Friends in High Places: A Pro-Labor Governor Speaks Out

Abstract: Davis Waite, the Populist and pro-labor governor of Colorado, won national notoriety in the summer of 1893 after he declared that if change would not come peacefully, it was "better, infinitely better that blood should flow to the horses' bridles than our national liberties should be destroyed." A Republican-controlled lower house blocked many of Waite's initiatives, but he was nonetheless able to use his administrative powers to support workers. In the Cripple Creek strike of 1894, he brought in state troops on behalf of the striking miners--a rare use of state police power in an era when troops were routinely employed to break strikes. When opponents charged Waite's administration with partisanship, he replied defiantly: "Well, what if it is? Is it not the truth that for thirty years the two old parties have been legislating for the creditor class? It is true, and turn about is fair play." This same spirit was evident in his 1893Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.

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