Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 24, 1913 Updates on Three Strikes: Merryville, Little Falls and Akron
From the Spokane IndustrialWorker of February 20, 1913 -Covington Hall on Merryville, Louisiana, Lumber Workers’ Strike -Joseph J. Ettor on Prisoners of Little Falls, Massachusetts, Textile Strike
From Solidarity of February 22, 1913 -“20,000 Rubber Workers Revolt in Akron! I. W. W. in Full Control.”
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 7, 1912 “The Land Renters Union in Texas” by T. A. Hickey, Part II
From the InternationalSocialistReview of September 1912:
THE LAND RENTERS UNION IN TEXAS
BY T. A. HICKEY
[Part II of II]
Tenantry Inevitable.
In the face of the conditions just sketched it was inevitable that Texas, in spite of her enormous area of free land, should soon find tenantry developing.In 1870 five per cent of the men who tilled the soil in Texas were renters. In 1900 50 per cent were renters, while in 1910 71 per cent is operated by renters, while in the richest black land counties, such as Bell and Falls, 82 per cent of the land is operated by renters. In connection with this I may say that I have had some discussions with some of our socialist statisticians who claimed that the figures were somewhat less than I have given, but they overlooked the important fact, however, that the average renter needs from 80 to 160 acres, according to his family, to make a living, and that there are 29,118 farmers who own less than nineteen acres, a large proportion of whom are compelled to become renters so that they may live, and this is also true of the 98,363 farmers who own from twenty to forty-nine acres, hence my figures are conservative.
Increasing Rentals.
These renters of Texas, for two generations, have been accustomed to pay the landlord the traditional third and fourth, which means that of every three bushels of corn and grain that they produce, the landlord takes one; of every four bales of cotton the tenant produces, the landlord takes one. To the intense disgust of the renter, this third and fourth system is passing away. The landlords have commenced to demand a third all round, which means that the tenant must give up one bale out of every three instead of one out of every four.
Then the landlords commenced to demand of the tenant $1 an acre bonus, and some landlords have demanded as high as $2 and $3 an acrebonus as well as the third and fourth. The putting through of these reductions in the renter’s income produced a storm of discontent and was the main factor that led to the organization of the Renters’ Union, and inasmuch as the economic laws of capitalism will not permit of a reduction in these burdens now being piled upon the renters, it is inevitable that the Renters’ Union shall grow until it it the largest union in the United States.
I will now sketch the reasons why the landlords will not and cannot reduce these burdens.
Within the past fifteen years there has been a steady flow of capital to Texas. It was mostly brought to the state by wealthy farmers of Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Ohio and Illinois, who had sold out their lands at an enormous increase over what their fathers had secured them for. They believed they could come to Texas, buy lands at a “reasonable” price and trust to the growth of the state to enable them to secure large piles of unearned increment. They found, however, that the gentleman already on the ground was able to maintain the price of land at a very high figure, largely because of the fact that the public domain had disappeared and all hands were inclined to hold the land which, unlike other things, is a fixed quantity.
Thus it happens that land that in the 70’s sold for $2 per acre jumped to $40, $50, $100 and even higher. I was on one section of black land in Bell county near the town of Rogers last year that had just been sold to a Northern man for $150 an acre. The renters who worked this land when it was selling at $50 an acre paid a third and fourth and the landlord was satisfied with receiving a good return upon his investment, but when this land went to $150 an acre the new purchaser found that after meeting the fixed charges he could not secure 2 per cent on his investment, hence he was compelled, in order to receive what he considered an adequate return, to demand, as well as the third and fourth, $3 an acre bonus.
On the poorer lands, where production is not half what it is in the rich black land, a corresponding condition obtains, but the land being cheaper in price causes the landlord to ask a smaller bonus than in the black land belt. In either case the renter finds himself in the same position as the city wage earner. That is, he just receives enough to keep body and soul together and enable him to prepare for the next day’s toil.
Land Speculators in Clover.
The second reason for the inevitable growth of the Renters’ Union is found in the fact that, owing to the antiquated constitution under which the State of Texas is being ruled and that was drafted originally in the interests of the landlords, it is impossible to place an adequate tax upon idle land that is held out of cultivation for speculative purposes. The constitution provides that land shall not be taxed more than 35 cents on the $100, and the actual tax is considerably less than half of that sum.
