Hellraisers Journal: House Sub-Committee Hearings on Mine Conditions Underway in Denver, Colorado and Hancock, Michigan

Quote Federation Call by John Sullivan, Mnrs Bltn 1913 1914, MI Copper Strike —————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 14, 1914
House Sub-Committee Hearings Underway in Colorado and Michigan

From The Day Book of February 14, 1914
Representatives Casey, Howell and Taylor Are on the Job in Michigan:

From The Indianapolis News of February 9, 1914
U. S. Sub-Committees to Investigate Mining Conditions in Michigan and Colorado:

HOWELL SNOWBOUND;
STRIKE INQUIRY DELAYED
———-

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE IN MICHIGAN LACKS QUORUM.
———-
REPRESENTATIVES KEPT IN
———-

HANCOCK, Mich., February 9.-The train bearing Representative Joseph Howell, of Utah, the member necessary to make a quorum of the congressional investigating committee, was reported storm-bound somewhere on the lower peninsula today and prospects for a meeting dwindled as the day advanced. Chairman Taylor said that it was unlikely that hearings would begin before tomorrow.

The heaviest snowfall of the winter has kept Mr. Taylor and Representative Casey of Pennsylvania indoors since their arrival on Saturday and they have had no opportunity to see any of the copper country beyond the range of vision from their hotel.

—————

OPENS HEARING IN DENVER
———-
Congressional Subcommittee Seeks Evidence
of Law Violations.

DENVER, Colo., February 9.-Hearing of testimony in the federal investigation of the Colorado coal miners’ strike began in the senate chamber of the state capitol today. The subcommittee of the house committee on mines and mining which arrived from Washington yesterday, will hold hearings in Denver and at Trinidad, Pueblo, Boulder and other points, to determine whether federal statutes have been violated and to determine on recommendations for the settlement of the Colorado strike and the prevention of future labor struggles.

When today’s hearing opened E. V. Brake, deputy labor commissioner; Professor Russell D. George, state geologist, and James Dalrymple, chief coal mining inspector, gave testimony as to general coal mining conditions in Colorado.

Two distinct strikes are included in the investigation, to be made by the committee. The miners in the northern Colorado coal fields were called out in April 1910, and that strike never has been settled. Since then, many of the strikebreakers who took the places of the union men have been organized by the United Mine Workers of America, and a considerable part of them walked out with the southern men when the strike of all the coal miners in the state was called on September 23, 1913.

The investigating committee consists of Martin D. Foster (Dem.), Chairman, Illinois; James Francis Byrnes (Dem.), South Carolina; John M. Evans (Dem.), Montana; Richard Wilson Austin (Rep.), Tenn., and Howard Sutherland (Rep.), West Virginia.

[Emphasis added.]

From The Indianapolis Star of February 10, 1914:

HEARING IN MINE DISTRICT OPENS
———-
House Subcommittee Rules That
Michigan Strikers Must First Prove
Existence of Alleged Conditions.
———-

STORE DEALINGS BIG POINT
———-
Attorney for Union, Stating Case, Declares Men in Debt
for Groceries Were Kept Virtually
in Slavery Until Strike.
———-

HANCOCK, Mich., Feb. 9.-Federal investigation of the conditions in the copper country was formally instituted today by Representatives Taylor of Colorado, Casey of Pennsylvania and Howell of Utah, members of the house subcommittee on mines and mining.

Meeting in the public hall of this little mining city, into which had gathered persons of every nationality present in this region, the inquisitors disposed of the formalities of organization in brief time and then got down to business of taking testimony.

Must Prove Conditions First.

The committee decided to take up the subjects of inquiry in regular order, Chairman Taylor and Mr. Howell both expressing the opinion that the existence of the conditions alleged should be proved before they could properly inquire into the causes.

William J. Richard [Rickard], president of the Calumet local of the Western Federation of Miners, was the first witness. He had barely begun his narrative when the committee adjourned until tomorrow morning.

“We are prepared to show,” said O. N. Hilton, attorney for the miners, in his opening statement, “that for a long number of years there have been engaged in the mines boys from 12 to 16 years of age and that there has been an unparalleled condition of affairs.

Slaves of Company Stores.

