The Cf&I Sociological Department's Educational
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THE IRONY OF INDUSTRIAL WELFARE AND PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION: THE CF&I SOCIOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT’S EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN SOUTHERN COLORADO, 1901-1915 By Bradley Bartels B.A. University of Colorado, Boulder, 1980 J.D. Sturm College of Law, University of Denver, 1990 A thesis submitted to The Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Education 2011 This thesis entitled: The Irony of Industrial Welfare and Progressive Education: The CF&I Sociological Department’s Educational Programs In Southern Colorado, 1901-1915 Written by Bradley Bartels Has been approved for the School of Education _____________________________________________ Rubén Donato _____________________________________________ Fred Anderson _____________________________________________ Ken Howe _____________________________________________ Brian Sevier _____________________________________________ Ben Kirshner ______________________ Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet the acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above-mentioned discipline. iii Bartels, Bradley (Ph.D. Education) The Irony of Industrial Welfare and Progressive Education: The CF&I Sociological Department’s Educational Programs, 1901-1915 Dissertation directed by Professor Rubén Donato Between 1900 and 1915, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company was one of the largest corporations in the United States, employing thousands of miners and steelworkers in southern Colorado and adjoining states. CF&I workers and their families lived in poverty and worked under dangerous conditions in closed company mining camps, and were dependent on the company for their livelihood. The vast majority of the coal miners and their families living in these company coal camps were either recently-arrived immigrants from southern and eastern Europe or Hispanos, a segment of the Mexican population living in southern Colorado for generations. In 1901, CF&I officials, in response to some of the progressive social ideas of the time as well as periodic labor unrest, sought to improve the living conditions in the camps to insure labor stability while insuring maximum industrial control over their workers. Adapting some of the ideas of progressive reformers and welfare capitalists of the era, CF&I initiated a number of educational programs through the work of the company’s Sociological Department. The Department built schools, provided educational funding, hired and trained teachers, standardized the school curriculum, provided resources and instructional materials, and sponsored kindergarten and domestic science educational programs in the coal camps and communities in southern Colorado. But this came at a cost, since these educational programs were designed in part to assimilate and acculturate immigrant and Hispano children and their parents and to insure social efficiency by preparing children for their stratified roles in an industrial society. Ironically, the educational programs implemented through the Department resulted in an increased measure of access to schooling, without regard to race or ethnicity, as well as social commonality for children and their families. This, in turn, resulted in an increased level of autonomy and class solidarity. Through education, the children and families of the workers forged new social communities and gained new economic and political power. Dedication To Fred Anderson and Ken Howe, Thanks for the discussions concerning the practice of historical research and the various methodological and philosophical perspectives that attend to it. And especially to Rubén Donato, Thanks for fostering my interest in the history of education, and working with me to take some first steps in doing educational research. v Acknowledgements I have many people to thank for research assistance and advice, including David Hayes at Norlin Library Archives, Tim Hawkins and Jay Trask at the Bessemer Historical Society, Colorado Fuel & Iron Archives, and Beth Hudson and John Thomas at the Spanish Peak Library District. I would also like to thank Yvonne Deligato at Special Collections, the State University of New York at Binghamton, Nancy Adgent at the Rockefeller Archive Center, and George Orlowski at the Colorado State Archives. I would especially like to thank Eric Margolis for paving the way, Bridget Calip for the map and the photographic work, and Jeremy Mullet for his assistance with translations of some of the transcripts of the oral histories cited in this study. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Rockefeller’s “Square Deal” ............................................................................................................1 Chapter One Industrial Growth and Progressive Education ...............................................................................18 Chapter Two The Sociological Department ........................................................................................................52 Chapter Three The All Good Schools ....................................................................................................................89 Chapter Four County Schools, City Schools......................................................................................................133 Chapter Five Child Gardening ...........................................................................................................................174 Chapter Six The Failure of Paternalism ...........................................................................................................242 Conclusion The Irony of Industrial Welfare and Progressive Education .......................................................274 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................289 vii The Sociological Department Schools, Southern Colorado - 1 - Introduction Rockefeller’s “Square Deal” At the conclusion of one of the most deadly labor wars in United States history in 1915, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. arrived in Colorado to promote what he referred to as a “square deal” for coal miners employed by The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. Rockefeller, as the family spokesman for controlling interests of CF&I, had cause for concern. In the aftermath of the labor violence which occurred in 1913 and 1914 in Colorado, he was roundly vilified by organized labor and the press as a scoundrel who was responsible for the deaths of innocent women and children in his pursuit of his alleged obscene profits from the coal-mining and milling industry in Colorado and elsewhere. Between 1900 and 1915, CF&I was one of the largest corporations in the United States, employing thousands of miners and steelworkers in southern Colorado. CF&I controlled thousands of acres of coal-rich land in Colorado and surrounding states. The employees of the company lived, for the most part, in closed company towns which were completely controlled by the company. Coal miners and their families often lived and worked under extremely primitive and dangerous conditions, and were completely dependent on the company for their livelihood and well-being. The vast majority of the coal miners and their families living in these company coal camps were either recently-arrived immigrants from Europe, particularly southern and eastern Europe, or Hispanos, a segment of the Mexican population living in southern Colorado for generations that had deep New Mexican roots. - 2 - The lives of the miners and their families were virtually under complete economic, social, and political control of the company. By 1900, CF&I officials, in response to some of the progressive social ideas of the time as well as periodic labor unrest that had plagued the company, sought to improve the living conditions in the camps to insure labor stability while insuring maximum control over their workers. Adapting some of the ideas of welfare capitalists of the era, CF&I implemented a number of programs to moderately improve the health and safety of families living in the camps. These programs were initiated through the work of the company’s Sociological Department, and included educational programs for both children and adults. The Sociological Department built schools and clubs, provided teachers, sponsored kindergarten and domestic science educational programs, and provided other programs for the children and families of the miners in the camps. To a lesser degree, some of these programs were also intended to benefit the children and families of the steelworkers in Pueblo. The Sociological Department functioned, with a lessening degree of financial support, from 1901 through 1915. The work of the Sociological Department, however, did not result in the end of labor strife in the company towns. In the early years of the twentieth century, the United Mine Workers of America had been organizing in the coal towns of Colorado, including those controlled by the company, with varying degrees of success. In 1913, the UMWA called a strike. The union demanded recognition, better working conditions, and economic independence from the company. Striking miners and their families were summarily fired and evicted from the coal camps, which was a common practice of CF&I at that time. The UMWA then set up tent cities for displaced miners and their families outside of the company towns in order to press their demands.