Hence the million-acre land owners pay this petty tax on the millions of acres of land that they have fenced in and lie back in silent satisfaction as they watch the population growing by the natural growth within the state and the immense immigration from without. To give my readers an idea of the blighting effect upon the renter that results from this policy I will quote from an article published in the Chicago Tribune some months ago that was written by the present governor of Texas, 0. B. Colquitt. He said:
“There are 146,000,000 acres of land in Texas that has never felt the caressing touch of the plow; 46,000,000 acres of this land is of a mountainous and arid character, but there is 100,000,000 acres of fine arable land that has never been tilled.” The governor goes on to say. “All the public domain has gone. All of this land is now fenced in, in private hands.“
Hellraisers Journal – Friday September 6, 1912 “The Land Renters Union in Texas” by T. A. Hickey, Part I
From the InternationalSocialistReview of September 1912:
[Part I of II]
TO UNDERSTAND the renters union situation it is necessary to know the immense amphitheater upon which the tragedy of their lives is staged. Texas is the largest state in the Union in area. Between El Paso and Texarkana, a distance greater than from Boston to Milwaukee, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Panhandle, there lies 212,000 square miles. This is an area as large as Germany, with 55,000 square miles to spare and 57,000 square miles larger than France. It is sixth in population amongst states, containing 4,000,000 people. Less than five per cent of the population is foreign, thus making it the most American of all the states. The factory system is practically unknown, sixty-five per cent of the people living in small towns, villages, cross-road settlements and farms. More cotton is raised in Texas than in any other geographical division in the world, including the valley of the Nile. The enormous production of this great staple makes Texas the greatest agricultural state in the Union, for cotton still is king.
The people of Texas have never been noted for conservative methods. By tradition and training they are cast in a revolutionary mould. When the great cities of New England, New York and the middle west saw their proletariat bound to the chariot wheels of capitalism without much thought of protest, the Texas worker, the much despised one-gallus fellow at the forks of the creek, was striking fearlessly though blindly at his oppressors.
And thus it has come to pass that the Greenback party, the Union Labor party, the Populist party, the Farmers’ Alliance, the Grange, the Wheel and the Farmers’ Union have in the past reached their highest development in the Lone Star State.
Agricultural Evolution Plain Here.
In no place in the world can the trend of capitalism along the lines of agriculture be observed at first hand as it can in Texas. The great steam plows and mechanical cotton pickers on bonanza farms can be observed side by side with primitive methods of agriculture, that Potiphar’s men might have used in Egypt.
Of still greater benefit to the student of economic development is the fact that this tremendous area has been taken over, within the lives of men now living, by a few great capitalists who possess greater landed possessions than any landlord in Europe ever dreamed of.
I have ridden in buggies over dozens of Texas counties when on a schoolhouse campaign and have had pointed out to me by my driver the great cattle trails over which the cowboys drove their mighty herds to Kansas. The cowboy now is as extinct as the dodo so far as the open country is concerned, and a large number of the survivors are now washing dishes in Chinese restaurants in Fort Worth.
The trail is obliterated, the land is fenced in and the locomotive engineer has taken the place of the cowboy. It is of this fenced-in land that I would write, because, with the coming of the barbed wire the gaunt specter of tenantry raised its head in Texas.
Renters Unknown in 1860.
In 1860 land renters were unknown in Texas. Land could be secured literally for a song. This in spite of the gigantic land frauds that had been going on for years, particulars of which can be found in the chapters on Land Frauds in Texas in Myers’s great work, The History of the United States Supreme Court.
A story is told with much relish in Texas that vividly illustrates how easily land was secured at that time. A cattleman rode across the Concho River in ’60, dropped off his horse at a tent saloon and found himself unable to pour out his liquor because he was shaking all over with laughter.
“What are you laughing at, Mr. Brown?” inquired the bartender. Said Brown: “I met a durned fool across the line in Coke county this morning. I swapped him a section of land for a calf. The durned fool couldn’t read and I’ll be dad gassed if I din’t work off two sections on him.” From this true tale it can be seen that landlordism did not menace the people when the guns roared out at Fort Sumter.