“We will show that it has been impossible for men to get work unless they traded at certain stores. When they were hopelessly in debt they were denied to patronize these stores. We will show that the wages paid have been lower and meaner than those of the underpaid labor of the old world. Conditions so startling will be revealed that they seem to us a complete justification of the strike.”

Mr. Hilton declared the rate of mortality in these mines was among highest known in mining; that human life was taken and “considered as less than that of a mule.” He said many of the miners were compelled to “work in a veritable inferno” and often had to be taken out unconscious.

—————

DENVER SESSION IS STORMY.
———-
Federal Investigators Hear Charges of Anarchy
in Mine Districts.

DENVER, Col., Feb. 9.-Charges of peonage, illegal imprisonment and anarchy were met by counter charges of violence and insurrection at a stormy session of the Federal strike investigation committee this afternoon. State officials and labor leaders were the witnesses.

—————

[Emphasis added.]

From the Escanaba Morning Press (Michigan) of February 12, 1914:

THE STRIKERS TELL STORIES
———-

CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATORS CONTINUE TO HEAR
SIDE OF STRIKING MINERS IN COPPER COUNTRY
———-

(Special to The Press.)

Hancock, Mich., Feb. 11.-Striking miners continue to hold the boards today before the congressional investigating committee now engaged in a probe concerning conditions in the strike district. Several witnesses were called today to give testimony that under the wage plan of mining companies before the strike they were unable to make a living wage.

Judge Hilton, solicitor for the Western Federation, today brought the matter of the Christmas eve catastrophe at the Italian hall at Calumet to the attention of the investigators and it is likely that hearings will be conducted at Calumet in an effort to fix the blame for the large number of deaths that were recorded at that time.

Olaf Berg, a miner, testified that a mine captain in the South Kearsarge mine had cheated him out of $29 by changing the measurements on the rock he had taken out, because Berg had told him he was going to quit.

“Have you no way to rectify these deplorable conditions? asked [Congressman] Mr. Casey.

The witness replied that the mine captain’s word is final.

Berg declared that he was a stockholder in a small mine controlled by the Calumet & Hecla.

“I guess your amount of stock is not enough to control the company,” remarked Chairman Taylor.

“That’s the trouble,” replied the witness, amid laughter.

Berg said he was opposed to the one-man drill, now used in the mines because it was dangerous for one man to operate it. He said his brother had been injured for life by having one of these machines fall on his back.

Charles E Hietala, district secretary of the federation, told the investigators that he had been discharged from the Quincy mine in 1910 because he was a member of the federation. He said he averaged $60 a month working as a trammer on a day wage. It was hard, wearing work, he asserted.

Questioned about the strike, Hietala said that the federation officers had tried to persuade the miners not to go out until all other means of getting their demands had been exhausted.

O. N. Hilton counsel for the federation, read into the records several letters and telegrams exchanged between the officers here and in Denver [Headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners] for the purpose of showing, as he said, that President Moyer and Vice President Mahoney were not responsible for the strike being called.

Counsel for the mining companies wanted to know how many members the federation had in the copper country the day before the strike began. Hietala gave the number as 8,900, and asserted that 90 per cent of them worked under ground.

A. I. Petermann, of counsel for the companies, asked the witness to furnish the committee with the number of men who are receiving strike benefits now.

Hietala said he could not do so, as he had sent his books to Denver.

“Why did you send them to Denver?” asked [Congressman] Mr. Howell, the committee.

“I sent them there to be audited, for one reason,” was the reply. “Another was that after the South Range outrage [when a Citizens’ Alliance mob ransacked the union hall] I was afraid to keep them here.”

Hietala said the federation was distributing about $39,000 weekly in money and store orders among its members here.

“Did you get any relief from the socialist organizations in this country?” asked Mr. Petermann.

“Not very much.”

“Did you get any help from the Finnish socialist organization?”

“I don’t know.”

Representative Howell inquired about the manner in which the referendum strike vote was taken. Hietala said that the members had six days within which to drop their votes in the boxes, which caused Mr. Howell to ask if he was sure no one had voted more than once. The witness said he was sure, as men were on duty at the ballot boxes.

“You think, then” returned Mr. Howell, “that the members of your union are more honest than members of an electorate usually are?”

