Testimony of John D. Rockefeller:

Background: The brutal massacre of strikers and their families at Ludlow, Colorado, stunned the nation and led to numerous investigations and reports. Following are two documents about the massacre. The first is an excerpt from a newspaper reporter’s account that appeared in the New York World. The second is a portion of John D. Rockefeller’s testimony before the Commission on Industrial Relations, set up by the U.S. government in 1914 to investigate labor conditions. Rockefeller was questioned by Commission chairman Frank Walsh, a noted reformer.

Chairman: And you are willing to go on and let these killings take place . . . rather than go out there and see if you might do something to settle those conditions?

Rockefeller: There is just one thing . . . which can be done, as things are at present, to settle this strike, and that is to unionize the camps; and our interest in labor is so profound . . . that interest demands that the camps shall be open [nonunion].

Chairman: And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?

Rockefeller: It is a great principle.

Chairman: And you would do that rather than recognize the right of men to collective bargaining? Is that what I understand?

Rockefeller: No, sir. Rather than allow outside people to come in and interfere with employees who are thoroughly satisfied with their labor conditions—it was upon a similar principle that the War of the Revolution was carried on. It is a great national issue of the most vital kind.

Source: New York World, May 5, 1913; Final Report and Testimony Submitted to Congress on Industrial Relations, 64th Congress, 1st Session (1916).