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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]
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.
If the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen does not reach down its hand to lift the man from below, then the man below will drag the Brotherhood to his level, and the railway companies of Georgia and every other state in which the negro becomes a factor to be reckoned with in the labor market, will give their aid and support in bringing about a condition of almost absolute servitude in the railway service.
The labor organization of today must have a broad foundation, and the doors of unionism must be opened wide to every wage earner, no matter what may be his color or creed, or no matter whether he comes from Southern Europe or the Orient. The time has passed when the white man can afford to lock the doors of the labor organization against the black, brown and yellow races. These races are here in America, and organized labor must assimilate these races or else Capitalism will utilize these races to crush unionism wherever possible.
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
“LABOR PRODUCES ALL WEALTH
–WEALTH BELONGS TO THE PRODUCER THEROF”
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SOURCE & IMAGE
Miners Magazine
June 3, 1909-Jan 19, 1911
Western Federation of Miners, 1909
https://books.google.com/books?id=hT8tAQAAMAAJ
WFM, Miners Magazine Cover, July 1, 1909
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=hT8tAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA38
Miners Magazine of July 8, 1909
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=hT8tAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA40
“Race Hatred Must be Strangled”
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=hT8tAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA42
See also:
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-July 3, 1909
https://www.newspapers.com/image/66981978
Black Americans and Organized Labor
A New History
-by Paul D. Moreno
LSU Press, 2008
(search: “1909 race strike against the georgia railroad”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=URDl2NuzZzAC
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
(Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, B of L, until 1907)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Locomotive_Firemen_and_Enginemen#Membership_exclusion
Membership exclusion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Locomotive_Firemen_and_Enginemen#Membership_exclusion
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Solidarity Forever – Angela Kelly & Troy Coman
-of UAW Local 898, Rawsonville
Lyrics by Ralph Chaplin, 1915
https://archive.org/stream/whenleavescomeou00chap#page/28/mode/2up