c-J d F 777 .6 J9 1914 m H S S 1 m 1 O B o ;ANCROFT LIBRARY o- FHE LIBRARY OF IE UNIVERSITY F CALIFORNIA Statement * or The Strike Situation in Colorado A Report of the Special Committee Appointed to Investigate and Report to lensington Council No. 1 6 (Junior Order United American Mechanics Denver, Colorado} Fourth Edition Unanimously Adopted May Nineteen Nineteen Hundred Fourteen Copyrighted, 1914, by C. W.Varnum, Denver, Colo. Hi| M iliiftr ,4, Statement STRIKE SITUATION IN COLORADO Denver, Colo . M;.y 19, 1914. To the Officers and Members of Kensington Council No. 16, Junior Order United American Mechanics: Your Committee, appointed to investigate the strike situation in this State and to prepare a statement in relation thereto, would respectfully make the follow- ing report: Kensington Council No. 16, Jr. O. U. A. M., of Den- ver, Colorado, is a patriotic fraternal society. Its only interest in the present strike controversy is as to its effect upon the public welfare. Its membership is composed of professional men, workingmen and business men, but so far as we know not a single member of the Council is interested as employee, at- torney, employer, or in any other capacity, either directly or indirectly with either of the parties to the strike controversy now raging in this State. We feel, therefore, that we have the opportunity and that it is our right and duty to give to the Order and to the world an account of causes and effects, past, present, and future of this ill-starred contro- versy, and also to submit some reflections as to the remedy. Colorado's Coal Fields Colorado is a great coal state. We have more than 11,000,000 acres of coal lands of which by far the greater part still belongs to the U. S. Government. 473,000 acres belong to the State of Colorado as Trustee for the School Fund and other funds. Of these 473,000 acres belonging to the State less than 14,000 are under lease and of the 14,000 leased to private parties only 5,500 acres are productive. Less than 3% of the vast coal acreage of Colorado is held in private ownership. Less than 5 per cent of the total tonnage of coal mined in Colorado is from lands belonging to the State. The two greatest fields are popularly called the northern and southern, and they are both non-union. The unions have, however, looked upon these great fields employing in normal times about 13,000 men with avaricious eyes and have made many attempts to unionize them. In the fall of 1913 emissaries of the union were sent here from Indiana, West Virginia, and other States and all the power of the United Mine Workers was focussed upon the southern fields, and a strike was ordered. Yj'iAfl 2 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO The operators declared that they could get along very well without the union men, and soon, following their usual tactics on such occasions the union men began to beat up and even to kill non-union work- men, and on October 28th the National Guard was sent into the district to keep the peace. This they did for six months with the loss of but two lives, one by accident, and the other killed while resisting arrest with arms in his hands, neither being union men. April 17th, 1914, the troops with the exception of 34 men left at Ludlow were withdrawn because the State Auditor had thrown every possible obstacle in the path to prevent the payment of the troops or of providing for their support in the field. Immediately upon their withdrawal pillage, arson and murder broke out in their most horrible form. April 20th came the battle of Ludlow. The Battle of Ludlow The striker's tent colony at Ludlow was an armed camp under strict control of the Union leaders and was peopled by a class of persons graphically de- scribed in the report of the Military Commission as "ignorant, lawless and savage South European peas- ants." They spoke twenty or more different lan- guages, and most of them could not speak English at all. While they were of many nationalities the Greeks predominated, especially as a fighting force. The tent colony was purposely so located as to command an unobstructed view of the railroad depot near at hand where workingmen were obliged to get on and off the trains. The conduct of the strikers during the winter was such that it was necessary to send a detail of soldiers to meet every train in order to protect the non-union men from physical violence. No man wishing to leave the colony and go to work could do so except under guard of the State troops, and during the winter over a hundred men were in this way taken from the tent colony under military guard at their own request. April 20th a detail of men was sent in the usual manner to rescue a man who had called for help to get away, and as usual the negotiations were had with Louis Tikas. This time for some reason the man was not given up, and instead the Greeks took to the hills and appeared to be preparing for action while the women and children ran to the shelter of a deeo gulch north of the colony. There were only THE STRIKE IN COLORADO 3 .4 soldiers on duty and they were scattered in small m-oups, most of them being two or three miles away. Tikas went back to his Greeks promising to call them back to the colony but failed to do so. The soldiers saw the Greeks running to the hills and