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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday June 11, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for May 1901, Part I
Found Standing with Silk Mill Strikers of Pennsylvania
From The Scranton Republican of May 2, 1901:
SILK MILL STRIKERS
———-
Girls at the Klotz Works
Back at Their Frames
-Mill at Taylor Still Idle.
———-MOTHER JONES’ BIRTHDAY
———-
Today all is serene at the silk mills of Scranton. Klotz mill, the first to go on strike, resumed operations yesterday. The reason they did not start Tuesday was because the proprietor persisted in retaining Emily Mailet, a forewoman who was unsatisfactory to the strikers. A committee from the Klotz local waited on Mr. Klotz Wednesday afternoon with the result that he agreed to recognize the union, allowed them the 8 and 12 per cent. advance, and grunted the usual half holiday for five months of the warm weather. Besides this, he said that if the action of the forewoman in question should result in any further trouble he would investigate the matter thoroughly, and discharge her if the case so demanded.
[…..]
It is an interesting fact that yesterday marked a complete resumption of work among the Scranton silk mills, and it was also the birthday of “Mother” Jones, to whose vigorous efforts among the strikers this resumption is largely due. Yesterday marked the 58th milestone in her journey of life, and she said that before two years more shall have passed and she will have reached her 60th year, she expects to fight many another battle in the cause of labor. It is remarkable that a woman of her age, who has gone through so many excitable experiences, should be hail and hearty at the dawn of her 59th year and possess the vigorous mind that “Mother” Jones does.
Last evening she opened the entertainment of Harvey’s local in the “New hall” on Pittston avenue, and received hearty applause from the audience.
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[Photograph added.]
From the Wilkes-Barre Leader of May 3, 1901:
TO SETTLE STRIKE,
———-
Efforts Being Made by Bishop Hoban
and Mother Jones.An effort to settle the strike at the Hess-Goldsmith mill is now being made by Rt. Rev. Bishop Hoban and Mother Jones, both of whom came here yesterday, for the express purpose of getting in touch with the situation. Bishop Hoban met the committee of the Central Labor Union, which is adding the strikers, and had a long talk with them, while Mother Jones last night saw Mr. Goldsmith and got his views on the situation. She was not as well satisfied as she would have liked as he evidently did not give her encouragement for expecting much more than he has already offered the strikers. Mother Jones also addressed the meeting of the strikers in the afternoon and gave them much good advice.
This afternoon Mother Jones addressed the Bamford mill strikers at a big meeting in the B. I. A. Hall and this evening she will return to Scranton. On Monday afternoon she will be here again and will once more address the strikers.
———-
From the New York Worker of May 5, 1901:
After a strike extending over three months the 5,000 silk workers of Scranton have secured a favorable settlement of their grievances, winning a complete victory, and returning to work under better conditions than they have ever experienced before. This has come about after a most stubborn fight, and only the solidarity of the strikers, under the leadership of Mother Jones gained the victory.
The strike began on January 23, when the girls at one of the mills were compelled to strike because of the treatment received from one of the forewomen. The girls had formed a union the Saturday previous and efforts were being made to disrupt it. The other mills followed the example, and within two weeks all the twelve mills in the city were closed down.
The smaller children led the way, and were the first ones to rebel. And they rebelled none too soon.The writer had the opportunity to see some of them during the past week, and he can say truthfully that anything heretofore said about their age or appearance has not been overdrawn. It is a sickening sight to see the pinched, colorless faces of these children. Their bodies are dwarfed and misshapen through the drudgery of the mill and their legs show startlingly frail and thin below the short dresses.
LABOR LAWS VIOLATED.
Some of the children are very small, so small that one wonders how they can manage to work at all. There is a state factory law prohibiting the employment of children under 13 years of age, but many of the silk workers are evidently much younger than that. It is plain the law is not enforced, although there are factory inspectors to enforce it. I should say that some of the children I saw were not more than nine or ten years old.
