LaMont M. Bowers to Woodrow Wilson
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President,White House,
Washington, DC
Sir:
Mr. Welborn, the president of our company, has requested me to reply to that portion of your letter in which you refer to the failure of Mr. Ethelbert Stewart to bring about a settlement of the coal miners’ strike in southern Colorado. As briefly as possible I will review the efforts of Mr. Stewart to bring about a settlement, from the operators’ standpoint.
As far as we are able to learn, Mr. Stewart did not seek an interview with any of the large operators or ask any of them to furnish him with any information whatever, with the exception of an hour’s interview with the writer. Indirectly through Governor Ammons he undertook to arrange a conference between the officers of the United Mine Workers of America and three of the operators, the outcome of which Mr. Welborn will refer to in his letter to you. Referring now to the conference of Mr. Stewart with the writer, I will say that after Mr. Stewart had been in Denver several days and, I understand, in conference with the union officials, he called at my office and we discussed the matter in a very friendly way. He, however, did not express any particular interest in anything but recognition of the union, as this was in fact the only item in the demands of the union leaders that had not already been granted to our miners without demand or solicitation on their part. We took up each item separately: First, an eight-hour day.
Second, semi-monthly pay.
Third, their own checkweighman.
Fourth, liberty to trade wherever they wished.
Fifth, recognition of the union--which our miners had never asked for nor intimated that they had any interest in.
All but the latter, as above stated, had been voluntarily granted to our miners. I challenged Mr. Stewart, over and over again, to point out any advantage to our men in becoming members of the union, and the only reply that he made was that some times men gained points that they would not be likely to get otherwise.
I told him that the records of our stores showed that the average expenditure by our miners was between 20 and 22% of their earnings and that no pressure whatever was brought to bear in order to induce them to trade at our stores. I handed him the record for August, 1913, of the 22 mines in operation during that month, including our best and poorest mines, and the average earnings per day to each man was $4.15. Mr. Stewart questioned its accuracy, saying that he knew of no bituminous coal miners in the country showing such earnings. I offered to produce all the evidence he might desire, in addition to this official report which he saw, to satisfy him in this particular. Since then we have taken up this matter of earnings in more detail and in such a thorough manner that even the most biased labor union critic cannot dispute. We have taken several mines with the names of individual miners showing the number of days they worked and their earnings per day and per month for the month of August, the last month prior to the strike, and we find that the average earnings in some of our mines shows more than $4.40 per day each. These miners were all paid with checks, which were endorsed and cashed, and are subject to inspection by any one interested. Some of our mines working in September and since the strike average$4.70 for eight hours work by the miners.Mr. Stewart also questioned my statement that our miners were permitted to have their own checkweighman. I told him that this had been their privilege during the entire management of the present officials and for many years prior to that time. He said he had been informed otherwise, and I secured the original notice that was posted at all of our mines, dated April 11, 1912, calling attention to the fact that our old miners were all familiar with our attitude toward checkweighmen, but many new men might not be, and this notice was for the purpose of stating that they were at liberty to employ their own checkweighmen. This, I think, was written and posted in six languages; and I will add that our company has not been accused in a single instance during the six years that I have been here, of any irregularity in regard to weights, so our miners decline to employ their own checkweighmen. I gave this notice to Mr. Stewart, which he took away with him.¹One of the objections given Mr. Stewart why we refuse to recognize the union was that about 94% of our miners were non-union and the few who were members were old miners, some of them in our employ for twenty or twenty-five years, who had been members of the union in eastern states, probably having drifted west after being in xstrikes, and who had retained their membership largely as a matter of sentiment. Anyhow, at the mines where these union men worked, large numbers signed a protest against calling a strike.
When the matter of calling a strike was being provoked by Vice President Hayes and “Mother” Jones (whose record is enclosed herein, the truthfulness of which has never been challenged), our miners repeatedly pressed the point that they had no grievances, that they were doing well and were satisfied. Later on when the convention was called, numerous meetings were held, and not in one of our mines did a majority vote in favor of a strike, neither did they elect a single delegate. Only six of our several thousand employes attended the convention, and but two presented themselves as delegates, though neither had been elected. One of them had recently come to one of our mines and worked a short time, earning$11. When spoken to by one of our men in regard to his small earnings, he said that did not count, as he was sent there by union officials who were paying him$5 a day for secret work.
