—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 21, 1913
Mother Jones Travels to Boston and Baltimore Accompanied by J. W. Brown
From The Boston Globe of November 17, 1913:
From the Baltimore Sun of November 20, 1913:
Tag: Baltimore MD
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for November 1902, Part II: Found in Baltimore, Maryland, and with Striking Miners of West Virginia
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 19, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1902, Part II
Found in Baltimore, Maryland, and in New River Strike Zone of West Virginia
From the Baltimore Sun of November 21, 1902:
MOTHER JONES IN TOWN
———-
Miners’ Friend Calls On Officials
To Stop Immigration.
Mother Jones, the friend of the coal miners, arrived in Baltimore yesterday unannounced. She proceeded at once to hunt up Mr. Thomas A. Smith, chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, introduced herself and started to make known the object of her visit.
[She said:]
I have come here for the purpose of putting a stop to immigrants being brought into this country and employed by coal operators to take the places of the regular miners in the New River district of West Virginia.
Chief Smith laid aside his eyeglasses and took a quiet survey of Mother Jones, who had seated herself in a chair and was tapping the floor impatiently with her foot. Before Mr. Smith could make any statement Mother Jones began to give him and his assistant, Mr. Jacob Schoufarber, a full detailed account of the alleged indignities suffered by the miners at the hands of the operators. After she had finished he statement Mother Jones was referred to the office of the United States Immigration Bureau at the Custom House.
Mother Jones reached the Custom House in due time and was met by Assistant Commissioner Stump. To Mr. Stump she repeated her complaint, and Mr. Stump told her that if she could furnish the bureau with the names of immigrants who had been employed on the other side by the coal miners he would be very glad to look into the case.
“The proper course for you to pursue, madam,” he said, “is to write to Commissioner General F. P. Sargent, giving him all the data you can obtain in the matter.”
“Yes,” said Mother Jones with a long sigh, “that is just what I was told to do with Mr. Powderly when he was in office, and Powderly is a pretty good chap and I believe he kept his seat warm while he was in office.”
“But Mr. Powderly is not there now,” said Mr. Stump, “Mr. Sargent Is in charge.”
[Said Mother Jones:]
Oh, yes, I know him too; he is a jolly old chap, but he has let more immigrants into this country than even Powderly did. These mine owners are a sharp crowd to deal with. They have their agents on the other side and they coach the immigrants what to say when they come here. They are not shipped direct to the coal mines, but are sent in through Wheeling and other points, and when they get there they are herded in stockades with guards all around them and we cannot get anywhere near them.
Mr. Stump reminded his visitor that the proper person to receive her complaint would be Commissioner-General Sargent. She then left the office.
Mother Jones is a little woman, short, but stockily built, with iron gray hair, and speaks very forcibly. She has been called “Mother Jones” by reason of her interest in the welfare of the miners.
[Photograph added.]
From The Chattanooga News of November 27, 1902:
STRIKERS BRACE UP
———-
“Mother” Jones Puts New Heart and Life
Into West Virginia Coal Miners.
———-Charleston, W. Va., Nov. 27.-The strikers in the New River mining field are making their last stand, encouraged by the magnetism of Mother Jones, who arrived there from Scranton, Pa., where she had expected to testify before the anthracite strike commission.
The West Virginia strike began June 7. It fizzled in the Fairmont field because of the federal injunctions issued by Judge Jackson. A few months ago settlements were reached in the Pocahontas and Kanawha regions, where the men gained notable concessions.
It would be hard to find a more determined band of men than the New River strikers. It was to this field Gov. White sent state troops during the summer and there followed the evictions of thousands of families. The cold weather has been a severe test, but the men are determined to win.
New River has a larger output than any other in West Virginia field and at least 5,000 men are involved in the strike. The United Mine Workers’ Union is caring for them and President Mitchell may soon assume direct charge.
John Richards, president of district No. 17, United Mine Workers, has tendered his resignation, it is understood, under pressure from his conferees, who represented to him that he was the only man who had stood between the miners and operators. The operators absolutely refused to treat with Richards, but intimated that a settlement could be reached if he were out of the way.
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for April 1901, Part II: Scranton Silk Strikers: “Little Tots ranging from 8 to 14 years of age.”