taking pos- session of vantage points around them but their offi- cers would not allow them to fire until the strikers first opened fire on them. This is one of the many instances showing that while the soldiers suffered from all the dangers and liabilities of war they were prevented from taking advantage of its privileges. Had the soldiers been free to fight their enemies the Greeks would never have reached the hills and the battle would have been much shorter. As it was when the firing from the Greeks had lasted long enough to show that they really meant business the troops returned it and then these 34 soldiers fought and held at bay several hundred foreigners from 10 a. m. until 2 p. m. when reinforcements began to arrive, though at the most there were only about 120 soldiers engaged. The number of strikers engaged has been variously estimated at from 400 to 800 men. They were heavily armed with the latest and best models of high power rifles, although their leaders had solemnly assured the State government tKat they had surrendered their arms. They used explosive bullets and so-called "poisoned" bullets (both expressly for- bidden by the rules of civilized warfare) and some of their ammunition was manufactured in Greece. They were amply supplied with ammunition, over 15,000 rounds having been found in John Lawson's tent after the battle. When the reinforcements arrived the soldiers began to press forward and steadily drove the Greeks back until they took a range of sand hills where a soldier named Martin was wounded. The fire of the Greeks was concentrated upon this position and the soldiers were unable to hold the hills. There were but four men in the detachment with Martin and they were unable to carry him across the exposed ground, so they placed him in a depression in the hills where he would be safe from the fire from both sides and retreated. Heroic Rescue Work Another detachment fought its way up to the tent colony where they heard the cries of women and children. The tents had caught fire before the sold- iers arrived, but when they heard the cries of the women and children they rushed in among the burn- ing tents and rescued between 25 and 30 and carried 4 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO them away to safety. While engaged in this humane work they were under constant fire from the Greeks. To save these women and children the soldiers, while still under fire from the Greeks were obliged to tear up tent floors which had been nailed down over the openings to the pits and drag the cowering occupants out by main force. Then these soldiers who had had no pay for three months took up a collection among themselves and raised $18.00 that night for the relief of these suffering women and children. Late in the afternoon the sand hills were retaken by the soldiers who then found the body of their comrade Martin with his head blown off and his limbs broken. This barbarity shocked and infuriated them and, of course, it was immediately reported to Lieut. Linderfeldt. A few minutes after this Louis Tikas was captured, after he had been fighting all day with his Greeks. Acting under the frightful stress of that all day's battle, where the strikers numbered almost 20 to 1, without water, food or rest for nine hours, and with the report of the atrocities committed upon the body of his comrade Martin fresh in his mind Lieut. Linderfeldt is reported to nave committed the unsoldierlike offense of striking a prisoner. Whether this be true or not time will determine and whether if true the excuse is sufficient can only be known when all the facts and circum- stances are developed. But at least the provocation was great. No "Massacre of the Innocents" There was, however, no firing on women and chil- dren unless it were firing by the Greeks on the little Snyder boy, who was killed by a striker's bullet and who was the only child killed or even struck by a bullet. Both sides agree also that no woman was struck by a bullet from either side. The thirteen women and children who were suffocated in the tiny pit under the ground not large enough for three of them to remain in for three hours and live were probably dead long before the tents caught fire. But in any event the soldiers could not possibly have been to blame in the slightest degree. The strikers had rifle pits in front of the colony tents and were hidden in the arroya or gulch behind them and were firing on the soldiers from both places. The strikers could easily have retreated from both rifle pits and from the arroya and still have continued the fight on equally as good terms from some other vantage point but they elected not to do so. THE STRIKE IN COLORADO 5 Women and Children as a Shield The death of these women and children was a most nmvt table incident of this unfortunate battle In this inexcusable war, but the Greeks started the war and commenced the battle. They also were in a position to know that the women and children were in the underground pits while the soldiers were not in a position to even suspect such a thing. Among civil- ized peoples when the men go out to war they first put women and children in places of safety instead of leaving them exposed to all the dangers of battle and in this case as the soldiers had seen the women and children