Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1910, Part III: “Friend of Labor” Interviewed in Washington, D. C., by Selene Armstrong

Quote Mother Jones, Husband Children, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 19, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1910, Part III:
-Interviewed by Selene Armstrong in Washington, D. C.

From The Washington Times of June 18, 1910:

Thus spoke Mother Jones, the plucky little white-haired woman, whose home, to use her own words, is “wherever there’s a labor war, and the President of the United States, when she had journeyed across half a continent to lay before him for the first time the cases of a number of political refugees in prison in Arizona, Kansas, and other Western States.

Today and on other days this week, Mother Jones has been busy at the Capitol, where it said that members of certain committees before which she has appeared have gasped for breath and begged for mercy before she had finished outlining to them their duties in regard to the Mexicans whose freedom she seeks from the Government.

Meets Old Friends.

She has hobnobbed with her old friends Representatives Wilson and Nicholls of Pennsylvania, and has made new friends of many other statesmen, who, however little they sympathize with her decided views on this or that public question, cannot harden their hearts against the cheery good humor and keen wit which radiate from her.

When asked by Chairman Dalzell of the Rules Committee of the House, before which she has appeared this week, to state her place of residence, Mother Jones replied:

My home is wherever there a labor war, sir.

The life story of this little woman with the snow white hair, the childlike blue eyes, and the look of perennial youthfulness on her face, would, if it were written, be the history of the of cause of organized labor. For thirty years she has traveled throughout the length and breath of the land in order to stand by the workers in time of stress. In the roughest mining camps of the West, and in the crowded tenement districts of eastern cities, she has brought to the women of the working class a woman’s gentle counsel, and to the men sagacity and keen judgement the equal of a man’s.

Help in Every Labor War.

[She told me:]

You see, my husband and my children were buried near Memphis just after the war between the states. That left me all alone in the world. It was thirty years ago that I became interested in the workers of the world, and then I made their cause my cause. There hasn’t been a big labor war in America for the past quarter of a century that I haven’t been there.

What can a woman do in a labor war? Why, twice as much as a man. For there are the women to be quieted and comforted, and there are the men to be counseled. In all the big coal strikes in Pennsylvania I have been on hand, trying to make the men stand together intelligently, teaching them, and helping them as best I could.

Then there are little children. In 1893 [1903] I led an army child workers from the textile mills to Oyster Bay to see Colonel [President] Roosevelt. What did I want him to see them for? Why, I went there to ask him how I could get a bill introduced into Congress prohibiting the murder of little children in the big mills of the country.

Not Received by Roosevelt.

Mr Roosevelt did not see me, or the children either. Now, if that had beer President Taft, he would have given us an audience. And, do you know, (with a sudden brightening of the countenance), I believe, whats more, Mrs. Taft would have given those children some lemonade cake. No, President and Mrs. Taft never would have let those child go away so disappointed, like Roosevelt did.

Mother Jones’ love for the children led her also to the South, where, in order to study their condition, she worked side by side with them for fourteen hours a day in the cotton mills of Alabama and South Carolina. This was in the old of unrestricted child labor in the South, and she left no stone unturned to inform herself thoroughly of the conditions there, before setting about righting them.

It was less than eighteen months that Mother Jones became interested in Mexican political refugees to the United States. With characteristic energy she set about investigating their cases, and, once her sympathies had been enlisted in their behalf, in raising money for them. By superhuman effort, speaking before labor unions and telLing her story to any man or woman who would listen, she succeeded in raising a fund of $4,000, which will be used in their behalf.

During the recent shirt-waist strike in Philadelphia and New York, she was in the midst of the fight, “mothering” the hundreds of shirt waist makers and doing what was within her power to alleviate their suffering. For more than twenty-five years she has conferred with Presidents of the United States in behalf of her children, the workers; has influenced legislation, directly and indirectly, in their behalf, and has suffered and rejoiced always with faith in their cause.

“Have you ever written the story of your life?” was asked her.

[She answered:]

I have been so busy I have never had time.

From the Duluth Labor World of June 25, 1910:

LABOR LEADERS ARE INTERESTED IN CASE
OF MEXICAN VICTIMS
—–

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 24.-“They are all here,” whispered Representative Fasset of New York, as he noticed the presence of most of the legislative representatives of organized labor at the hearing on the persecution of Mexican political refugees in this country before the house committee on rules.

“I see they are,” whispered back Representative Lawrence, of Massachusetts, who presided in the absence of Chairman Dalzell, Cannon’s successor on the most important committee of the lower house.

