Tag: Appeal to Reason

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for February 1901, Part I: Found Speaking in Cleveland, Ohio, and Headed to Scranton, Pennsylvania

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Fight n Keep On, Hzltn Pln Spkr p4, Nov 15, 1900———-

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

From The Cleveland Leader of February 11, 1901:

SOCIALISTS AND SINGLE-TAXERS CLASH 
———-
They Talk Sharply at the Labor
Lyceum Meeting.
—–

“MOTHER” JONES PRESENT.  
—–  
She Starts the Ball Rolling by a Talk Favoring Socialism…
—–

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail Crpd, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900

The Socialists and the Single Taxers crossed swords yesterday afternoon at the meeting of the Labor Lyceum. Mrs. Jones, of Chicago, who took a hand in the coal miners’ strike last summer and became known a “Mother” Jones, was at the meeting and told how she helped settle the great strike and incidentally espoused the cause of Socialism. This did not suit the Single Taxers. They did not propose to see their pet theory trampled in the dust, just on the eve of a campaign in which an apostle of the single tax idea is to play a leading part.

After “Mother” Jones had spoken for nearly an hour, James Vining took the floor and said that while he did not think that the Socialists were on the right track, he

SYMPATHIZED WITH THEM

for the reason that they were working for the cause of humanity……

“Mother” Jones spoke at length about the coal strike, and among other things declared that men were not brave and had acted the part of cowards during that struggle.

[She said;]

It takes courage to win a fight like that and I was disgusted at the cowardice of the men. I never knew what fear was. Why, I remember one time when I said I would conduct a meeting, some of the leaders of the strike warned me that violence would be used against me. I said I wasn’t afraid and proceeded. The afternoon preceding the meeting I was told that the mine bosses were intending to 

SET DOGS ON ME.

That proved to be true, but I was prepared. I bought a pound of meat and cut it into small chunks. Every time I saw a dog approaching I threw a piece of meat at him, and he picked up the meat and ran away. By the time I commenced to speak the only dog present was one mining boss.

After the meeting, in an interview with a Leader reporter, Mrs. Jones said:

The miners are much better off than they were before the strike. They are earning more money, and don’t have to pay so much for powder.

They, moreover, have the privilege of buying their provisions where they choose. What is of more value than all this, however, is the fact that those unfortunates have been awakened to the fact that their souls are their own, and that they are not slaves.

They have learned that it lies in their power to better their conditions if they will only do so. Their condition is still pitiable, but I think that from now on their course will be upwards instead of sinking into deeper degradation.

Mrs. Jones left last evening for Scranton, Pa., where she has been taking a hand in the strike of the factory girls.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Comrade Eugene V. Debs Found in Solitary at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD if Crime to oppose bloodshed, AtR p1, Oct 23, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 7, 1921
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary – Comrade Debs Found in Solitary Confinement

From the Appeal to Reason of February 26, 1921:

EVD in Solitary HdLn, AtR p4, Feb 26, 1921

Eugene V Debs Federal Prisoner No 9653, has been placed incommunicado in Atlanta prison, has been forbidden even to communicate with his wife and brother, and is threatened with solitary confinement, “in the hole,” on bread and water—this fiendish and barbarous punishment being inflicted upon the Grand Old Man of the American labor movement in mad revenge for the latest statement of Debs printed in the Appeal [see below], in reply to President Wilson’s final contemptuous denial of a pardon to Debs.

The above is the startling news that is flashed over the wires of the Appeal, shortly before going to press, in the following telegram from Theodore Debs, brother of ‘Gene:

Terre Haute, Ind., 4:26 p. m., Feb. 21, 1921,

Appeal to Reason, Girard, Kans.

By President Wilson’s special order Gene Debs is now in isolation cell and is deprived from receiving or sending mail even to his wife and is denied all visitors. It is rumored he is to go into the hole on bread and water. This is his punishment for his reply to Wilson’s attitude on his release. It is evident that the intention is to break his spirit and completely destroy his health.

