Hellraisers Journal: From The Ohio Socialist: “Side Lights on The Seattle Strike” by An Observer

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Quote Anna Louise Strong, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE, SUR p1, Feb 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 20, 1919
Notes on the Seattle General Strike from an Observer

From The Ohio Socialist of February 19, 1919:

Side Lights on Seattle Strike
By An Observer

Seattle General Strike, Solidarity by I Swenson, SUR p1, Feb 11, 1919

The five-day general strike of 70,000 Seattle workmen and working women brought about by the refusal of General Mgr. Piez of the Emergency Fleet Corporation to allow ship yard workers to negotiate directly with their employers and threatening to cut off the supply of steel to the local yards if they negotiated directly with the workers, was the most complete walkout that has ever occurred in America. At the same time it was the most peaceful.

The week’s mail has brought us some strike bulletins issued by the strike committee of the workers, and a personal letter from which we quote below. The whole tone of the bulletin is against any interference of the processes of the law or violence of any kind. It repeatedly advises the workers to “keep cool” and to visit the public libraries. The A. F. of L. takes entire responsibility for the strike though of course the I. W. W. and the Socialist Party were active participants.

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Hellraisers Journal: “Children in the Southern Cotton Mills” -Speech of Lewis Hine Illustrated with Lantern Slides

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Mother Jones Quote, Child Labor Man of Six Snuff Sniffer———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 19, 1909
New York, New York – Lewis Hine Speaks to Social Problems Club

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of February 15, 1909:

CHILDREN IN COTTON MILLS
—–
Lewis Hine Tells Social Problems Club
About Conditions in the South.
—–

Child Labor, L Hine, Noon Newberry Mills SC, Dec 1908
Noon hour at Newberry Mills of South Carolina.
All these children are working here.
Witness, Sara R. Hine.
—–

Before the Social Problems Club of the Young Women’s Christian Association, yesterday afternoon. Lewis Hine gave a lecture on the “Children in the Southern Cotton Mills.” The lecture was illustrated with lantern slides. Mr. Hine has worked in the Ohio valley and in the South investigating child-labor conditions. His camera has played an important part in his investigations, and the pictures shown yesterday were taken in mills of North and South Carolina and in Georgia. The speaker said that no little trouble is experienced with the superintendents and overseers of the factories in gaining admission and permission in take pictures. They are suspicious of all Northerners and are afraid that conditions existing in the mills will be exaggerated.

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Hellraisers Journal: “A Rebel in Jail” – Ralph Chaplin, Prisoner No. 13104, Writes to Upton Sinclair from Leavenworth

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Quote Ralph Chaplin, No Yellow Streak, AtR p4, Feb 15, 1919—–

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 18, 1919
Leavenworth Penitentiary – Fellow Worker Ralph Chaplin Pens a Sonnet

From The New Appeal of February 15, 1919:

A Rebel in Jail

Ralph Chaplin, Leavenworth 13104, Sept 1918
Fellow Worker Ralph Chaplin, Prisoner #13104

—–

[Note by Upton Sinclair]

Recently I was addressing the ladies of one of the large clubs in Los Angeles, and they were much amused when I told them that whenever I was in jail I found myself irresistibly impelled to write poetry. Moreover, that was my one chance to get poetry published; newspapers were ready to give it space, because it had been written in jail! You will note from the following letter that others also make verses in captivity. You see, there is nothing else you can do; and you have an irresistible impulse to tell the people outside what is happening to you!

Wherever you live in America you will read in your daily paper about those desperate criminals called I. W. W.s, who want to destroy society, but whom a wise government has put behind bars where they cannot do harm.

From this letter you may see exactly what desperadoes they are. They write sonnets, and beg you to send them good literature to read!

