Category: Hellraisers Journal

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1909: “The President Gave Me an Audience.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Friend of Friendless, St L Labor, June 26, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 13, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1909, Part II:
-Hard at Work for Release of the Mexican Political Refugees

From St. Louis Labor of June 26, 1909:

Washington, D. C.,
June 17, 1909.

Editor [G. A.] Hoehn,
St. Louis, Mo.
Dear Comrade:

Mother Jones Seeks Pardon Crpd, Oak Tb p3, June 24, 1909

I have been hard at work for a week, working for the release of the Mexican Political Refugees. Yesterday the President gave me an audience. I presented a sworn statement from Gue[r]ra, who has been sentenced to the Federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. Warden McCloughery was extremely courteous and sympathetic in every way.

T. V. Powderly, one of the early fighters for Labors’ rights in the stormy days of the past, arranged a meeting with the attorney of the Board of Pardons; he gave me a very respectful hearing, and promised to send the papers to the President as soon as possible.

When the President and I met, his salutation was: “Mother Jones, it seems to me that you are always working in behalf of the friendless?” I replied:

Well Mr. President, those who got many friends do not need my assistance.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1909: Found Meeting with President Taft

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Women Socialism, AtR p3, June 12, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 12, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1909, Part I:
-Meets with President Taft on Behalf of Mexican Refugees

From Oakland Tribune of June 24, 1909:

Mother Jones Seeks Pardon Crpd, Oak Tb p3, June 24, 1909

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Spokane on June 29, 1909, Part II

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF re Useless Capitalist Class, Ptt Prs p47, Sept 27, 1908———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 11, 1909
Spokane, Washington – June 29th Speech of Gurley Flynn, Part II

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of July 8, 1909:

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN ADDRESS TO WORKERS
———-

EGF, Spk Rv p7, July 9, 1909

Address of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Organizer and lecturer of the Industrial Workers of the World, given at Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday evening, June 29, 1909 [Part II].

The Slave Market.

Go look down the street to these employment agencies and what do you see? You see, “Men wanted-a dollar and a half, two dollars, two dollars and seventy-five cents per day.” And a lot of these men work for two dollars and a half, because they must; and if you want two dollars and a half, there will be probably the together fellow that will cut you down to two dollars, and the man gets the job, takes a wage upon which he can barely exist and hold body and soul together, and he does not know after his job tonight where his supper is to be had a week from tonight! And that working man and men is the type that forms the average worker in this country, these “Jobless” are the man that is so anxious for a job at two and half dollars or a dollar and seventy-five cents a day.

And what comes of the rest of the labor’s production; where goes the millions upon millions that labor produces? Surely the dollar and seventy-five cents, the dollar and a half, or even three dollars a day does not represent the sum total of the product of labor; for if it did, the worker would not be getting his wage. The employer does not take us for love; he does not like us and he does not give us a job because we are going to be brothers in heaven. That does not interest him a bit. The only thing he worries about is, can he make a profit on our labor and if he cannot, surely we won’t get the job. And so it stands to reason, no matter how high or how low our wages, there is something over and above, that goes to the master for himself and the bargain that we make is simply divvying up with the men that employ us and saying to them we will work in your factory and I will give you the bulk of the product, work the first two hours for myself, produce my wage, ad then pay you for being a good boss and giving it to me; and then the rest of the day put in producing enough to pay for the raw material, the wear and tear on the machinery and reward you for allowing me to produce it for you; and of course the capitalists say to such a bargain as that “Absolutely delighted,” and accept. (Applause.)

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at Spokane on June 29, 1909, Part I

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF re Useless Capitalist Class, Ptt Prs p47, Sept 27, 1908———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 10, 1909
Spokane, Washington – June 29th Speech of Gurley Flynn, Part I

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of July 8, 1909:

ELIZABETH G. FLYNN ADDRESS TO WORKERS
———-

EGF, Spk Rv p7, July 9, 1909

Address of Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Organizer and lecturer of the Industrial Workers of the World, given at Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday evening, June 29, 1909.

This meeting as you well know, is held under the [auspices?] of the Industrial Workers of the World. The organization is a new form of labor organization, one that stands for the industrial working class and that class alone. We are not interested in the welfare or the ideas of any other class in society; and we who are the members of the tolling class have in these sufficient of our own interests that need looking after, that we have no time to bother with other classes.

The working class of this country look out upon a situation where there are natural resources present to supply the entire world with plenty; they look out upon an industrial situation which has invented machinery capable of getting these natural resources with but little labor expenditure into finished commodities of necessities or luxuries. Yet in spite of that and in spite of the productiveness made possibly by men who labor and the natural abundance of the earth itself, in spite of that, we have people starving in this country and five million idle; over a million child laborers in the United States; seventy thousand children in New York City and fifty thousand in Chicago that go to school without a breakfast in the morning we have a condition in which the majority of the people are a propertyless class, are a class that own no land, that control none of that productive machinery, that control absolutely nothing in this land of the free and home of the brave but their own labor power, their own abilities to work. Just the same as the mule can pull a big load, so a worker can handle his labor power, muscular energy; and is the only thing he has; and if some trust could have been organized to separate us from that, to divide us from ourselves. I suppose even that would have been done long ago.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Miners Magazine of the Western Federation of Miners: “Race Hatred Must Be Strangled”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote WFM, re Race Hatred n Unions, Miners Mag p5, July 8, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 8, 1909
Editorial on Disgraceful “Race Strike” by Georgia’s White Locomotive Firemen

From the Miners Magazine (W. F. of M.) of July 8, 1909:

Race Hatred Must be Strangled.

