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Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 11, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1901, Part I
Found in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Indianapolis, Indiana
From the Wilkes-Barre Weekly Union Leader of January 11, 1901:
What Mother Jones Has to Say
Regarding the Conditions.
“Mother” Jones, of coal strike fame, dropped into Philadelphia Monday night and hunted up a few congenial spirits at the Trades Assembly Hall, 931 Callowhill street, says the Philadelphia Times. She is on her way to West Virginia, where she will report to President W. C. Stephenson, of the West Virginia United Mine Workers, for organization work.
The miners of the Mountain State are to be organized during January and February, and the national organization is lending the state organization all possible assistance. The miners along the Kanawha and New rivers are to be unionized first, Mrs. Jones said, after which the organizers will go into the Fairmount district. In regard to conditions in the anthracite field of Pennsylvania Mrs. Jones said:
The miners in the anthracite region are now well satisfied and everything is going along smoothly. The semi-monthly pay law is being gradually put into effect, and other conditions are being rectified. The miners are all joining the unions and new locals are being formed all through the region.
The girls employed in the silk mill at Freeland are still on strike and have formed a union. They are determined to win. At Carbondale and Wilkes-Barre the silk mill operatives are also on strike, and sent for me in both places. I did what I could do to help them, but was not successful. In Wilkes-Barre they struck because the boss demanded that they give up their union cards to him, which they refused to do.
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[Photograph added.]
From The Indianapolis Journal of January 21, 1901:
MINE WORKERS ARE HERE
———-“MOTHER” JONES IS ONE OF THE
PRINCIPAL ATTRACTIONS.
—–
She Has Endeared Herself to Organized Labor
In Many Ways-The Work in Hand.
—–The United Mine Workers’ convention will hold its first session in Tomlinson Hall this morning at 10 o’clock. The convention will be called to order by President Mitchell, and the first business of the session will be the report of the credentials committee. The day will likely be taken up in the appointment of committees and the organization preparatory to the business of the convention. There will be about 1,000 delegates in the convention and between 600 and 800 arrived last night. All of the delegates from Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois and the anthracite district of Pennsylvania came in before night. The Illinois delegation, composed of more than two hundred delegates, came in on a special train. A feature of the arrivals was the large delegation from the anthracite district. Last year there were scarcely a dozen delegates from that district, while this year it is represented by more than one hundred. This increased representation is the result of the big strike in the anthracite district, when nearly all of the miners were organized.
Conspicuous in the convention, and perhaps one of the most pleasurable features of the meeting will be the presence of “Mother” Jones. Not only the miners, but all other branches of organized labor have learned to look upon “Mother” Jones with the maternal respect that that name implies. Her figure has been familiar in many of the most severe strikes the country has seen, her council has been solicited and her words of sympathy and encouragement have stimulated the hearts of thousands when the clouds were darkest. Mrs. Jones has engaged apartments at the Occidental Hotel and will remain in the city while the convention is in session. She will be here this evening or to-morrow.
“MOTHER” JONES’S CAREER.
The career of “Mother” Jones and her identification with the organized labor movement have been remarkable. She has been a social reformer from the time of her childhood, and her researches into social and economic conditions led her to take up the cause of organized labor. Her intelligence upon topics of general interest gives her the broadest views and she has upon innumerable occasions demonstrated that she is equal to any argumentive emergency.
“Mother” Jones was born in Cork. Ireland, fifty-eight years ago, and came to this country with her parents when she was quite a little girl. Her maiden name was Mary Harris. She is a sister of Dean Harris, of the Catholic diocese of Montreal, Canada. Her childhood was spent in the State of Maine, where she secured her early education, later becoming a school teacher in that State. While she was yet a school teacher she married. Her husband did not live long and since her widowhood she has devoted her entire time to the uplifting of the poorer classes and placing the laboring element on a higher educational and social plane.
Possessing a high sense of moral, social and civic right, her ideas readily molded into those of a reformer with mature years and diligent research into social and economic topics. While she became well known among reformers and labor leaders as a bright writer and able platform speaker she did not come into public prominence until the big railroad strike in Chicago in 1894. She was then a resident of Pullman, III., and it was during that strike that she first identified herself so strongly with organized labor. Since then she has been prominent in many of the largest strikes, particularly in those of the miners. Among those in which she proved herself to be a valuable acquisition to the ranks of organized labor was the strike in Pittsburg, in 1895, the miners’ strike of 1897, the central Pennsylvania strike of 1899 and 1900. and the great anthracite strike last October. She was active in preparing for this great strike and remained in the district until it was won.
HAS DONE OTHER WORK.
Although she has been closely allied with the miners during the last few years, she has found time to do other work for the cause of labor. She has proved invaluable to the officers of organized labor by her visits to factories in the cities, and also in furnishing information to newspapers on factory life. These tours of inspection have been confined particularly to the cotton mills of the South. She has been unceasing in her efforts and never loses an opportunity to speak a word for the laboring men or go where she can do the most good. The vigilance with which she pursues her calling was demonstrated at the close of the anthracite strike. When it became known that the strike was won, although a settlement had not been made, she at once left for the New England States, where the mills were closed on account of the weavers’ strike.
