Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 30, 1902 Denver, Colorado – W. F. of M. and W. L. U. Hold Conventions
From the Kansas City (Kansas) Labor Record of May 29, 1902:
NEW LABOR UNION.
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Western Labor Union in Session in Denver
Expects to Take In Eastern States.
Denver.-The annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners and the Western Labor union assembled here on Monday. There are 300 delegates, representing more than 100,000 workers in the Western states and in British Columbia. The two organizations work in harmony, but the conventions meet apart, both in secret session.
Secretary Clarence Smith, in his report, said that the membership of the Western Labor union had doubled in the last year. The report recites that a large number of applications for charters have been received from independent labor organizations in the East. The annual address of President Edward Boyce of the Western Federation of Miners, which he read at the session of the annual convention of that body Wednesday afternoon, was devoted largely to the subject of trusts, which he declared dominate the mining industry. Mr. Boyce recommends the formation of state miners’ unions. He advocates socialism and ownership by workmen of mines and smelters.
President Boyce expressed the hope that the members of the Western Federation of Miners and the members of all other labor organizations would meet in convention for the purpose of taking political action.
Thomas I. Kidd, third vice-president, and Frank Morrison, secretary of the American Federation of Labor, are in the city for the purpose of securing a hearing before the two conventions and endeavoring to adjust the conflicts that have occurred between the Western organizations and the American Federation.
From the officers’ reports presented at the annual convention of the Western Labor union, it appeared that this new general labor organization has begun to invade Eastern territory and will extend its jurisdiction across the continent if the convention approves the plans that have been formed. President Daniel McDonald declared that the present industrial system ”allows the toiler to be robbed,” and urged each union to impress upon the laboring men that “labor owns itself.”
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[Emphasis added. Newsclip added from Parsons, Kansas, Daily Eclipse of May 29th.)
Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 29, 1922 Charles Town, West Virginia – Billy Blizzard Acquitted of Treason
From The Washington Times of May 28, 1922:
By WARREN W. WHEATON. International News Service Staff Correspondent.
CHARLES TOWN, W.Va., May 27.-William Blizzard, alleged generalissimo of the miners’ army which marched upon Logan county last summer and fought with deputy sheriffs until Federal troops were called out, was acquitted by a jury in circuit court here tonight of treason against the State of West Virginia.
Verdict is Popular.
The jury was given the case at 3:27 o’clock this afternoon. Six hours and ten minutes was consumed in attempting to arrive at a verdict, two hours of which was taken out for dinner.
Peaceful Charles Town broke into a riot of noise. The pandemonium which answered the verdict: “We find for the defendant,” extended outside the court room.
Blizzard was given a wonderful reception as he emerged from the little red court house, scene of a similar trial sixty-three years ago.
The jurors as they left the scene of their labors which extended over a month, were likewise cheered.
The little red courthouse is the identical spot where John Brown, famous abolitionist, was convicted of treason sixty-three years ago. Residents of peaceful Charles Town, which has been conspicuous in history since colonial days, flooded the courthouse tonight to await the second treason trial verdict ever returned in calm, quiet Jefferson county.
After the jury had once reported its inability to reach a verdict and court was recessed for dinner, a report emanating from official sources had the jury ten to two for acquittal.
When the jurymen filed out, an over-crowded courtroom in which women predominated, immediately broke into a buzz of conversation. Blizzard seemed least concerned of the big assemblage. He had in his lap his five-year old son, asleep most of the first hour of the jury’s deliberations.
Blizzard Is Calm.
His wife, her little girl clasped close to her, frequently lifted a dampened handkerchief to her reddened eyes in which the tears constantly welled.
Next to Mrs. Blizzard, sat Blizzard’s sixty-year-old mother, a thin, spectacled little woman, a wisp of gray creeping through her once blond hair which stood out conspicuously against the background of black clothing. Mrs. Blizzard’s mother completed the family circle.
As time wore on with no report from the jury, Blizzard went to an ante-room and conversed with friends. His little boy and girl playfully edged their way about the crowd which filled every available nook.
After an hour had elapsed a ripple of excitement spread through the courtroom. A verdict was expected, but the jury asked for a copy of Judge Woods’ instructions, which would shape the verdict and which they neglected to get before retiring.
Kisses His Wife.
Blizzard was among the calmest of the excited throng in the court room when the foreman of the jury announced the verdict. For a moment he seemed dazed and then as the full import of the finding was grasped he leaned over and kissed his wife, who was standing near. Then he shook the hands of his counsel and waved a greeting to the congratulations expressed by scores who have attended every session of the long trial.
Blizzard was given a wild ovation as soon as the jury was discharged by Judge Woods.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 27, 1902 Eugene Debs Opines on Pennsylvania’s Great Anthracite Coal Strike
From the Social Democratic Herald of May 24, 1902:
EUGENE V. DEBS ON THE MINERS’ STRIKE
The miners’ strike is on in the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania. The operators were defiant and eager for the fray. The miners pulled every wire to prevent the collision and finally voted to go out in the very last extremity. A large minority voted against the strike and President Mitchell, all accounts agree, did his best to prevent it.
Most earnestly do I hope the poor devils will win, but there is no use trying to conceal the fact that they are up against it and that the coal and railroad companies have been preparing for the fight, openly courted it, and are determined to wipe out the union and run their mines to suit themselves.