running to the arroya where they would be absolutely safe they naturally supposed and had a right to suppose that they were all out of danger. The Greeks who must have known that some women and children were left in the colony could have retreated from the colony or could easily have changed the place of fighting to another point, and either maneuver would have stopped the battle or have changed the line of fire so that the women and children left in the tents would have been safe. They chose, however, to do neither, but to continue the fight in a place which made it necessary for the firing to endanger the lives of their own women and chil- dren. The fault, then, rests squarely upon the shoulders of the strikers themselves and not upon the members of the National Guard who were stationed there to uphold the Constitution and laws of the State, who were attacked by overwhelming numbers and who were fighting for their lives as well. It is inconceivable to suppose that 34 men scattered in three or four groups would deliberately attack a very much larger force as well armed and better fortified than they were themselves. The wonder is that these 34 men should have been able, under any circumstances, to have defended themselves successfully against their desperate as- sailants. It is another great tribute to the splendid fighting material composing our National Guard. Machine Guns The troops had two machine guns, one of which they used all day and the other from about 4 p. m. These guns were never turned on the tent colony itself, but were used against the Greeks entrenched in the sand hills and rifle pits and along the railroa-i tracks. 6 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO Admiral Fletcher threatened to destroy Vera Cruz with the great cannon of the American fleet unless sniping from the house tops were stopped. Return of the National Guard The main body of the National Guard who had been returned to their homes were called back to the field on April 22nd, and although they had had no pay for three months and the families of many of them were suffering for the actual necessities of life, they loyally took up their duty again, and if the ill- advised truce had not been made on the 24th peace would have been quickly re-established by the swift defeat of the strikers. As it was, the strikers took advantage of the so-called truce to burn and destroy half .a dozen mines and to murder many citizens of the State, the troops being compelled by the terms of the truce to do nothing to protect either life or property. Then came the call for the federal troops, two or three desperate battles between the strikers and the National Guard brought on by the determination of the strikers to destroy the remaining mines in the district, the defeat and surrender of the strikers to the National Guard, the arrival of the federal troops and the -withdrawal of the State troops from the strike districts. It is perhaps worthy of note that this so-called truce as well as the final surrender of the miners was negotiated by a leading lawyer of Denver with as much nonchalance as though he were drawing a stipulation for. the continuance of a petty case in a justice court. Foundation of the Government This nation was founded upon the eternal prin- ciples of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to worship God, and freedom of labor. Free- dom of labor means that the laborer himself shall be permitted to choose whether he shall work or not, where he shall work, the kind of work he shall en- gage in and who his employer shall be. All these matters to be decided by the laborer for himself and not by someone else for him. Certain ignorant, ill-advised and vicious people have wilfully .and maliciously misinterpreted these rights, deeming freedom of speech as license to malign their neighbors, freedom of the press as license to distort the news and to besmirch and be- foul this country and its institutions, deeming free- THE STRIKE IN COLORADO 7 dom to worship God as license to persecute, torture, and even to kill those who worship him in a different way. and deeming freedom of labor as being license to forcibly prevent other men from working. Labor agitators have for many years preached, taught and practised, not only in Colorado but in every State in the Union the doctrine that a labor union can not only work or quit work as it pleases (which is its inalienable right), but that a labor union can also rightfully prevent other men from working, and that in order to prevent other men from working the union men have the right not only to use peaceful persuasion but also to use physical violence upon those other workingmen, to burn and destroy their houses, to kill them by secret assassina- tion or open murder, and that in their warfare against non-union men the union men have the right to openly fight the duly constituted authorities of both State and Nation and to defy and insult the flag of our country. Agitators, Not Workers; These labor agitators are not workers themselves but are mere parasites on workingmen's organiza- tions, and they have for many years taught their deluded followers class distinctions, class hatred and prejudice, and have encouraged class war, and people who ought to know better have blindly encouraged them in their