Part 15

Nearly a year ago the officers of the company, after having studied this question with us in New York, introduced, as you know, the beginning of such a plan, namely, the selection by the men at each camp of duly chosen representatives, to confer with the officers of the company in regard to matters of common interest.

That was the beginning, and Mr. Welborn, in discussing the plan with you men, told you that it was only the beginning, that as rapidly as it became clear what further steps should be taken in order to conserve the common interest, those steps would be jointly discussed and introduced as soon as agreed upon. And so, in conjunction with Mr. Welborn and other able advisers, we have worked out a further development of the plan adopted last fall.

Then I said to myself: nothing shall be said about this plan, nor will we undertake to complete it until I have myself seen every mining camp operated by the company.

And now I have visited every camp, with the exception of those on the western slope, and lack of time alone has prevented my getting over there to see you men.

I have gone, as you know, to every camp in the southern fields, have talked privately with every superintendent, except one who was away, and with all of the representatives at each camp with the exception of some two or three who were not available at the time; I have gone into scores of your homes and I met your wives and children, and have seen how you live; I have looked at your gardens, and in camps where fences were only recently built have seen how eagerly you have planted gardens the moment opportunity was afforded, and how quickly you have gotten the grass to grow, also flowers and vegetables, and how the interest in your homes has thereby been increased.

I inquired specifically about the water supply at each camp; I went down into several of the mines and talked with hundreds of the miners; I looked into the schools, talked with the teachers, inquired what educational advantages your children were getting.

I asked what opportunities you men, my partners, had for getting together socially, and I visited some of your club houses and saw plans for others. I went into your wash houses and talked with the men before and after bathing.

As you know, we have pretty nearly slept together--it has been reported that I slept in one of your nightshirts--I would have been proud had the report been true.

If any man could have gone more carefully, more thoroughly, into the working and living conditions that affect you, my partners, I should be glad to have had him make me suggestions as to what further I might have done.

Now, it was only after that careful and exhaustive personal study that I was willing to go on with the plan of representation and undertake to complete it for presentation to you. And, frankly, every waking moment since I left you men in the Fremont district last Saturday, practically every daylight hour of this last week has been spent with the officers of this company in constant, careful, earnest thought looking toward the development of such a plan as would serve our common interest in the best possible way.

I have made a very lengthy introduction, and will now proceed to the explanation of the plan. I shall be glad if Mr. Welborn, Mr. Weitzel, Mr. Matteson, or Mr. King, whose assistance has been of the greatest value in working out this plan, will correct me as I go along in case I make any mistake or omit any features.

(Mr. Rockefeller then explained the plan in detail, calling attention to the fact that if it met with the approval of the representatives and officers in the meeting, together with an agreement respecting wages, working and living conditions, both would be submitted on the one hand to a vote of the men in the camps, and on the other to the directors of the company, and if then approved, the agreement would be signed and become binding until January 1, 1918. Mr. Rockefeller went on to say:)

I want to stay in Colorado until we have worked out some plan that we all agree is the best thing for us all, because there is just one thing that no man in this company can ever afford to have happen again, be he stockholder, officer, or employee, or whatever his position, and that is, another strike.

I know we are all agreed about that, every last man of us, and I propose to stay here if it takes a year, until we have worked out among ourselves, right in our own family, some plan that we all believe is going to prevent any more disturbances, any more interruption of the successful operation of this great company in which we are all interested.

I have been hoping that the votes in all the camps could be taken early next week, so that we would know without delay what the spirit and wish of the men and the directors is. I speak of this point so that in explaining the matter to the men in your camps you representatives will make it clear to them why we are proceeding a little more rapidly than we would if I lived here all the time, and if I was not so desirous of seeing some agreement reached before I go away.

There will be a meeting of the Board of Directors on Monday next, and if this meeting should accept this plan and recommend its adoption, the Board will act on that day. I should hope that meetings could be held in the various camps on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. You men can explain the plan to the men in the camps privately and in little groups so that they will be ready to consider it fully and then vote on it by the middle or toward the latter part of next week.

FOOTNOTE:

Address at the joint meeting of the officers and representatives of the employees of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, Pueblo, October 2, 1915.

TO THE PEOPLE OF COLORADO

Of all the many cordial receptions which have been accorded me since I was so fortunate as to enter your hospitable State, none has been more gratifying or more deeply appreciated than the one which you citizens of Denver have to-day tendered me. And I count it a most gratifying climax to my visit to Colorado that I should have this opportunity of meeting so splendid a gathering of the representative business men and citizens of this fair State.

As I have traveled about Colorado the past three weeks I have been charmed with the beauty and grandeur of the scenery; I have been inspired by the invigorating climate, the clear air, the blue sky. I have been impressed with the fertility of your soil, with the vast extent and richness of your mineral wealth. But above all, I have been captivated by the cordiality of your people.

And so I am very happy to have this opportunity to-day of expressing to you, and through you to the people of Colorado, my deep appreciation of the many kindnesses and courtesies which have been shown me during my stay among you.

These I have accepted as intended partially for myself, but largely for my father, whose representative I am, and in whose name as well as my own I thank you.

My father has been for many years a good friend of the people and State of Colorado. His friendship for you, his belief in you, his confidence in the future of this State, have been clearly shown by his having put considerable sums of money into the steel and coal industries of the State through his investments in the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company; and, as many of you know, during the fourteen years since he made his first investment in that company, except for one payment made on the preferred stock on account of an accumulation of dividends, there has not come back to him or the common stockholders one single cent of return.

And yet my father has not lost his faith in the State of Colorado nor in the people of Colorado; he believes in you, and the fact that his interest in this company continues to be a very substantial one is a sure proof of his attitude.

I wish very much that he were here to-day himself. I have often had that wish as I have gone among you during these weeks.

Some of the papers have mentioned my democratic spirit. If my father had been among you as I have been, no comment in regard to my attitude would have been made, for of all men he is most democratic and approachable, as hundreds of those who know him will testify, and in that atmosphere of democracy I have been reared. Born and brought up in the country, at an early age he learned what hard work meant.

When his period of schooling had been completed he went into active business for himself, and during the many years following, when he was actively engaged in business, he was constantly in close personal touch with the working classes, among whom he found many of his best and truest friends.