During the strike one of the mill owners threatened to move South to get cheaper labor, but he was answered by a Southern manufacturer, who in an interview in a local paper, said the labor of Virginia was no cheaper than that of Scranton and Wilkes Barre. Children were as cheap, and cheaper, in the Lackawanna Valley as in the South. Several of the mills already in Scranton moved from Paterson and Hoboken because the unions demanded higher wages than in Pennsylvania. Now that the unions are here, the poor abused capitalists will have to go elsewhere to find humble slaves to exploit undisturbed.
The wages before the strike in some of the mill departments ran from $2 to $3.75 a week; in others the wages fell as low as $1.25 to $1.50. For this the girls worked 10½ hours a day. At the highest this would be about six cents an hour, at the lowest two cents an hour. The average could be estimated at about four cents an hour. These are “prosperity” wages, are they not?
The average gain in wages runs from 25 to 32 cents a week. Not very much, it is true, but more than before and only the opening wedge toward getting more. Another gain is the half day on Saturday, with pay, during the four summer months, which is a concession highly prized by the strikers. Hereafter the silk will be measured, payment being had for every yard and a union girl being assigned to measure for the workers. The manufacturers also concede the right to organize, which is a most important point, and one that will be taken full advantage of. Tables will have to be provided hereafter for eating purposes, as formerly meals were eaten among the oil and grease of the machinery.
MOTHER JONES’ WORK.
This victory for the oppressed mill girls of Scranton is all the more remarkable because they had never been in a strike before, and they were practically unorganized. Two weeks after the struggle began, Mother Jones appeared on the scene and took charge of it, and it is due largely to her tact and skill in holding the girls together that they won. It is common talk that if Mother Jones had not been on the ground the mill owners and their emissaries would have broken the strikers’ ranks long ago. Whatever aid was secured for the silk workers was mainly through the instrumentality of Mother Jones, who visited Paterson, Baltimore, Philadelphia,, and other cities, and interested the unions there. The miners in the region also gave substantial aid, but the bulk of the support came from Paterson, where the silk workers’ unions gave liberally.
At a meeting held last Sunday the strike was formally declared off, and the girls decided to go to work on Tuesday. On Monday evening an entertainment was held to celebrate the victory, at which Mother Jones and the writer were the speakers. There was great enthusiasm. At 4:30 in the afternoon the children, who had been on strike paraded through the principal streets, and it was a strange spectacle to see these “babies,” as Mother Jones rightfully calls them, exhibiting their solidarity in such striking fashion. It was the babies who protested first, and they had the right to celebrate, for they were the most determined to stay out and win. But it is a dreadful thing, a horrible crime, for which every “voting king” in America should blush and feel ashamed that these helpless ones should be forced to give up their young lives to make profits for the capitalists.
TRADE UNION ACTIVITY.
In the shorttime I spent in Scranton, I learned that the victory won by the miners last fall had resulted in a great revival of unionism throughout the Lackawanna Valley. There is hardly a trade that is not now organized, or in process of organization, and there never was a time when unionism flourished so strongly as now. The latest acquisitions to the unions are the newsboys and bootblacks, who organized last Sunday. They, have started out with a grievance and that with our “Socialistic” (and slanderous) friend, the New York “Journal.” An effective boycott is being waged.
The miners’ organization is in good condition. On Sunday evening I visited Oliphant, about five miles from Scranton, where the Delaware & Hudson Railroad owns and operates most of the mines; I had a conversation with a watchman at one of the mines and made inquiries as to the conditions and wages, etc. He talked freely, while be showed me around. The men, he said, were satisfied with the way things were going in the unions, and they were glad the organization was in such good condition. Wages were higher, hours were lower and there were less grievances and more liberty. The breaker boys were benefited greatly, and the tendency of the union was to have men employed and raise the age limit, so that the boys could go to school instead of working in the breakers. All classes of employees are included in the miners’ union, and a constant agitation is going on. The mines are only running half and three-quarter time because the operators have stocked coal in preparation for a strike on April 1.
The street car men won a strike a few months ago, and since then have been working only eight hours under better conditions than ever before. One of them told me every employee on the entire system belonged to the union, and next fall they hope to adjust several existing grievances to their advantage.
