Page:Eleven Blind Leaders (1910?).pdf/24

22 from 1894 to 1905, a "civil war," very little "dissembled," was carried on between the miners of the Western Federation and their exploiters, of the Mine Owners' Association. During that period Colorado, in a technical sense, separated herself from the Federal Union, by openly setting aside the fumdamentalfundamental [sic] law of the land in the interests of the mine owners.

In 1898 an eight hour bill passed the legislature of Colorado, providing that eight hours only should be a legal workday for all underground workers. This law was to go into effect in 1899. It was taken to the Colorado Supreme Court, which pronounced the law unconstitutional. The legislature then initiated a referendum for an amendment to the State Constitution that should authorize or rather instruct the legislature to pass an eight hour bill in accordance with the provisions of the amendment, if carried. The election of 1902 resulted in a majority of 46,000 votes in favor of the proposed amendment. The session of the Colorado legislature which followed that election, resulted in a "dead lock" between the Senate and House on two different eight hour bills, and the legislature adjourned without having complied with the "will of the people."

Meanwhile the movement on the economic field, conducted by the W. F. of M., was threatening to bring about a universal eight hour day for men in the mines, mills and smelters, without the aid of the legislature and in spite of the opposition of the executive of the Colorado state government. The "civil war" ended for the time being with the "Cripple Creek campaign" of 1903-1904, which resulted in the miners' being defeated and in seriously crippling the Western Federation in Colorado.

Finally, the legislature of 1904-5 passed an eight hour bill which became a law the same year (1905). This law, even if enforced, leaves conditions as bad if not worse for the miners than before it was passed, because it is construed to provide for eight hours' actual work underground, which does not include time required to go