Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 20, 1918
Mother Jones News for October 1918
-Mother Found Campaigning for Coal Baron in West Virginia
It seems our dear Mother Jones has left off swearing when she talks to the mighty coal barons and commenced to campaigning for them. Such is the case in West Virginia, where we found her, during the month of October, campaigning for Colonel Clarence Watson, head of the Consolidated Coal Company and Democratic candidate for U. S. Senate. Not everyone was pleased with that state of affairs as the following demonstrates.
From The Wheeling Intelligencer of October 14, 1918:
Intelligence received from Charleston advises that Mrs. Clarence W. Watson and “Mother” Jones held a conference with Governor Cornwell a few days ago. It is learned since then that “Mother” will campaign among the “boys” up on Cabin Creek, as well as in the Fairmont region. It will be recalled that Colonel Watson, after years and years of antagonism to union labor, and particularly to the union miner, a few months ago “let down the bars” he had erected against unionism and invited the miners to organize. “Mother” Jones was made his principal mouthpiece in that little bit of political strategy, and she served her new master well in, making public Colonel Clarence’s handspring in the direction of union labor votes. She extolled him to the skies, christened him “the friend of the miner,” and told he “boys” that he ought to he elected to the United States senate.
Will she fool ’em? Hardly. The West Virginia miner is not so green as he used to be when “Mother” first introduced herself to him. They cannot so soon forget the Watsonian antagonism, the manner in which the Watsons treated organizers who were sent to that field, the Watson’s “special police patrol of the mines to keep organization.” Colonel Watson will have to prove his case, with them first, and they will hardly aid him to get to the senate and then run the risk of the “proof” falling down, being relegated to the rear or transported to the isles of the sea of oblivion.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 14, 1908
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1908
Found in Kansas: “Pioneer Socialist woman in the revolutionary movement…”
During the early days of November, we found Mother Jones* assisting the Kansas Comrades to wind up the 1908 election campaign on behalf of the Socialist Party. The Coffeyville Daily Journal described her speech in Coffeyville:
One of the most powerful Socialist lectures ever delivered in Coffeyville was given in the Coliseum Saturday night. “Mother Jones,” the pioneer Socialist woman in the revolutionary movement, was the orator. A large number of people were out to hear the speech on economics, despite the counter attractions.
“Mother” Jones has been trying to improve the industrial conditions of the working class for nearly four decades. She has particularly devoted her energies along the line of unionism. For nearly a score of years before the Socialists put out a ticket in this country she was going from coast to coast talking unionism to the wage workers. This she is still doing but her scope of work is now much larger than before she embraced international scientific Socialism. She is not only assisting in liberating those who work for wages but she is equally intent on emancipating the entire human race.
The Appeal to Reason credited her contribution:
Mother Jones lined up a great crowd of miners at Weir and Chicopee.
In Parsons:
“Mother” Jones, noted Socialist, spoke to a good sized audience at Edward’s opera house on Sunday afternoon [November 1st].
By November 20th, we found Mother back in Chicago where Clarence S. Darrow and Peter Sissman were part of the legal team engaged in a desperate fight to prevent the Russian Government from extraditing Christian Rudowitz, Russian revolutionist. Describing the court scene, the New York Sun stated:
Mother Jones and several other Socialists were also there.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 15, 1908
Eugene Debs on the Campaign’s “true spirit of Socialist comradeship.”
From the Socialist Montana News of November 12, 1908:
TO OUR COMRADES: GREETING
—–
By Eugene V. Debs.
The campaign is ended and my very first thought is of the kindness shown me and the loyal support given me in every part of the country. While at times the exactions were trying I was sustained every hour by the loving care and unflagging support of comrades. To me this was the most beautiful and satisfying feature of the campaign. It expressed the true spirit of Socialist comradeship which is the making of our movement and which will sustain it through every ordeal till it is finally triumphant.
The one incident we all deeply regretted was the illness of Comrade Ben Hanford. With all his heart he yearned to be where he always has been, in the thick of battle, but he had given himself too freely all his life, utterly forgetful of self, until at last his physical powers succumbed and he was compelled to see others on the firing line while he was reserved for less strenuous service that he might have some chance for physical recuperation. His very illness bears testimony to his many years of service in the past when it required courage and sacrifice to be a Socialist, and all of us join most fervently in the hope that he may recuperate his impaired powers and again take his wonted place in the activities of the movement.