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 10, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1901, Part II
Scranton Silk Strikers-Little Tots Worked by Master Class
From St. Louis Labor of April 13, 1901:
The Strike in Scranton
Mother Jones makes the following statement concerning the strike of the 5,000 silk mill hands in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Most of them are little tots ranging from 8 to 14 years of age. The poverty of the parents compels them to swear that these babies are of the age when they can be legally worked by the master class. In one mill I found children who toiled twenty-four long, weary days of ten hours each; and at the end of that time received $2 apiece. The vampire who runs the plant felt deeply aggrieved because his little slaves went on strike. He complained that he had built and paid for a new mill and cleared $10,000 in two years, and just as he was getting his head above water, the ungrateful little wretches run away! And then some people say there is no hell! And others that there is no wage slavery! Why, I have got a trunk full of evidence showing that miners were plucked of all their earnings, and didn’t have a dollar from one end of the year to the other. This is capitalism with a vengeance, the robber system that is upheld by those who vote Republican and Democratic tickets.
Boss Davis, the ringleader of the plute cannibals, has offered this compromise: If the strikers allow him to measure their work and take his word for it, he will pay them 25 cents a week more. If they won’t allow him to measure, they must go back at the old rate. It’s a scheme with robbery on its face , and little ones won’t yield.
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1900: Found Speaking for Striking Miners of Georges Creek Coal District
———-
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 8, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1900
Found Speaking in Baltimore for Striking Miners of Georges Creek Coal District
From the Baltimore Sun of July 26, 1900:
MOTHER JONES FOR MINERS
—————
She Denounces The Courts And
The Federation Gives $25.
The courts of Cumberland are God Almighty in the State of Maryland, and there is no justice for the laborer in them. They are dirty, contemptible courts, and a lot of “my boys” have been brought up before them for standing up for their rights. You know how much justice they will get. The poor man has no rights any more, and all we workers will get will be what we stand shoulder to shoulder and fight for, miners and all other workingmen included. The man or woman who will not fight for his or her rights is unworthy to be a father or mother.
With these words “Mother” Jones, the female labor agitator, opened a speech at the regular weekly meeting of the Federation of Labor last night. She had two young men, striking miners, with her, whom she called her “boys,” and said she had brought them along with her to appeal to the labor unions of Baltimore for financial aid for the strikers of the George’s Creek region. Every union in the city will be visited and asked to contribute. The Federation of Labor, at the suggestion of President Sullivan, headed a subscription for the striking mine workers with $25.
In describing the alleged deplorable condition of some of the mine workers in [West?] Virginia, where she had been endeavoring to organize unions, “Mother” Jones said:
If you could be there and see little children coming up out of the mines, you would not want to be missionaries to China, but would become missionaries to the coal fields. If those fellows over there in China had stayed at home and minded their own business they would be better off, and so would we. I don’t blame the Boxers a bit.
We had a visit from a sort of a missionary not long ago. He was looking after himself, though. This Roosevelt, the Rough Rider, comes down from New York, and, say, what happened? Why, every mine workman was made to turn out and cheer for him. Roosevelt wants a job.
The speaker made a stirring appeal for money to help the men now on strike, and alleged that the fight against the “money power” was just the same, whether conducted in Baltimore or in Cumberland.
Charles Dold, of Chicago, general organizer of the Piano Workers’ Union, stated that on Saturday he had organized a local union of 60 members. Union-made pianos are hereafter to have union labels upon them.
The nominations for officers, to be balloted for at a later meeting, were as follows:
For president, J. M. Sullivan; for first vice-president, William Biggins and George D. Simpson; for second vice-president, William H. O. Thompson and J. Pearson; recording secretary, H. L. Elchleberger; financial secretary, George Greisman; treasurer, John W. Ringrose.
—————
[Photograph added.]
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for June 1900, Part III: Mother Jones Returns to Georges Creek District to Assist Striking Miners
———-
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 12, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1900, Part III
Found Returning to Georges Creek Coal District to Assist Striking Miners
From the Washington Times of June 28, 1900:
WARRANTS FOR STRIKERS.
—–
The Lonaconing Editor’s Assailants
to be Arrested.
CUMBERLAND, June 27.-Warrants have been issued for the arrest of Lonaconing rioters. Joseph J. Robinson, editor of the Lonaconing Star, Robert A. L. Dick, who addressed tho anti-strike meeting; Mayor Thompson and others have made information. It is expected that another batch will be sworn out in the case of the brutal assault on James Stapleton, the roadsman yesterday. The region is being patrolled by union miners and a fresh outbreak is expected at any time. “Mother” Jones, the famous woman agitator, has returned to the region and is lending to the excitement.
Hugh Muir, a prominent resident of Lonaconing and a member of the United Mine Workers, was here yesterday to obtain advice regarding entering a libel suit against one of the strike leaders. The charge grows out of a publication by a strike organization. The organization seems to be divided and is believed by many to be disintegrating.
[Photograph added.]
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for June 1900, Part II: “Labor’s Joan of Arc” -Leads Strikers, Comforts Wife and Child
———-
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 11, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1900, Part II
Fondly Remembered in Birmingham as “Labor’s Joan of Arc”
From the Birmingham Labor Advocate of June 16, 1900:
MOTHER JONES
—–
“I Have Devoted Myself to Humanity.”
