Hellraisers Journal: It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of corporations that is silent, not noisy like the violence they promote.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado

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Quote KE Linderfelt re Damn Red Neck Bitches of Ludlow Massacre, Apr 20, 1914, CIR p7378—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 8, 1914
New York City – Judge Lindsey Continues Before Commission on Industrial Relations

From the Washington Evening Star of May 21, 1914:

Rep Keating Judge Lindsey, Rep Kent, Mrs Lindsey, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas, Mrs Lee Champion, Rachel Thomas, Olga Thomas
Rep. Keating, Judge Ben Lindsey, Rep. Kent, Mrs. Lindsey,
Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas,
Mrs. Lee Champion, Rachel and Olga Thomas
—————

TESTIMONY OF JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY, Part II
New York, New York, May 28, 1914

Judge Lindsey testified before the Commission on Industrial Relations during the afternoon session of May 28th. Present were Chairman Walsh, and Commissioners Ballard, O’Connell, Lennon, Garretson, and Harriman.

[Judge Lindsey continues:] It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of capital, the violence of corporations, that is silent, if you please, and not noisy like the violence they promote. I think, therefore, that they owe it to our people to consent to the appointment by the President of a board of arbitration, who will go out there and investigate those conditions and listen to both sides, and both sides being willing, assuming, of course, the board is fair and just and acceptable to both sides, to abide by the decision they may come to. And I think a great mistake is being made by the powers that control the industrial government of this country, the seat of which is here in New York, and is as superior to the President of the United States, unless he is willing to exert himself in spite of it, as the boss over the employee in a factory. That is my view of it.

And being in that position, knowing that they have said, or claimed, to have the Constitution back of them, certain laws back of them that were primarily designed for property, they owe it to our people to concede, to give, if you please, some of this terrific power by consenting to this board, and letting them, so far as it is possible, at least, for temporary purposes, to adjust the difficulties up there and to relieve our people of the passion into which they have been plunged, but the fact that when these Federal troops were withdrawn, if they are, because of this condition that has grown up for years and years, beginning with the corporations themselves, their own lawlessness, will be too much, and there is a possibility of the repetition of Ludlow unless the President will keep the Federal troops there, and to bring about any sort of settlement, go a step further and appoint this industrial commission, and if both sides do not consent to this arbitration, then it is our contention, in the interests of peace, because of the military necessities of the case, because a republican form of government, with the confession of the governor of the State, has broken down in Colorado and the Constitution says the Federal Government shall guarantee us a republican form of government, that he would be justified in taking some means, even though they be forcible, to compel those who refuse to arbitrate to consent to arbitration.

Now, that is the feeling of many of our people and I speak that feeling. I am not here to speak on behalf of the militia, I am not here to speak on behalf of the mine owners. I am not here to-day to speak on behalf of the mine workers. I am simply here to voice my feelings, after years of experience, being down in the midst, knowing both sides, understanding their viewpoint, to make clear to you, as an industrial commission, in a general way, some of the conditions that have existed in our State and that exist in other States, that have brought about these results, in order that, in time if not now, there may be one result—an investigation like this, and that will begin to tackle conditions and tackle causes that make for these effects, and I would feel false in my duty to the children of my State and the children of this country if I did not take a bigger opportunity for this problem than merely sitting behind a desk and trying the immediate troubles of children. I have done that for 14 years, and I have looked into the faces of these children, and I have tried to think and find out why do boys do bad things? Why do girls do bad things? And I think I have found out. And I look at it and then I ask myself, why do men do bad things? And the reason in the one case is largely the reason in the other; it is the condition, in a large measure, not altogether, say, the environment, their viewpoint.