A railroad man told me that the men on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Hudson were tired of the treatment they had been receiving for some time past, and very shortly they were going to have matters better adjusted. He would not commit himself as to the probability of a strike, but he said the men were determined to get more wages, shorter hours and more help on the big engines.
I was informed that there were probably 72,000 unionists in this district, and I am inclined to believe the statement. This includes miners, railroad men, street car men, mill workers, carpenters and nearly every craft. As a union town, therefore, Scranton can be said to be in the first rank.
Mother Jones will leave Scranton as soon as matters will have settled down. That she will do as much good everywhere else as she has done heretofore we shall all hope. As a hustler and fighter against the oppressors of labor she holds an unique position in the movement. Candidly, noting the effect of her motions and the manner at which she teaches the proletariat to unite; she is of more value than a hundred theorists. They talk, she acts.
WILLIAM MAILLY.
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From the Scranton Tribune of May 6, 1901:
INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR
———-HE HAS LOOKED OVER THE GRIEVANCES.
———-
National President Mitchell Refuses to
Discuss Them, However…
Newsboys and Bootblacks Addressed
by “Mother” Jones…
The Servant Girls Will Be Organized
Thursday Night by “Mother” Jones.
———-President John Mitchell, of United Mine Workers of America, will leave this city today for New York, but before making this departure will appear before the grand jury and testify in the libel suit he has instituted against Editor Richard Little, of the Scrantonian. President Mitchell was seen last night by a Tribune man and after declaring his intentions of fighting the Scrantonian case, he remarked of his local visit:
Since being here I have conferred with the local and national mine workers officials stationed here, over various matters, and Saturday afternoon I was with the grievance committee of Delaware, Lackawanna and Western miners for a short while. I looked over their demands and have seen the scales asked by the men of all the companies, copies being sent on to me.
[…..]Boys Held a Meeting.
“Mother” Mary Jones yesterday afternoon addressed a meeting of the newsboys’ and bootblacks’ union and impressed upon the members the general importance of behaving themselves and trying to grow up into good men. A number of matters of importance were also discussed and among these was the strike against the New York Journal. This was amicably settled. Representatives from the New York Journal and World were both present at the session.
Harris Frank, the vice-president, was removed because he worked for an alleged “scab” printer. I. Morris was yesterday elected to his place. The boys selling Sunday newspapers have fallen out with the others and did not attend yesterday’s meeting. They are said to contemplate the formation of another union.
———-
[…..]
[Mother Jones to Organize Servant Girls.]
The long talked of union movement among the domestics of the city is at last to reach fulfillment and Thursday night “Mother” Mary Jones will meet the servant girls at the United Mine Workers’ headquarters and organize them into a local. Long hours and poor pay are among the girls’ grievances.
[…..]
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From The Scranton Republican of May 10, 1901:
POSTPONED A FEW DAYS.
———-
Domestics Met Last Night
-Will Organize on Sunday.What many regard as the evil day has been postponed. The domestics will not organize until Sunday.
Mother Jones stated yesterday that they had met, 35 strong, in the afternoon and six in the evening and discussed the questions incident to the proposed organization at some length. No definite action was taken but a resolution was adopted calling a meeting for Sunday when officers are to be elected and an organization perfected.
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From the Wilkes-Barre Daily News of May 11, 1901:
SILK GIRLS MEET
———-
Mother Jones and Others Deliver
Interesting Addresses.
———-HON. P. J. BOYLE REIEWS THE TROUBLE
AND TELLS OF THE EFFORTS MADE TO SETTLE IT
-BLAME PLACED UPON BAMFORD.
———-There was a large crowd of interested strikers and spectators at the mass meeting held yesterday afternoon at the B. I. A. hall. The Bamford strikers were very much in evidence and from the applause given the Central Labor Union committee and Board of Trade for their efforts in trying to effect a settlement, and the expression of disapproval everytime the name of Bamford was mentioned, it is evident that those present desired the removal of the mill from the city. Hon. P. J. Boyle, who sacrificed a great deal of time trying to arrange matters, went over things very carefully. He told how the trouble was brought about and said the girls were paid less than any others in the State. Still that did not precipitate a strike until the girls attempted to organize a union. Then the officials began to discriminate, discharge and abuse and trouble followed.