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for January 1909, Part II; Found in Indianapolis Speaking at UMWA Convention

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Quote Mother Jones on Swearing & Praying, UMWC 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 17, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1909, Part II:
-Found Speaking at Convention of United Mine Workers of America

From The Indianapolis Star of January 29, 1909:

Mother Jones, Ipls UMWC with Her Boys, Ipl Str p7, Jan 29, 1909

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for January 1909, Part I; Found in Girard, Kansas, and in Springfield, Illinois

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Quote Mother Jones, re Ruling Class, AtR p2, Jan 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 15, 1909
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1909, Part I:
-Found Writing and Speaking on Behalf of Mexican Patriots

During the month of January 1909, we first find Mother Jones in the pages of the Appeal to Reason advocating on behalf of the Mexican Patriots imprisoned in the United States and facing deportation to Mexico where certain death awaits them at the hands of the Tyrant, Porfirio Díaz.

Hellraisers Journal of January 10th republished an article from the Appeal to Reason of January 9, 1909, in which Mother was quoted:

Mother Jones, Dnv Pst p2, July 19, 1908

The Appeal can and will arouse the American People. Its voice rings like a clarion over all the nation. How the hearts of the refugees must be cheered when they hear the Appeal’s ringing challenge to the czar of Russia and the dictator of Mexico! More power to the Appeal! May every one of its more than three hundred thousand readers resolve this very hour to double its circulation, that a million more American people can be shaken from their lethargy and swell the mighty protest against Russian bastiles and Mexican dungeons on American soil.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Sentence Suspended for Theodora Pollock, Social Worker Who Was Convicted with Sacramento IWWs

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Quote BBH Sacramento IWW Martyrs, With Drops of Blood, Oct 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 14, 1919
Sacramento, California – Sentence Suspended for Theodora Pollock

While many of those convicted with her were sentenced to ten years in federal prison, the sentence of Miss Theodora Pollock has now been suspended. Below, our readers can find a complete list of the fellow workers who were convicted under the Espionage Act in federal court in Sacramento, California. In fact they are guilty only of being members of-or sympathetic to-the Industrial Workers of the World. Missing from this list, of course, are the five fellow workers who died awaiting trial.

From the National Civil Liberties Bureau:

IWW Sacramento Theodora Pollack, Tx Hld Prt Huron p3, Feb 12, 1919

Convicted January 17, 1919, at Sacramento, California for alleged conspiracy to violate several sections of the Federal Penal Code, the Espionage Act and various other Federal statutes.

Sentenced to ten years:
Mortimer Downing,
Frederick Esmond,
Chris Luber,
Phil McLaughlin,
John Grave,
Louis Tori,
James Quintan,
Edward Quigley,
George O’Connell,
Roy P. Connor,
John Potthast,
Henry Hammer,
Pete de Bernardi,
Myron Sprague,
Elmer Anderson,
Caesar Tabib,
Robert Connellan,
Frank Elliott,
Harry Gray,
Gabe Brewer,
Godfrey Ebel,
William Hood,
Vincent Santelli,
Geo. F. Voetter

Sentenced to five years:
Edward S. Carey,
Harry Murphy,
Herbert Stredwick

Sentenced to four years:
Robt. Feehan,
James H. Mulrooney,
James Price

Sentenced to three years:
Joe Carroll,
Otto Eisner

Sentenced to two years:
Frank Moran,
Frank Reilly,
Edward Anderson,
Felix Cedino

Sentenced to one year:
H. Donovan,
W. H. Faust,
Chas. Koenig,
W. L. Miller,
Albert Whitehead

Convicted, not yet sentenced:
[Note: these three chose legal representation, and did not take part in the “Silent Defense.” Since this list was made, they have all received light sentences, with Miss Pollock’s sentence suspended.]
Theodora Pollock,
A. L. Fox,
Basil Saffores

[Newsclip added is from the Port Huron Times Herald of February 12th.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Miss Fanny Cochran and Miss Florence Sanville Investigate Child Labor in Pennsylvania Silk Mills

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Mother Jones Quote, Suffer Little Children, CIR May 14, 1915———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 13, 1909
Silk Mills of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Region Investigated

From the Everett Labor Journal of February 11, 1909:

DISGUISED AS FACTORY GIRLS

National Consumer League Label, 1899

That actual knowledge might be obtained of the conditions in the factories two graduates of Bryn Mawr College prominent in social circles in Philadelphia, Miss Fanny T. Cochran and Miss Florence L. Sanville, found employment in silk mills of the anthracite region of Pennsylvania.