false teachings. They talk of "industrial war" as glibly and glee- fully as though great enterprises were built up by the burning and destruction of property and as though men would be attracted to enterprises in which they are daily in danger of assassination. To them the destruction by violence of a factory <>r plant is but an incident in the carrying on of their "industrial war." These acts of violence indeed are a very important and helpful factor in their cam- i-aigns for raising money. These labor agitators under different names, in Pennsylvania as Molly Maguires, in Idaho and Colorado as the Western Federation of Miners, and now as the United Mine Workers, have openly taught and freely practised the use of force, even though it lead to murder as proper means of inciting class hatred and class war. The confession of the McNamaras as to the blow- ing up of the Times Building in Los 'Angeles and 8 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO other wholesale destruction of properties by dyna- miters as the hired agents of the Structural Steel Workers illustrates their method of procedure. This present trouble in Colorado was deliberately brought about not because of any conditions in the mines but by these same labor agitators who are not workers and who seek to prevent others from work- ing. That they are mere labor agitators with no inten- tion or desire to work or to plan work for others is shown by the fact that Gov. Ammons last fall offered to the United Mine Workers thousands of acres of unused coal lands belonging to the State at ten cents per ton royalty which was the lowest price, but the Mine Workers were not courteous enough even to make any response or to take any interest in the matter. This business of organizing unions, fomenting strikes and especially of preparing for the use of violence and of accustoming their members to the idea of killing non-union men is a profession in itself. The labor leaders in this trouble are not miners, and very few of them are residents of Colorado. They have been imported into the State and especially into the strike districts for the purpose of inciting strikes and of directing hostilities against the authorities. Louis Tikas never was a miner himself but was brought from Denver to the strike district and em- ployed by the Miner's Union as interpreter and leader of the Greeks. These Greeks are reputed to be in large numbers veterans of the late war between Greece and Turkey. If this be true, under our im- migration laws they ought to be deported as unde- sirable citizens. Certainly this suggestion cannot be considered intemperate. Men who come to the United States and who take up arms against it and who, before they have learned to speak the English language, murder citizens of the State, are surely undesirable citizens and ought to be sent back to the land from which they came, and the federal govern- ment which permitted their importation owes it to the State of Colorado to take them away from us. Not a Colorado Problem In this connection we cannot too strongly impress upon the country that this is not a Colorado matter, but purely an interstate or national affair. The trouble did not originate in Colorado, nor is it of- ficered or financed here. The Miner's Union head- THE STRIKE IN COLORADO 9 quarters is at Indianapolis, Ind., and from there have come the orders, the leaders and the money to sup- port this movement which is not merely war against Colorado, and which does not simply mean war against the United States, but which in its essence and ultimate aim is war against organized society everywhere. Their purpose is not confined to the destruction of authority here but their real purpose is to destroy authority everywhere. This is a very strong statement, but the history of the movement bears it out in full. W. T. Hickey, secretary of the State Federation of Labor, telegraphed Congressman Keating in com- menting on the situation and as a protest, "we take this to mean that they (the coal companies) will have protection of the federal troops." He says this as though he considered it a crime for the federal troops to protect the coal companies. His protest against protection for the companies shows that he knows that they have need of protection from some one, and from whom could it be except from him and his lawless companions? We predict that if the coal companies or their workmen are protected by the federal troops the strikers will dig up the guns they do not even pretend they have surrendered and com- mence war upon the United States just as they have been making war upon Colorado. Many outside papers, taking their cue from the position of our local papers, have called this striker's war, with its deplorable violence and loss of life, "The Shame of Colorado." It should more properly be called "The Shame of Labor Unionism" and "The Shame of the United States." We cannot too strongly insist that this is not in any sense a Colorado question. We are the focus of all eyes today because today the striker's war is here, but tomorrow it may be in West Virginia, or Ohio, or Pennsylvania, or Michigan, or any other State. The shame, the suffering, the disgrace, and the fear that Colorado suffers today jnay tomorrow be borne by any State against which the United Mine