So they were. Throughout the five hearings at which testimony and evidence was presented to show that officials of the United States are in collusion with the Mexican government in hounding political refugees, the greatest interest was displayed by the men who manage to wring out some labor legislation from an unwilling congress.

There is no doubt that the interests taken by organized labor in the defense of the principle of political asylum in this country has helped a great deal in forcing the rules committee to at least allow the introduction of a great deal of suppressed facts regarding outrages along the border prove the necessity of a joint congressional investigation of the entire matter.

Among the papers presented at the hearing was an open letter which had been sent by President Gompers of the American Federation of Labor to President Roosevelt, protesting against the treatment meted out to the Mexican patriots who had fought for their constitutional rights in their native land and forced by the Bloody Diaz to seek refuge here.

“Mother” Jones, the “Angel of the Miners,” pleaded with the committee to “probe these cases to the bottom, and spare no one.” She declared that these persecuted refugees had been fighting for human freedom in Mexico, and that they deserve the same treatment from our government as Schurz and Garibaldi. Others [who?] appeared before the committee were John Murray and John Kenneth Turner, author of “Barbarous Mexico.”

The resolution to investigate the persecutions of Mexican political refugees was introduced by Representative Wilson, of Pennsylvania, formerly international secretary of the United Mine Workers of America. The attention of congress to the Mexican cases was first drawn by Representative Nicholls, also of Pennsylvania, and formerly president of [District 1 of] the United Mine Workers of America.

———-

Hellraisers Journal of June 25, 1910:

Mother Jones Remembers Martin Irons

From The Labor Argus of June 23, 1910:

Labor Progressing, Says Mother Jones
—–

Workers of Today Do Their Own Thinking Declares
“Stormy Petrel” In Special Interview
—–

Washington, D. C., June 22.-“The workingmen of this country are at last beginning to think for themselves.”

These significant words came from the lips of Mother Jones, the gray-haired labor agitator, who for the last thirty years has participated in every labor struggle of any prominence, whose presence on the field of action inspires courage and hope among the workers, and strikes terror in the hearts of the masters.

[Said Mother, as she is fondly called by the millions of her boys:]

In the years gone by, the workers were absolutely helpless and dependent on the ability and loyalty of the leaders. Today the leaders are absolutely helpless and dependent on the strength and intelligence of the rank and file.

The work of the old warriors of the labor movement, who have blazed the way with sacrifices for a cause that burned their souls, is bearing fruit. The workers are at last fired with the spirit of revolt and religiously and industrially they are working out their own salvation.

With the force and strength characteristic of the “Stormy Petrel,” and with a sudden brightening of her kindly face, she transmitted to her interviewer the thoughts that were stirring her soul when she uttered, “They are working out their own salvation.”

[Continued Mother Jones:]

There are any number of plain workingmen, who for clearness and logic in analyzing and understanding economic questions can give cards and spades to any Senator and Representative in Washington.

Workingmen of today exchange ideas and discuss important problems in the workshops, at their union meetings, and in their ever growing labor press. These are the most promising signs of the times.

Mother Jones has spent the last ten days in Washington, doing her utmost to secure a congressional investigation of the persecution of the Mexican political refugees in this country. When she was called upon to testify at the hearing on Representative Wilson’s resolution for an investigation of these outrages before the House committee on rules, Chairman Dalzell asked her to state the place of her residence.

“I live wherever the workers are fighting the robbers,” she replied to the surprise and embarrassment of a number of corporation men who are members of the committee.

Although seventy-six years of age, Mother Jones has no thought of retiring.

[She says:]

I am still in the fight. From here I am going to New York City, and see what I can do for those bakery boys who are there on strike. From there I am going to the anthracite region, and from there, I don’t know.

Working to the limit of her strength for those who are living, Mother Jones has not forgotten those “old warriors who have blazed the way.”

[Feelingly said Mother Jones:]

In a lonely spot in Bruceville, Texas, marked only by a piece of an old iron shovel, is a grave of Martin Irons, the labor pioneer, who is unhonored, unsung and unremembered.

Martin Irons, on whose bleached bones the railroad brotherhoods have been built, the man who was hounded to death by the Goulds and their satellites, is buried in an obscure spot in the little cemetery of that small Texas town. When I visited his grave, these words came to my lips:

“Here lies the hero of the industrial battle. He lies alone and yet not alone, for the mocking birds are singing their love songs to their mates.”

In the near future, I am going to have his remains moved to the cemetery of the martyred miners in Mt. Olive, Illinois, and there Martin Irons will sleep with fellow soldiers who have given their lives for humanity’s greatest cause.

Martin Irons

[Photographs added.]