“Dagos are cheaper than props.”
-Mother Jone quoting a Mine Manager
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday September 19, 1917
Pennsylvania Leads Nation for Coal Mine Fatalities in 1916
From the Appeal to Reason of September 15, 1917:
Coal Mine Fatalities, 1916
Waiting for word.
The number of persons killed in and about coal mines during the calendar year 1916 was 2,225, as compared with 2,269 in 1915, 2,454 in 1914 and 2,785 in 1913. Pennsylvania led with 988, of which 433 were in bituminous mines. Fatalities in West Virginia numbered 372, in Illinois 128, and in Alabama 119, Alaska, California, Idaho, Nevada and South Dakota had no fatalities.
Those killed underground from falls of rock, coal, etc., numbered 961; from mine cars and locomotives 390; from exploding or burning gas, 170, and from explosives, 148. Those killed on the surface numbered 150, and in shafts 49.
The number killed per 1,000 employed was 3.22 in 1914 and 3.09 in 1915. The 1916 figures were not available when this report was published.
I studied carefully the New York East Side,
the slums, the dives, and the sweatshops
and the terrible conditions of the people there
drove me into socialism.
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday September 18, 1907
Chicago, Illinois – Girl Socialist Is I. W. W. Delegate
Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, age 17, of New York City, is a delegate to the Convention of Industrial Workers of the World which opened its first session on Monday morning, September 16th.
From The Chicago Daily Tribune of September 17, 1907:
…Industrial Workers of the World Open Annual Convention…..
With a gavel valued at $100 in the chairman’s hands, the annual convention of the Industrial Workers of the World opened in the morning at Brand’s hall. The gavel was presented by the unions of Alaska. It is made of walrus tusks. It is expected a tangle over the credentials will be straightened out today, and the unionists will take up business matters…
———-
[Photograph added.]
Miss Flynn, “Platform Wonder”
MISS GLYNN IN SOAPBOX TALKS.
—–
“Platform Wonder” Tells Her Hearers
the General Strike Is to Be the
Watchword of Future.
—–
Standing on a soapbox at Halsted and O’Brien streets last night, Miss Elizabeth Gurley Glynn [Flynn], the 17 year old union “platform wonder,” addressed a crowd of 200 workingmen and exhorted them to prepare for the “general strike” in Chicago in the near future. Other unions “revival” meetings were held at Clark and Erie streets and elsewhere about the city. The soapbox campaign will be conducted while the convention of the Industrial Workers of the World is in session this week at Brand’s hall.
[Declared Miss Flynn:]
Not until every workingman quits his labor and refuses to go back until he is given a fair share of the profits will the labor question be settled. The general strike is the watchword of the future. It is certain to come soon.
Meetings will be held tonight in the Milwaukee avenue district and at several places on the west side.
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday September 17, 1907
Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike: Good News from the Front Lines
From the Duluth Labor World of September 14, 1907:
GRAND JURY REFUSES TO INDICT STRIKERS
—–
No Miscarriage of Justice in Duluth Courts.—
Won’t Practice Range Methods.
—–
Jury Practically Holds That Petriella Was
Justified in Protecting Himself.
—–
Teofilo Petriella
The cases against the striking miners on the Mesaba range have fallen flat. When the Grand Jury took up the matter of the nine miners who were bound over on the charge of inciting a riot they listened to the evidence presented by the state, and then promptly, and very properly dismissed the matter by asking that the defendants be released.
Petriella too, who was bound over for carrying concealed weapons, was dismissed, and his $1,000 was returned to him.
One of the members of the grand jury in commenting on the cases said: “It was ridiculous to bring such frivilous cases before the grand jury.”
Judge Brady ought to see by this time that he is putting the county to needless expense in binding men over to the grand jury simply because hirelings for the Steel Trust bring them before him.
Petriella admitted carrying a revolver, but the jury thought he was justified, in view of the fact that newspapers on the range were threatening his life, advising tar and feathers, and demanding that he be driven from town. Petriella’s bail money was returned to him.
Don’t worry, fellow-worker,
all we’re going to need from now on is guts.
