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Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 30, 1902
Denver, Colorado – W. F. of M. and W. L. U. Hold Conventions
From the Kansas City (Kansas) Labor Record of May 29, 1902:
NEW LABOR UNION.
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Western Labor Union in Session in Denver
Expects to Take In Eastern States.
Denver.-The annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners and the Western Labor union assembled here on Monday. There are 300 delegates, representing more than 100,000 workers in the Western states and in British Columbia. The two organizations work in harmony, but the conventions meet apart, both in secret session.
Secretary Clarence Smith, in his report, said that the membership of the Western Labor union had doubled in the last year. The report recites that a large number of applications for charters have been received from independent labor organizations in the East. The annual address of President Edward Boyce of the Western Federation of Miners, which he read at the session of the annual convention of that body Wednesday afternoon, was devoted largely to the subject of trusts, which he declared dominate the mining industry. Mr. Boyce recommends the formation of state miners’ unions. He advocates socialism and ownership by workmen of mines and smelters.
President Boyce expressed the hope that the members of the Western Federation of Miners and the members of all other labor organizations would meet in convention for the purpose of taking political action.
Thomas I. Kidd, third vice-president, and Frank Morrison, secretary of the American Federation of Labor, are in the city for the purpose of securing a hearing before the two conventions and endeavoring to adjust the conflicts that have occurred between the Western organizations and the American Federation.
From the officers’ reports presented at the annual convention of the Western Labor union, it appeared that this new general labor organization has begun to invade Eastern territory and will extend its jurisdiction across the continent if the convention approves the plans that have been formed. President Daniel McDonald declared that the present industrial system ”allows the toiler to be robbed,” and urged each union to impress upon the laboring men that “labor owns itself.”
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[Emphasis added. Newsclip added from Parsons, Kansas, Daily Eclipse of May 29th.)
