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Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 16, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June and July 1912
Found in West Virginia Standing with Striking Miners of Kanawah County
From The Sacramento Star of June 3, 1912:
Mother Jones has forwarded $800 from Montana to the Harriman shop strikers. Seven hundred of this was donated, in response to her earnest appeal, by unions of coal miners, and the remainder came from mill and smeltermen, machinists and other crafts. How persistent has been her work tor the System Federation is seen in her statement that she refused to accept less than $250 from the union of miners at Roundup, and their $100 donation was sent through their international office. Butte metal miners gave $300 some time ago.
[She writes in a characteristic letter to President E. L. Reguin and Secretary John Scott of the System Federation:]
If the men had been working regularly in the coal mines, I could have gathered up very much more. However, the whole thing shows the disposition of the men to aid each other in the struggle, which counts to me very much more than the finances,
I shall leave in a few days for West Virginia, to take up the battle there. It is a dangerous field, and many of us who go in there are more than likely never to come out, but what difference does that make so long as we are carrying on the industrial battle, and flaunting in the face of the foe the red flag of industrial freedom? There must be sacrifices made, and there must be martyrs. That state and Alabama must be organized within the next few years.
Tell my boys of the Federation it matters not where I go, I shall keep up the fight against oppression and wrong. Men, women and children must be free, and sentiment will never free them. Those who are grounded in the philosophy of the class struggle must go forth and give battle to the well-entrenched foe.
Tell the boys to keep up the fight. It is far better to die fighting and suffering than to remain slaves.
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From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of June 6, 1912:
MINERS HOLD CONFERENCE
A conference of all the officers of the different districts of the United Mine Workers of America of the Rocky Mountain Jurisdiction, was held Monday in Butte, Mont. Plans were laid for more thorough organization, and for active assistance to employers of union labor in the matter of securing increased sale of union-mined coal. “Mother” Jones addressed the meeting and left Monday night for West Virginia.
From The Cincinnati Post of June 11, 1912:
CHARLESTON, W. VA., June 11.–(Spl.)—Mother Jones, who has devoted half of her 80 years to an effort to soften the lot of the coal miners, is here to remain until the miners of the Paint Creek section get some redress from the conditions which have made it necessary for them to appeal to Governor Glasscock.
Paint Creek is 18 miles long and is flanked by a score of mine operations, which usually employ thousands of miners. Idleness has reigned in the district since April 1. Now the operators have 100 guards patrolling the creek in an effort to crush out unionism among the West Virginia miners. It is only in this section that the miners have been strong enough to organize.
Condemns the System
“I am going to stay here all week and dig down to the bottom of this trouble,” said Mother Jones, who arrived Sunday from Colorado.
She began by addressing a mass meeting of miners Sunday at Holly Grove.
[She declared:]
It is not the individual we are after, it is the system.
In West Virginia the “system” has been to crush out organized labor by the bludgeon and rifle in the hands of guards, paid by the operators and sworn in by the State as Deputy Sheriffs.
[Said Mother Jones:]
To me the conditions mean industrial war. You may beat a slave, but after a time a slave will revolt. Sane men do not undertake to violate property law, but sane men may be driven insane when hunger comes, if they are forced to fight. They reach the stage where they feel they might as well die as try to live under the conditions they are forced to submit to.
Homes Are Saddened
[The aged friend of the toiler continued:]
We hear a great deal about the right of women to vote. You can’t improve such conditions as exist here by extending the ballot to women. One of the great troubles is the loss of sunshine in the home. When a man gets home from work he should be greeted by a smile, but the women can’t smile under these conditions. It’s no wonder the criminal class is chiefly made up of young people.
Sheriff Smith, under instructions from Governor Glasscock, is keeping in close touch with Paint Creek, where it is believed a crisis is at hand.
It is believed Governor Glasscock will order out the militia if there is further loss of life. One miner was killed and another seriously shot last week. Many have been beaten.