THEODORE DEBS.

This is without doubt the most ghastly information that has come out of Atlanta, where Our Gene is suffering the most brutal torture that his political jailers can inflict in an effort to make him recant, make him renounce the dictates of his conscience, make him betray the comrades in whose cause he became the target of all the enemy’s hatred and venom.

There can be no questioning the accuracy of Theodore Debs’ message, monstrously incredible as it may seem. We know Theodore Debs to be a most careful informant; furthermore he has been constantly in direct touch with Atlanta since his brother Gene was confined in the federal bastile of the South. Theodore Debs is not the kind of man to make rash or hasty statements. Be sure that Theodore Debs’ emergency wire to the Appeal was the result of the most absolute and authentic information and carries with it the most desperate urgency and alarm over the possible fate of his fearless and martyred brother.

The Appeal feels certain that this ruthless treatment of Gene has been inspired by the recently and suddenly active Anti-Debs Lobby which is now functioning night and day at the nation’s capital in an attempt to thwart the wishes of the American people and keep Gene and his comrades behind the prison bars and Gene himself “in the hole” if possible. It is maddening to reflect that while the minions of Wall Street are active in Washington, the friends of Debs have not yet made possible a powerful Debs lobby which should be on the spot night and day to checkmate and counteract the infamous and unscrupulous activities of the sworn foes of Eugene V. Debs. It is not yet too late to speed our full forces to the defense of our beloved Gene.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “Debs the Dreamer..His dreams are all for you.” -Poem by Ellis B. Harris

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD if Crime to oppose bloodshed, AtR p1, Oct 23, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 22, 1921
“For country, home and liberty, Come voyage on with Debs.” 

From the Appeal to Reason of February 19, 1921:

POEM Debs the Dreamer by Ellis B Harris, AtR p4, Feb 19, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for the Appeal to Reason: “West Virginia is today in a state of civil war.”

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 21, 1921
Winthrop D. Lane on Civil War in West Virginia

From the Appeal to Reason of February 19, 1921:

Coal Barons, Guns and Courts in Hand, Fight
Attempts of Miners to Organize Unions

Facts West Virginia, Mingo, AtR p2, Feb 19, 1921

(You have read endless dispatches about the troubles in the mining district of West Virginia. But the Associated Press true to its time-established policy has obscured the issues of the struggle. The daily press, as a rule, presents no clear account of the conflict. In fact, in the ordinary news dispatches the miners are given the worst of the account. But one daily paper—the New York Evening Post-has seen fit to send a special reporter to the scene of the conflict, with instructions to tell the truth. He tells it in the following story, which, coming from a capitalist daily, cannot be accused of bias in favor of the miners. Indeed, you will note that this reporter is exceedingly careful not to tread too severely upon the toes of the coal operators. But, with all his caution and moderation, he gives the facts. Winthrop D. Lane, the author of the following article, is well known in the labor movement as a writer for The Survey, a liberal magazine which has in the past published many exposures by Mr. Lane of the persecutions of the workers:)

—–

BY WINTHROP D. LANE.

Mr. Lane has just spent six weeks in the bituminous coal field of West Virginia for the New York Evening Post. He went there to try to get a picture not only of the industrial conflict going on in that state, but also of the civilization back of it. He talked to operators, sat by the fire in miners’ homes, visited many mining camps, entered mines, and discussed the struggle with officials of the union.

WEST VIRGINIA is today in a state of civil war. This civil war is of a peculiar kind. It is not being fought by armies in the field, led by military commanders and seeking military victory. It is more subtle and covert than that. It is being fought through many of the ordinary channels of civilization.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for January 1911, Part II: Found Speaking at United Mine Workers Convention at Columbus, Ohio

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Grow Big Great Mighty Show CFnI, UMWC p269 Jan 21, 1911———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 20, 1911
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1911, Part II:
–Found in Columbus, Ohio, Speaking at Miners’ Convention

From Ohio’s Marion Daily Mirror of January 21, 1911:

Talks to Miners.

Mother Jones, ed Cameron Co PA Prs p1, Apr 7, 1910

Columbus, O., Jan. 21.-“Mother” Jones, whose name and fame is known throughout the country as the friend of laborers, addressed the miners’ convention [United Mine Workers of America] this morning and was given a rousing ovation when she appeared on the stage. “Mother” Jones claims the United States as her only home and registers on the hotel registers accordingly. She is 67 years old, and her hair is as white as snow. Without husband or children, she has chosen as her family the thousands of toilers from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Court Crookedness in Fresno by Comrade Mrs. W. F. (Emma) Little

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Frank Little, Fresno Jails Dungeons, FMR p6, Sept 2, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 14, 1911
Fresno, California – 94 Free Speech Fighters in Bullpen, 47×28 Feet

From the Appeal to Reason of February 11, 1911:

Court Crookedness in Fresno
———–

CRTN Fresno FSF Engine v Bull, IW p1, Jan 19, 1911

Some time ago the APPEAL printed a story about the fight on free speech at Fresno, signed by Mrs. W. F. [Emma] Little, a comrade of that city. The story resulted in Mrs. H. H. Roberts, of Connecticut, getting trace of a relative who had engaged in the fight and who was in jail at Fresno. F. W. Boyle, of Humboldt, Kan., and A. F. Boyle, of Dunneweg, Mo., also discovered that their cousin, Frank Little, was one of the prisoners of the free speech fight. The result has been a protest from various sections of the United States. It would be well for all acquainted with these parties and others to write to the chief of police and the police judge and the mayor of Fresno protesting against the imprisonment of these people. Following are some further facts furnished the Appeal relative to the fight by Comrade Mrs. Little:

Before the I. W. W. was organized at all the chief of police told my husband, “You mustn’t organize the common workers, for we have a raisin crop here that must be handled cheap. A painter belonging to the painters’ union here gets $4 a day and works eight hours. A man digging a ditch or picking raisins gets $1.50 to $2 a day and work ten hours. Both are out of work a good deal of the time.

In spite of the chief of police and his cheap raisin crop, my husband did his best to organize the common workers in the I. W. W., and shortly after a small local was formed. For some reason the chief of police got the idea into his head that the workers wouldn’t join the I. W. W. anyway, so he graciously allowed us to speak on the street. The chief was mistaken, and our local grew from fifteen to over a hundred in a couple of weeks. Then the chief took our permit to speak on the streets away from us. He informed my husband that he knew where his bread and butter came from.

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Hellraisers Journal: “Mother Jones on Deck” -Speaks on Behalf of Striking Miners of Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Hell, Greensburg PA Jan 14, AtR p2, Jan 28, 1911———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 1, 1911
Greensburg, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Speaks for Striking Miners

From the Appeal to Reason of January 28, 1911:

Mother Jones on Deck
———-

Mother Jones, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910

The papers of Greensburg, Pa., are filled with accounts of the great speech delivered there by Mother Jones in behalf of the striking miners on January 14th. Mother Jones appears to have been in perfect form and to have electrified the audience of three thousand people assembled to hear her. Below will be found brief extracts:

Thrusting aside hands proffering assistance, Mother Jones mounted the speakers table. Holding up her hands for silence, when the wave of applause swept over the audience, she burst out into a fierce invective against the business men of Greensburg. With her expressive hands gesticulating, she said;

“They are so full of greed that they won’t take a day off to find out what is the matter. The business men furnish the scabs with Armour’s rotten beer and swill whiskey. Then they blame disorder on the miners. It’s the changing order of economics. The small business man is put to the wall and he scratches his head and wonders what the hell is the matter.”

Turning around in partial apology to Rev. Mr. Schultz. she said:

“You ministers think you are the only ones who can talk about hell. I live in hell and I have a right to talk about it.”

Assuring them that she did not get into the labor movement yesterday, she said:

“The class who owns the industries, owns the governments, the newspapers and all.”

