Mr. MCLENNAN. I have lived in Colorado about 19 years.

Chairman WALSH. Prior to that time where did you live, Mr. McLennan? Mr. MCLENNAN. In Scotland.

Chairman WALSH. What is your age?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I am close to 40.

Chairman WALSH. Did you come direct from Scotland to Colorado?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I did.

Chairman WALSH. What has been your business in life?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I have followed coal mining all the time that I have been in Colorado-practically all of the time.

Chairman WALSH. What business did you follow before you left Scotland? Mr. MCLENNAN. I worked at mechanical engineering a part of the time. I was about 20 years old when I came to Colorado.

Chairman WALSH. So that your business has been that of a coal miner ever since you have been in this country?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes, sir.

Chairman WALSH. And your experience has been confined in that business entirely in the State of Colorado?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes, sir.

Chairman WALSH. How long have you been connected with the United Mine Workers of America?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I have been a member for 15 years.

Chairman WALSH. Now, I wish you would proceed. I take it at the beginning you were a working miner when you joined?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes, sir.

Chairman WALSH. State how long you continued to work at your business as a working miner after you joined, and then, in detail, give us, please, the different official positions you have held with the United Mine Workers of America or with organized labor generally.

Mr. MCLENNAN. I worked for years after becoming a member of the United Mine Workers.

Chairman WALSH. Where abouts?

Mr. MCLENNAN. In El Paso County, Colo. After the strike of 1904 I was elected district secretary of the United Mine Workers, which position I heid until 1909. I was elected, at that time, president of the State federation of labor, and in 1913 I was elected president of the district of the United Mine Workers.

Chairman WALSH. What does that district comprise?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

Chairman WALSH. What positions do you hold at the present time?

Mr. MCLENNAN. President of the district, and president of the Colorado State Federation of Labor.

Chairman WALSH. I am going to ask you to outline, as briefly as you can, the history of the coal-mining industry of Colorado, so far as labor trouble is concerned, and I will ask you first, to please give us, as briefly as you can, the causes that led up to the strike of 1904, from the beginning, and a brief history of that strike.

Mr. MCLENNAN. The first trouble in the mines that we have a record of was in 1876, when the miners of Fremont County struck against a 15 per cent reduction.

Chairman WALSH. Does your history show what the pay of the miner was at that time?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes; I believe that about that time the miners were being paid $1.25 a ton for mining coal and $3 a day for daywork. The next we have a record of was in 1884, when the miners

Chairman WALSH (interrupting). Pardon me, the first one was when?
Mr. MCLENNAN. 1876.

Chairman WALSH. Proceed.

Mr. MCLENNAN. The next was in 1884, when the miners of Fremont County, again struck against a reduction.

Chairman WALSH. What was the result of the first strike?

Mr. MCLENNAN. The result of the first strike was that the miners lost.
Chairman WALSH. In 1876?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes. In 1884 there was a satisfactory agreement reached between the miners and the operators.

Chairman WALSH. Now, the first strike-does your history show that the military power was called upon?

Mr. MCLENNAN. No; I don't remember that the military was called.
Chairman WALSH. Then we come to the strike of 1884.

Mr. MCLENNAN. The strike of 1884 was settled satisfactorily to the miners. Chairman WALSH. Was there an organization in this field at that time?

Mr. MCLENNAN. There was, I believe. The most of the miners belonged to the Knights of Labor at that time.

Chairman WALSH. In a general way, what was the basis of the settlement of the strike of 1884?

Mr. MCLENNAN. The miners went back on the same conditions; that is, they were not compelled to accept the reduction that the operators demanded of them.

Chairman WALSH. What were the hours of work per day in 1876?

Mr. MCLENNAN. They were working 10 hours at that time.

Chairman WALSH. And in 1884?

Mr. MCLENNAN. The same.

Chairman WALSH. Was there any question of hours involved in the controversy of 1884, or does your history show that the strike was purely on the question of reduction of wages without the question of hours?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Our record does not show anything except the reduction of wages.