Workers of America may turn its attention. The pretext here is one thing, the pretext for the next outbreak may be another, but always the real cause is the fixed determination that the unions shall con- trol affairs in all industrial pursuits and that the laws of the labor union shall take precedence over the laws of the land. 10 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO Abuse of the National Guard Nor should too much stress be laid upon abuse of the National Guard by the strikers and their allies. These unions have for many years carefully promul- gated a sentiment of hatred for soldiers whether of the regular army or of the National Guard and have even gone to the extent of declaring in their own constitutions that a man cannot belong to both the union and to the army, even as musicians. They also occupy the same attitude towards the police and sheriffs and their deputies and all other peace offi- cers. Their opposition is not to any particular form of authority but to authority of any kind. Depraved Leaders, Brutal Followers Practically all of the miners involved in this strike are ignorant, depraved and brutal foreigners, peasants from the lowest and most hopeless class of the peoples of southern Europe, who know little and care less for the principles of free government. By a mistaken national policy men of this type have been permitted to invade this country at the rate of over a million a year so that now they number in our midst many millions, all herded together in industrial centers and who threaten with their low ideals and base habits of life to destroy our civilization as the Huns and Vandals of old destroyed the civilization of ancient Rome and set the world back a thousand years during which rich and poor alike suffered from the horrors of poverty, superstition and oppression. These ignorant, depraved and brutal foreigners are led by better educated but as depraved and brutal officers who are usually of a foreign extraction, as far removed from American ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of labor, and freedom of government as are these later importa- tions of ignorant herds, whom the leaders incite to deeds of violence the leaders themselves are too cowardly to commit. These men, depraved leaders and brutal followers together, number but two or three thousand and while exercising their own un- doubted right to refuse to work have denied to more than 10,000 of their fellowmen the right to work. The 10,000 workers have as much right to work as the 2,000 idlers have to be idle. Atrocities Unspeakable The strikers here as everywhere else endeavor by intimidation, by violence and by assassination to en- force their unlawful and unjust edict that the workers THE STRIKE IN COLORADO 11 must iiuii tlu'ir work. The lawful authorities of Colo- rado, acting under their sworn duty, endeavored to protect peaceable workingmen in their right to work and in their right to live. The strikers, denying both rit-hts, defied the government and made open war against it. This is no exaggeration. They actually issued and published an open and formal declaration of war against Colorado and made a call for troops They enlisted men to fight against Colorado .they drilled these men into armies, they marched these armies from place to place, these armies fought battles against the State troops, they killed Colorado soldiers, occasionally in open battle but more often by assassination. They deliberately and treacher- ously murdered a hospital surgeon while wearing his Red Cross uniform and while performing his duty of ministering to a wounded man. After their leaders had made a solemn treaty and had agreed to a tem- porary truce these strikers openly marched across the country burning and destroying property and murdering Colorado's citizens. They have driven men, women and children into mines and have delib- erately and intentionally destroyed the shafts and openings with the intention of killing them by fire and suffocation. They have set fire to boarding houses and purposely burned alive unoffending and non-combatant workingmen. They have been guilty of atrocities unspeakable and innumerable. They are even now standing in flagrant defiance of the authority of the government of the United States and are treating, negotiating and haggling with the officers of the army as to the conditions and terms c-n which they will agree to surrender their arms. Treason Our Constitution defines treason as "levying war against the State or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid or comfort." Under this definition all these strikers, but espe- cially their officers and leaders, as well as those disloyal State officials who are in league with them, and also those newspapers, women's organizations and Christian Citizenship Unions "adhering to them and giving them aid and comfort" are, all of them, guilty of treason against the State and that in its most heinous form. The law of organized society has ever been and must ever be that whoever raises his hand against the government is a traitor and must pay the penalty 12 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO with his life. In DO other way can organized govern- ment exist. Whoever complains of wrongs in ex- isting laws must turn his attention to their