Truly this has been a magnificent campaign for the Socialist Party. Our meetings from coast to coast have been the marvel of all, and such enthusiasm has never been displayed in any political campaign.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 8, 1908
Tour of Red Special Ends in Home Town of Eugene Debs
From The Indianapolis News of November 3, 1908:
TERRE HAUTE WELCOMES
“GENE” DEBS BACK HOME
—–
BIG DEMONSTRATION FOR THE SOCIALIST CANDIDATE.
—–
REGARDS TO BRYAN AND TAFT
—–
(Special to The Indianpolis News.)
TERRE HAUTE, Ind., November 3.-“Gene” Debs came home last evening in his “Red Special,” and had a welcome surpassing in enthusiasm any political demonstration seen in Terre Haute in many years. His train was three hours late, owing to a breakdown at Cayuga, but the crowd waited for him, cheering for “Gene.” when he appeared on the stage at the Colosseum 3,000 persons, who had each paid 10 cents admission, packed the place, and as great a crowd outside listened to other speakers. At the Armory another big audience waited for him until after 10 o’clock. Besides paying the admission at the Colosseum there was a liberal contribution when collectors, some of whom were women, wearing red sashes, went down the aisles.
Debs began with a feeling acknowledgment of the personal note in his welcome, referring to the fact that he was born in and always had lived in Terre Haute, where, if any one had ever said an unkind word about him, he never heard of it.
Refers to Rockefeller.
[He said:]
All great movements in their incipiency are unpopular and are led by “undesirable citizens.”
[T]he reference to the designation of him by President Roosevelt causing laughter and applause. He said the two old parties stand for the same system, which has reached the climax of its existence. He declared that Rockefeller “was not born yesterday”; that he knew better than any one else how unpopular he is and the effect of his interview for Taft. The interview, he said, was the shrewdest move in the campaign. He knew that he had exhausted the usefulness of the Republican party to him, and desires Bryan.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 7, 1908
1908 Campaign Ends with Taft Elected and Debs Victorious
From the Appeal to Reason of November 7, 1908:
Debs Victorious
Taft Elected
Debs Re-visits Woodstock Jail
FROM THE RED SPECIAL
—–
Debs Re-visits Woodstock Jail in
Last Days of Long Journey
-Vote should Be at Least a Million.
—–
Madison, Wis., Oct. 30.-We are now on the homeward lap, and when this is read by the Appeal readers the “Red Special” will have passed into history. This morning our first stop out of Chicago was at Woodstock, Ill. On arrival there the “Red Special” crew, and the assembled citizens marched to the Woodstock jail headed by the the “Red Special” band. On arrival at the court house, Harry Parker, manager of the train, called the meeting to order and made a few happy introductory remarks. Comrade Debs then addressed the people, recalling the time when he came to Woodstock as a prisoner, the intense feeling that then prevailed against him and how that had changed until now the people were as friendly and sympathetic as they were then hostile and hateful.
Hellraisers Journal Sunday November 1, 1908
Cincinnati and Evansville Socialist Give Red Special a Red Welcome
From the Appeal to Reason of October 31, 1908:
FROM THE RED SPECIAL.
—–
Debs and Taft in Evansville Same Day, But Latter
Ignores Proposal of the Socialists
to Exchange Audiences.
—–
Special Telegram to the Appeal.
St. Louis, Oct. 23.-At Evansville last night there were rival political demonstrations between the republicans and the Socialists. Taft and Debs both arrived at about the same time, and the old town was hot with excitement.
From the Evansville Press October 22, 1908
The local committee of the Socialists proposed to the republican committee an exchange of audiences for twenty minutes by the republican and Socialist orators for educational purposes, thus giving each orator the opportunity to address both audiences. The invitation was respectfully or otherwise ignored. Thus is there another bluff called. The republicans and the democrats both put up the claim that their campaigns are educational, but when they are called by the Socialists, and given a chance to make good, they expose their dishonesty and false pretense by refusing to address Socialists meetings or allowing Socialists to address their meetings.
