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Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 11, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1901, Part III
Found Standing with Striking Silk Mill Workers of Pennsylvania
From the Wilkes-Barre Record of February 20, 1901:
“MOTHER’ JONES IN TOWN.
———-ADDRESSES A LARGE AUDIENCE AT THE B. I. A. HALL.
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“Mother” Jones arrived in town yesterday and addressed the striking silk mill girls at B. I. A. Hall. There was a large attendance and her address created much enthusiasm. P. J. Boyle, president of the Central Labor Union, presided and a number of other labor leaders were on the platform, among them president Duke of the Pittston C. L. U.
“Mother” Jones was introduced by Mr. Boyle and she said in part:
This presents on one side a deplorable picture of greed and avarice and on the other side a new chapter in progress and civilization. In labor’s dark and dismal days past she has had her heavy burden. Labor, and labor alone, has made the American nation great, has built State houses and mansions, has raised civilization, but all the while has overlooked her own best interests. The greatness of the nation she showed-that the Mississippi Valley alone is capable of supporting six hundred millions of people. Then why is it necessary to suffer so much and work so hard for a crust of bread.
Babies are taken from the cradle to the mill. The great commercial American nation cannot be built on the bleaching bones of American children. School is the proper place for children, and those who try to place them there are called anarchists. There are millions of helpless slaves held in the hollow of the hands of a few and we propose to set them free. No longer the lash of the black slave is heard, for his wail touched the heart of the nation. The wail of the factory girls will yet touch the heart of the nation. We have wondered why the pulse of the nation has not long since throbbed. It is an appalling picture, but the spirit of greed has been so well implanted in the commercial world that the picture does not appeal to the factory owner.
She illustrated the pains that are taken to care for animals, but the deplorable condition of children is never noticed.
Here in Wilkes-Barre you have a lot of little children who ought to be in the school room. These children are paid low wages and even then do not know how much they will receive until they receive their envelopes. If they are docked and ask the reason they are discharged. If they form a union to protest the leaders are told to seek work elsewhere. The silk manufacturers unite to keep up the price of silk and why then should not the girls who produce the article unite to keep up the price of labor?…..
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[Photograph added.]
From the Philadelphia Times of February 22, 1901:
WORKERS GET INCREASE
———-
Silk Workers in Paterson Satisfied.
“Mother” Jones There.Special Telegram to THE TIMES.
Paterson, N. J., February 21.
A substantial increase in wages has been granted to the weavers in the big ribbon mills of Johnson Cowdin & Co., of Paterson. The men had presented a request for the increase, and announced to-day that it would be granted.
“Mother” Jones, the leader of the strikers in the Pennsylvania annex, has been in Paterson for the last two days visiting the various silk mills and getting the wage scales paid here. To-night she addressed a meeting of weavers from Doherty & Wadsworth’s silk mills. She told of the conditions in the Pennsylvania annex and gave the prices paid to the workers there, which are fifty per cent. lower than Peterson’s operative receive.
She said that there was no need of any financial assistance for the strikers, as they were well supplied with funds. She had two girls from the Sauquoit mills with her.
After addressing the meeting here she left on a late train for Scranton, Pa., where she will address the strikers and lead a parade to-morrow.
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From the Seattle Daily Times of February 23, 1901:
SOCIALISTIC SPEECH
———-
The Ideas of “Mother” Jones.
———–Addressed Six Thousand People in
New York Last Night.
———-By Leased Wire.
NEW YORK, Saturday, Feb 23.-“Mother” Jones, who led the big parade of coal miners during the great anthracite strike in Pennsylvania, made a fiery speech for Socialism last night, before 6000 Socialists, who packed the main floor and galleries of the Grand Central Palace. When “Mother” Jones arrived all the seats had been taken and scarcely standing room was left.
[She said, with a dramatic gesture:]
Friends and comrades, as we march through the valleys and mountains of the present day civilization we catch glimpses of wakening of the people to socialism. The American flag, which waves over us will soon have a new meaning. The first color shall stand for the pubic ownership of the means of production; the second, that the people shall own the means of distribution and the third for the ownership of the means of exchange. Who owns these things but a band of robbers in Wall Street. The coming problem for the people is how to own all they produce.
We see the sun of socialism rising in the blackness of night.
Stop the murder of babies who work ten hours a day in factories. The factory inspectors who allow this sort of thing should be put behind prison bars. They should be in prison for the rest of their lives.
We shall keep on agitating until the people stand together and abolish the system which murders babies.
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From the Philadelphia Times of February 24, 1901:
Special Telegram to THE TIMES.
SCRANTON, February 23.
Scranton’s silk strike will become general and will spread over the entire State, according to “Mother” Jones, who returned to the city this afternoon after visiting Paterson and New York in the interest of the striking girls.
At the former place her mission was to secure a schedule of the wages paid and to inquire personally into the conditions of the operators in that city, and to also learn the feeling there towards the Pennsylvania girls, who are after better wages and conditions. In New York she took it upon herself to interest organized labor in the struggle now going on here.