correction by peaceful means. He who attempts to correct his own wrongs by force is a criminal. He who attempts to correct the wrongs of society by force is a traitor. We speak of this organization as armies, with no idea of dignifying them or the purpose of their being, but only for the purpose of indicating their size and deliberate purpose. In reality they were frenzied mobs, drunk with the lust for blood, who rushed from mine to mine burning and destroying property, murdering men and mutilating their dead bodies like wild beasts or brutal barbarians and respecting neither flag of truce, red cross nor any of the rules of civilized warfare. In all these acts of treason, murder, pillage and arson the strikers have been aided, abetted and en- couraged by newspapers as venal and truckling as the strikers are depraved and vicious and by State officials who by reason of their betrayal of their oaths of office and of their duty as officials are more guilty of these treasons and assassinations than are the ignorant, misguided strikers whom these offi- cials and newspapers have by their appeals to passion and prejudice influenced to commit the actual deeds of violence. By reason of the reign of terror established by these strikers, agitators and newspapers, freedom of speech and freedom to work have been in a large measure denied to the people of Colorado. The strike has more or less completely involved seven different coal mining districts, some of them 400 miles apart, and in which are over a hundred mines, each of which must have its detail of soldiers to insure protection. There are also many towns, railroad bridges and other properties all subject to attack and destruction. Good Work of the National Guard The Colorado National Guard has served in these strike districts with less than half the number of men demanded by the regular army officers for the same purposes. They were not furnished with suf- ficient clothing or supplies, they received no pay for over three months by reason of the worse than treasonable actions of our State auditor and other officials, and they were denied that moral support from press and people that a nation's troops are entitled to in time of war. In spite of all these diffi- Till; STRIKE IN COLORADO 13 mlties our State troops for six months maintained absolute peace, quiet and safety in the strike dis- ts without loss of life on either side and without loss of property of any kind to any one. Under the most trying circumstances, subjected daily to the vilest abuse of the most brutal of men and of women almost as brutal, they conducted themselves with a dignity, decorum and sense of military duty worthy of the highest commendation and praise. Commendation and Denunciation In view of all these facts, conditions and circum- stances ve call upon the country to revise and to reverse its opinion of the government and troops of the State of Colorado and to commend them for their efforts to properly solve a question that did not originate here but has been thrust upon us by the attitude of the country at large upon the questions of labor and immigration. We call upon Congress to immediately pass the Burnett bill which will, in large measure, prevent the immigration to this country of these illiterate, depraved and criminal hordes which are now pouring into this land and who threaten its very life. The perpetuity of American institutions, the safety of life and property, and the pr&tection of our own people are of greater importance to us and to the world than is the maintenance of a maudlin sentiment which permits the invasion of our country by ignorant hordes who know nothing of and who would ruthlessly destroy its beneficent in- stitutions. We most heartily commend Gen. John Chase, com- manding, and the officers and men of our National Guard for their patient forbearance and soldierly attitude under the most trying and adverse conditions and circumstances. We commend Governor Ammons for his efforts to maintain law and order in the community. We most severely denounce those disloyal State officials whose weakness and treachery tied the Gov- ernor's hands and gave aid and comfort to enemies of the State. We- as severely denounce those newspapers which by their inflammable articles and comments, and by their prejudiced and distorted reports, have at- tempted to place the blame where it does not belong, have defamed and humiliated Colorado and its gov- ernment, both civil and military, and have excused, justified and been potent factors in inciting those deeds of violence that have disgraced the past and which now endanger the future of the State 14 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO We as warmly commend those newspapers that have told the truth and have bravely stood for law and order. We cannot find words strong enough to express our horror and detestation of those infamous men and hysterical women who as leaders and advisers of their ignorant followers, or as their defenders and apologists, are the real traitors and murderers in this frightful striker's war. Their words and their deeds are ineradicable blots on the pages of the history of our State and of our civilization. Peace Before Prosperity There must be peace before there can be prosper- ity. There must be order in the community