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From The Charleston Gazette of June 11, 1912:
Mother Jones…from the stump and through the press has shown a desire only to do something for the betterment of the great American laboring class. She is 80 years old. On the day of her arrival here she addressed a miners’ mass meeting for an hour and a half-and unassisted she climbed a steep hill to the speakers’ stand and made a stronger effort and a more telling address in every way than that of any of the others whose names appeared on the list of speakers, and most of whom were only half her years.
Some people never get old, and Mother Jones is one who, no matter how long she be spared to her stormy career, will be gathered to her ancestors in the bosom of youth.
[Interviewed in Charleston, Mother Jones said:]
I am simply a social revolutionist. I believe in collective ownership of the means of wealth. At this time the natural commodities of this country are cornered in the hands of a few. The man who owns the means of wealth gets the major profit, and the worker, who produces the wealth from the means in the hands of the capitalist, takes what he can get. Sooner or later, and perhaps sooner than we think, evolution and revolution will have accomplished the overturning of the system under which we now live, and the worker will have gained his own. This change will come as the result of education. My life work has been to try to educate the worker to a sense of the wrongs he has had to suffer, and does suffer-and to stir up the oppressed to a point of getting off their knees and demanding that which I believe to be rightfully theirs. When force is used to hinder the worker in his efforts to obtain the things which are his, he has the right to meet force with force. He has the right to strike for what is his due, and he has no right to be satisfied with less. The people want to do right, but they have been hoodwinked for ages. They are now awakening, and the day of their enfranchisement is near at hand.
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From The Wheeling Intelligencer of June 11, 1912:
MOTHER JONES
———-ENTHUSES STRIKING KANAWHA COAL MINERS
———-
Situation Quiet Now, But Trouble Is Expected
When Men Are Evicted From Cabins.
———-Special Dispatch to the Intelligencer.
CHARLESTON, W. Va., June 10.-While there has been no disturbance in the Paint Creek section during the past few days, the tension is very strong, and any little movement may cause trouble. Every visitor that enters the trouble zone is subjected to questions as to his business, politics, etc., and if he can’t satisfy the questioners he finds it isn’t safe to advance.
Yesterday Mother Jones addressed a big meeting of Socialists at Holly Grove and every reference to Debs and Socialistic doctrine was widely cheered.
Despite these conditions, Sheriff Smith, of Kanawha county, says he has the situation in hand and does not anticipate the need of the militia. The miners, however, will have to vacate their houses if they don’t return to work on or before June 20. The operators fear trouble before that date.
To-day a delegation of miners with their wives, called on the governor to demand the revocation of the commissions of special officers. No action was taken.
From the Hinton Independent-Herald of June 13, 1912:
QUIET REIGNED IN STRIKE AREA
———-“MOTHER” JONES MADE ADDRESS CRITICISING
W. VA. GUARD SYSTEM SUNDAY MORNING
———-Charleston, W. Va., June 12-All was quiet yesterday along Paint creek, where the union miners formerly in the employ of the Paint Creek Colliery Company have been on a strike for the past several week, and where there has been more or less violence and one death as result of friction between the striking miners and the guards in the employ of the operating company.
A mass meeting of miners at Holly Grove, near the mouth of Paint Creek, on Sunday morning was addressed by the district officers of the United Mine Workers of America and by Mrs. Mary Jones, better known as “Mother” Jones.
Mrs. Jones was in Montana when she heard of the struggle between labor and capital in Kanawha county, and she came across the continent to take part in the fight. She is now 80 years of age, but strong and active as a woman of 50. She spoke for an hour and 30 minutes. Her address was largely an arraignment of the guard system and its workings in the West Virginia coal fields and a criticism of the executive branch of the state government for permitting the system to exist so near the state capital.
On Monday a delegation of miners came to Charleston to prevail upon the governor to revoke the commissions of the guards employed by the coal company. The executive took the matter under advisement, and ordered the adjutant general to keep a close watch on the situation.
President Thomas Cairnes [Cairns], of the district miners organization, was in the strike settlement yesterday, and will return to the city today.
“Mother” Jones is making her headquarters at the Hotel Fleetwood, and will probably remain in the vicinity as long as the strike continues.
There are 25 to 30 guards in the employ of the colliery company, and a constant patrol is maintained about the workings along the stream.
