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Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 27, 1903
New York, New York – Mother Jones and Her Army Have Their March, Hold Meeting
From the New York Tribune of July 24, 1903
Tag: Charles Sweeney
Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Writes to President Roosevelt: “These little children, raked by cruel toil beneath the iron wheels of greed, are starving in this country…”
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Hellraisers Journal – Friday July 17, 1903
Elizabeth, New Jersey – Mother Jones Writes to President Roosevelt
From the Hazleton Plain Speaker (Pennsylvania) of July 16, 1903:
From the Philadelphia North American of July 16, 1903:
Elizabeth, New Jersey
July 15, 1903Theodore Roosevelt
President of the United States
Dear Sir:Being citizens of the United States of America, we, members of the textile industry, take the liberty of addressing this appeal to you. As Chief Executive of the United States, you are, in a sense, our father and leader, and as such we look to you for advice and guidance. Perhaps the crime of child slavery has never been forcibly brought to your notice.
Yet, as father of us all, surely the smallest detail must be of interest to you. In Philadelphia, Pa., there are ninety thousand (90,000) textile workers who are on strike, asking for a reduction from sixty to fifty-five hours a week. With machinery, Mr. President, we believe that forty-eight hours is sufficient.
If the United States Senate had passed the eight-hour bill, this strike might not have occurred. We also ask that the children be taken from the industrial prisons of this nation and given their right of attending schools so that in years to come better citizens will be given to this republic.
These little children, raked by cruel toil beneath the iron wheels of greed, are starving in this country which you have declared is in the height of prosperity-slaughtered, ten hours a day, every day in the week, every week in the month, every month in the year, that our manufacturing aristocracy may live to exploit more slaves as the years roll by.
We ask you, Mr. President, if our commercial greatness has not cost us too much by being built upon the quivering hearts of helpless children? We who know of these sufferings have taken up their cause and are now marching toward you in the hope that your tender heart will counsel with us to abolish this crime.
The manufacturers has threatened to starve these children, and we seek to show that no child shall die of hunger at the will of any manufacturer in this fair land. The clergy, whose work this really is, are silent on the crime of ages, and so we appeal to you.
It is in the hope that the words of Christ will be more clearly interpreted by you when he said “Suffer little children to come unto me.” Our destination is New York City, and after that Oyster Bay. As your children, may we hope to have the pleasure of an audience? We only ask that you advise us as to the best course.
In Philadelphia alone thousands of persons will wait upon your answer, while throughout the land, wherever there is organized labor, the people will anxiously await an expression of your sentiments toward suffering childhood.
On behalf of these people, we beg that you will reply and let us know whether we may expect an audience.
The reply should be addressed to “Mother” Jones’s Crusaders, en route according to the daily papers.
We are very respectfully yours,
“Mother” Jones, ChairmanCommittee–Charles Sweeney, Edward A Klingersmith, Emanuel Hanson, and Joseph Diamond.
[Emphasis added.]
Note: John Lopez was assigned by the Philadelphia North American to cover the March of the Mill Children, and he has been traveling with them every step of the way.
Hellraisers Journal: John Spargo on the Struggle of the Kensington Textile Workers; Mother Jones’ Army Enters New Brunswick
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 15, 1903
John Spargo on Kensington Textile Strike; Mother Jones’ Army Enters New Brunswick
From the New York Worker of July 12, 1903:
From The Washington Times of July 13, 1903:
Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and the Mill Children March from Torresdale to Bristol and Parade Through the Town
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Hellraisers Journal – Friday July 10, 1903
Bristol, Pennsylvania – The Army of Mother Jones Parades With Banners Flying
From The Philadelphia Inquirer of July 9, 1903:
Crusaders Reorganized
When “Mother” Jones’ band of marching strikers, en route to New York, awoke in Torresdale Park yesterday morning [July 8th], Charles Sweeney and other members of the strikers’ Executive Committee decided that there should be a reorganization of the crusaders before the march was resumed. The twenty-two girls in the party and five of the boys were sent back to their homes in Kensington, as it was feared that they would not be able to withstand the rigors of the proposed advance upon New York. The strike leaders next turned their attention to the camp followers. After a half hour’s inspection seventy-five men and seven boys, the latter to act as a bodyguard to “Mother” Jones, were selected as most fitted to continue the march, to New York. The rest were sent home. Each man was equipped with a tin cup, dinner plate and a spoon and large supplies of pork and vegetables were placed in the wagon in which “Mother” Jones is making the journey. The marchers left Torresdale about 9 o’clock in the morning, and arrived at Bristol late in the afternoon, where they encamped.
Dinner in Camp
A dinner of corned beef and cabbage and vegetable soup was hastily cooked, and over a field on the outskirts of the town the marchers spread themselves as though they were on a picnic. With flags, banners and music furnished by the fife and drum corps that accompanied them from this city, the marchers, led by “Mother” Jones, paraded through the mill district of Bristol in the evening and then held an open-air meeting, at which “Mother” Jones delivered a lengthy address on the strike situation in Philadelphia. A tour of the town will be made this morning for the purpose of soliciting provisions and funds for the strikers. The marchers will then proceed toward Trenton, where they will try to hold a mass meeting of union workers in that city for the purpose of raising more funds for the striking textile workers. They will halt at various towns between Trenton and New York and hold similar meeting to arouse interest in their cause.
[Photographs and emphasis added.]
Hellraisers Journal: Philadelphia Textile Strikers March to City Hall with Child Workers in the Lead; Mother Jones Speaks
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 24, 1903
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Textile Strikers March to City Hall
From The Philadelphia Inquirer of June 18, 1903:
