Tag: Appeal to Reason

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Despairing Unemployed Trudge the Streets Seeking New Masters

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Panic, ISR, Nov 1907
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday May 4, 1908
Cities Across the Nation: Despairing Men Search for New Masters

From the Appeal to Reason of May 2, 1908:

Quotes re poverty, AtR p4, May 2, 1908

Slaves Looking for Masters.
—–

In every city of the country there are to be found many sad and despairing men, trudging from place to place, or standing in small groups in earnest conversation. These men are not tramps, hoboes or loafers, but the involuntary idle; men, honest and industrious workingmen, who have lost their jobs and now wander and wonder where and when employment is to be found.

These men are of the wealth producers of the nation, but under the existing competitive system the markets of the world have been overstocked and orders countermanded, and as the employers of labor could no longer employ them with profit, the mill, shop and factory were closed down to await more favorable market conditions, while the unfortunate employes have been set adrift.

But what of those dependent upon the idle workers for food, raiment and shelter? Ah, me, that is not a matter of concern to the employers. When times become extremely severe and threaten revolt, the wife or daughter of the employer, “out of pity for the poor,” will attend a “charity” ball gowned in five thousand dollars worth of silks and diamonds, presenting a ten dollar ticket of admission. Beyond this the employers have little or no interest in their slaves.

When the shop and factory again need labor power, when it can again be employed with profit to the employers-the owners of the machine, the gigantic tool of production-they well know it will be found at the gate knocking and pleading for permission to enter…..

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Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason Defends Robert Hunter, Now Under Attack by Police Chief of New York

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote re Hunger March, Jewish Daily Forward of Mar 28, NYT p3 Mar 29, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal: Monday April 13, 1908
New York, New York – Robert Hunter Blamed for Bombing

The unemployed, and those who stand up for them, are to blame for a bomb thrown by a murderous criminal unconnected with them, this according to the Police Force of New York City. The actual crime of the protesting unemployed men, women and children was, apparently, their failure to starve silently and in an orderly manner.

From the Appeal to Reason of April 11, 1908:

Robert Hunter.
—–

Robert Hunter, Painting by Sergeant Kendall, The Critic, Jan 1905

In his address to the public following the breaking up of the meeting of the unemployed in Union Square, New York, Police Commissioner Bingham assumed an insolent and pompous attitude toward the working class. He served notice that the was going to deal with such meetings hereafter with an “iron hand.” We have heard such talk before. There is nothing in it.

Bingham goes on to defend the police. Of course. The police acted under his orders. Thousands of eye-witnesses declare that the police acted with unspeakable brutality in riding rough shod over the people and clubbing them without mercy. Hundreds who were unable to escape from the crowd bear the marks of the outrageous and unprovoked assaults of the police hirelings. Of course the police were not to blame, and of course Bingham comes to their rescue and defends them. The police were the mere tools in the hands of such politicians as Bingham.

Among other things, Bingham took occasion to misrepresent Comrade Robert Hunter and place him in a false light before the people. We happen to personally know Comrade Hunter and to have known him from his childhood. There is no gentler, kindlier, more considerate soul. Nor at the same time one more courageous. His heart throbbed in sympathy with the thousands of the unemployed. With all the passion of his noble nature he yearned to serve them, to comfort them. And so he was to speak to them on that fateful day when the blue-coated Cossacks swooped down upon the hungry hordes and scattered them with as little mercy as if they had been so many tarantulas. Robert Hunter did not speak. He had no chance to speak. But he was blamed for the trouble because he sympathized with the unfortunates; because he did not have a heart of stone.

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Hellraisers Journal: Socialists of Kansas Oppose Private Bonds; Public Ownership Victorious in Recent Elections

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Nature has been lavish to her children.
She has placed in this earth all the material of wealth
that is necessary to make men and women happy…
There is just one thing we lack, and we have only ourselves
to blame if we do not become free. We simply lack
the intelligence to take possession
of that which we have produced.
-Lucy Parsons

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday April 10, 1898
Fort Scott, Kansas – Socialist Education Society Acts

From the Appeal to Reason of April 9, 1898:

OBJECT TO BEING BONDED.

