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Show FIGHT NOT AGAINSTUNIONS Mine Oners Give Out Statement. Secritary of Association Prestnts His Sidt Labor War in Colorado. Declares Contest Is Against Criminal Organization, and Not Against ... Unions. CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo., Juno 10. Clarence C. Hamlin, secretary of the Cripple Creok District Mlne- Owners' association, gave out the following statement today in reply to a telgram from a New York newspaper anklng him, as "head of tho vigilantes," to present his side of the labor troubles here: "There la no vigilantes committee in this community. Tho only movement that might be considered of that character char-acter occurred after the Independence outrage of Monday, when determined cltlzene took stops to bring about the resignation of several officers who were either Incompetent or in sympathy and collusion with those responsible for the murders and dynamiting which have taken place hen since the strike. The offices have been filed by capable men and the situation Is now In tho hands of tho Sheriff, fully able to handlo it. He Is acting in fullharmony with the Adjutant-General of the State. Position of Operators. "The posU16n of the Cripple Creek operator has been placed In an absolutely abso-lutely faleo light by the Eastern papers. Labor leaders attribute these troubles to the defeat of the eight-hour law in Colorado. The fact iB that we have been working an eight-hour day for ten yeare, paying a minimum wage of J3 and an average wage of about $4 per day. The actual working time of a. miner 1b but about seven houra No grievance, was lodged against our operators oper-ators when the strike was called, and had tho question been left to tho miners min-ers themselves 90 per cent would have voted against It. TIiIb strike Is duo to the fact that the striking power has been taken from tho union members and lodged in tho hands of a few I6ad-ers, I6ad-ers, criminals themselves, and dependent depend-ent on crime to attain their ends. Purpoeo of Strike. "Whllo this strike has been called a sympathetic one to aid certain mill-men, mill-men, most of them also working an eight-hour day, its real purpose WnB to compel every miner In this district to Join tho Western Federation of Minors or leavo tho country. This Organization Organiza-tion has a record of lawlessness, murder, mur-der, arson and dynamiting In C6eur d'Alene. Butte, Lcadvllle, Idaho Springs, Tellurlde, Cripple Creek and elsewhere, extending over a period of ten or fifteen years, which should appall ap-pall humanity. These outrages culminated cul-minated here Monday when flftoen men were blown Into eternity, and nearly as many more maimed so that death would be a mercy. Molly Maguiros Cited. "The only parallel to this organization organiza-tion which can be found In the Molllc Magulres of Pennsylvania, and their members were law-abiding citizens corhpared with the organization which we have to deal with. The peace and quiet of the State demand that this organization or-ganization be exterminated root and branch. The responsibilities for tho above outrages Is bo well flxod that no person can belong to the federation and pretend to be a law-abiding citizen. What Is Decided TJpon. "Since Monday's calamity we would close every mine In thl6 district for ton years rather than let a single member of thlB organization work or live here. But thlB Is hot necessary, for all our mlneB are worklhg full-handed with a batter clasa of men, all non-union, than ever before. "The fact that no lawlessness has been committed since the outrages of Monday and that every good citizen Is standing at the right hand of the Sheriff Sher-iff in his endeavor to maintain the law and to suppress this lawlessness organization organ-ization speaks volumes for the patience and law-loving qualities of the people of this community. No Legal Question Involved. "There Is now no legal question involved in-volved in this controversy other than that of right of a community to purge Itself of a criminal organization whose Very existence 1b a standing menace to the lives and property of thoso whose only orfense Is that they claim the right to work. "Odr fight has not been agaiat unionism union-ism as such, but against criminal organization, or-ganization, and It will not be discontinued discon-tinued until no member of this organization organ-ization is left in Teller county." |