In the itinerary of three weeks these college girls visited sixteen towns, and when the days’ work was done went home with the girls with whom they toiled and got glimpses into their life and the influences that surround them. The project was planned by Miss Cochran and Miss Sanville without consulting their friends.

This work was performed in the interest of the child labor bill, which has been prepared at the instance of the Consumers’ League, of which both young women are members and, of which Miss Sanville is executive secretary.

[Said Miss Cochran:]

What we wanted to get at was these four things: First, the workers; second, the wages paid; third, the hours of employment, and fourth, the environment of the girls in the factory. We visited twenty-eight factories, and in many of them the conditions were very bad.

About 60 per cent of the silk throwing mills are in the Pennsylvania anthracite region, and this is due to the cheap labor obtainable. I could not help being impressed by the youth of most of the girls. Most of them were under twenty years of age.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Union Record: “In Retrospect,” an Editorial on the End of the Seattle General Strike

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Quote Anna Louise Strong, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE, SUR p1, Feb 4, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 12, 1919
Seattle, Washington – An Editorial on the End of the General Strike

From the Seattle Union Record of February 11, 1919:

Seattle General Strike, Shipyard Strike Continues, SUR p1, Feb 11, 1919Seattle General Strike, Solidarity by I Swenson, SUR p1, Feb 11, 1919

—–

In Retrospect

The first general strike in the history of the American labor movement has come to an end.

Perhaps it would not be amiss to stop just a moment and take a slant at what happened-a post mortem , as it were . It sometimes happens that much can be learned from a careful analysis of events that have transpired and, perhaps, learn how to avoid mistakes of both omission and commission.

Four things stand out above all others like a mountain in the center of a plain. These are:

First-The splendid solidarity evidenced by the 100 per cent response to the strike call.

Second-The absolute orderliness of the workers on strike and the resolute refusal to be aggravated into any action that could in the least measure be interpreted as riotous conduct.

Third-The hysterical bombast and sometimes guttersnipe comment on events that emanated from the Mayor’s office down at the City-County building, and then retailed through the Seventh avenue “friend of labor” [The Seattle Star] that has at last been unmasked.

Fourth-The desperate efforts at “playing to the gallery” that was indulged in by the Star in an effort to curry favor with big business after the management had finally come to understand that its true character was known to the workers of the community.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones 1898, Part II: June-December; Found in Kansas and Nebraska

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Quote Mother Jones, Get Evil at Its Root, St L Rpb p2, Feb 5, 1898———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 11, 1899
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for the Year 1898, Part II

Mother Jones Mrs AF Smith Preach Socialism, KC Str p9, Oct 91898
Kansas City Star
October 9, 1898

In the pages of the Appeal to Reason of July 2, 1898, Mother Jones was found as “Mary G. Jones” on the list of delegates who bolted the Convention of the Social Democracy, held in Chicago during June of 1898. The disgruntled delegates immediately set about to establish a rival organization called the “Social Democratic Party of America,” and are now calling for “every loyal supporter of socialist principles” to “promptly come to the front and join” the new party. Mother Jones finds herself in good company as Eugene V. Debs and his brother, Theodore, are among the prominent Socialists who have joined the newly founded S. D. P.

July 1898 also found Mother Jones speaking in Omaha to packing house strikers. It was reported that she was speaking as “a traveling representative of the paper known as the “Appeal to Reason.”

In October 1898, Mother Jones was found in the “two Kansas Citys” preaching socialism along with Mrs. Anna Ferry Smith of San Diego. It was reported that the two women had traveled by a horse-drawn wagon from Chicago, speaking on street corners along the way.

In December 1898, Mother Jones was found leaving Kansas City and heading towards Texas “in a prairie schooner drawn by one white horse.” She was next found in Fort Scott and Mound City, Kansas. The Mound City Torch reported:

She is on her road to Texas, traveling in a private carriage alone. She is distributing literature and lecturing on needed reforms as she goes.

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