As stated above, Mr. Stewart’s discussion with me was almost entirely in regard to recognition of the union and our reasons for refusing to do so. I told him that thousands of our men had expressed their entire satisfaction in every particular; that they had been given all of the advantages secured by union miners, which we had voluntarily given to them; that they were non-union men from choice, and to force them to join the union and to contribute from their earnings a large amount of money without receiving any benefit whatever for so doing, would be so unjust that if we had no other reason, this feature alone would cause us to flatly refuse to favorably consider the proposition. I pressed the point that the most cordial and friendly relations existed between our company and our employes; that they were prosperous and happy, and the coming of these agitators to stir up strife was almost, if not quite a crime. I challenged Mr. Stewart to show me wherein we were open to any criticism, and I offered to furnish him all the evidence he might care for, to prove to him the truthfulness of my statements. I told him that I would refuse, as would all of our officials, to recognize the union or the official representatives of the union in which 90 to 95% of our employes had no relation nor interest; that these officials had come here for the sole purpose of forcing this issue, and that, in my opinion, they had no interest whatever in these miners except to secure several hundred thousand dollars a year for their treasury.¹Since receipt of your letter, diligent inquiry has been made and so far as we have been able to learn, Mr. Stewart did not take up the matter of mediation with any other representatives of the operators, as I have before stated. I referred him to the general manager of our coal mining department, Mr. Weitzel, then at Trinidad, where Mr. Stewart said he was going to visit some of the coal mines. Mr. Weitzel was instructed by this office to show Mr. Stewart every courtesy, to furnish him escort and the facilities of our railroad to make as thorough an investigation of the conditions as he desired. Mr. Stewart did not call upon General Manager Weitzel, or speak to him, though he had been pointed out to Mr. Stewart. Mr. Weitzel is acknowledged to be one of the best expert coal miners in the country, a man who has the respect and friendship of thousands of miners in Colorado and New Mexico because of his fairness and unceasing efforts for the welfare and success of the men under him. If Mr. Stewart was seeking for unbiased and truthful information, he could have secured it from Mr. Weitzel.
I was not aware at the time of Mr. Stewart’s visit here, that the officials of the United Mine Workers of America had been in conference with Commissioner of Labor Wilson some time before the strike was called, neither did I know that Commissioner Wilson was for years the secretary and treasurer of this union, nor that Mr. Stewart was a leader in labor union circles. My notion of a mediator is that he should have an open and unbiased mind, which I have never known a man long connected with labor unions as an officer, to possess. My sense of fairness prompts me to say that an independent man should have been selected to act as mediator, providing there was any dispute existing between ourselves and our miners, demanding mediation, which there was not.²
In my discussion with Mr. Stewart reference was made to an interview between Mr. Stewart and Mr. Murphy, one of the attorneys in Mr. John D. Rockefeller’s office, respecting the writer’s attitude in regard to the treatment of the employes in the several companies in which I have represented Mr. Rockefeller’s interests as a director and officer. Mr. Murphy informed Mr. Stewart that one of tehe important matters that I have been giving my personal attention to for nearly a score of years, has been the uplift and betterment of the thousands of men in our employ, and their families.
The writer reviewed some of my work in connection with The Colorado Fuel and Iron Co., during the six years I have been one of the executive officers, in improving the condition of our employes in the way of housing, schools, churches, Sunday-schools and in closing and lessening the saloons. I will say that we have excellent school buildings and employ the best of teachers in all of our camps, and I believe we do not stand second to any coal mining company in tehe United States in this respect. We have one or more salaried surgeons and physicians in every mining village, and at Pueblo, a convenient center, we have in some respects one of the best hospitals known in this or any other country. We have expended, during the past six years, for the betterment of our several departments, over$2,750,000. We have given steady employment since the panic of 1907-8 and during the depression of the past two years, to from 12,000 to 15,000 men--a record not excelled by any similar industry in America in continuous operation, and in all departments we have paid as high, and in some higher wages than is paid in similar industries in other parts of the country. The earnings of our coal miners are larger per man (as Mr. Stewart admitted) than is paid in any locality under the control of the United Mine Workers of America. We have made two advances of 10% each to our laborers during the past six years, and in both cases without demand or solicitation on the part of our employes.
We have been able to put this, the largest industry and employer of men in the west, upon a solid commercial and financial basis, and until this iniquitous strike was called, peace and prosperity were enjoyed by investors, officers and employes.
I believe I am justified in saying that no unjust or unfair treatment to our employes on the part of superintendents, bosses, storekeepers, or any other men in authority connected with this company, would be tolerated by the writer or President Welborn for a moment. Notwithstanding this well known fact, representatives of the United Mine Workers of America with “Mother” Jones, upbraid us without any regard to truthfulness or common decency. Their utterances prompted two religious organizations to send representatives into our camps to ascertain the true condition of things, one of them the Ministerial Association of the City of Pueblo, and the other, Rev. R. M. Donaldson, D. D., secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions in the Rocky Mountain states with other members of the synod just closed in southern Colorado. Both of these delegations unhesitatingly pronounced the charges as absolutely false, and Dr. Donaldson took pains to report to the writer personally that they were greatly pleased to find such good conditions everywhere they went.