My plea is for a better understanding of these questions. Therefore I thought if I came over to New York after the President of the United States had given us a most courteous hearing, that Mr. Rockefeller himself would be willing to see me and permit me to present this phase of the situation. But after a courteous request for that privilege he has refused, not only to see me, but while I am of no particular consequence perhaps, I think it is of great consequence that he should have heard the miners’ wives whom you courteously and kindly and considerately heard here yesterday, whom the President of United States heard, because, I contend that when men receive profits or have possessions that promise profits, they haven’t any right to take the impersonal view that he takes, and deny any responsibility. Kings have gone down among their people, even in the days of the old feudalists, or even in modern conditions, we have known of kings going among their people and lending them succor and help and not being so impersonal and above them that they would not listen to their woes and troubles and miseries, and be willing to lend something of themselves to really find the cause of these things, and help to solve them, and surely Mr. Rockefeller is no bigger than the President of the United States. He isn’t any bigger than kings, who have done it.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of corporations that is silent, not noisy like the violence they promote.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado”

Hellraisers Journal: It is not an act of civilized warfare to turn machine guns upon women and children.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado

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Quote Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Next Time, Women Will Fight, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 7, 1914
New York City – Judge Lindsey Testifies Before Commission on Industrial Relations

LoC, Lindsey and Ludlow Women 1, WDC May 21, 1914
Mrs. Lindsey, Judge Lindsey, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly,
Mrs. Lee Champion, Olga and Rachael Thomas
On Thursday May 28th, Judge Lindsey of Colorado appeared before the Commission on Industrial Relations. The previous week, Judge Lindsey had escorted miners’ wives, survivors of the Ludlow Massacre, to the White House for an interview with President Wilson.

In his testimony before the Commission, the Judge spoke about the plight of women and children when their husbands and fathers die on the job. He describe how the “industrial government” of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company dictates to every branch of the state and county governments in Colorado, and, that that “industrial government” is dictated to from the federal “industrial government” in New York City.

Of the Ludlow Massacre, Judge Lindsey stated:

It is not an act of civilized warfare, if you please, to turn machine  guns and rifles upon a tent colony in which it is known by those who are responsible  and those who do the deed that there are defenseless women and children.

Judge Lindsey testified during the afternoon session of May 28th. Present were Chairman Walsh, and Commissioners Ballard, O’Connell, Lennon, Garretson, and Harriman.  We present the first part of the testimony below, and will publish the rest of the testimony tomorrow.

TESTIMONY OF JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY.

Mr. Thompson. Now, just for the purpose of making our record, l will ask you a few preliminary questions. Your name?
Judge Lindsey. My name is Ben B. Lindsey.
Mr. Thompson. Your address?
Judge Lindsey. Denver, Colo.
Mr. Thompson. And your profession or-
Judge Lindsey. l am a lawyer, a judge on the bench, and have been for 15 years or thereabouts, in the city of Denver.
Mr. Thompson. Now, you may go on with your story.
Judge Lindsey. l will try, Mr. Chairman, to make my story as connected as possible; but unless l should be misunderstood, I first wish to make a statement as to the statement made by the gentleman who has preceded me [Major Boughton], which l think is a good illustration of much of the misunderstanding which grows out of an unfortunate situation like that which you are asked to hear some evidence about. He read from a newspaper saying that a Mr. Lord, representing the miners, had stated that there were 2.000 men, miners, and if necessary there would be 50,000 more ready to resist the militia. The gentleman did not state what Mr. Lord said, neither did the newspapers that he read from state what Mr. Lord said. Mr. Lord said, for l was present when he said, that if the tactics pursued by certain men in the militia that brought about the murders, as he expressed it and claimed, of women and children were repeated in Colorado that there were in that case 2,000 men who had red blood enough in their veins to resist that sort of encroachment under whatever name it might be called, and that there were 50,000 men in this country who were willing to join.

Now, that is an entirely different statement from that which the gentleman read and the statement which he would have this commission to believe is true. I merely mention it as a good illustration of how Mr. Lawson could have been misquoted and misrepresented by the paper from which he [the witness BoughtonJ read.

l have talked personally with Mr. Lawson within the last fortnight or so,  just before I left Denver. I have talked with Mr. Lawson in the presence of men of the most radical type, who proposed or suggested things that I have heard Mr. Lawson fight against and talk against, and the statements made to me by Mr. Lawson are quite contradictory of the statement the gentleman read from the newspaper purporting to be made by Mr. Lawson. Since I left Denver and since I have been in this city I  have found myself misquoted on several different occasions and things put into my mouth that l never said, things put into my mouth that I could not have said; and I wish to state to this commission, because of this fact of which I am a witness, having heard Mr. Lord, that it go very slow in accepting statements made in the newspapers.

