ere in the pay of the railroads. In fact, the evidence all points to
the one conclusion, that the deputy marshals encouraged the violence of
ruffians and tried to provoke the violence of decent men by insulting,
drunken, and disreputable conduct. The strikers realized that violence
was fatal to their cause, and the deputy marshals knew that violence
meant victory for the railroads. And that proved to be the case.

Before leaving this phase of anarchy I want to refer as briefly as
possible to that series of fiercely fought political and industrial
battles that occurred in Colorado in the period from 1894 to 1904. The
climax of the long-drawn-out battles there was perhaps the most
unadulterated anarchy that has yet been seen in America. It was a
terrorism of powerful and influential anarchists who frankly and
brutally answered those who protested against their many violations of
the United States Constitution: "To hell with the Constitution!"[37] The
story of these Colorado battles is told in a report of an investigation
made by the United States Commissioner of Labor (1905). The reading of
that report leaves one with the impression that present-day society
rests upon a volcano, which in favorable periods seems very harmless
indeed, but, when certain elemental forces clash, it bursts forth in a
manner that threatens with destruction civilization itself. The trouble
in Colorado began with the effort on the part of the miners' union to
obtain through the legislature a law limiting the day's work to eight
hours in all underground mines and in all work for reducing and refining
ores. That was in 1894. The next year an eight-hour bill was presented
in the legislature. Expressing fear that such a bill might be
unconstitutional, the legislature, before acting upon it, asked the
Supreme Court to render a decision. The Supreme Court replied that, in
its opinion, such a bill would be unconstitutional. In 1899, as a result
of further agitation by the miners, an eight-hour law was enacted by the
legislature--a large majority in both houses voting for the bill. By
unanimous decision the same year the Supreme Court of Colorado declared
the statute unconstitutional. The miners were not, however, discouraged,
and they began a movement to secure the adoption of a constitutional
amendment which would provide for the enactment of an eight-hour law.
All the political parties in the State of Colorado pledged themselves in
convention to support