Summary

When Taft returned to Washington, it was a time of increasing volatility in the struggle between labor unions and corporations. Nowhere was this demonstrated more clearly than in Colorado, where a miners' strike for an eight-hour day had raised tensions to the point of violence. The governor, Republican James Peabody, had declared martial law and effectively suspended rights of habeas corpus. The governor urged Roosevelt to send in federal troops to stanch the chaos. Journalist Ray Baker arrived in Colorado to expose "corruption and bribery on the part of the corporations and violence on the part of the strikers." The governor had state militia arrest union members with no charges and officers entered and searched private homes without warrants.

Baker concluded that wrongdoing and heedless disregard for the law characterized the actions of all involved in the imbroglio...