I  have a statement in the Pueblo Chieftain of May 3 that I could offer to this commission, two or three columns, in which it is stated that a certain prominent citizen, of Colorado said that the thing to be done with men like myself was that they should be killed—k-i-l-l-e-d-. I am not going to claim that those men who are making inflammatory statements of that kind are trying to stir up a sentiment among certain individuals that will bring about my own murder, yet that will be found in the Pueblo Chieftain of May 3, which is supposed to be the official organ, in so far as they have any official organ, of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. Now, so much for that. Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: It is not an act of civilized warfare to turn machine guns upon women and children.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado”

Hellraisers Journal: “You are waging a class fight!” Eugene Debs Speaks at Philadelphia’s Labor Lyceum, Part I

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Quote EVD, Lawmakers Felons, Phl GS Speech, IA, Mar 19, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 20, 1910
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – General Strike Committee Sends for Debs

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of March 17, 1910:

[Statement of Philadelphia’s General Strike Committee.]

Phl GS, Murphy n Pratt, LW p1, Newark NJ Str p1, Mar 5, 1910———-

Announcement of the plans of the labor leaders for today was embodied in the following statement issued by the General Strike Committee, from its headquarters at Twelfth and Filbert streets:

In our statement issued last night we announced several mass meetings would be held in different parts of the city, to which organized and unorganized working men and women and the general public are invited. These meetings will be held at Kensington Labor Lyceum. Second and Cambria streets; Mercantile Hall, 849 Franklin street; Academy Hall, 524 South Fourth street, and Labor Lyceum, Sixth and Brown streets, on Thursday, March 17, at 8 P. M.

These meetings will be addressed by C. O. Pratt, Jeff Pierce, organizer of the American Federation of Labor; John J. Murphy and other prominent speakers…

The committee has also made arrangements for holding a monster mass meeting at Labor Lyceum, Sixth and Brown streets, at 3 P. M., Saturday, March 19, which meeting will be addressed by Eugene V. Debs and other prominent speakers…

[Photographs added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: McKees Rocks Strikers Issue Proclamation: “We shall fight to a finish, as it is our right.”

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Quote Mother Jones, We Will Rest, UMWC Jan 27, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 21, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Strikers of Pressed Steel Car Co. Issue Proclamation

From The Pittsburg Press of July 18, 1909:

McKees Rocks Strike, K. Nagy, WB Remay, Ptt Prs p1, July 18, 1909

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Proclamation by Strikers
——

In refutation of the repeated statements of the officials of the Pressed Steel Car Co., that no strike exists at the Schoenville plant, the organized strikers yesterday issued a formal proclamation. It affirms in the strongest language that a strike is in progress and cites examples of the company’s alleged wage scale under the “pool system.” The proclamation, issued in behalf of the employes by William B. Remay and K. Nagy. is as follows:

Citizens Workingmen:

We talk to you, the oppressed workers, banished by the strike:

Public opinion is not sufficiently informed of the situation, and according to the statement of the directors of the Pressed Steel Car Co. there is no strike existing at McKees Rocks.

We call this statement an untruth. Yes. there is a strike and we proclaim it openly before the public that the bad conduct of the directory of the company is the direct cause of it. We complained numerous times but our complaints have never been listened to, and after complaining again last Monday, we got for our answer: “Your services are no longer required,” and we have been driven out of the works.

Citizens and workingmen, would you have acted in any other way than we did?

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Hellraisers Journal: How the Railroad Brotherhoods Won the Battle for the Eight-Hour Day

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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday October 30, 1916
Washington, D. C. – The Brotherhoods and Adamson Act

The October edition of the International Socialist Review published two articles regarding the Railroad Brotherhoods and the Adamson Act, which we have re-published in today’s Hellraisers, see below. President Wilson signed the Adamson Act into law early in September just in time to prevent a national railroad strike set to begin on Labor Day.

From the cover of the Review, October 1916:

RR Worker, The Winner, ISR, Oct 1916

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