Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for May 1902: Found Organizing Coal Miners for the UMWA in West Virginia, Part I

Quote John Mitchell to Mother Jones re WV Fairmont Field, May 10, 1902 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 7, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for May 1902, Part I
Found Organizing Coal Miners of West Virginia and Advocating General Strike

From the Morgantown (W. V.) Daily New Dominion of May 3, 1902:

STRIKING DEMONSTRATION.
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All Union Men of the Country to Cease Work.
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Nothing will be Done by a Member of a Union on That Day
-Object Lesson of the Strength of the Unions
-Plans are all Perfected for the Movement.

CHARLESTON. May 3—On May 17th every union workingman in the country, no matter of what trade, will lay down his tools and refuse to work for one day. So exclaimed “Mother” Jones today on her return from an extended “missionary” trip up the Kanawha and New river valleys where she has been working in behalf of the labor organizations in order to perfect a union among the miners who so far have failed to join the ranks of the many who use the pick in the bituminous coal fields of West Virginia.

“Mother” Jones tells that it is no secret. She says that at a meeting of all the labor organizations all over the entire country this question has been presented and discussed and that so far all reports received have been favorable.

The purpose is merely to give an object lesson of the power of labor if it sees fit to assert itself.

The assertions of the great labor agitator coming at this time when it appears on the surface that times are good and labor is receiving wages that are considered the best, has caused a sensation among the capitalists cf the State, especially those who are in line of control among the mines and lumber industries of West Virginia. She makes no bones of telling why labor is dissatisfied with its present condition. Trusts and the consequent advancement of all supplies, materials and articles of food are the causes for the unrest that is manifest and she says the people who live by the use of their hands are becoming so tired of the imposition that they have decided to give capital an object lesson that will be remembered for years to come.

There has been little heralding of the purpose of the labor organizations says “Mother” Jones. In fact it has been kept extremely quiet for a purpose, but there is no question according to her, but that they mean business and the country will see a general strike such as never was recorded before. Every member of all the organizations of labor and their sympathizers will stop work and unless concessions come from the magnates who rule the various trusts of the country without delay, there will be a cessation of activity along all the lines of commerce, both state, national and foreign.

The recent action of the beef trust in placing the product that is most used among the working class beyond the reach of the working man has so infuriated the masses that nothing short of a general strike is thought of by them.

“Mother” Jones stated that she herself had visited hundreds of the various lodges of the country and with one acclaim all are in favor of the measures herein outlined. The railroads have pooled their issues in such a manner and have so discriminated in freights that none except the very wealthy are in a position to receive any benefits from them. So it is with the great iron and steel industries and in the sections formerly benefited by them, there is now nothing for the independent producer to do but to submit to the inevitable.

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[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of May 4, 1902:

Working For Miners’ Organization.

(Special Dispatch to the Baltimore Sun.)

CHARLESTON, W. Va., May 3.-“Mother Jones,” who has been in this vicinity some time in the interest of the United Mine Workers, has succeeded in bringing quite a number into the fold. A fey days ago a number of miners employed at Mammoth went on a strike, presumably as a result of her labors. Nearly all have applied for their old positions and returned to work on the old terms.

From the Baltimore Sun of May 6, 1902:

LOOKING NOW TO BIG STRIKE
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Mitchell Says 147,000 Will Surely Obey Order If Given.

(Special Dispatch to the Baltimore Sun.)

NEW YORK, May 5.-Little doubt remains that there will be a strike in the anthracite coal region.

The final decision rests with the joint executive committee of the United Mine Workers of America, which will meet Wednesday in Scranton, Pa. John Mitchell, president of the Mine Workers, will leave this city tomorrow to report to the committee that the demands of the miners have been formally rejected by the operators. Mr. Mitchell had hoped until Saturday that some concessions would be made and the committee would be justified in declaring a truce. He is now convinced that no further good can be accomplished by conferences, and he devoted today to straightening out minor business questions affecting interests in the bituminous coal fields. When he returned to the Ashland House in the afternoon he did not care to discuss the situation, saying the executive committee must decide.

“The convention made specific demands for an increase in pay, a decrease in working hours and for weighing the coal wherever it is practicable,” he said. “I shall report to the committee that these demands have not been granted.”

Mr. Mitchell insists that a signal for a strike will be promptly obeyed by 147,000 men and boys working in and about the mines. Officials of the coal companies deny that the union is as powerful as its members report. When the strike was declared in 1900 only a part of the men showed their allegiance to the union by laying down their tools. Many others were induced to quit work afterward, as a result of the marches made by the strikers under the leadership of “Mother Jones.” Peace was finally effected largely through the efforts of Senator Hanna, who feared a continuance of the labor troubles would be prejudicial to the Republicans in the Presidential campaign.

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