Taft did but little at Evansville other than to explain his labor record. It surely needs explaining, and he has been working on the job ever since his nomination. The Socialist candidate, in his speeches at Evansville, put Taft on the rack and showed what his true attitude toward labor is by recalling the trip he made to Idaho to support the infamous Gooding in the conspiracy to murder Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone.
We’re not here to reform
the capitalist class,
but to wipe it out.
-Eugene Victor Debs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 24, 1908
Boston, Massachusetts – Socialist Greet Debs with Wild Enthusiasm
From the Montana News of October 15, 1908:
BOSTON SOCIALISTS WELCOME LEADER
—–
Thousands Great Debs With the
Greatest Enthusiasm.
—–
—–
Red flags, red language and red enthusiasm swept everything before them at Faneuil hall on the night of October 5 when the socialists of Boston waited patiently until nearly 10 o’clock to welcome their standard bearer, Eugene V. Debs of Illinois [Terre Haute, Indiana], locomotive fireman, grocer, legislator, labor agitator, strike director, convert to socialism and, like Bryan, three times a candidate for president.
The Cradle of Liberty got the wildest rocking both inside and out it has had in many years. As early as 6 o’clock the reds began to gather and by 7:30 o’clock the doors had to be closed, as everything was filled to the limit. Crowds surged to and fro all around the building, waving the red tri-cornered flags and shouting “Hurrah for Debs and Hanford.”
Enthusiasm to Spare.
Talk about enthusiasm. Why, the reds have both the big parties rolled into one and then beaten by fourteen miles. One of the speakers said the republicans or the democrats would have hard work to get out such a crowd. He might just as well have said it would have been impossible. First a wave of applause would surge out of the hall, and it would be met by an answering billow from the mob outside.
Inside the hall the crowd seated was only a small part of the real audience present. They hung off the balcony, up over the portraits of Sam Adams and John Hancock. They filled the space in front of the platform so that the reporters had to fight for their places. They forced their way up on the platform and pressed their way forward to the very chairs occupied by the speakers.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 6, 1908
The Red Special on the Northern Route Across the Plains
The Socialist Red Special carried the Debs Campaign across the plains from Spokane, homeward, via the northern route, arriving in Chicago on morning of September 25th, and, without so much as one full day of rest, headed out again to begin the eastern tour that same morning. The Chicago Tribune of September 26th reported that the Socialist Party’s candidate for President made 187 speeches and traveled 9,000 miles during the Campaign’s western tour.
From the Appeal to Reason of October 3, 1908:
BACK BY THE NORTH
—–
Red Special Re-crosses the Rockies and
Sweeps Across the States Toward
Michigan on Return Trip.
—–
With the finish of the Red Special’s
western trip at Chicago, Sept. 25, it will
leave immediately through Indiana and Ohio
for a tour of the east.
—–
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 26, 1908
The Socialist Red Special Rolls On Across the Great Plains
The journey of the Red Special across the American Great Plains is well documented in the following article from the Appeal to Reason. An inspiring message from Comrade Debs describes the thousands of cheering supporters who greeted the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate in Colorado. As an added bonus, in this same edition of the Appeal, we find Comrade Haywood speaking in Enid, Oklahoma, and preparing for a tour of the great state of Kansas.
From the Appeal to Reason of September 19, 1908:
—–
From Debs.
DEAR APPEAL: The meeting at Denver last night can’t be described. The great Coliseum was packed and jammed and the surrounding streets filled with cheering, shouting Socialists. The scene can never be forgotten. Thousands could not get near the speakers. Have just left Colorado Springs, where we had a splendid meeting, notwithstanding the crowd, through a misunderstanding, was at the wrong depot. Five minutes after arrival at any station the “Red Special” has a crowd. We are thoroughly organized and take full advantage of every minute. We are ready to drop off at a minute’s notice and make a speech of half a minute to a hundred people, or two hours to twenty thousand people.
We are now up in the mountains and from far up the rock-ribbed sides of the Rockies can be seen the fluttering handkerchiefs of the Socialist miners and prospectors and their wives from the cabin doors and windows. It is great, thrilling, inspiring.
Marvelous transformation! The miracle is working out all around us and before our very eyes, and the Socialists seem to spring from the soil to join in the exultation. These grand old mountains all about us are smiling their benediction upon us and the green-plumed pines along our iron highway seem to sway in gladness and join in the applause.-E. V. DEBS.
———-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