Conversing with THE TIMES correspondent to-night in regard to the silk strike and its consequences Mrs. Jones said:
“Mother” Jones Talks.
Why, these girls in Scranton are being robbed, and in fact all the silk mill operatives in the State are in the same condition. In Paterson I found that girls were receiving fully 50 per cent. more wages on all kinds of work, and in some instances it runs considerably higher than that.
Why, girls receive nine cents per yard for weaving the same kind of silk there that they here receive four cents per yard for, and warpers do not get a cent less than $12 per week, which is the union rate, while here it takes a very expert warper to make $7 per week under the conditions that prevail.
In my opinion this strike is just commencing. Girls all over the State are beginning to realize that they are being robbed and the strike will spread over the entire State until all are thoroughly organized. I am in receipt of several telegrams from silk mill girls in various parts of the State asking me to come and help them, and just as soon as I can get to it I shall do so.
To-morrow Mrs. Jones will go to Forest City and organize the silk workers there who went out on strike yesterday. To the local strikers she has given assurance that they will receive all the financial help necessary to carry on the battle from the Paterson girls.
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From The Scranton Republic of February 25, 1901:
“MOTHER” JONES IN FOREST CITY
“Mother” Jones, the noted labor leader, was in Forest City yesterday afternoon and addressed a large gathering in the Davis Opera House in the interest of the striking silk mill employes in that place. She went from this city on the street car and was met at the terminal by a large delegation of strikers and sympathizers. She was given a hearty welcome.
The opera house was well filled, and when “Mother” Jones made her appearance she was given an ovation. In her address to the strikers she told them that they should not be content to get $2 a week. They should ask for $5 and stay away from the mill until they get it. She said that people called her an anarchist, but that she was working only for a betterment of the workingman’s condition. In the course of her remarks she took occasion to berate the miners who had gone from Forest City to take part in a labor parade, just before the presidential election. She also paid heir respects to the employes of the mines, telling them that they should see that men were elected to pass laws that would not allow “babies” who should be at school, to work in the mills and breakers. Her speech was an earnest effort and she was liberally applauded.
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From The Scranton Times of February 26, 1901:
The silk mill strikers are jubilant today over the announcement of “Mother” Jones, to the effect that she intended to remain with them for the remainder of this week and perhaps longer if the strike remains unsettled. It was “Mother” Jones’ intention to leave here last night, but she has become so deeply interested in the struggle the girls are making that she decided to stay among them a little longer and do what she could to assist them in winning a victory.
“Mother” Jones’ presence encourages the girls. She is present at all their meetings and gives them good advice as to how they should conduct the fight. She is thoroughly In sympathy with the strikers, believes their demands are just and declares that unless the girls get what they ask the mills will lay idle for an indefinite period…..
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From the Philadelphia Times of February 28, 1901:
STRIKE SITUATION QUIET
———-
Scranton Girls Listen to Advice
From ”Mother” Jones.Special Telegram to THE TIMES.
Scranton, February 27.
To-day was another quiet one in the silk strike, and with the exception of two largely-attended meetings there was nothing doing.
This afternoon “Mother” Jones talked to about 300 employes of the Simpson mill at Minooka, and this evening she addressed the Bliss operatives at Dickson City.
Arrangement are under way for a monster meeting in the armory next Thursday night.
[Note: both Minooka and Dickson City are towns close to Scranton.]
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Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Wilkes-Barre Record
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
-Feb 20, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/89504093/
The Times
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
-Feb 22, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/53401101/
-Feb 24, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/52580956/
-Feb 28, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/52581030/
Seattle Daily Times
(Seattle, Washington)
-Feb 23, 1901, page 3
Note: page 3 per website, actually page 5
https://www.genealogybank.com/
The Scranton Republic
(Scranton, Pennsylvania)
-Feb 25, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/48310745/
The Scranton Times
(Scranton, Pennsylvania)
-Feb 26, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/533478303/
IMAGE
Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/167226270/
See also:
Feb 20, 1901, Wilkes-Barre Record-Mother Jones in Town, Speaks to Striking Silk Workers [Note: more of this speech here, sadly damaged.]
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73186057/feb-20-1901-wilkes-barre/
See search: Scranton Tribune, Feb 1901, “Mother Jones”
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?lccn=sn84026355&dateFilterType=range&date1=02%2F01%2F1901&date2=02%2F28%2F1901&language=&ortext=&andtext=&phrasetext=Mother+Jones&proxtext=&proxdistance=5&rows=20&searchType=advanced&sort=date
Tag: Pennsylvania Silk Mill Workers Strikes of 1901
https://weneverforget.org/tag/pennsylvania-silk-mill-workers-strikes-of-1901/
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 9, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1901, Part I
Found Speaking in Cleveland, Ohio, at Labor Lyceum Meeting
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 10, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1901, Part II
Found Speaking to Striking Silk Mill Workers in Scranton, Pennsylvania
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Children of Mother Jones by Pete Duffy