Enormous Land Holdings.
After the war renting commenced. The lines had commenced to tighten even while the armies were battling at the front. Cattle companies fenced in multiplied thousands of acres. The legislature gave away to individuals and corporations many millions of acres. Their gifts to railroads alone amounted to thirty-six and one-half millions of acres, and by the runover system the railroads come into possession of several million acres more. Three million acres was given for the building of the state capitol, which was a scab job. As a result of the wholesale gifts to sharpers the public domain dwindled and enormous land holdings became the order of the day.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 7, 1911 Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania – Sheriff Paid to Recruit Private Army
From the Appeal to Reason of February 4, 1911:
A PRIVATE ARMY. ———-
Investigations at Greensburg, Pa., showed that the coal companies paid Sheriff Shields $143,147.42 for deputy service during the coal strike. Deputies were paid from $3 to $15 a day each. While the constitution says that no private army shall be maintained, these coal companies hired a private army and gave it official sanction by hiring it through the sheriff. The deputies were all thugs from the outside, hired like Hessians, used as Hessians, and they acted like Hessians.
Had the coal miners wisdom enough to elect a Socialist sheriff, that sheriff would have protected the property of the mines, yes-but he would have hired every striking miner, paying them three dollars a day each, armed them, and kept them so long as the strike lasted. The miners, getting three dollars a day could have waited a long time for the strike to end-as long as the operators. But the working people votes for the capitalist sheriff and judges, and they get just what they vote for.
How long, O Lord, how long will you workers vote to be the beasts of burden for corporation. Socialism will give you freedom, will give you a living that free men deserve, will make you masters instead of wage slaves. Wake up.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 20, 1910 “Have you ever been clubbed by a Cossack” -Louis Duchez
From the International Socialist Review of October 1910:
ERE you ever on strike? Sure, you’ve been- or else you’ve never been a workingman, or woman. Very well! It’s you I am talking to.
Now, have you ever been clubbed by a Cossack? Have you ever had these brutal servants of capitalism ride into you and your fellow workers on strike, like so many sheep, and club right and left and shoot without reserve?
Perhaps the Cossacks have not been established in your state yet? Then you’ve had similar dealings with the militia, the the local “cops” or the deputies of the firm you were striking against. They’re all about the same thing. They are part of the capitalist machine to keep you and your class-my class—in submission-in slavery.
Well, I’ve had them club me when I was on strike! I’ve seen “the man on horse back” come “over the hill.” And I’ve seen the bloody trail he left behind. I’ve seen it at McKees Rocks, at Butler, at New Castle and elsewhere in Pennsylvania.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 30, 1910 Pendleton, Oregon – FW Joe Hill, “on the road,” finds victim of gunthug.
From the Spokane Industrial Worker of August 27, 1910:
ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE UNIFORMED THUGS.
On the Road, August 11th, 1910
While strolling through the yards at Pendleton, Ore…I saw a fellow sitting on a tie pile. He had his left hand all bandaged up and hanging useless by his side, and the expression on his face was the most hopeless I ever saw. Seeing that he was one of my class I went up and asked him how it happened, and he told me a tale that made the blood boil in my veins. Like many others, he floated into Roseville Junction, Cal., a town noted for murders and bloodshed. He had a few cents and did not have to beg, but the bull of that worthy town did not like the way he parted his hair, I guess, so he told him to make himself scarce around there. After a bit a train pulled out and he tried to obey the orders, but that upholder of law and justice saw him and habitually took a shot at him. His intentions were, of course, the very best, but being a poor shot he only succeeded in crushing the man’s hand.