From the Clarksburg Daily Telegram of June 14, 1912:
MILITIA
———-
Is Watching Developments in the
Miners’ Strike on Paint Creek.
———-CHARLESTON, June 14.-The situation on Paint Creek where the miners are on strike, is being closely watched. At the instance of Governor Glasscock several officers of the state militia have been detailed to make frequent visits to all points along the creek, extending over the entire length-some fifteen or eighteen miles. Mother Jones has been conferring with the mine leaders here but the conclusions arrived at at these conferences have not been given out. It is believed the miners will take a definite stand when an effort is made to eject them from their houses on June 20. The second notice of thirty days each will have expired on that date. Of course those that have returned to work others who are expected to return to work in the meantime will not be disturbed. The various companies desire to operate their mines, and they contend a large number of men want to work but are prevented from doing so by some of the leaders.
From the Pittsburg, Kansas, Labor Herald of June 21, 1912:
Mother Jones, the angel of light in the ranks of Organized Labor, has taken up the battle for the boys who have been out on a strike on the Harriman lines since last September. To Mother Jones belongs the honor, the gratitude of tens of thousands of laboring men, hers is the power of light penetrating the darkness of ignorance and winning thousands of men to the union ranks. Heroes and leaders in war and peace we have had, but none greater than Mother Jones. “She will never die; the greater part of her shall elude the grave, for she is building monuments more lasting than bronze.”
From The Wheeling Majority of July 4, 1912:
Hot Times In West Virginia
———-[Mother Jones Working Night and Day]
(By G. H. Edmunds.)
Charleston, W. Va., July 3.—(Special.)—You talk about the cossacks of Russia and the state police of Pennsylvania, but the guard system of West Virginia has all these backed off the boards. The guards along Paint Creek have taken the law in their hands, and are openly defying the law in all its phases. They are evicting the miners in open violation of the law up to date, we have been unable to check them. The law firm of Littlepage, Matheney and Littlepage sought to enjoin the coal companies, and here is what happened.
District Judge Burdette did the “fade-away” act’ to perfection. When our attorney went to his court (after having a time set to hear the injunction), and there and then found that the judge had left the community and no one could say where he had gone or when he would return. So the coal companies are still evicting our people. If Kellar, the great magician, wants to learn a few new tricks along the “fade-away” line, he might do well to consult his honor, Judge Burdette.
Assaulting Children.
Assault after assault has been committed upon defenseless men, women and children. But the sheriff of Kanawha county has done absolutely nothing about it at all. We hope that the miners will not forget Judge Burdette when election day comes. If he is afraid to perform the duties of his office, then he is not competent to fill that high office. I know it is pretty hard to go up against such a proposition as issuing or refusing an injunction as the one prayed for, yet it was the plain duty of Judge Burdette to have stood his ground and decided this case on its merits. Judge Burdette stands indicted for rank cowardice before all the people of this county. Will they forget or condone this act? Lots could be said about Kanawha county justice, but we will save it for campaign dope. Board Member Watkins Reports a good meeting at McClannahan, just across the mountain from Raymond City. We are glad to see these men coming out of the kinks at last. There are scores of good men over there and now that they have started again we bid them God speed.
Boys, don’t stop until every man in your locality is a union man and a Socialist. The “man catchers” from Burnwell “caught” two colored brothers in their net of deception, but upon their arrival at Burnwell, they found out about the strike and they left, walking 17 miles, and they informed the guards they would spend a year in the penitentiary before they would work as strike breakers. Pretty good union men, these.
Mother Jones There.
Mother Jones is still here and well and working night and day. She bears her 80 years as if they were 50. We expect big things next week. At this time we have 21 guards on trial for entering the homes of the miners without leave or warrant.
The miners are still firm and there will be no break away from our ranks. Organizers Batley and Davis left for their homes to spend the 4th of July. Organizer G. H. Edmunds and Vice President Frank J. Hayes will speak at Buxton, Ia., on the Fourth. Great credit is due the Majority for the gallant advocacy of the miners’ cause during this strike. All miners should subscribe to this paper, because he is our friend, and we should stand by our friends. Editor Hilton, has been fearless in his defense of our cause.