Chairman WALSH. Very good. How long did the strike of 1884 last?
Mr. MCLENNAN. Six weeks.

Chairman WALSH. Did the men that went out on the strike, generally speaking, go back to work on the old conditions?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes; I believe they all went back to work on the old conditions.

Chairman WALSH. Unless there is something else you wish to state about that, proceed to the next difficulty.

Mr. MCLENNAN. The next was in 1894. The miners of Fremont County again-about 700-struck and marched to Las Animas and Huerfano Counties, urging the men in those two counties also to come out on a strike.

Chairman WALSH. Was there an organization in the first-named county-the county from which the 700 came?

Mr. MCLENNON. A partial organization, but not a complete organization. Chairman WALSH. What organization was in the field then-of workers? Mr. MCLENNAN. There were some members of the United Mine Workers. The United Mine Workers had just commenced organizing in the West at that time.

Chairman WALSH. Did the national body take part in that strike-the national body of the United Mine Workers of America?

Mr. MCLENNAN. No. That was, I believe, the time that the first general strike of the United Mine Workers of America occurred; they had a strike in the Eastern States at that time.

Chairman WALSH. Give us the characteristics, as you have it in your history, of the strike of 1894; that is, the contention between the parties, any violence that may have occurred, the characteristics of it, and the outcome.

Mr. MCLENNAN. The record we have of that strike states that the militia was called out at that time, but that there was no violence or no trouble with the State troops. The Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. agreed to settle their differences Iwith the miners if they returned home. They did return home, but the coal company went back on its promises at that time.

Chairman WALSH. What was the culmination of the strike?

Mr. MCLENNAN. The Santa Fe Coal Co., I understand, settled with the miners, while the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. refused to make any settlement.

Chairman WALSH. Did or did not the men go back to work for the coal companies?

Mr. MCLENNAN. A great majority of them went back to work.

Chairman WALSH. Was there any gain on the part of the workers by their going out on a strike in 1894?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I understand they did not get any advance in wages. Chairman WALSH. What was the contention, what was the demand at that

time?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I understand they asked at that time for an advance in wages, although we have not got a copy of their demands, no copy has been preserved.

Chairman WALSH. Will you try to find that for the commission?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes, sir.

Chairman WALSH. You will continue your effort to find it?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes, sir.

(Mr. McLennan in letter dated December 11, 1914, said: "I have been unable to find data requested, but the most reliable information at hand is that the miners struck for an eight-hour day.")

Chairman WALSH. The next trouble occurred when, Mr. McLennan?

Mr. MCLENNAN. In 1903.

Chairman WALSH. I wish you would give us the causes of that strike-were you in the field at that time?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I was.

Chairman WALSH. Give the causes of that strike, that led up to it, and give us a history of the strike of 1903.

Mr. MCLENNAN. In the summer of 1903 the district president of the United Mine Workers of America wrote a letter to Gov. Peabody stating the conditions that existed in the mines; the grievances, among which were that they were compelled to trade in the company's store; that the ventilation laws were not enforced; that they were prohibited from holding meetings; that they were prohibited from being members of a union. This communication urged the governor to appoint a commission to investigate into the conditions that existed in the coal fields, and, if possible, to take some action that would guarantee the rights of the miners. One of the grievances stated at that time was that the coal operators were importing foreigners from southern Europe and displacing the English-speaking miners. I mention this fact because the statement has been repeatedly made since the commencement of this strike by the operators and by their agents that the men on strike were foreigners, evidently with the intention of casting reproach on the men who are on strike. I have talked to a number of men who are on strike now and before the strike commenced. They have told me that the Colorado coal companies have bills circulated and pamphlets circulated in Europe-in Italy and other southern European countries-painting in glowing terms the opportunities that await miners in Colorado, and that is no more than a year ago and two years ago.

There was no result came from the communication to Gov. Peabody at that time. A convention was called in September of 1903 and a scale of demands was drawn up for presentation to the operators. It was, of course, turned down.