Hers is a labor of love. She has always paid her own expenses and it was not until recently that she was employed on a salary. She has a faculty of becoming acquainted and when she enters a community it is not long until men and women alike know her as “Mother” Jones. She visits the wives of the laboring men and talks to them about organized labor, telling them of the necessity of bearing hardships for the benefit of their husbands and children. Especially does she speak of the children and looks upon them as the coming “rulers of the country.” Her counsel to the wives is such as to bear out her sincerity. Her addresses are also specially directed to young men.
PLATFORM SPEAKER.
As a platform speaker she ranks with any of the women speakers. Her methods are not uniform, as she adapts herself to the conditions and environments that surround the field in which she is working. Her power over an audience is remarkable. Her constant admonition is that there are brighter times ahead and her words are always optimistic and encouraging. A natural Irish wit frequently adds strength to her words. Her purpose is to assist in uplifting the human race. There is no person too low in the scale of human life for Mrs. Jones to speak a word of encouragement and sympathy and there is none too high to escape her criticism.
She possesses the faculty of inducing men to stand together and their wives to stand by their husbands. The power she shows in this direction is great and it has become so widely recognized that she is hailed with delight when needed in time of strike.
No woman has a stronger personality than Mrs. Jones, and her unyielding attitude against the dictatorial methods sometimes used by employers has won for her their highest respect, and she is the pride of the laboring men. A demonstration of this indifference to bluffing was shown no later than last week. She was working in West Virginia, where a strong effort is now being made to organize the miners. So successful has she been in her assistance to the organizers that last week what purported to be a writ of mandamus was issued against her by the courts, asking her to leave the State at once.
At that time she was preparing to come to Indianapolis to attend the convention, but with the mandamus writ, all preparations ceased. She at once decided she would stay in West Virginia and notified the United Mine Workers’ officials that she would not attend the convention. She used the argument that the coal operators were employing foreigners who had no intention of becoming citizens of the United States and as she had lived here nearly all of her life, she was confident she had as much right to remain in West Virginia as the operators’ employes. It was because of the persuasion of the mine workers that she was induced to leave West Virginia and come to Indianapolis.
HER PERSONALITY.
Mrs. Jones is a woman of medium stature, being about five feet four inches tall, and weighs perhaps 140 pounds. Her hair is almost snow white and she has large, piercing, steel gray eyes. She is strictly feminine in all of her accomplishments. She usually dresses in black and has a modest, unassuming appearance that commands the highest respect, and does not betray the ability she possesses. Her voice is like that of the woman, but it is strong and she has little difficulty in speaking in large halls and in the open air. While in the city Mrs. Jones will likely deliver an address to the miners.
An important matter that will come before the convention is the organization of a women’s auxiliary to the United Mine Workers. It is likely that such an organization will be launched, and if the plans materialize, which is almost a foregone conclusion. “Mother” Jones will be placed at the head of it as organizer.
———-
From The Indianapolis Journal of January 24, 1901:
“MOTHER” JONES HERE.
———-
She Will Be in Indianapolis Till
the Convention Closes.
———-No delegate attending the Mine Workers’ convention is more interested in the proceedings of the sessions than “Mother” Jones, who is now at the Occidental and will remain until the convention closes. To the miners she is a familiar figure, and her words of cheer have been heard by many of the delegates when they were in need of encouragement in time of strikes. “Mother” Jones said last night she hoped the recommendation of President Mitchell in his annual report providing for the organization of a women’s auxiliary will meet the approval of the convention, as she regards such a movement as a most beneficial venture for the miners. She says such an organization would be more effective than the Women’s Label League, because it would mean a direct betterment of the conditions of their homes.
———-
From The Indianapolis Journal of January 25, 1901:
Mother Jones to Address Mine Workers’ Convention
“Mother” Jones, who was in the convention, was called for [to speak], but in view of the fact that she has gained so much prominence by her active work in the interest of organized labor, it was decided to set a time for her to speak and let the announcement be published, so that the citizens of Indianapolis who desire may have an opportunity of hearing her. Mrs. Jones will speak this afternoon at 2 o’clock.
Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
Weekly Union Leader
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
-Jan 11, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/390891859/
The Indianapolis Journal
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Jan 21, 1901
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1901-01-21/ed-1/seq-3/
-Jan 24, 1901
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1901-01-24/ed-1/seq-8/
-Jan 25, 1901
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1901-01-25/ed-1/seq-8
IMAGE
Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/167226270/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 8, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for December 1900
Found in Leaving Pennsylvania, Headed for Coal Fields of West Virginia
Note: as a general rule, best not to take biographies of Mother Jones from newspaper accounts. I apologize that time constraints did not allow me to fact check every assertion made by author of Jan 21st article from Indianapolis Jr.
Note: Gorn has done some excellent research on
early life of Mother Jones, see:
Mother Jones
The Most Dangerous Woman in America
-by Elliott J. Gorn
Macmillan, Apr 15, 2002
-for early life, see Chapter 1-“Mary Harris”
-for loss of husband and children, see Chapter 2-“Mary Jones”
-for early activism, see Chapter 3-“Becoming Mother Jones”
-re her famous brother, see “Father William Richard Harris”
https://books.google.com/books?id=MUJeyIbSwPsC
-re Harris, William Richard (with photo)
per Dictionary of Canadian Biography
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/harris_william_richard_15E.html
Reverend William Richard Harris, 1846-1923
by Robert J. SCOLLARD
https://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA1974/Scollard.pdf
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No More Deaths For Dollars – Ed Pickford