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Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 29, 1900
Lonaconing, Maryland – Mother Jones Stands with Striking Coal Miners
From the Appeal to Reason of June 23, 1900:
Mother Jones has been doing her usual amount of good work with the coal miners of Lonaconing, Pa [Maryland]. A local paper says in an account of a strike meeting: “Mother Jones was then introduced and proved herself beyond question a remarkable woman. She received liberal applause, and a number of ladies were present to hear her.”
[Drawing and emphasis added.]
From the Washington Times of June 23, 1900:
VIEWS OE MOTHER JONES
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Woman Labor Leader Explains Her
Interest in the Cause.BALTIMORE, June 22.-“Mother” Jones, the widely known labor leader, was in Baltimore today in the interest of the striking coal miners of the Georges Creek region. The Federation of Labor is arranging a series of mass meetings for the near future to be addressed by her.
Mrs. Jones does not look like the fiery agitator that she has been described. A motherly, good natured face is lighted by kindly blue eyes and crowned by silver hair. She is evidently over the half-century mark, but is as active as a young girl. “I love my work and it loves me,” she said when her physical vigor was commented upon. She speaks deliberately, with a pleasant voice suggestive of an ancestry to be credited to Ireland, and uses excellent language.
“Why shouldn’t a woman take part in all efforts for the benefit of labor?” she asked in response to a question. ”
Labor is the basis of all society. A woman should surely be interested in her surroundings and her home and do her part to uplift both. When did I begin this work? So many years ago that I have forgotten. I go wherever I think I can be of use. I have taken part in strikes all over the country, and have always urged peaceful methods. All these complex problems will be solved peacefully in time through the molding of public sentiment and the ballot box.
Am I a woman’s suffragist? Well, I have never been identified with the movement or belonged to any organization that was. I think beneficial results have always followed the placing of the ballot in woman’s hands. The excellent labor laws of Australia and New Zealand came only after women began to vote. Colorado, where women vote, is the only State that has taken steps to investigate the labor laws of Australia and New Zealand with a view of adopting them.
A woman becomes no less a woman when she studies social and political conditions and takes part in public affairs. A broadened intellect teaches her to love her home better. Such a woman, as a rule, loves her home and family better than the society woman who hands her children over to hired people to rear.
“Mother” Jones returned to western Maryland today, but will come to Baltimore again next week to make several speeches.
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[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES
Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/appeal-to-reason/000317-appealtoreason-w224.pdf
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-June 23, 1900, page 4
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/appeal-to-reason/000623-appealtoreason-w238-DAMAGED.pdf
The Times
(Washington, District of Columbia)
-June 23, 1900
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85054468/1900-06-23/ed-1/seq-3/
IMAGE
Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/595263678/
See also:
Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of
Industrial Statistics of Maryland, 1900
Baltimore, 1901
https://books.google.com/books?id=yg8oAAAAYAAJ
Pages 17-55: The George’s Creek Coal Strike
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=yg8oAAAAYAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA17
Pages 37-39: A Woman Organizer Appears
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=yg8oAAAAYAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA37
Page 45: re Mother in Baltimore on July 25th:
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=yg8oAAAAYAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA45
On July 25 “Mother Jones” came to Baltimore to make collections for the miners. She started by securing twenty-five dollars from the Federation of Labor. In her address to the Federation she said:
When Roosevelt was up in these mining towns the operators shut down the mines and shops and turned the men out to cheer Teddy. I don’t suppose they were “docked” for that day, but ordinarily if one of them was a minute late for work he lost a whole day.
Georges Creek Coalfield -with map
http://www.coalcampusa.com/westmd/george/george.htm
Georges Creek Valley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Creek_Valley
Lonaconing, Maryland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonaconing,_Maryland
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I Am a Union Woman – Deborah Halland
Lyrics by Aunt Molly Jackson
https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/unionwomanmollyjackson.html