Although he has been accustomed to think in world terms in the development of the business and philanthropic enterprises to which his life has been devoted, there is no person in his household too humble to receive his frequent kindly and personal thought.
Criticized, maligned, and condemned these many years, not only for his business success achieved through his ability to gain the confidence and coöperation of men, to bring all parties into harmony and to effect economies in every possible way, but also because of his philanthropic endeavors, there is still not the slightest trace of bitterness in his character and he holds in his heart nothing but good-will toward every man.
And if, in their kindness of heart, the people of Colorado have found in me anything that may have seemed admirable, that, and whatever else I am or may be, I owe to my sainted mother and my honored father, whose training and example I regard as a priceless heritage. And so again I say I wish that my father were here that he might meet you men personally and be confirmed in the view which he has held during past months of unrest and conflict, to the effect that many of the evil and censorious reports which have been spread about the country in regard to this great State and its people are untrue; that you, on the other hand, coming to know him, might realize the injustice and the cruelty of the things that have been said and written about him during these many years.
And again, in his absence, on his behalf, as well as for myself, I thank you for your kindness and the evidences of your friendship to him and to me, which have been countless during these days of my happy residence among you.
There has been so much said with regard to the views which my father and I have held and do hold in regard to the organization of labor, and also in regard to the relations which should exist between the various parties in any company or corporation, that it is perhaps not unfitting for me to state in a few words just what those views are.
The position I took when called before the Subcommittee of Mines and Mining of the House of Representatives in Washington two years ago, in regard to the right of every American workingman to work for whom he pleased and upon such terms as he pleased, has been frequently misunderstood and misrepresented.
It has been construed as indicating that my father and I were not only opposed to the organization of labor, but that we were persistently and continually fighting it. No such inference is correct, for absolutely the contrary is the fact.
I can, perhaps, present in the briefest and clearest way the views which we hold on these two subjects by referring to several paragraphs from a statement which I read before the Industrial Relations Commission in New York last January:
“First, with reference to my attitude toward labor unions: I believe it to be just as proper and advantageous for labor to associate itself into organized groups for the advancement of its legitimate interests, as for capital to combine for the same object.