names of every man who sought shelter in the membership of the Western Federation of Miners. As rapidly as the names of members of the union were furnished by the traitor to Manager MacNeil of the mill trust, they were discharged without ceremony. The union at Colorado City bore with patience this discrimination until patience became so abused “that it ceased to be a virtue.” The representatives of the Western Federation of Miners called upon the management of the mills, protesting against discrimination, but all efforts to bridge the gulf that lay between the union and the mill owners were fruitless, and the strike was declared on February 14, against the United States Reduction and Refining Company. It was but a short time when the Telluride mill owners joined hands with MacNeil and entered into a compact that was backed and supported by the Mine Owners’ Association of Colorado, to fight to a finish any and all efforts of the Western Federation of Miners to establish the right of the mill men to organize for their mutual welfare and collective prosperity.
The strikers conducted their campaign in a most peaceable manner and their eloquent and moral persuasion left the mills in a condition which
baffled the managers whose haughty contempt for unionism forced the
battle. Secret meetings of the mill owners and representatives of the Mine Owners’ Association were held, and a plot was hatched that would bring the state militia to the scene of action to assist the corporations in their infamous assault upon the right of labor to organize. The governor of the state became a willing tool to serve the interests of the corporate masters, who, in all probability, a few months before furnished the “sinews of war” to aid him in reaching the goal of his political ambition.The reason and the cause which led to the strike can be conveyed to the readers in no more abbreviated manner than to quote the language of Secretary-Treasurer Haywood to a reporter of the Denver Post of March 4:
The occasion for the strike was the absolute refusal of the mill managers at Colorado City to treat with or recognize the union. Our men were discharged because they belonged to the union; they were so informed by the managers. We then asked the operators to reinstate these men and consider a wage scale. They would do neither.
We object to compulsory insurance, and claim the constitutional right to organize as do the operators, and want wages that will enable our men to move into houses and not rear their families in tents. The scale asked is lower than in any milling or mining camp in Colorado.
During the bitter cold weather the wives and children of many of the men were huddled together in tents because the wages paid would not suffice to pay house rent and provide other necessities.
The minimum scale paid is $1.80 per day, from which is deducted 5 cents for compulsory insurance and one per cent discount. Checks are drawn in favor of merchants with whom the men trade.
When the mill owners and the representatives of the Mine Owners’ Association realized that the strikers were masters of the situation and their places, a picture was drawn by the corporations to present to the governor that would justify the legality of the state militia being used to break the strike. The governor, in his message to the legislature after having taken the oath of office, was emphatic in his assurance that he would uphold ‘law and order.’ Such words coming from the chief executive of the state were wisely interpreted by the capitalistic anarchists, who knew that the governor would never call out the state militia to prevent the employer from starving his serfs. On the third of March, at the hour of noon, the governor, who but a few months before was living on usury in the convict city of the state, issued an order that swelled the plutocratic heart with gratitude and joy.
THE GOVERNOR’S ORDER.
Denver, Colorado, March 3, 1903.
Executive Order.
Ordered—It being made to appear to me by the sheriff of El Paso county and other good and reputable citizens of the town of Colorado City and of that vicinity in said county, that there is a tumult threatened, and that a body of men acting together by force with attempt to commit felonies and to offer violence to persons and property in the said town of Colorado City and vicinity, and by force and violence to break and resist the laws of the state, and that the sheriff of El Paso county is unable to preserve and maintain order and secure obedience to the laws and protect life and property and to secure the citizens of the state in their rights, privileges and safety under the constitution and laws of this state, in such cases made and provided.
I therefore direct you, in pursuance of the power and authority vested in me by the constitution and laws of the state, to direct the brigadier general commanding the National guard of the state of Colorado to forthwith order out such troops to immediately report to the sheriff of El Paso county, as in the judgment of the brigadier general may be necessary to properly assist the sheriff of that county in the enforcement of the laws and constitution of this state and in maintaining peace and order.
Given under my hand and the executive seal this third day of March, A. D. 1903.
JAMES H. PEABODY, Governor.
To the Adjutant General, State of Colorado.The order of the governor calling out the state militia to proceed to Colorado City came upon the people of the state of Colorado “like a peal of thunder from a cloudless sky.” Many doubted the story that was flashed from one to another, but as soon as President Moyer and Secretary- Treasurer Haywood ascertained the truth of the report, the following ad- dress and appeal was drafted and furnished to the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News for publication:
LABOR’S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF COLORADO.
The chief executive of the state of Colorado has ordered the militia to Colorado City. The governor of this great commonwealth, after giving audience for several hours to Manager MacNeil and the representatives of the Mine Owners’ Association, men who are pecuniarily interested in the degradation and subjugation of labor, send the armed power of the state to aid the merciless corporations in demanding their “pound of flesh” from the bone and muscle of men who have borne the tyranny of greed until “patience has ceased to be a virtue.”
Manager MacNeil acted as a deputy of the sheriff, and handed to the governor the following letter:
“I hand you herewith a communication from the Portland Gold Mining Company, operating a reduction plant in Colorado City, and from the United States Reduction and Refining Company, from which I have received requests for protection. I have received like requests from the Telluride Reduction Company. It has been brought to my attention that men have been severely beaten, and there is grave danger of destruction of property. I accordingly notify you of the existence of a mob and armed bodies of men patrolling this territory, from whom there is danger of commission of felony.”
