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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 2, 1903
New York, New York – Mother Jones Holds Street Meeting, Pens Letter to President
From the Brooklyn Standard Union of July 31, 1903:
From the Philadelphia North American of July 31, 1903
-letter from Mother Jones to President Theodore Roosevelt:
New York,
July 30.The Hon. Theodore Roosevelt
President of the United States
Oyster Bay, Long IslandYour Excellency-
Twice before have I written to you requesting an audience, that I might lay my mission before you and have your advice in a matter which bears upon the welfare of the whole nation.
I speak of the emancipation from the mills and factories of the hundreds of thousands of young children who are yielding up their lives for the commercial supremacy of the nation.
Failing to receive a reply to either of the letters, I went yesterday to Oyster Bay, taking with me three of these children that they might plead to you personally. Secretary Barnes informed us that before we might hope for an interview with you we must first lay the whole matter before you in a letter. He assured me of its delivery to you personally, and also that it would receive your attention.
I have espoused the cause of the laboring class in general, and of suffering childhood in particular. It was for them that our march of principle was begun. We sought to draw the attention of the public to these little ones, so that sentiment would be aroused and ultimately the children freed from the workshop and sent to schools. I know of no question of to-day that demands from those who have at heart the perpetuity of this republic more attention.
The child of to-day is the man or woman of to-morrow, the one the citizen and the other the mother of still future citizens. I ask, Mr. President, what kind of citizen will be the child who toils twelve hours a day in an unsanitary atmosphere, stunted mentally and physically, and surrounded with often immoral influences. Denied education, he cannot assume the duties of true citizenship, and enfeebled physically he falls a ready victim to the perverting influences which our present economic conditions have created.
I grant you, Mr. President, that there are State laws which should regulate these matters, but results have proved that they are inadequate. In my little band are three boys, the eldest 11 years of age, who have worked in the mills a year or more, without interference from the authorities. All efforts to bring about reform have failed.
I have been moved to this, Mr. President, because of actual experience in the mills. I have seen little children without the first rudiments of education and no prospect of acquiring any. I have seen little children with hands, fingers and other parts of their bodies mutilated because of their childish ignorance of machinery.
I feel that no nation can be truly great while such conditions exist without attempted remedy.
It is to be hoped that our crusade on behalf of enslaved childhood will stir up a general sentiment and secure the enforcement of the present laws.
But that is not sufficient as this is not alone a question of separate States, but of the whole nation. We come to you as the chief representative of that nation. I believe Federal laws should be passed and enforced governing this evil and including a penalty for violation.
If this is practicable, and I believe you will agree that it is, surely you can advise me of the necessary steps to pursue.
I have with me three children who have walked one hundred miles, serving as living proof of the truth of what I say.
If you decide to see these children, I will bring them before you at any time you may set.
Secretary Barnes has assured me on an early reply, and this should be sent care of the Ashland House, New York City.
Very respectfully yours,
Mother Jones[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones to TR, These Little Children
Philadelphia North American, July 16, 1903, Foner p552
https://books.google.com/books?newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&id=T_m5AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22john+lopez%22+%22philadelphia+north+american%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=theodore+roosevelt+elizabeth
The Standard Union
(Brooklyn, New York)
-July 31, 1903
https://www.newspapers.com/image/542160027/
Mother Jones Speaks
Collected Writings and Speeches
-ed by Philip S. Foner
Monad Press, 1983
p554
https://books.google.com/books?id=T_m5AAAAIAAJ
See also:
Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Writes to President Roosevelt:
“These little children, raked by cruel toil beneath the iron wheels of greed…”
Hellraisers Journal: Oyster Bay-President Roosevelt Refuses to See
Mother Jones and Her Army of Child Textile Strikers
Tag: March of the Mill Children
https://weneverforget.org/tag/march-of-the-mill-children/
7/30-Mother writes letter to President Theodore Roosevelt.
Evening: Holds street meeting at 8th Ave and W. 30th St.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/8th+Ave+%26+W+30th+St,+New+York,+NY+10001/@40.7494458,-73.9946126,15.75z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c259b1d3caa33f:0x5d8e8ce3d95b6a6c!8m2!3d40.7496872!4d-73.9952918!16s%2Fg%2F11hb3dpjxb?authuser=0&entry=ttu
The Correspondence of Mother Jones
-ed by Edward Steel
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985
https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057897435/viewer#page/6/mode/2up
Letter from Mother Jones to President Roosevelt
as printed in the Newark Daily Advertiser of July 31, 1903
https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057897435/viewer#page/96/mode/2up
To Mother Jones from B. F. Barnes
as printed in Newark Daily Advertiser of August 5, 1903:
https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057897435/viewer#page/98/mode/2up
Oyster Bay, N. Y.,
August 1, 1903.Mother Jones,
Ashland House,
New York, N. Y.
Dear Madam—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th ult., and state that it has been brought to the President’s attention.
The President, as was shown by his action while Governor of New York, has the heartiest sympathy with every effort to prevent child labor in factories, and on this matter no argument need be addressed to him, as his position has been announced again and again.
Under the constitution it is not at present seen how Congress has power to act in such a matter. It would seem that the States alone at present have the power to deal with the subject.
Very truly yours,
B. F. Barnes
Acting Secretary to the President
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Babies in the Mill – Dorsey Dixon