Chairman WALSH. They turned that down. The demands included

Mr. MCLENNAN (interrupting). The demands included the demand for an eight-hour day, checkweighmen, 20 per cent advance, the abolition of the scrip system, and some others which I do not recall at this time.

Chairman WALSH. Those were the essential demands?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Those were the essential demands.
Chairman WALSH. Proceed.

Mr. MCLENNAN. The strike was called on November 9, 1903. There was a general shutdown practically in the three States-or two States and a Territory, as it was at that time. The operators then, as now, had a large number of gunmen. They immediately started abusing the men who were on strike. The particular feature of that strike was that they made a specialty of assaulting union men. Almost every official in the strike was at one time or other assaulted, some men to such an extent that they have not recovered from their injuries yet.

Chairman WALSH. Well, who, for instance?

Mr. MCLENNAN. William Warjohn was one; William Mooney, William Farley, and a number of others whose names I do not recall at this time.

Chairman WALSH. Where were you at the time?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I was in El Paso County.

Chairman WALSH. And did you hold a position with the union at that time? Mr. MCLENNAN. No; I was on strike.

Chairman WALSH. You were a striking miner?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes, sir.

Chairman WALSH. Proceed.

Mr. MCLENNAN. I have a copy of a letter, if the commission would wish it introduced, to show the methods employed by the gunmen in that strike. It was written to W. H. Reno, who was the chief of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. guards at that time, and who, I understand, is still in the employ of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co.

Chairman WALSH. Proceed.
Mr. MCLENNAN (reading):

Mr. W. H. RENO.

TRINIDAD, COLO., February 10, 1904.

DEAR SIR: Joe Mosco I drove out of town, also Rosario Dolce and his family. Nic Oddo refused to vacate and there was no way for me to get him out so I told Thompson to arrest him on the charge of vagrancy. That night he was taken before the justice of the peace and the case nolle prosequi. That was about 8 o'clock. I had Gordon, Barret, Smith, and King wait for him down by the bridge and they "kangarooded" him and the last I heard of him he was in the hospital, and he will not attempt to come back to Hastings.

It seems that the only way to get these agitators out of the camp is to "kangaroo" them and when they are all gone, I am satisfied the boys will go to work.

In regard to Jim Poggini, president of the union, I will say that he seems to be a very smart man. I tried to get him at his house on the 9th, but he slipped away from me and is camping somewhere below the company property. I left word before I left to arrest him on sight and pass him through the kangaroo and I will guarantee you it will be a cold day when he gets back in camp.

I left word with Gordon when I left not to show any favorites, and if anyone trespassed to send them to the undertaker. A lesson or two like that will teach them something and stop all the trouble, I think. Nothing else at present. I will write you later on. Yours, truly,

R. L. MARTELL,

Chief Secret Service for the State of Colorado.

Chairman WALSH. Now, where do you say that letter came from? Mr. MCLENNAN. That letter was written to W. H. Reno. It came from his office.

Chairman WALSH. That is not the original letter you have here?

Mr. MCLENNAN. We have the original letter. This is a copy. We have the original letter on our files.

Chairman WALSH. Proceed. Mr. Weinstock says to ask you to state how you obtained the original letter.

Mr. MCLENNAN. I am not in a position to state because it was obtained before I was an official of the organization. I might be able to let the commission know how we obtained it later.

Chairman WALSH. Are you acquainted with Mr. Martell's signature?

Mr. MCLENNAN. No; I am not.

Chairman WALSH. Will you submit the original letter to the inspection of the commission?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I will. We have it on file.

Chairman WALSH. You may proceed, then. What does the term rooing" mean?

kanga

Mr. MCLENNAN. According to the actions of the gunmen they appeared to use the word for assaulting men-beating them up.

Chairman WALSH. You may proceed. You were giving the characteristics, I believe, of the strike when you stopped for that letter.

Mr. MCLENNAN. There were at that time hundreds of men arrested without any warrant or without charge.