It does not appear from the letter of the sheriff that he made a personal investigation of the conditions existing at Colorado City. The communications from the corporations to the sheriff of El Paso county actuated the sheriff in placing in the hands of Manager MacNeil, a member of the corporations, an order to Governor Peabody, and upon the strength of this letter, the armed force of the state is to be placed at the disposal of the corporations, to be used in intimidating labor to fall upon its knees in mute submission to the will of oppressors. No word came from the citizens of Colorado City to the governor, stating that there was a mob or insurrection. Depending absolutely upon the unsupported representations of the corporations and a letter from the sheriff, an official, who, from his letter, had failed to make a personal investigation, the governor of this great state has become a willing tool in the hands of corporate masters to place the armed machinery of Colorado in the hands of corporations.
WHO DID THE GOVERNOR CONSULT?
The governor listened attentively to the gory story of MacNeil, the representative of the corporations. Why did he not summon the representatives of labor, and hear their evidence, as to the conditions at Colorado City? Is there only one side to a story when the interests of corporations are to be subserved and labor humiliated?
The Western Federation of Miners, through its executive officers, appeal to the laboring hosts of Colorado, to denounce this unpardonable infamy of the governor by pouring into the present legislature an avalanche of protests. The hour for action on the part of labor is at hand, and the voice of the producing class must be heard in thunder tones in the legislative chambers of the state, branding this shameless abuse of gubernatorial power, with the malediction of their resentment.
CHARLES MOYER, President W. F. M.
WM. D. HAYWOOD, Secretary-Treasurer.As soon as -it was learned by the citizens of Colorado City that the state militia had been called out by the governor, and ordered to Colorado City, the mayor and members of the city council held a meeting and the following protest was telegraphed to the governor:
Governor Peabody—It is understood that the militia has been ordered to our town. For what purpose we do not know, as there is no disturbance here of any kind. There has been no disturbance more than a few occasional brawls since the strike began, and we respectfully protest against an army being placed in our midst. A delegation of business men will call upon you tomorrow with a formal protest of the citizens of the city.
(Signed)
J. F. FAULKNER, Mayor
GEORGE G. BIRDSALL, Chief of Police
JOHN M’COACH, City Attorney.J. F. Faulkner, the mayor of Colorado City, made the following personal statement to a representative of the Rocky Mountain News:
The only trouble we have had since the strike began was yesterday afternoon, when there were a few street fights. These disturbances were quickly quelled and the offenders were arrested. There were no gun plays. The men simply fought with their fists and probably the employes of the mills who came down town were given the worst of it.
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Chief of Police George G. Birdsall of Colorado City was interviewed by a reporter of the Rocky Mountain News and spoke as follows:
I have talked with a number of people during the afternoon and they are all exceedingly indignant at the thought of having the militia come among us. If some trouble had arisen which we experienced difficulty in handling, then there might have been some excuse for sending soldiers over here, but nothing of the kind has taken place. I am sure the strikers do not care to employ force to win their victory.
In the face of the protests that came from the mayor, chief of police, city attorney and the citizens of Colorado City, the governor attempted to defend his position and his action in the following words:
If I had not considered that the situation warranted the order I would not have issued it. The sheriff is an officer of the court and does not have to make an affidavit. He asked for immediate help and he got it. Those people [members of the Western Federation of Miners?!] must learn that they have got to be law-abiding citizens, the same as you and I.
I will protect the property and lives of the people of this state if I have to call out every able-bodied man in the state.
This statement of the governor demonstrates that he placed more reliance on the mere assertion of the sheriff than the protests of the mayor, the city council, chief of police and city attorney, whose interests are identified with the city, in which the sheriff assumed without evidence, the threatened destruction of life and property.
***
The citizens of Colorado City, to the number of more than 600, signed a petition which was presented to the governor, requesting that the militia be recalled, but the governor remained as adamant to the written appeal
of that citizenship.***
The governor is quoted by the Rocky Mountain News in its issue of March 5 as giving expression to the following:
I will not withdraw the troops until the trouble is settled. They are at Colorado City to protect the rights of the miners, as well as of the smeltermen. There are no agitators running this administration. This administration is to be run for the benefit of the people. If a man wants to work he has a perfect right to do so and the troops are there to see that everybody’s rights are protected.
The above proves beyond the question of a doubt the antipathy of the executive of the state against organized labor. “Agitators” are particularly objects of his vindictiveness. He seems to forget that the “agitator” in every age of our civilization has been the advance guard in the conflict that humanity has waged against injustice. Phillips, Garrison, and John Brown were the advance agents of the rebellion, whose “agitation” against chattel slavery lifted the “lamp of hope” to the trembling black man and made an Abraham Lincoln’ grasp the pen with the hand of a hero to liberate from slave pen and master’s lash 4,000,000 serfs that were bound to the bench of unpaid toll.
Christ was an “agitator,” and we regret to say that it was the Peabodys of his day and age that put upon his brow the crown of thorns, nailed him upon a cross, plunged the spear into his side and mocked him in the agony of death.
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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SOURCE
Quote BBH Corporation Soul, Oakland Tb p11, Mar 30, 1909
https://www.newspapers.com/image/72436098/
The Cripple Creek Strike
A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado, 1903-4-5;
Being a Complete and Concise History of the Efforts
of Organized Capital to Crush Unionism
-by Emma F. Langdon
Great Western Publishing Company, 1905
-pages 44-50
https://archive.org/details/cripplecreekstri00lang/page/44/mode/2up?view=theater
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hb0hh2&view=2up&seq=55
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/wfmhall/langdon04.html
IMAGE
WFM Button
https://www.nps.gov/kewe/learn/historyculture/museum-guide-5.htm
See also:
Tag: Colorado City Smeltermen’s Strike of 1903
https://weneverforget.org/tag/colorado-city-smeltermens-strike-of-1903/
Tag: Cripple Creek Strike of 1903-1904
https://weneverforget.org/tag/cripple-creek-strike-of-1903-1904/
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Dump the Bosses – Utah Phillips