POEM, Am Workingman, AtR p3, Apr 9, 1898

At a regular meeting of the socialist educational society of Fort Scott, Kan., by unanimous vote, the following resolutions were adopted and ordered signed by the President and Secretary in behalf of the society.

RESOLVED, That inasmuch as there is now a scheme on foot to bond ourselves and children to a private corporation for a large sum to pipe natural gas to Ft. Scott, that it is the pledge of this society that we will work to defeat these bonds, and in case these schemers succeed in hoodwinking the people, we pledge ourselves to devise a means to repudiate these bonds; and if we fail we will teach our children the infamy of such schemes that they may repudiate all such bonds.

RESOLVED, That these schemes, after they have been consummated have been laid at the door of the wage worker as “his folly.” We denounce any such accusations as false and defy the capitalistic class to point to a single scheme gotten up by the laboring class to vote any such private bonds.

RESOLVED, That we fully realize that all wealth is created by the laborer, and that all bonds are paid from this creation. Hence, the wealth producer ultimately pays both principal and interest, and the only reward is a false accusation and a little sop called “wage” while they are producing the wealth and giving it to the capitalist.

C. LIPSCOMB, Pres.

M. M. JONES
Secretary.

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Hellraisers Journal: Big Bill Haywood Suspends Eastern Speaking Tour Due to Mother’s Death in Salt Lake City

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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One thing I never can forget—
that I owe my life and my liberty
to the working class of America,
and what you have accomplished for me
and my comrades you can do for yourselves.
-Big Bill Haywood

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday March 22, 1908
Salt Lake City, Utah – Mother of Big Bill Haywood Dies

Mrs. Carruthers , Mother of BBH, Wilshires Aug 1907

The death of Mrs. Henrietta Carruthers, mother of William D. Haywood, has ended Comrade Haywood’s Eastern speaking tour. Haywood is also grieving the recent death of his friend, John Murphy, attorney for the Western Federation of Miners. And from San Diego comes more bad news: George Pettibone and Charles Moyer are both hospitalized in San Diego. Mr. Pettibone is critically ill and may not recover. Mr. Moyer, President of the W. F. of M., is suffering from a severe attack of asthma.

From the Appeal to Reason of March 14, 1908:

Haywood’s Tour of the East.
—–

BBH, SF Call p17, Dec 8, 1907

The reports that come to us of the meetings now being addressed in the New England and eastern states by William D. Haywood are truly remarkable. He has visited nearly all the principal cities in that section, and wherever be has been the hall capacity has been insufficient to accommodate the eager thousands who have thronged to hear him. Haywood is doing a power for the movement in that section. His appeal to the working class is from the standpoint of the workingman himself. The logic is irresistible. Moreover, the proved fidelity of Haywood to the working class during the past few years, and the suffering he has undergone to serve it, bring him very close to the hearts of the workers. He has been tried by fire and they know he is true.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: A Shameful Picture of Poverty in “The Greatest Country in the World”

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Plea for Justice, Not Charity, Quote Mother Jones

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 14, 1898
From the Salvation Army: A Picture of Poverty in America

From the Appeal to Reason of March 12, 1898:

A SHAMEFUL PICTURE.

Gen William Booth, Salvation Army, Bff Eve Ns, Jan 6, 1898

Comrade Booth, of the Salvation Army gives us some facts that ought to make the “greatest country in the world” ashamed of itself. Read this and wonder no longer why socialism is growing:

The pauper world-there’s a world for you! A world with starvation. Then the vicious world, the gambler and the harlot. Last the criminal world-why, in this country alone there are 80,000 men and women who are behind bars. These are the three worlds in which our work lies. We have 415 different institutions, ninety of which are at work in the United States. We feed 250,000 hungry men, women and children every night and shelter 13,000 ragged men and women, of which 4,500 are in the United States. On cold nights the figures sometimes double. We give them hot and cold water with which to wash, and if the person is afflicted with those strange little pests-unknown, of course, in Denver-we furnish crematories for them. While the poor fellow is taking a bath we bake his garments, so that if he comes in 20,000 strong he goes out one single personality. In addition to this we furnish him with a rousing salvation meeting and give him something to think about. If a man falls we offer a hand to help him onto his feet again. We have sixty-nine institutions for the rescue of young girls. Talk of pity! Am I not talking to a people who are sending pity to that island Cuba? Yet in their midst they have objects of pity.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for February 1908-Part 2, Found at Girard, Kansas, at Third District Convention of Socialists

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Quote Mother Jones, Palaces and Jails, AtR, Feb 29, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 9, 1908
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1908, Part 2:
–Found Speaking at Girard, Kansas, at Socialist District Convention

Mother Jones, Mar 11, 1905, AtR

After February 19th, Mother Jones was found in the state of Kansas where she gave speeches in her usual rousing style on behalf of the Socialist Party. She was a special guest of the Appeal to Reason in Girard where she attended the Third District Convention and gave a speech which “aroused the audience to the wildest enthusiasm.”

The Dallas Morning News reported on February 28th that Mother had entered the state of Texas and was engaged to speak in Longview and in Dallas.

From the Appeal to Reason of February 29, 1908:

A GALA DAY FOR SOCIALISM
—–
The Third District Convention Stirs Things up in Girard
-Old Party Politicians Puzzled and Worried.
—–

Last Saturday, in the Girard court house, delegates from the Third district of Kansas met in convention and placed in nomination for congress Comrade Ben Wilson. Under the new primary law this nomination is merely an informal expression of the party’s desire and his name will necessarily have to be voted on at the regular primary in August. In the meantime a vigorous campaign will be carried on.

There were seventy-six regular delegates present, representing nearly every county in the district. There were several hundred out-of-town visitors at both afternoon and evening sessions, and the court house was crowded to the doors. Two years ago there were eleven delegates at our congressional convention in Parsons. The old party politicians viewed the assemblage with surprised wonder. They’ll be more surprised this fall.

The feature of the night session was a stirring address by Mother Jones. As usual, her clear, resonant voice, her earnest face, in its frame of silver hair, aroused the audience to the wildest enthusiasm. The air seemed electrified with the spirit of the revolution. Turning suddenly, as she pointed to Ben Wilson, she declared:

I’m coming back to the Third district this summer and fall and I’m going to help you fellows elect the first Socialist congressman. Then I’m going down to Washington, and when Ben and I get there you’ll see something doing.

—–

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for February 1908-Part 1, Found Speaking to the Unemployed in Cincinnati

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Quote Mother Jones, Over produce and UE, Cnc Pst p3, Feb 3, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday March 8, 1908
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1908, Part 1:
–Found Speaking to Unemployed in Cincinnati, Fort Wayne & Racine

On March 2nd Mother Jones was found speaking to the unemployed in Cincinnati, where, it was reported, she was met by an enthusiastic audience.

From the Cincinnati Post of February 3, 1908:

MOTHER JONES STIRS HEARERS
—–

Mother Jones, Fort Worth Telegram, Apr 26, 1907

Have you ever stopped to think that for the $12, $15 or $18 you have been earning each week for the past five or ten years, you have been producing for the man who employed you four or five times that sum?

-was the question asked an enthusiastic audience of 1500 at Central Turner Hall Sunday [March 2nd] by “Mother” Jones, Socialist worker.

Did you know that he has been stocking up for years the overplus of your production, so that he can make a clean profit from it without the expense of paying you wages?

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “Labor Conditions in Steel Trust,” Seven-Day Work-Week Continues

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Quote, Mary Heaton Vorse, Day and Night, Steel 1920
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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 7, 1918
Steel Town, U. S. A. – Some Improvements Yet Long Hours Continue

From the Appeal to Reason of March 2, 1918:

Labor Conditions in Steel Trust.

Homestead Strike, Harpers Weekly, July 16, 1892

There has been some improvement in the conditions of labor in the steel mills, as the figures show, but it is an exceedingly slight improvement. The Steel Trust investigation of 1911-12, made by the Stanley committee of the House of Representatives, revealed an almost unbelievable state of exploitation, of long hours, of low wages and generally servile conditions. Those revelations were subsequently confirmed by the report of the Federal Labor Bureau, then under the direction of Charles P. Neill. Thereupon a committee of the more humane stockholders of the trust (the Cabot committee) insisted upon certain changes in conditions, and some of these changes have since been slowly under way. By 1913 there had been a slight reduction in hours. There has also been some increase in wages, but the increases have not kept pace with the rise in food prices.

