Author: Janet Raye

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Federation of Labor Protests War in Response to Wilson’s Break with Germany

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[Show] the capitalists that we will not permit
ourselves to be made cannon fodder
for their interests.
-William Sims, Janitors’ Union

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 7, 1917
Chicago, Illinois – Chicago Federation of Labor Protests War

The Chicago Federation of Labor met February 4th at its regular bi-monthly meeting, the day after President Wilson announced his decision to break off diplomatic relations with Germany. Concerning the grim prospect of war, the following resolution was passed by the delegates:

The Chicago Federation of Labor protests against this country taking part in the European War and demands that all American citizens be prevented from entering the war zone.

From The New York Times of February 4, 1917:

WWI, US Break w Germany, NYT Feb 4, 1917

From The Chicago Daily Tribune of February 5, 1917:

CHICAGO LABOR PROTESTS
WAR WITH GERMANY
—–
Demands That All American Citizens
Be Kept from Belligerent Zone.
—–

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Hellraisers Journal: Three Horrific Disasters Within Ten Days Claim Lives of More Than 100 West Virginia Miners

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“Dagos are cheaper than props.”
-Mother Jone Quoting a Mine Manager

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 6, 1907
West Virginia – Another Mine Disaster at Thomas Mine

Yet another mine disaster in West Virginia occurred at the Thomas Mine near Elkins on February 4th. This follows on the deadly heels of two recent disasters in that state, one at the Lorentz Mine at Penco on January 26th, and the other at the Stuart Mine on January 29th. The combined death toll in the coal mines of West Virginia,  during this 10-day period, is now over 100.

From The Fort Wayne Sentinel of February 4, 1907:

Thomas (WV) Mine Disaster, Ft Wayne Sentinel, Feb 4, 1907

Elkins, W. Va, Feb. 4.-Twenty-five or thirty miners, the majority of them foreigners, are supposed to be dead in the mine explosion today at mine No. 25 of the Davis Coal and Coke company, at Thomas, near here.

It is not known how large the list of casualties may grow until further investigation as there is no way of determining how many men were in the mine at the time of the explosion. The explosion occurred before all the men had entered the mine. A number standing at the entrance to the shaft were hurled in every direction by the force of the explosion and seriously injured.

Five miners who were just entering the mine when the explosion occurred have been taken out so it is believed all the miners already in the mine have been killed.

From the Mount Carmel Daily News of February 5, 1907:

MANY MINERS KILLED
—–

Third Disaster in West Virginia
Within Two Weeks.
—–
25 OR 30 MEN ARE DEAD
—–


Seven Bodies Recovered in Explosion
Near Elkins, and Deadly Gas Drives
Rescuers Away After One Dies
From Suffocation.

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Hellraisers Journal: FW Joe Ettor and Attorney S. M. Slonim Speak Out on Labor Conditions in Northern Minnesota

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday February 5, 1917
The Labor World – Reports on Labor Hearings

Joseph Ettor, Smiling Joe, text added

In this weeks edition of the Duluth Labor World we find coverage of the hearings which took place on January 30th before the Labor Committee of the Minnesota House of Representatives. Joe Ettor, I. W. W. organizer, testified, as did Virginia Mayor, Michael Boylan, and Duluth Attorney, S. M. Slonim.

Working conditions in the lumber camps were scored by Joe Ettor who stated:

Go into the lumber camps of Northern Minnesota; live the lives of the lumberjacks and then see if you wonder at conditions of unrest.

From The Labor World of February 3, 1917:

The Labor World, Feb 3, 1917

INVESTIGATE CONDITIONS
—–

House Labor Committee Conducts Hearing
on I. W. W. Situation.
—–
MANY WITNESSES TESTIFY
—–
Labor Conditions in Northern Minnesota
Said to Be Abominable.
—–

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 1.—The house committee on labor is determined to ascertain the facts, with regard to the situation in the lumber camps in Northern Minnesota.

It took all Tuesday afternoon to examine two witnesses, members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and Attorney S. M. Slonim, of Duluth, the third witness, did not furnish his testimony until late in the night.

Several persons who have been national figures in labor wars were on hand, in addition to a score of witnesses from the range country, including C. M. Atkinson, editor of The Mesaba Ore, and Michael Boylan, mayor of Virginia.

Ettor Scores Conditions.

[He asserted:]

Ignorance alone is responsible for the unfair attitude shown toward the I. W. W. It is an organization of the working man, the working woman and the working child.

Go into the lumber camps of Northern Minnesota; live the lives of the lumberjacks and then see if you wonder at conditions of unrest. Fancy 50 men, all with wet feet and legs, retiring at night in a small shack, unventilated. To prevent putting on wet clothing the next morning they must hang their socks over the only stove. This merely is one of the many unpleasant conditions to which the lumberjack and mine employes are subjected.

It is not so much the wages paid. Give our men fair living conditions. Feed them fairly and permit them to organize. Then you have picked up the key to the entire situation.