At this writing everything is quiet as a graveyard in the anthracite region, but nevertheless the Republican governor [William A. Stone], elected largely by the votes of coal miners who don’t believe in going into politics, has already sworn in an army of special coal police, armed with Winchesters, to protect “property” and incidentally to perforate the hides of the striking miners if this becomes necessary to break up their strike, and force them back into their holes through starvation tunnel, to dig for their masters.
That is all they are fit for; at least that is what they themselves seem to think, for that is what they voted for under the direction of some of their district officers, who are simply the political pluggers of the gang of robbers that fleece the poor coal diggers when they work and have them murdered when they strike.
Pennsylvania, where hell is active as Mt. Pelee, and slavery in full blast, has a Republican majority of 300,000, made up quite largely of the poor devils now on strike.
The governor is already making active preparation to return bullet for ballot in accordance with the invariable program of the capitalist class, whom the miners and other workingmen have made the ruling class of the country.
President Mitchell will do the best he can in a trying position. He has issued a request that miners abstain from the use of liquor during the strike, and, acting upon his advice, they thronged the churches on Sunday last and took the oath of total abstinence and the pledge to entirely keep out of saloons till the strike is settled.
As for the Civic Federation, it has already done its worst. It has delayed and dallied six weeks, taken the heart out of many of the strikers and set them by the ears among themselves. Had the miners struck April 1, as they intended, they would have been far stronger than they are today.
My advice to you, striking miners, is to keep away from the capitalistic partnership of priest and politician, to cut loose from the Civic Federation, and to stand together to a man and fight it out yourselves. If you can’t win, no one else can win for you; and if in the end you find that the corporations can beat you at the game of famine, you may, and it is hoped that you will, have your eyes opened to the fact that your vote is your best weapon and that if the 140,000 miners of Pennsylvania will cast a solid vote for socialism, they will soon drive the robbers from the state and take possession of the mines and make themselves the masters of their industry, and the workingmen the rulers of the state.
As for the army of coal police already marshaled and armed by the governor to shoot the strikers upon the assumption that they are criminals, I advise that the miners in convention assembled unanimously resolve that, while they propose to keep within the law, they also propose to exercise all the rights and privileges the law grants them; and, furthermore, that the monstrous crime of Latimer shall not be repeated, and if any striker is shot down without good cause the first shot shall be the signal for war and the miners will shoot back; and if killing must be the program of the coal barons, let it be an operator for a miner instead of miners only, as in the past.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 25, 1922 Report Describes Child Labor in Shrimp and Oyster Canning Industry
From the Pittston Gazette of May 23, 1922:
POOR CONDITION FOR CHILD WORKERS IN FISH CANNERIES ———-
Josie, six year old, Bertha, six years old, Sophie, 10 years old, all shuck regularly at Maggioni Canning Co, Port Royal, South Carolina. -by Lewis Hine, February 1911
A report made public today by the U. S. Department of Labor through the Children’s Bureau describes child labor in the oyster and shrimp-canning industry during the period between the first and second Federal child labor laws, when no Federal regulation of child labor existed. Special significance attaches to the report in view of the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court, rendered on May 15, which held the Federal Child Labor Tax Law unconstitutional and thus leaves the children again without the protection of a Federal law. The report, entitled “Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in Oyster and Shrimp canning communities on the Gulf Coast,” calls attention to the very young ages of many of the children employed, the detrimental conditions under which they worked, the poor school facilities, the marked retardation in school, and the employment of mothers of young children.
The work of both the children and their parents was subject to all the irregularities of the canning industry, the report states. Since the work depended on the catch, it began any time between 3 and 7 o’clock in the morning and lasted a few hours, a whole day, or sometimes on into the evening. Of the 544 working children under 16 years of age included in the study, more than three-fifths worked whenever the factory was open. The others worked only occasionally or before and after school and on Saturdays. The majority of the children-334 of the 544 who worked-were under the age of 14 years, the minimum fixed by both of the Federal laws. Some were as young as six years of age or under.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 24, 1912 Los Angeles, California – Great Funeral Demonstration Held for FW Mikolasek
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of May 23, 1912:
GREAT FUNERAL DEMONSTRATION FOR MIKOLASCK.
(Special Telegram to the “Worker.”)
Los Angeles, Cal., May 13.-Fifteen hundred rebels were in line at the funeral of our brave fellow worker and comrade Joseph Mikelasck [Mikolasek], who was murdered by the San Diego police on the seventh inst. It was the greatest demonstration in the history of the city. The banner of the Industrial Workers of the World led the procession and the groups which followed carried red flags. Along the line of march the “Red Flag” and “Marseillaise” were sung. Parade traversed the business district and the police were forced to aid the parade by stopping traffic. The banners carried in the parade read:
“With the suppression of free speech our liberties are gone.”
“We are organized, not for riot and disorder, but for universal peace.”
“The defenders of liberty are jailed and murdered. The vigilantes go free.”
“He had nothing to give but his life, that he gave freely.”
“Our fellow worker who was murdered in the fight for free speech in San Diego.”
“Our silence in the grave will be more powerful than the voices you strangled today.”
Going along Hill Street the procession was joined by a body of Mexicans who threw down their tools in response to the cry of
“ONE BIG UNION FOR ALL”
J. J. McKELVEY.
[Emphasis added; newsclip added from Los Angeles Express of May 13, 1912.]
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