“Oh yes, they are,” replied Hietala quickly.

The introduction of time checks and pay envelopes which, the federation hopes, will tend to show that miners and trammers are working for a wages upon which they barely can subsist occupied more than an hour of the congressional inquiry this morning

[…..]

[Emphasis added.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SOURCES

The Indianapolis News
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Feb 9, 1914
https://www.newspapers.com/image/35522120/

The Indianapolis Star
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Feb 10, 1914
https://www.newspapers.com/image/7346613/

Escanaba Morning Press
(Escanaba, Michigan)
-Feb 12, 1914
-Hancock MI, Feb 11-House Committee Hears from Copper Strikers
https://www.newspapers.com/article/escanaba-morning-press-feb-12-1914-esc/141029357/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/escanaba-morning-press-feb-12-1914-esc/141029899/

IMAGE
MI House Com Members, Day Book p9, Feb 14, 1914
“Calumet Families’ Faith in Uncle Sam Is Strong in Spite of Everything”
-by Gertrude M. Price
-re visit to West Hancock home of Folino family of 9, subsisting on $7/week strike benefits, waiting and hoping for justice from congressional investigation.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-02-14/ed-1/seq-9/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-02-14/ed-1/seq-10/

See also:

Tag: Italian Hall Massacre
https://weneverforget.org/tag/italian-hall-massacre/

Tag: Michigan Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/michigan-copper-country-strike-of-1913-1914/

Note: Although the above article in Escanaba Morning Press was datelined Feb 11, the actual testimony which the reporter describes was presented before the house subcommittee hearings on Feb 10, found beginning on page 40. Hietala’s testimony begins on page 109, and Berg’s on page 136. The witnesses did not testify in the same order as reported in the Escanaba Morning Press.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1913 Singers – The Federation Call

The Federation Call
-by John Sullivan

The Copper Country union men are out upon a strike,
Resisting corporation rule which robs of us our rights.
The victory is all but won in this noble ﬁght
For recognition of the union.

—Chorus—
Hurrah, hurrah for the Copper Country strike
Hurrah, hurrah our cause is just and right.
Freedom from oppression is our motto in this ﬁght
For recognition of the union.

At ﬁrst our task seemed rather big, but now it does seem small
Since every working man respects the Federation call.
For by unity we will win, divided we will fall,
In this great struggle for the union.

—Chorus—
Hurrah, hurrah the union makes us strong,
Hurrah, hurrah it shoves us right along.
It will free us from oppression and rectify each wrong,
For such are the missions of the union.

From Calumet to Painesdale, from Mohawk to White Pine
The Federation call has stirred the sturdy sons of toil.
Fifteen thousand working men have fallen into line,
For recognition of the union.

—Chorus—
Hurrah, hurrah, for labor’s noble cause,
Hurrah, hurrah, we’ll win the world’s applause
If we stand united and respect the country laws
In this great battle for the union.

Hellraisers Journal: House Sub-Committee Hearings on Mine Conditions Underway in Denver, Colorado and Hancock, Michigan

HOWELL SNOWBOUND;
STRIKE INQUIRY DELAYED
———-

OPENS HEARING IN DENVER
———-
Congressional Subcommittee Seeks Evidence
of Law Violations.

HEARING IN MINE DISTRICT OPENS
———-
House Subcommittee Rules That
Michigan Strikers Must First Prove
Existence of Alleged Conditions.
———-

THE STRIKERS TELL STORIES
———-

HOWELL SNOWBOUND; STRIKE INQUIRY DELAYED———-

OPENS HEARING IN DENVER———-Congressional Subcommittee Seeks Evidence of Law Violations.

HEARING IN MINE DISTRICT OPENS———-House Subcommittee Rules That Michigan Strikers Must First Prove Existence of Alleged Conditions.———-

THE STRIKERS TELL STORIES———-

HOWELL SNOWBOUND;
STRIKE INQUIRY DELAYED
———-

OPENS HEARING IN DENVER
———-
Congressional Subcommittee Seeks Evidence
of Law Violations.

HEARING IN MINE DISTRICT OPENS
———-
House Subcommittee Rules That
Michigan Strikers Must First Prove
Existence of Alleged Conditions.
———-

THE STRIKERS TELL STORIES
———-