It is reported that Mr. Stewart was heard to say that he found the mining camps of The Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. which he visited, as good as any he had ever seen. Whether this report is true or not, we know this to be the condition in all of the mining villages directly under our control. Where there is lawlessness and bad conditions, it is found in the open camps like Aguilar, which is one of the chief centers where union men and their sympathizers congregate.You will pardon me, I am sure, in stating that the Scotch-Irish-Presbyterian blood coming down from my ancestors, becomes somewhat heated to know that such disreputable creatures as the self-named “Mother” Jones can secure the attention and cooperation of statesmen. Her vicious and blasphemous tirades upon the honor and fairness of our officers are too vulgar to repeat. I enclose herein a copy of an article published in a local paper of January 2, 1904, and verified by scores of people who knew of this woman in the red-light brothels of Denver, which corrresponds to the records on file in the Pinkerton office. We have been unable to discover any attempt on the part of Mrs. Jones and her associates to deny the record of her immoral life. This vile woman hobnobs with the higher officials of the United Mine Workers of America and is under pay of that organization. She occupies the same platform with Vice President Hayes, and is introduced to the ignorant foreigners and their wives as a model of goodness and near-saint. That she can get a hearing and the backing of men occupying important stations in the affairs of state, certainly indicates the low level that political ambition will bring men down to.
I am justified, I believe, in expressing to you, Mr. President, in this letter that you have so considerately invited the officers of this company to write you, my protest against the actions of Commissioner of Labor Wilson and Mr. Ethelbert Stewart in their effort toinduce the coal mine operators of Colorado, together with their 14,000 employes, of whom all but 5 or 10% are non-union men without a grievance, to submit to the demands of Vice President Hayes, “Mother” Jones and their associates to join the union or be driven from their work.¹ Those who have refused to submit to this unjust demand, have received black-hand letters threatening their lives and warning them that their wives and daughters would be assaulted, and some of the threats have been carried out to a surprising extent since the strike began. My self-respect forces me to resent the demands of the men back of this strike, to dictate the conditions and terms between ourselves and our employes, and I am sure you would never ask us to do so with the facts before you.¹In closing, will you permit me to say for myself, that I am now over sixty-six years of age, with more than forty-six years of active, and by no means easy business life, that my sympathies have always been with the poor and the thousands of working men in my employ. I began life without a penny, and it has always been an important part of my every day life to do all that I possibly could for the uplift of mankind. I have secured, in most of the several industries in which I have been and am officially connected, many advantages in the way of generous wages, comfortable homes, and liberal educa-tion for the children. Sunday work has been reduced to the lowest possible limit. I have insisted upon and established good schools with the best of teachers, established Sunday-schools and religious services in camps and villages. Since coming to Colorado we have secured two ordained Presbyterian ministers, who give their entire time to Sunday-school and religious work among our people. We have recently built a handsome church at one of our mines at our own expense, and turned it over to the Presbyterian Home Board in New York; and at the breaking out of the coal strike we were repairing another church that had been closed for years, but work has now been suspended. Besides this distinctively religious work, we have halls, sometimes in connection with our school buildings, where entertainments and social gatherings are held. These halls are used for Sunday-shchools and are open to both Protestants and Catholics who care to conduct regular services. It has been one of my important activities and greatest pleasure for the past thirty years, to expend hundreds of thousands of dollars, including considerable of my own money, for the betterment of the thousands of men and their families in the employ of the several concerns with which I have been and am now officially connected. Our employes have never had any dictation as to their religious, political or fraternal relations.
In regard to labor unions, I have been governed very largely by the men themselves, although personally I prefer the independent and open shop, believing it best fits into our Amerian industrial life and form of government. I have, however, directed managers and superintendents, when the matter of union has been under discussion, to take a secret vote with the understanding that the majority should rule where no injustice was likely to be done the minority, and I will say that where secret ballots have been taken in open shops, I have never had a majority favoring labor unions.
Since the beginning of the strike in northern Colorado three and a half years ago (where we do not operate), we have taken great pains to ascertain the sentiment of the thousands of miners in our employ in southern Colorado, and we know that not more than 6% in our employ were union men, and with all the efforts of solicitors prior to the strike in southern Colorado, not more than 4% additional were induced by these agitators to join the union. Therefore, I submit to you, Mr. President, that for this company to force upon fully 90% of our miners the financial burdens laid upon them by the rules of the union, would be so unjust and unreasonable that we could not possibly comply with their demand, even had the violence and outrages of their armed strikers during the past few weeks not been perpetrated.
I repeat that as every advantage enjoyed by union miners has been freely and cheerfully given our miners unasked for, there is nothing but recognition of the union that these disturbers of peace and destroyers of life and property are insisting upon, but there is no possibility of our considering this demand, however great the sacrifice we may be compelled to make.
LM Bowers
Respectfully yours,
PS President Welborn, of our company, is securing some additional data, and will write you in a day or two.
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