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Hellraisers Journal: “Everett, November Fifth,” a Poem by Charles Ashleigh

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Fierce and long the battle rages,
But we will not fear.
Help will come whene’er it’s needed,
Cheer, my comrades, cheer!

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Hellraisers Journal: Sunday February 4, 1917
From the International Socialist Review: Remember Everett!

Everett Massacre, Nov Fifth, Charles Ashleigh, ISR Feb

Walker C. Smith on the young martyr, Hugo Gerlot:

As the Verona cleaved the placid, sunlit waters of the Bay and swung up to the City Dock at Everett, shortly before two o’clock, the men were merrily singing the English Transport Workers’ strike song, “Hold the Fort.”

From a hillside overlooking the scene thousands upon thousands of Everett citizens sent forth cheer after cheer as a hearty welcome to the “invading army.” High up on the flag-pole of the Verona clambered Hugo Gerlot, a youthful free speech enthusiast, to wave a greeting to the throng that lined the shore…

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Hellraisers Journal: Tories, Then & Now, Denounce “Incendiary” Speeches of Patrick Henry and Vincent St John

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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If the plutocrats begin the program,
we will end it.
-Eugene V. Debs

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 3, 1907
Goldfield, Nevada – Red Flags, Red Banners, Red Ribbons Rule!

WFM button

The kept press finds itself in a state of supreme outrage in view of the fact that the rabble of the nation are not conducting themselves in a calm and reasonable manner as the authorities of the states of Colorado and Idaho, acting in the interests of the Mine Owners Association, attempt a frame-up on Big Bill Haywood and Charles Moyer, officers of the Western Federation of Miners.

From the Appeal to Reason of February 2, 1907:

KING GEORGE AND CAPITAL
—–
The Words of Vincent St. John Have the
Same Effect on American Tories as
Those of Patrick Henry Had
Upon the British Tories.
—–

Vincent St John, New Castle (PA) Herald, Aug 11, 1906

TO illustrate the attitude invariably assumed by the conservators of the dominant order at various times in the world’s history, I herewith reprint two articles taken from papers published more than a hundred years apart. One refers to the demonstration of the Goldfield miners last Sunday, in behalf of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone, and is clipped from the Denver Republican; the other describes the scenes in the Virginia House of Burgesses, when Patrick Henry delivered his famous philippie against King George, and is selected from a history in which was copied the article as it was taken from an old English paper. The Denver Republican typically represents the cause of capitalism today; the old english paper typically represented the cause of toryism a century ago.

Read and observe the parallel:

HMP, St John Speech at Goldfield, AtR, Feb 2, 1907

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Hellraisers Journal: Minnesota House Delays Anti-IWW Bill; Labor Committee Holding Hearings; Joe Ettor Testifies

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday February 2, 1917
St. Paul, Minnesota – House Labor Committee Holds Hearings

If the Minnesota State Senate thought that the House would quickly join them in the passage of the so-called “I. W. W. Riot Fund,” they were sadly mistaken. The bill has been tabled for now, and the House Labor committee is in the process of holding hearings into conditions up on the Mesabi Iron Range and in the logging camps of northern Minnesota.

From The Minneapolis Morning Tribune of January 30, 1917:

ACITON DEFEREED ON I. W. W. RIOT FUND
—–

MN16 Gunthugs on the Mesabi, ISR Jan 1917

The House appropriations committee at its meeting last night deferred a recommendation on the so-called $50,000 I. W. W. appropriation annually for a period of two years to employ deputy sheriffs for the suppression of labor troubles in northern Minnesota, pending action of the labor committee.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Rebellion in Lumber Camps of Northern Minnesota: Harrison George Reports

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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The camps are deserted, the strikers firm,
the bosses wild and the cat sits on
every log that straggles thru
to the mills of Minnesota.
-Harrison George

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday February 1, 1917
Northern Minnesota – Lumber Workers Fight for Dignity

IWW Metal Mine Workers IU No. 490, Hibbing MN, June 19, 1916, Crpd

The Duluth News Tribune could not contain its glee when the Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike was defeated last December and the I. W. W. organizers bid the workers of the Range good-bye. So imagine then the surprise when less than two weeks later the Industrial Workers of the World again appeared on the Range, this time to organize under the leadership of “Timber Beast” Jack Beaton and Fellow Worker Charles Jacobson, Secretary of the Virginia L. U. A meeting was held in the Finnish Socialist Hall of Virginia, demands issued, and soon a strike was on at the two sawmills and in the lumber camps of the Virginia & Rainy Lumber Company.

From the International Socialist Review of February 1917:

Lumber Workers, Camp Grub Pile, ISR, Feb 1917

WHILE the Lumber Workers’ Union, the bull-pen of the Industrial Workers of the World, was in convention at Portland, Ore., during the last week of December, the rumblings of revolt began half way across the continent among workers of that industry in Minnesota.

North and westward of the Mesaba Iron Range lies millions of acres of swamp lands. In the primeval state, these swamps were covered with magnificent forests where roamed the Indian and the fur-bearing fox, bear and beaver. In this section John Jacob Astor’s fur business in the early times laid the base of the present Astor-crat fortune. A very simple process—the Indians skinned the animals and Astor skinned the Indians.