and safety for life and limb before we can turn our at- tention to the correction of existing wrongs. Violence begets violence and must be repressed by the stern hand of organized society. The good book tells us that if a^man will not work neither shall he eat. We contend that if a man will not work, if he prefers that his wife and children shall starve, he at least shall not be permitted to kill and murder other men who do wish to work in order to save their wives and children from starvation. It is no longer a question as to whether non-union men shall be allowed to WORK in Colorado, it is now a question as to whether or not any man shall be allowed to LIVE without permission from the labor union. Wars for Freedom Fifty years ago we fought a great war in this country to establish the right of a man not to be com- pelled to work for another unless he wished to do so. Now we are facing a threatened war which we must fight to establish the right of a man to work for an- other if he wishes to do so. That war was fought to free men from slavery to private individuals. This war if it comes, and it seems as though come it must, will have to be fought to free men from slavery to private organizations. Both the slaveholding individual before the war and the slaveholding labor union of the present pre- tend that the slaves are being held for their own good, though against their own will, and both claim that if the slaves will not voluntarily submit to their masters they . must be beaten into submission or killed. Both hypocritically claim that this is for the good of humanity. THK STRIKE IN COLORADO 1 "> True Theory of Employment The true theory is that every employer shall be allowed to employ whom he pleases and every em- ployee shall be allowed to work for whom he pleases so that employer and employee are agreed as to the terms and conditions of the employment. Any other principle is a denial of freedom to the individual and a denial of freedom is the essence of slavery. Fundamental Principles of Government \\V reaffirm in the most positive terms and as the fundamental principles of popular and free govern- ment: 1st. The right to worship God, every man in his own way. 2nd. The right of free speech, with responsibility for the abuse of this right. 3rd. The right of labor to be free from any master, religious, personal, corporate, or union. 4th. The right of capital to the safety of its in- vestments, and that it be subject to no tyranny of private organization but only to the majesty of the law. 5th. The right of every man to protection by the State of his life, his limbs, and his property. 6th. The impartial enforcement of every law whether it be for the protection of labor or for the protection of property. 7th. Swift, sure and severe punishment for all offences against the law, and especially of such high crimes as treason and murder. We call upon all good and patriotic citizens to stand ready to uphold these fundamental rights with every power of voice, pen and vote, with every ounce of strength and every drop of blood, with every power that organized and civilized society can bring to bear. In this way, and in this way only, can our fair State, our beautiful country, our boasted civilization, our ancient rights, and even our lives be saved. 16 THE STRIKE IN COLORADO Submitted as a Warning Fraternally submitted to our brothers of the Order throughout the country and to the world outside as a warning of the danger that threatens the Republic through the importation into this country of these lawless forces that are breeding treason and making war upon our dearest institutions. Kensington Council No. 16, Jr. O/U. A. M., Denver, Colo., by its Committee appointed for the pur- pose of drawing up and of promulgating tnis statement. C. W. VARNUM, Chairman, L. A. HASTINGS, Secretary, H. H. EDDY, O. B. SCOBEY, P. L. VARNEY. We hereby certify that the above resolution was chis day unanimously adopted at a regular meeting of Kensington Council No. 16, Jr. O. U. A. M., and the Committee was instructed to have 5,000 copies printed in pamphlet form and to send a copy to all National and State Officers and to every Council of the Order, and that a copy be sent to the American, the official organ of the Order, with a request that it be published. The Committee was further instructed to transmit a copy to his Excellency the President of the United States, a copy to each member of the Congress, and a copy to the Governor of every State in the Union. The Committee was also instructed to transmit a copy to our Representatives in Congress, with the request that they present it as a memorial to the House of Representatives, and a copy to our Sen- ators, with the request that they present it as a memorial to the Senate of the United States, and that they be requested to secure the printing of this statement in the Congressional Record. Witness our hands at Denver, Colorado, this 19th day of May, A. D. 1914. (Seal.) EDWARD H. WAHL, L. T. FROST, Councilor. Assistant Recording Secretary. This statement was printed in the Congressional Record of May 29, 1914. at the request of Senator Thomas. "To bear true allegiance to our government its institutions, constitutions and laws." "Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost." Abraham Lincoln