114 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



In Congress the political aspect of the strike had its result in three 

 documents which are of high value as sources for the history* of 1903- 

 1904. A statement of the employers' side, prepared by C. C. Ham- 

 lin, secretary of the Mine Owners' and Property Owners' Associa- 

 tion of Cripple Creek, and at once attacking the Western Federation 

 of Miners and defending the administration of Governor Peabody, 

 was presented to the Senate by Scott, of West Virginia, in January, 

 1904, Sen. Doc. 86; 58C.2; Serial 4588; pp. 19. It produced later 

 in the same session, a reply from the Western Federation, through 

 Patterson, of Colorado, Sen. Doc. 163, 58C.2; Serial 4590; pp. 41, 

 which denies most of the allegations of the earHer document, and 

 reviews the history of strikes since 1894 in an attempt to throw the re- 

 sponsibility for them upon the owners and employers. It contains 

 many extracts from contemporary newspapers and correspondence, 

 but is far surpassed in completeness by the "Report on Labor Dis- 

 turbances in Colorado, 1 880-1904," made by an agent of the Com- 

 missioner of Labor, and printed as Sen. Doc. 122; 58C.3; pp. 363. 

 This document, because of the originals which it prints, and because 

 it is fairly non-poKtical in tone, is the best single source for the history 

 of the labor troubles. 



The situation brought forth also an editorial by B. O. Flower, in 

 the Arena, Vol. XXXII, pp. 187-194, August, 1904, on the "Break- 

 ing Down of Democratic Government in an American Common- 

 wealth," which reviews the special articles on the strike, and develops 

 the initiative and referendum as cure for such ills as those of Colo- 

 rado. The Arena, in the autumn of 1905, ran a series of papers by 

 J. W. Mills on "The Economic Struggle in Colorado," which is a 

 long tract on municipal ownership of corporations. 