Later huge land grants the railroads secured by bribery and worse practices, opened the forests to the pillage of the Lumber Trust. Where the government yet retained title to timber lands, the lumber trust in open defiance simply entered and stole the finest of timber and used the political axe on all annoying officials.

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Hellraisers Journal: Published! 10,000 Copies of Eleven-Volume Sets of Testimony Submitted to Congress by Commission on Industrial Relations

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Let the voice of the people be heard.
-Albert Parsons

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday January 31, 1917
Washington, D. C. – Government Printing Office Publishes Reports

From The Labor World of January 27, 1917:

COMPLETE REPORTS ARE BEING PRINTED
—–
Commission on Industrial Relations
Issues Volumes on Testimony
Submitted to Congress.
—–

(By DANTE BARTON.)

Commission on Industrial Relations, Original Members ab 1913

Frank P Walsh from Harper's Weekly of Sept 27, 1913, w name

NEW YORK, Jan. 25.—There has just been issued from the government printing office in Washington the completed volumes of the testimony submitted to congress by the United States Commission on Industrial Relations of which Frank P. Walsh was chairman.

One of the first of the important industrial acts of the Wilson administration was the appointment by President Wilson of this Industrial Relations Commission with the following membership selected by him. Frank P. Walsh of Missouri, chairman; John R. Commons of Wisconsin and Mrs. J. Borden Harriman of New York, representing the general public; John B. Lennon of Illinois, James O’Connell of Washington, D. C., and Austin B. Garretson of Iowa, representing organized labor; and Frederick A. Delano of Kentucky, representing employers. Upon the resignation of Mr. Delano, to accept a place on the Federal Reserve board, the president named Richard H. Aishton of Illinois, who finished out the term. [Note: The Labor World here neglects to name Harris Weinstock of California and S. Thruston Ballard of Kentucky, both representing employers.]

When the European war was in its beginning and at its height of public interest the news of it was shared on the front pages of all the daily newspapers throughout the country by the news of the hearings conducted by the Walsh commission. Of such tremendous importance were the facts brought out by the commission, so thorough, so inclusive of all phases of the national life and so all embracing in the character and interests of its witnesses were the hearings that the proceedings of the commission were as vital and absorbing of the public interest as was the contemporary news of the greatest world conflict in history.

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Hellraisers Journal: Minnesota Senate Passes Anti-IWW Bill; Is Expected to Pass State House of Representatives

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday January 30, 1917
From the Duluth Labor World: “I. W. W. Bill” Passes State Senate

I. W. W. BILL IS PASSED
BY STATE SENATE
—–
Amendment Limits It to Two Years-Fund
of $50,000 for Governor
—–

MN Miners Strike, Get Out IWW, Cartoon

The I. W. W. bill, which was introduced in the state legislature for the purpose of providing means for the suppression of the activities of that organization in the northern part of the state, passed the senate Wednesday morning with only Senators Rockne and Andrews casting negative votes.

The bill was amended in two particulars from the original draft. Instead of the emergency fund of $50,000 a year made available for the governor being perpetual with annual accountings and returns to the general fund, it was provided for two years, until the next meeting of the legislature; and another amendment provided that all deputies employed during similar trouble shall be residents of the state.

Expected to Pass House.

It is claimed that the bill will not have as easy sailing in the house as it did in the senate, although it is expected to pass. It came up in the upper house Wednesday morning on the calendar and was passed under suspension of the rules.

———-

[Cartoon from Duluth News Tribune added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From Everett Defense: Date Set for Trial; Gurley Flynn Speaks before State Federations of Labor

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote, Charles Ashleigh, EDNL9, Jan 27, 1917

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday January 29, 1917
From Seattle, Washington: Everett Defense News Letter No. 9

Everett Massacre, Def News Letter 9, Jan 27, 1917

Everett, Wash, Jan. 27th.

The date of the first trial has been set! The first man to be tried is Fellow Worker Thomas H. Tracy and his case comes up on March 5th. This was decided yesterday in Everett when the 74 boys pleaded “Not Guilty!” The presiding judge was J. T. Ronald, of King County, who has been appointed by Governor Lister to hear the case, as prejudice was charged by our attorneys against the Two Superior Court judges of Snohomish county.

APPLICATION MADE FOR CHANGE OF VENUE.

Our attorneys gave notice of an application for a change of venue. They will now prepare affidavits proving that there is too much prejudice in Snohomish county to warrant the boys a fair and impartial trial. The affidavits will be submitted on Feb. 2nd and the motion for change of venus will be decided upon by judge on Feb. 9th.

OUR MEN IN GOOD SPIRITS.

The 74 boys made a fine showing in the court-room on Friday. They marched in heavily guarded by a swarm of deputies, but were entirely unabashed. They answered to their names and rose, one after the other, giving, in ringing tones, their plea-it sounded more like a statement than a plea-of “Not Guilty!” There was much favorable comment in the court on the clear-cut and self-possessed appearance of the prisoners.

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