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Show VWELBDRN WILL NOT STAND BACK ; OF JflPHLET I Federal Commission on In h i dustnal Relations Probing h Responsibility for Pub- n' hcation !' I J MANY STATEMENTS ,' 1 ARE CHALLENGED i Incident of Great Colorado !' Strike Reviewed at Hearing-, Fuel Company President Pres-ident on Stand DENVEE Dec 5 Facta concerning H the struggle in Colorado for Industrial Freedom a pamphlet isa ed by the M coal m ne managers and which J jji F Welborn pres dent of the Colorado W Fuel A. Iron company said his oorpo ration had had wr tten by an unnamed gU writer vas investigated by the fed j'J eral commiss on on industrial relations tj today The comm ttee probed both the jli responsibility for the publicat on of the R pamphlet and the truth of the facta $ 1 therein conta ned Mr Welborn test fied that the Colo rado Fuel & Iron company publ shed 3 the document at an expense of $12 M 000 and distr buted 40 000 copies to jjif i min sters legislators educators and the iff public After assuming respons b lity Wt for the pamphlet Mr Welborn ao- jjK knowledged that several paragraphs i bould be Qualified that of the truth B of others he had no evidence and re m I pud ated respona bility for still other H, statements I Refused to Give Name The witness declined to give the name of the author of the pamphlet who he said came to Colorado to wr te the book after a conversation with an eastern director of the com pany He did not know who was to pay the writer for hie services wheth er the bill would be met by the com It pany or someone interested in the work of the company The wr ter was J not in Colorado now he testif ed and I Mr Welborn had not seen him 6 nee ! last August but he was still in the i employ of the company I Chairman Wal-h questioned Mr Wei $ born regard ng a statement n the pam I phlet that in some of the mines oi the 1 company from 90 to 99 per cent of the I miners before the str ke was called !s gned papers expressing satisfaction w th working conditions and opposing the strike Signers Did Not Stick Mr Welborn sa d that at the Eonse .1 m ne 99 per cent of the m ners 6 gned H the statement but that 40 per cent i went out when the str ke was called ' At the Terc o Morley and Primero mines he sa d 90 per cent s gned but I cons derably less than that percentage ' remained at work Kegarding a statement in the pam phlet to the effect that the company I had invest gated men hired for guards as to their former exper ence hab ts and eff ciency as pol ce off cers Mr Welborn sa d this investuration had been left to the head of the agency through wh ch the guards were employed because of the urgent need of imme diate protection from attacks of stnk ers then in progress Mr Walsh oalled the attention of a witness to a table appearing in the pamphlet giving the sums alleged to have been paid to nat onal officers of the United Mine Workers Figures Questioned According to this table sums paid out I m nine weeks were as follows Frank J Hayes $40o2 plus $1667 for expenses ' John McLennan $2683 plus $1469 a for expenses ijohn E Lawson, $1773 Mary Jones $'668 Do you accept personal responsi bility for this! asked Walsh For as much of the published statement state-ment as has not "been denied replied Welborn If it is true that McLennan gets $4 a day will you correct itf Just as soon as I believe it ib wrong Mr Welborn said the statement was published first in a newspaper In re sponse to questions by Mr Walsh he said he had not seen certain den als that were c ted D d you look for a repud a tion f No I had a great deal else to do Mr Welborn re terated that the ; statement had been published on the I author ty of the newspaper in which it f rst appeared ' Of course f fhe newspaper state I I ment s incorrect th s statement is n correct he sa d Comm ss oner O Connell observed that the fgures given were from the report of William Green secretary of the United Mine Workers and covered total salary and expenses for one year not nine w!?ks Of course I had no access to Mr Green s report said Welborn The statement in the pamphlet wh ch alleged that the delegates to the Tnn dad convent on that called the strike were selected and sent there by the officers of the union Mr Welborn de clared he could not substant ate He knew of not a single delegate who had been sent there by the off cers of the union and did not know that any dele gates to the convent on had not been chosen by vote of his fellow work men Repudiates Responsibility I repudiate the respons b 1 ty for the statement he sa d The pamph et stated that of the $o00 0 00 the employees of the Colorado Fuel and Iron company had on depos t with the company only 20 per cent had been w thdrawn Under cross exam na tion Mr Welborn sa d that of the total Bum only $60,000 was on demarid notes and of th s $30 000 was the property of wage earn ng employees of the fuel de partment m ners The rest of the money was depos ted on nterest bear ing t me notes wh ch the company could refuse to pay before tnatur ty and wh ch fact v. as stated on such notes The total loss to the Colorado Fuel and Iron company caused by the str ke was $800 000 Mr Welborn said Statement by Amnions Governor E M Amnions today issued a statement cover ng the status of the $1 000 000 bond ssue author zed by the extra sess on of the state leg s ature last May to cover past and poss ble fu ture expenses of the nat onal guard n duty n the Colorado coal f elds 'Most of the cert f cates of mdebt edness cover ng expenses to the pres ent t me have been exchanged for bonds sa d the governor The bal ance are st 11 held Dy the or ginal hold ers or ha e not been prosented for ex change unde the law The vt tness re uttal to so ne of T M Pat e son s tes n ony tatcd that lie the w t ess had beeu t rst to pro lose ho do bio etter onf nco that Mr Patterson had cla ed to 1 a e n t ated. He hatt prepared the letter wh ch Mr Patterson clamed to have vr tten and ga e t to the go ernor and to 1 h m that if that letter was sent to the operators they would reply w th auothe etter stat ng the ope ators vould 1 ve p to the cond t ons of the letter Welborn had g ven the governor to send to the operators Senator Patterson entered the con ference as the fr end of Governor Am mons later The letter from the gov er or to the ope ators was ampl t e 1 wi h nte protat ons by Mr PatterBon an 1 tho word awful stricken o t before the statement of the ghts of men to orfan z u 1 wag accord ng y ro ected by tho operato s Mr P ter son then adv sed the union men not to accept, |