Turning to Mr. McGinley, Mother Jones spit out:

“You may like the constabulary, but I don’t-no true American would belong to the constabulary.”

Then in a bitter tirade against the state police she said:

“Their little gray cap covers the outside of their skull, buy they have nothing inside.”

Constantly throughout her invective, the state police were referred to as “dogs of war” and “bloodhounds.”

Notwithstanding the radical speech of Mother Jones and her unmerciful flaying of the coal company and its hirelings and lackeys the papers treated her with great regard. The following description of her as a she took her place upon the platform is interesting:

With firm tread, keen old eyes peering out at the crowds from behind spectacles set determinedly on her nose, Mother Jones advanced through the crowds and took her place at the speakers table. A modest bonnet covered her wealth of soft gray hair, soft laces appeared at her throat and wrists, and her strangely youthful face broke into smiles and her eyes twinkled in a roguish Irish way as she acknowledge greetings.

The seventy-seven years of Mother Jones sit lightly upon her venerable features. She is just as active and quite as revolutionary as at any time in her life. If only the great mass who are in their prime were imbued with her spirit and nervous energy what a great change there would be in this world. There would be no question about the social revolution in our time. We are glad this great effort of Mother Jones was made in behalf of the miners and earnestly hope they will stand solidly together to the end. If they do this they are sure to win and they certainly ought to win, for never was there a strike more justified than this, nor more deserving of the support of the working class and those who sympathize with it.

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Fred Warren, the Fighting Editor of the Appeal to Reason, Must Go to Jail for Six Months

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote Fred Warren, Justice Will Triumph, ISR p166, Aug 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 16, 1911
Girard, Kansas – Fred Warren, Editor of Appeal Reason, Must Go to Jail

From the International Socialist Review of January 1911:

EDITORIAL

Fred Warren Goes to Jail.

Fred Warren Fighting Editor of Appeal, ISR p427, Jan 1911

On December 30, 1905, Frank Steunenberg was killed by the explosion of a dynamite bomb at Caldwell, Idaho. Several weeks later Charles H. Moyer, President of the Western Federation of Miners; William D. Haywood, Secretary, and George E. Pettibone, an honorary member of the organization, were kidnapped from their home in Colorado and secretly carried off to Idaho on a special train to be tried for the murder of Steunenberg. Requisition papers were issued by the Governor of Colorado on an affidavit signed by the County Attorney in Idaho, setting forth that the men were present in Idaho when the crime was committed and had fled from the state, although every one concerned knew perfectly well that they had not been in Idaho for months. The Western Federation of Miners was at that time engaged in a death struggle with the mine owners, and it is a fair inference that this kidnapping was a preconceived plan to discredit and crush this organization.

The capitalist press of the whole country united to fasten the charge of conspiracy to commit murder upon these men, while the Socialist press, with scarcely an exception, defended them. They were held for nearly a year and a half without trial, while strenuous efforts were made by both accusers and defendants to arouse public opinion on one side or the other. In this situation Fred D. Warren, editor of the Appeal to Reason at Girard, Kans., conceived the idea of giving the American people a striking object lesson. With this in view, he had postal cards printed offering a reward for the kidnapping of ex-Governor Taylor of Kentucky, who was at that time under indictment for murder in his own state and was safe in Indiana, because the Republican governor of that state refused to sign extradition papers.

This object lesson was an important factor in arousing public sentiment for the imprisoned miners, and when Haywood was finally put on trial he was acquitted; the other men were finally discharged. But the government officials and their capitalist masters did not forget the part Fred Warren played in their defeat, and an indictment was brought against him for having “sent scurrilous, defamatory and threatening matter through the mails.” After long delay he was tried and convicted by a packed jury, every member of which was a Republican. From this decision he appealed. Again long delays, and finally, after election is over, the Appellate Court has sustained the decision of the District Court, and Fred Warren must go to jail for six months. On the 21st of January, he is to begin serving his sentence.

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