All mine workers are requested to stay away from West Virginia until notified officially that the strike is ended.
[Paragraph breaks added.]
From the Beckley Raleigh Herald of July 5, 1912:
Mother Jones Here
Mother Jones, the well-known labor leader, whose fame as a speaker is nation wide, was in the city and addressed a large audience in the court house Thursday evening. Mother Jones, one of the leading advocates of the Socialist party and travels over the country in the interest of the laboring class, pointing out the remedies for their ills as she sees them. This is her second visit to Raleigh county, the first being in 1902. She was in this occasion by E. E. Hendrickson, Socialist candidate for sheriff, and her speech of about one hour, was to the effect that party lines had faded away and the real struggle existed between capital and labor.
Note: emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones re Life Work, WV Cton Gz, June 11, 1912
-per ISR p648, Mar 1913
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v13n09-mar-1913-ISR-riaz-ocr.pdf
The Sacramento Star
(Sacramento, California)
-June 3, 1912
https://www.newspapers.com/image/607129196
United Labor Bulletin
(Denver, Colorado)
-June 6, 1912
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1912-06-06/ed-1/seq-1/
The Cincinnati Post
(Cincinnati, Ohio)
-June 11, 1912
https://www.newspapers.com/image/761240771
The Charleston Gazette
(Charleston, West Virginia)
-June 11, 1912
-per International Socialist Review, p648
of March 1913
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v13n09-mar-1913-ISR-riaz-ocr.pdf
The Wheeling Intelligencer
(Wheeling, West Virginia)
-June 11, 1912
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092536/1912-06-11/ed-1/seq-1/
The Independent-Herald
(Hinton, West Virginia)
-June 13, 1912
https://www.newspapers.com/image/667504888
The Daily Telegram
(Clarksburg, West Virginia)
-June 14, 1912
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85059715/1912-06-14/ed-1/seq-9/
The Labor Herald
(Pittsburg, Kansas)
-June 21, 1912
https://www.newspapers.com/image/484358678
The Wheeling Majority
“Official Organ Ohio Valley and Belmont Trades Assemblies and
Tin Plate Workers International Protective Association of America”
(Wheeling, West Virginia)
-July 4, 1912
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092530/1912-07-04/ed-1/seq-6/
The Raleigh Herald
(Raleigh, West Virginia)
-July 5, 1912
https://www.newspapers.com/image/6278193
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 16, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for May 1912
Found Speaking in Anaconda, Montana, on Behalf of the Shopmen’s Strike
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 5, 1912
Mother Jones Preparing to Leave Montana, Heading for West Virginia
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 13, 1912
Charleston, West Virginia – Mother Jones Arrives, Visits Holly Grove at Paint Creek
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 7, 1912
Charleston, West Virginia – Cossacks Rule Paint Creek, Mother Jones at Work
Horace’s Monument, More Eternal Than Bronze
https://www.pantheonpoets.com/horaces-monument-more-eternal-than-bronze/
Conditions in the Paint Creek District, West Virginia, Hearings (Volume I)
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1913
(search: evicted)
(search: seville)-re beaten during eviction of June 1912 and her baby stillborn thereafter.
https://books.google.com/books?id=HQM9AAAAYAAJ
The Wheeling Majority
(Wheeling, West Virginia)
-Oct 3, 1912
“Assistance for Kanawha Strikers”
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092530/1912-10-03/ed-1/seq-1/
-Oct 17, 1912
“Soldiers Evict Miners’ Families”
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092530/1912-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/
The Day Book
(Chicago, Illinois)
-June 17, 1913
re Testimony of Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Estep and Mrs. Seville
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-06-17/ed-1/seq-13/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-06-17/ed-1/seq-14/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-06-17/ed-1/seq-15/
Tag: Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike of 1912-1913
https://weneverforget.org/tag/paint-creek-cabin-creek-strike-of-1912-1913/
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Mother Jones, No More Deaths For Dollars – Ed Pickford