[by John M. O’Neill, Editor]

WFM, Miners Magazine Cover, July 1, 1909

THE ARBITRATION BOARD has practically settled the strike of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in Georgia, and it is needless to say that the railroad company got the best of the settlement. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen made a serious mistake when the organization raised the barriers against the black man, thereby bringing about a race war which could only end in an advantage to the exploiter. The black man filled the position of fireman for one dollar less per day than the white man, and the Brotherhood permitted this injustice to be meted out to a race that is struggling against all the prejudices born of the centuries.

The smaller parasite in commercial circles in Georgia was in sympathy with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in the fight against the negro, not because the parasite was in sympathy with the labor movement, but because of a race hatred and because the dollar less per day paid to the negro trainmen forced him to economize on the necessaries of life. The parasite of the South realized that the white man with a salary of $30 per month above that of his black brother was a more valuable customer and his patronage was more to be desired than the patronage of the miserable wretch who on account of his color and the hatred against him, was forced to accept in silence one dollar per day less than the white fireman, regardless of the fact that this colored slave of the Georgia Railway company performed the same service.

Had the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen of Georgia been permeated with a spirit of justice and had the membership of the organization a broad grasp of the industrial problem, a battle would have been waged against the Georgia Railway company until that arrogant corporation recognized the same pay for the same service, whether the service was performed by the Caucasian or the African.

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Victor Debs, “Champion of Humanity,” Comes to Minnesota, Speaks in Duluth

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, Prosperity, LW p1, July 1, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 6, 1899
Duluth, Minnesota -“Our Gene” Speaks at the Armory

From the Duluth Labor World of July 1, 1899:

EVD, Our Gene, LW p1, July 1, 1899

EVD, Sc Dem Hld p1, July 1, 1899

Eugene V, Debs, accompanied by L. W. Rogers, one of the men who was incarcerated in Woodstock prison with Mr. Debs, arrived in Duluth Wednesday morning from West Superior, where he addressed a large audience the evening before [June 27th]. Mr. Debs spoke to a large, assemblage at the Armory in the evening [June 28th]. When the noted orator appeared and commenced his address unannounced, it being his wish that everything should be done in the most simple manner, there was literally a storm off applause.

Mr. Debs has, a striking personality. His smooth-shaven face is full of force of character. His firm jaw speaks of his will and energy which makes him a leader among men. His eyes are sharp and piercing, yet their expression is gentle and kindly in the extreme. He is a forceful speaker. His talk is an elevating one and if any man ever preached the true Christianity and the brotherhood of man, those eternal doctrines were discussed by Eugene V. Debs.

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs on First Anniversary of Social Democratic Party, “No More Compromise”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, SDP Revolutionary, Sc Dem Hld p1, July 1, 1899———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 5, 1899
Zanesville, Ohio – Debs Speaks on June 16th Anniversary of S. D. P.

From the Social Democratic Herald of July 1, 1899:

THE GROWTH OF A YEAR PRESAGES SUCCESS
—–

GREETING FROM EUGENE V. DEBS
—–
Socialism and the Independent Political Movement
in Ohio-A Question of Principles and
Not Persons-No More Compromise.
—–

[Speech at Zanesville, Ohio, June 16, 1899]

EVD, Sc Dem Hld p1, July 1, 1899

The first year of the Social Democratic Party has been completed and congratulations are in order. The results are equal to our most sanguine expectations. In a twelvemonth our party has extended over nearly all the states of the Union and is now in superb condition for the great work mapped out for it. Our comrades are active and harmonious, aggressive and hopeful. They enter upon the second year with a determination that presages success.

On this Anniversary Day I salute the Social Democratic Party, and tender hearty greeting and congratulation to each comrade. As we have tramped together on the highlands and in the valleys of the past, so will we keep step together to the strains of socialism in the future. Each day adds to the strength and influence and sweep of our movement. Each day brings us nearer victory. No backward step will be taken. No retreat will be sounded. International socialism is the goal and it will be reached while the 20th century is in swaddling clothes.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Northwest Tour of IWW Organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn-From Chicago, to Butte, to Spokane

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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Quote EGF, Life and Liberty, Btt Inter Mt p1, June 14, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 4, 1909
The Northwest Tour of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for June 1909

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of June 3, 1909:

FROM ELIZABETH G. FLYNN.

My husband, J. A. Jones, has written to me from Cobalt [Ontario] saying he owes $2.50 to the Industrial Worker, but that he is “broke” and asking me to forward the amount to you. Enclosed please find money order for same.

The Industrial Worker is a splendid paper, the only revolutionary sheet in this country, and deserves unqualified success. The May Day issue was fine, went like hot cakes here in Chicago, was well liked by all who read it. I am expecting to be out in the Northwest in about a month’s time if the plans for my trip go through all right, when I will have the pleasure of meeting you and all the fellow workers of that part of the country who are the hope of the Industrial Unionists every where, at present.

[Emphasis added.]

From The Spokane Press of October 7, 1908
-Gurley Flynn and Jack Jones Arrive in Chicago:

EGFand JA Jones Beat Freights to Chg IWWC, Spk Prs p2, Oct 7, 1908

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