Chairman WALSH. Do you know approximately how many men were arrested during the whole course of the strike?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I don't believe that I do. Arrests were so common that we may not have kept an accurate account of the number of arrests that were made.

Chairman WALSH. Has it ever appeared in any governmental report that you know of, or any report that the State of Colorado, or any report to the legislature, or anything of that sort?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I don't know. I believe that the history of that strike has been contained in some reports, but I don't remember at the present time just where.

Chairman WALSH. Will you look up the matter and see whether or not you can refer us, Mr. McLennan, to any place where authentic figures can be obtained as to the number of arrests made?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I will be glad to do so.

(Under date of December 11, 1914, Mr. McLennan wrote the commission: "I am unable to get authentic figures in this connection.")

Chairman WALSH. Proceed, then.

Mr. MCLENNAN. In March of 1904 the militia was called out. They were, so far as the abuse of the miners is concerned, if anything, worse than the guards. They started the system of deportation. A number of men were deported over the line into New Mexico. Homes of the miners were entered at all hours of the day and night ostensibly for the purpose of searching for

arms.

Chairman WALSH. What weapons were in the possession of the miners at the beginning of the strike of 1904?

Mr. MCLENNAN. There were no weapons in the possession of the miners at that time except the ordinary number of weapons that would be found amongst any number of workers.

Chairman WALSH. Approximately what would that be and what would the character of the weapons be, if you can tell us?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I don't recollect of hearing of any weapons at that time except occasional revolvers and shotguns.

Chairman WALSH. What became of the weapons? You say searches were made to find them.

Mr. MCLENNAN. The militia confiscated whatever weapons they found. What became of them after that no one appears to know.

Chairman WALSH. Well, that is all I care to know. They were taken by the militia?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes, sir.

Chairman WALSH. Was there any effort made to disarm any of the miners who had weapons prior to the coming in of the militia?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I believe there were a number of the men arrested on the charge of carrying concealed weapons; and that was the only effort made prior to the coming in of the militia, in the beginning.

Chairman WALSH. You may proceed with the details of the strike of 1904, please.

Mr. MCLENNAN. There is little that I know of in regard to it, excepting the actions of the militia.

Chairman WALSH, Then what was the result of the strike of 1904?

Mr. MCLENNAN. The result was that the strike was abandoned.

Chairman WALSH. How long was it from the time it was on until it was finally adandoned?

Mr. MCLENNAN. About 11 months.

Chairman WALSH. Was there any general increase in wages between that time and 1913?

Mr. MCLENNAN. Yes; there was an increase in 1908 in the northern mines; and the southern mines, I believe, followed suit by giving what they claimed was a voluntary increase.

Chairman WALSH. How much was that increase in 1908?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I believe it was 5 per cent.

Chairman WALSH. Now, was there any other increase down to 1913?

Mr. MCLENNAN. In 1912 the operators announced that they had given a 10 per cent increase.

Chairman WALSH. Now, you had nothing to do, as an official or as a member of a committee, with any negotiations or attempted negotiations during the strike of 1904?

Mr. MCLENNAN. No, sir.

Chairman WALSH. How long were you out on strike yourself?

Mr. MCLENNAN. About 13 months.

Chairman WALSH. And what did you do after the strike?

Mr. MCLENNAN. I was elected district secretary at the close of the strike. Chairman WALSH. Have you worked as a miner since that time?

Mr. MCLENNAN. No, sir.

Chairman WALSH. I wish you would give now, briefly, Mr. McLennan, the history of the negotiations with the mine companies preceding the present strike. Did you make any attempt or personal effort with the operators to have them accept the interposition of your organization?

Mr. MCLENNAN. There were practically no negotiations between the opera- . tors and any officials of the union because of the fact that they always refused to recognize that there were any union men in their mines, or that there was any considerable number of union men in their mines, and they refused to do business with any official of the union.

Chairman WALSH. What formal exchange of communications did you have with the operators, if any, prior to the calling of the strike?