[…..]
MOTHER JONES’ ADDRESS.
Mother Jones was introduced, and said:
“Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not,” said our Lord, “for their place is in the kingdom of heaven.” The mill owner says send your children unto me, for my mill is their place, as I desire to get rich by the sweat of their brow.
To-day the toiler produces the wealth of the country and yet the operators say one-tenth is sufficient for the workman. The other day I met Mr. Goldsmith and asked if he was aware of an industrial revolution going on in the world. “Yes,” he replied, “I am beginning to think that one is in vogue in this city.”
The time of unity is here and the tyrannical hand of the capitalist cannot prevent its consummation. Old ideas must pass away, new methods are inaugurated and civilization will be full of the grander and holier joys. There is a revolution on and I am one who shall lend my aid to propagate a change.
The speaker condemned the legislators at Harrisburg, saying that the men were to blame if anything derogatory to their interests was enacted.
[She said:]
You men remained idle and inactive, and the women of the country have taken an interest. They say we talk too much but, thank God, we have the power to tell the people of the wrongs now confronting the world. You sent representatives to the Legislature to appoint mine and factory inspectors who partly destroy the lives of you and your children. The time has come to prevent it and with the aid of women, a radical change will be inaugurated. The Board of Trade in almost every community makes a mistake in getting factories which employ children. Schools are what the little ones need, not places that sap the life. Men and women should be ashamed to permit anyone under 16 years to work ten hours a day.
The speaker then described the condition of factory life in the South.
The graveyards and the tombstones indicated that many were sent to premature graves.
At the conclusion of Mother Jones’ address Charles J. Thain explained the intent of the resolutions adopted at the Central Labor Union meeting [requesting Bamford to remove his mill from this city]. Those present unanimously endorsed the action. President Boyle then announced the meeting adjourned, and requested the girls to gather at the same place on Friday afternoon.
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From The Scranton Republican of May 13, 1901:
MOTHER JONES IN WILKESBARRE
———-
Assisted Newsboys There to Organize an Union.“Mother” Jones, the labor leader who has been instrumental in promoting the newsboy union in this city, was in Wilkes-Barre yesterday, with a number of boys from the Scranton union, doing missionary work in that city.
An entertainment will be given in a few days for the Scranton newsboys, and the boys of both cities will there discuss business regarding their union.
Yesterday “Mother” Jones conducted a meeting of miners at Edginton. Saturday she will leave for Fairmount [Fairmont], W. Va., where she will address the miners of that section at a demonstration to be held early in June.
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Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
The Scranton Republican
(Scranton, Pennsylvania)
-May 2, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/48204896/
-May 10, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/48204956/
-May 13, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/48204978/
Wilkes-Barre Leader
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
-May 3, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/116484054
The Worker
(New York, New York)
-May 5, 1901, page 1
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-people-the-worker/010505-worker-v11n05.pdf
Scranton Tribune
(Scranton, Pennsylvania)
-May 6, 1901
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026355/1901-05-06/ed-1/seq-8/
Wilkes-Barre Daily News
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
-May 11, 1901
https://www.newspapers.com/image/423352018/
IMAGE
Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/social-democratic-herald-us/010309-socdemherald-v03n38w140.pdf
See also:
Tag: Pennsylvania Silk Mill Workers Strikes of 1901
https://weneverforget.org/tag/pennsylvania-silk-mill-workers-strikes-of-1901/
Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and the Victory of the Striking Silk Mill Girls of Scranton
-by William Mailly from the New York Worker of May 5, 1901
New York Newsboys’ strike of 1899
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsboys%27_strike_of_1899
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for April 1901
Part I: Found Threatening Mill Owners with Arrest for Crime of Child Labor
Part II: Scranton Silk Strikers: “Little Tots ranging from 8 to 14 years of age.”
Part III: On Child Labor, Christian Sunday School Teachers and Civilization
Part IV: Scranton Silk Strike Called Off; Smallest of Mill Girls Parade in City
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Union Maid – Billy Bragg, Mike & Ruthy Merenda,
Dar Williams, & New York City Labor Chorus.
Lyrics by Woody Guthrie