—–LABOR’S JOAN OF ARC
—–
Comforts the Wife and Child,
Touches as With a Mother’s Hand
the Brow of the Sick,
and Leads the Strikers.
—–
We are making history, and she will live in its pages. Her life will be held up as an example to emulate in that better day when right shall rule.
The following article is clipped from the editorial page of the Philadelphia North American, illustrated by a double column likeness of our well-beloved sister:
“Mother” Mary Jones comes to the front again, as is evidenced from the reports from the George’s Creek coal mining region of Maryland. By talking to the miners and their families there she has persuaded them to remain on strike. The scenes attending the speech-making of Mother Jones are intensely dramatic, as, indeed, they well might have been, judging by the Meyersdale situation and the character of the woman labor leader.
Mrs. Mary Jones is better known among the workmen of the United States and especially among the miners, as “Mother.” She has earned the title by the truly motherly manner in which she cares for the families of those men who happen to be on strike in her neighborhood. As she says, “the women are great factors in a strike.” By controlling the women and children, Mother Jones is able to win many strikes for the men.
“A man can face the devil.” says Mother Jones, “but he can’t stand out against capitalism and its servants when the wife points to the little children and says there is no bread.”
Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: Mother Jones Doing Good Work for Striking Coal Miners of Lonaconing
———-
Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 29, 1900
Lonaconing, Maryland – Mother Jones Stands with Striking Coal Miners
From the Appeal to Reason of June 23, 1900:
Mother Jones has been doing her usual amount of good work with the coal miners of Lonaconing, Pa [Maryland]. A local paper says in an account of a strike meeting: “Mother Jones was then introduced and proved herself beyond question a remarkable woman. She received liberal applause, and a number of ladies were present to hear her.”
[Drawing and emphasis added.]
From the Washington Times of June 23, 1900:
VIEWS OE MOTHER JONES
—–
Woman Labor Leader Explains Her
Interest in the Cause.BALTIMORE, June 22.-“Mother” Jones, the widely known labor leader, was in Baltimore today in the interest of the striking coal miners of the Georges Creek region. The Federation of Labor is arranging a series of mass meetings for the near future to be addressed by her.
Mrs. Jones does not look like the fiery agitator that she has been described. A motherly, good natured face is lighted by kindly blue eyes and crowned by silver hair. She is evidently over the half-century mark, but is as active as a young girl. “I love my work and it loves me,” she said when her physical vigor was commented upon. She speaks deliberately, with a pleasant voice suggestive of an ancestry to be credited to Ireland, and uses excellent language.
“Why shouldn’t a woman take part in all efforts for the benefit of labor?” she asked in response to a question. ”
Labor is the basis of all society. A woman should surely be interested in her surroundings and her home and do her part to uplift both. When did I begin this work? So many years ago that I have forgotten. I go wherever I think I can be of use. I have taken part in strikes all over the country, and have always urged peaceful methods. All these complex problems will be solved peacefully in time through the molding of public sentiment and the ballot box.
Am I a woman’s suffragist? Well, I have never been identified with the movement or belonged to any organization that was. I think beneficial results have always followed the placing of the ballot in woman’s hands. The excellent labor laws of Australia and New Zealand came only after women began to vote. Colorado, where women vote, is the only State that has taken steps to investigate the labor laws of Australia and New Zealand with a view of adopting them.
A woman becomes no less a woman when she studies social and political conditions and takes part in public affairs. A broadened intellect teaches her to love her home better. Such a woman, as a rule, loves her home and family better than the society woman who hands her children over to hired people to rear.
“Mother” Jones returned to western Maryland today, but will come to Baltimore again next week to make several speeches.
Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs on Tour for Social Democracy of America, Found in Delaware and Washington, D.C.
The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism.
I am for Socialism because I am for humanity.
We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough.
-Eugene Victor Debs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 21, 1898
Eugene V. Debs on Tour-Found in Wilmington, Baltimore, & Washington
From the Wilmington Every Evening of March 19, 1898:
Debs on Social Democracy.
Eugene V Debs, head of the Social Democracy movement, and C. Wesley Callahan, the secretary, explained the movement to a fair-sized audience in Turn Hall last evening. B. Lundy Kent presided. The aim of socialism is industrial equality, to be obtained by the co-operative commonwealth. The people, as explained by Debs are to seize the instruments and all means of production. The State is to run business as well as government. The local Social Democracy is to meet on Sunday afternoons at 610½ Market street.
———-
[Ad for The Social Democrat is from the Duluth Labor World]