Bulletin 218 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, published last October, gave a detailed study of wages and hours in this industry to June, 1915. It is shown that in the blast furnaces 59 per cent, of the employes in 1915 worked seven days a week, as against 80 per cent, in 1911. In 1909 no one in the blast furnaces on full time was working less than 60 hours per week, while 26 per cent, were working form 60 to 83 hours, and 74 per cent, were working a full 84 hours. In 1915 6 per cent, were working under 60 hours, 53 per cent. from 60 to 83 hours and 41 per cent, a full 84 hours. Even with the reduction made, these still remain inhumanly long hours.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Socialist Woman: “Horrible Crime of Child Labor in America” by Josephine Conger-Kaneko

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

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 5, 1908
Josephine Conger-Kaneko on Crime of Child Labor in America

From The Socialist Woman of March 1908:

THE HORRIBLE CRIME OF CHILD LABOR IN AMERICA.
—–
Josephine Conger-Kaneko.

“How long,” they say, “how long, Oh, cruel nation
Will you stand, to move the world on a child’s heart;
Stifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation,
And tread onward to your throne amid the mart?”

Socialist Woman, eds Kaneko and Josephine Conger, March 1908

A little over one hundred years ago the first act was passed by the British Parliament to abate the evils of child labor.

The workhouses of London at that time were crowded with pauper children to the extent that their managers were paying a premium to the manufacturers to take them off their hands. These puny, half-starved children whom nobody owned, orphans, deserted infants, who had become a burden on the tax payers, were sent by the hundreds and thousands to supply the demand for cheap labor which was springing up in factories on every hand. They were housed in barracks, were driven long hours at hand tasks by their overseers, were fed the coarsest of food, and died by scores from disease—bone rot, curvature of the spine, consumption, and other infections produced by their manner of living.

It was this state of things that brought about the first law regulating in any way the labor of the child. This law was passed in 1802. And it was but the merest beginning. The evils of child labor were so many, so varied and so persistent, that to this day there is no adequate child labor law in the whole world. In 1833 it was estimated that in England there were 56,000 children between nine and thirteen in factories. many of whom worked sixteen hours a day. The English Woman’s Journal of 1859 gives the following account of pauper children in London:

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Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: Haywood Speaks for Industrial Freedom in Boston’s Faneuil Hall

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One thing I never can forget—
that I owe my life and my liberty
to the working class of America,
and what you have accomplished for me
and my comrades you can do for yourselves.
-Big Bill Haywood

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday March 1, 1908
Big Bill Haywood Speaks in Historic Cradle of Liberty

From the Appeal to Reason of February 29, 1908:

HAYWOOD IN FANEUIL HALL.
—–
Historic Cradle of Liberty Rocked Once
More by Working Class Movement
for Industrial Freedom.
—–

BY JOHN RYAN.

Special to the Appeal.

BBH, SF Call p17, Dec 8, 1907

BOSTON, MASS., Feb. 22.-Faneuil hall, the cradle of liberty, was the scene of a historic gathering Monday night [February 17th]. It was the most impressive, enthusiastic and inspiring meeting ever held there. Patrick Henry, with words of fire, demanded constitutional rights. Wendell Phillips asked for the freedom of the negro. Haywood, in a speech logical, eloquent and so heartfelt that many wept, demanded the freedom of the wage slave. The day will come when his portrait will hang in Faneuil hall by the side of those of Patrick Henry and Wendell Phillips. Those fortunate enough to get inside seemed to realize the historical significance of it and felt they were standing in the presence of one who is as much greater than those who have gone before as his message is greater than theirs.

Patrick Mahoney, of Cigar Makers No. 97, acted as chairmen. As first speaker he introduced Joseph Spero, who did so much for the great Boston demonstration held on the Common the 5th day of last May [1907], where one hundred thousand people gathered to protest against the hanging of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone.

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