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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 15, 1908
From Reno, Nevada – Frank Little Describes Journey from Prescott, Arizona
From The Industrial Union Bulletin of December 12, 1908:
EXPERIENCES OF A HOBO MINER.
The experience of a wage slave, seeking a master during the panic of 1907-8:
On December 5, 1907, Fellow Worker Chris Hansen and myself left [P]rescott, Arizona, for a trip across the desert to see if we could find some kind-hearted parasite who would clasp the chains of wage-slavery upon us and allow us, along with other workers, to produce wealth that would allow a few parasites to live in luxury and idleness, giving us in return for our labor enough bacon and beans to keep us alive. We had heard that the American workers were free and had the right to work when, where and for whom they pleased. But we soon found that this was false.
The first place we went to was Octave, a mining camp south of Prescott, thinking we could get a job there. But one of the first men we met was an overdressed, well-fed parasite, who was in Clifton, Arizona, at the time I was trying to organize the slaves of that place.
We next went to Congress, the worst scab hole in Arizona. The looks of that place were enough to drive a man “nutty.” From there we went to Wickenburg, but this place was full of jobless slaves. We started across the desert towards the Colorado River, stopping at all the mining camps, but could not find a master at any of them.
We crossed the Colorado on the first of February into California, the state of little matches and big scabs. When we struck the main line of the A. T. & S. F. we found the road lined with idle men-or what the parasites call hoboes. On Feb. 29 [1908], I attended the meeting of Mojave Miners’ Union, W. F. M. At one time they had a good local-one that a worker could feel proud to belong to. But what a change had taken place. All the radical men were gone, and the local was run in the interest of the company. I was informed that they would not allow a Socialist in camp. And when I got the floor to speak and started to talk on Industrial Unionism, one of the good company tools made a motion that I be barred from the floor. The motion carried, but after the meeting was adjourned I took the floor and showed up the company tools.
We then crossed the hills and went to the fruit country. But we found conditions there in a horrible state. Men with families could not make enough to live on. We arrived at Graniteville in the Sierra Mountains, April 8 [1908]. I got a job in the mines, worked ten days, got fired and put on the blacklist for being an agitator, and forced to walk out of camp.
I then went to the lumber camps, but there was no work. Have been in Reno, Nevada for some time, but the town is full of idle men and no work. Have tried to organize a local of the I. W. W., but the workers are so full of political dope and are so afraid they may lose their jobs that it is impossible to organize at this time. But we will get a good local here in time.
The I. W. W. offers us the only solution for the present condition, and the only method of overthrowing the present system. So keep at it, you hobo agitators.
F. H. Little, A Hobo Miner.
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[Emphasis and photograph added.]
From The Industrial Union Bulletin of January 11, 1908:
Two industrial unionists, F. H. Little and Chris Hanson, are traveling through the desert of Arizona in a wagon drawn by four desert burros and “living on sage brush, cacti and Gila monsters.” They report that the S. P. Railroad has special police on the line to keep the boys who have been thrown out of work off the trains. They frequently meet groups of these workless outcasts, who are in a desperate condition.
—–
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SOURCE
The Industrial Union Bulletin
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Dec 12, 1908
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iub/v2n28-dec-12-1908-iub.pdf
-Jan 11, 1908
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iub/v1n46-jan-11-1908-iub.pdf
IMAGE
IWW Emblem Label, IWWC 1906
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=vQlQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA3
See also:
Frank Little and the IWW:
The Blood That Stained an American Family
-by Jane Little Botkin
University of Oklahoma Press, May 25, 2017
Note: This is the definitive biography of Fellow Worker Frank Little. Jane Little Botkin is the great grand niece of Frank and Fred Little. Book is thoroughly and diligently sourced.
https://books.google.com/books?id=gBskDwAAQBAJ
Note: See pages 111-116 for more on the whereabouts and doings of FW Frank Little during the period from November 1907 to December 1908. According to Botkin, Frank and Chris visited with Fred (Frank’s brother) and Emma Little in Fresno while traveling between Mojave and Graniteville. The lay-over in Fresno would have been about March 1908.
Also, according to Botkin (page 374, note 27), there exists a newspaper article from the November 30, 1907, edition of the Prescott Evening Courier entitled: “Organizer Frank Little.” Searched but could not find online. Would love to feast my eyes upon that gem.
For more on Fellow Worker Chris Hansen:
-As Secretary of LU #182, Colorado City
From: Proceedings of The Second Annual Convention
of the Industrial Workers of the World
-Sept 17-Oct 3, 1906 at Chicago
IWW, 1906
https://books.google.com/books?id=vQlQAAAAYAAJ
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=vQlQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA396
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=vQlQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA397
MONDAY, Oct. 1, 1906-MORNING SESSION.
Chairman St. John called the Convention to order shortly after nine o’clock….
RESOLUTIONS.
[…..]
No. Q.
Colorado City Union No. 182,
Colorado City, Colo., June 20, 1906.Ludwig Ginther,
Colorado Springs, Colo.Comrade:
At our meeting of June 19, 1906, the following instructions were adopted for you as our delegate to the coming convention of the Industrial WorKers of the World, viz.:
1. The constitution be amended to read “working people” instead of “wage workers.”
2. That each union be allowed to fix its own initiation fees and monthly dues.
3. To retain Charles H. Moyer on the Executive Board.
4. To adopt a uniform wagon and harness card for teamsters.
5. That it be not necessary for a person to be on the floor of the convention to be nominated for an office.To all of which we ask you to use your best endeavor.
By order of the Union.
CHRIS. HANSEN, Secretary.
(Union Seal.)
(Committee on Constitution.)
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