-Frank Little
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 16, 1917
The Great Northwestern Lumber Strike: Causes and Demands
From the International Socialist Review of September 1917:
LUMBER BARONS REFUSE GOVERNMENT REQUEST
As we go to press we learn that Secretary of War Baker sent a telegram to the West Coast Lumbermen’s Association, urging an eight-hour day for Pacific Coast lumber workers.
According to an Associated Press dispatch, Robert B. Allen, Secretary of the Association, said the lumbermen were anxious to co-operate with the government, but “they did not feel that they could concede the eight-hour day at this time.” This open defiance of the government by the gentlemen composing this Association, coming at this time, is rank treason, and fifty thousand lumber jacks are watching the outcome.
To advocate peace with things as they are
is treason to humanity.
This is a class struggle and on class lines
it must be fought out to a finish.
-Ida Crouch-Hazlett
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 15, 1907
Spokane, Washington – Ida Crouch-Hazlett Arrested
From the Montana News of September 12, 1907:
Assail Free Speech in Spokane
—–
Mrs. Hazlett Arrested
—–
Two Thousand People Storm Jail and
Form a Triumphal Procession After
She Is Released on Bond
The fool policemen of Spokane and the idiotic city “reform ” administration has broken out in a new place and attempted to put an end to socialist street speaking.
Saturday evening, September 7, Mrs. Hazlett [editor of the Montana News] was addressing a crowd of 5,000 people on the street. She had spoken for an hour and a half without any molestation. There was not the slightest disturbance, the crowd standing remarkably still in a compact mass during that time. Just as she had announced her collection and was beginning to sell her books and subscription cards, a policeman in plain clothes came up and said, she was obstructing the sidewalk. She said she was not obstructing the sidewalk as she was in the middle of the street, but asked the crowd to open up a passage, which it immediately did. She then told the policeman that it was his business to keep people off the sidewalk and not hers. Whereupon he jerked her down from the box and placed her under arrest. The vast crowd began a most vigorous protest, shouting and shaming the policeman and even threatening to use force.
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Friday September 13, 1907
Mother Jones News for August, Part II: Travels to Chicago
On August 21st, Mother left Duluth, Minnesota, after concluding her time in Northern Minnesota where she had been traveling the Mesabi Range in support of the striking iron miners and giving speeches alongside of C. E. Mahoney of the Western Federation of Miners. She next traveled to Chicago where she was found speaking in support of the Telegrapher’s Strike. At one union meeting she advised young woman on the issue of keeping company with scabs:
When you find these fellows sneaking back to work, keep him out if you can; if you can’t, renounce them and see that any fellow who calls on you carries a union card or else order him from your door.
Mother also made a short trip to Cincinnati in order to speak at Socialist Picnic in that city.
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday September 12, 1907
Mother Jones News for August, Part I: Arrives on Mesabi Range
During the month of August 1907, we found Mother Jones in Arizona continuing her work on behalf of the Western Federation of Miners. After a brief visit to Denver to congratulate William D. Haywood on his recent acquittal, Mother turned up briefly in Chicago and from there she traveled to Minnesota’s Mesabi Range to support the W. F. of M. and the ongoing strike of the iron-ore miners of that region.
Today we present Part I of our Mother Jones News round-up for the month of August 1907. We will continue tomorrow with Part II.
From The Clifton Copper Era of August 1, 1907:
Mother Jones in Clifton.
The well known labor champion. Mother Jones, arrived in Clifton last Sunday evening and commenced on Monday with a series of open air meetings, which will be continued throughout the week. She is a white-haired lady of seventy years and has spent the most of her life in the interest of the laboring classes. She is the best feminine speaker that has ever appeared in Clifton and outside of a few strong remarks about companies her talks so far have been very mild, and not what was expected of her.
In some of her talks she drifted back into ancient history among the laboring classes and brought it out to the present time. The main object of her visit here is to give advice to the Mexican laborers, some of whom have taken part in the recent strike at the A. C. smelter. She is a rugged old lady and her voice is exceedingly well suited for the position which she occupies. She has had vast experiences with the laboring classes, having taken active part in almost every strike that has occurred in the United States.
