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
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:
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.
Virginia Mayor Describes Situation.
Because of the large number of witnesses to be heard, it was feared the hearing could not be concluded today.
Mayor Michael Boylan of Virginia, Minn., declared that only an impartial and thorough investigation could bring forth the facts and show actual conditions in Northern Minnesota.
[He said:]
The miners’ strike was not started by the I. W. W. After it had been on for several days, the strikers at Aurora, who were the first to go out, appealed to the Western Federation of Miners and the American Federation of Labor and, not receiving any organizers, they then appealed to the I. W. W., who sent up organizers.
The strike rapidly spread from Aurora and within a short time involved the entire Mesaba range. The men were unorganized, but a great many then became affiliated with the I. W. W.
I believe that the investigation should bring forth the causes of the discontent over conditions which make the mining and lumber regions such fertile fields for an organization like the I. W. W.
During the strike Sheriff Meining had the conditions very well in hand and used good judgment in handling matters. At no time was there such violence and disorders as appeared in certain newspapers.
The conditions among the miners on the range now are better than they were before the strike and I do not look for any trouble in the spring.
Slonim Speaks Out.
Attorney Slonim stated that he appeared as attorney for more than 140 men who had been arrested on various charges growing out of the strike. He said that 53 men were arrested in one bunch before warrants had been sworn out and that the county attorney’s office had dismissed 51 of the cases because of lack of evidence of any kind against the men.
W. H. McMahon, attorney of Virginia, was present at the hearing, representing the Virginia & Rainy Lake company, and the hearing was marked by tilts between Slonin and McMahon bearing on this phase of the controversy.
Slonim stated that Assistant County Attorney Funck had been assisted in these cases by Mr. McMahon. McMahon interposed with the remarks that he had taken no part in open court, and Slonim replied:
Now, Mr. McMahon, I am going to bring out all the facts in this case. It is true you didn’t take part in “open court,” as you say, that is you didn’t interrogate the witnesses in open court. You left the county attorney to do that. But you did do this: During the course of the trial you brought about a recess, during which time you attempted to get some of my defendants to “squeal” on the other defendants and after working over them an hour, you were still not able to make progress, but, as I stated, before the county attorney on his own motion dismissed the cases.
Mr. Slonim told the members of the committee about a case in which Judge Smallwood of Duluth, sentenced a man to thirty days without option of a fine for distributing a handbill advertising a Socialist picnic at Lester Park.
“Would you say the court was biased,” one of the members asked Mr. Slonim.
[Said Mr. Slonim:]
I am giving you the facts. You may draw your own conclusions.
The meetings of the committee are presided over by George J. Seigel of St. Paul, chairman of the house committee on labor. As there are in the neighborhood of 50 witnesses to be examined, it is thought the hearings will not be concluded until the latter part of the week.
SOURCE
The Labor World
(Duluth, Minnesota)
-Feb 3, 1917
(Also source for image of masthead.)
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1917-02-03/ed-1/seq-1/
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1917-02-03/ed-1/seq-3/
IMAGE
Joseph Ettor, (Smiling Joe)
http://spartacus-educational.com/USAettor.htm
See also:
Hellraisers Journal, Friday February 2, 1917
Minnesota House Delays Anti-IWW Bill; Labor Committee Holding Hearings; Joe Ettor Testifies
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-minnesota-house-delays-anti-iww-bill-labor-committee-holding-hearings-joe-ettor-testifies/
Note: in searching for “Slonin” v “Slonim,” Duluth attorney 1916 1917, “Slonim” returns far more results. A legal notice (page 5 at bottom of column 2 of The Labor World of March 13, 1920-plus many other legal notices in LW) tilts the verdict in favor of “Slonim.” The Labor World, page 4 of June 16, 1917, gives his name as Sigmond M Slonim. Searching with “Sigmond M Slonim” reveals a Duluth attorney who is a Socialist and a Russian immigrant who defends IWWs.