The poor fellow might starve to death though, so that blood-thirsty hyena may not get so badly disappointed after all. Not being satisfied with disabling the man for life, he struck him several blows on the head and face with a “sapper” (rubber host with chunks of lead in the end). Then he threw him in the “task” without any medical aid whatever, although the hand was bleeding badly. The next morning about 5 o’clock he got a couple of kicks for breakfast and told that if he dared to show his face around there again it would be the grave yard for his. He told me he could not sleep much because the hand was aching all the time and he wished he could get it cut off, because it was no good anyway. Now, fellow workers, how long are those hired murders, whose chief delight it is to see human blood flowing in streams, going to slaughter and maim our class. There is only one way to stop it-only one remedy-to unite on the industrial field, Yours,
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 27, 1910 “The Irwin Coal Strike” by Thomas F. Kennedy, Part III
From the International Socialist Review of August 1910:
[Part III of III]
At a Socialist meeting at Jamison No. I on the evening of July 8 three well known scabs walked up and took seats on the grass in the middle of the crowd. Several armed deputies were also present, and we heard later that a large body of these cut-throats were concealed nearby. The purpose of course was to irritate the strikers so they would attack the scabs and use this as an excuse for whole sale murder. They were disappointed because the scabs were not molested, except for the scourging usually given scabs and deputies by the speakers.
* * *
Not a single beer keg, beer case, beer bottle or whiskey bottle around any camp that I have visited. Not a sign of intoxication. This is one of the gratifying features of the strike.
* * *
Numerous dynamite explosions have occurred throughout the district during the strike. No one was injured and no damage to property resulted. If experienced miners accustomed to using explosives had been guilty of such folly there would be somebody or something destroyed. I have not the slightest doubt about declaring that this is the work of the operators or their agents, or of deputies who want their $5.00 day jobs to last and who perhaps are doing it without the knowledge of the sheriff or his employers, the operators.
One of the noteworthy features of the strike is the sympathy displayed by the farmers. And it is no mere lip sympathy either, but takes the good substantial form of defying the coal corporations and permitting the strikers to erect tents on their farms right under the noses of the scabs.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 25, 1910 “The Irwin Coal Strike” by Thomas F. Kennedy, Part I
From the International Socialist Review of August 1910:
[Part I of III]
THE fourth startling shock sustained by complacent, self-satisfied American Plutocracy within ten months is the strike of 20,000 or more miners in the Irwin coal fields in Westmoreland county, Pa.
It is a shock not because of its magnitude or duration, but because of the feeling of absolute security enjoyed for years by the operators. They convinced themselves that their kingdom was strike proof. They had established a perfect quarantine against labor agitators from the outside. Numerous failures of small strikes extending over a long period of years clinched their convictions that they had established ideal labor conditions. They felt as secure as the ancient slave masters, the Feudal barons or Schwab when he drank that toast to “The best, most contented and CHEAPEST labor in the world,” meaning of course the workers in his private Siberia at Bethlehem.
The first of the four tooth-loosening shocks was the unorganized, spontaneous revolt of the workers at McKees Rocks in June 1909. The second was at Bethlehem, and the third the general strike at Philadelphia.
The fourth, the strike in the Irwin field, presents some features that were absent in all of the others.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 24, 1920
-Mother Jones News for June 1920, Part I
Found Speaking in Williamson, Mingo County, West Virginia
From the Baltimore Evening Sun of June 10, 1920:
REPORTS COMPANIES TERRORIZE MINERS
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Lawyers Sent To Pike County, Kentucky, By Union,
Tells Of Brutalities Perpetrated.
—–
FEARFUL DEPUTIES WILL BRING ON GREAT TRAGEDY
—–
Tells Of Man’s Hands Shot Off And Of Others
Chained Together On Long March.
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(Special Dispatch to the Evening Sun.)
Charleston, W. Va., June 10.- Conditions in Pike county, Kentucky, are described in a written report to headquarters of the United Mine Worker here by Thomas West, attorney, of Williamson, W. Va., who visited the scene of the trouble. Pike county is opposite Matewan, across Tug river, in which section mine workers are organizing, miners being evicted from their homes by coal companies after joining the union. Frank Keeney, miner’ district president, asked West to go into Pike county, which he did. He reported:
The miners were chained together and, with a mounted armed guard, were walked through to Pike, 25 or 30 miles away, in a pouring rain. Mud was almost knee deep. Pike county deputies shot a man’s bands off on the Kentucky side at Borderland. About 30 of them are terrorizing both aides of the river. The miners came to Williamson and asked for assistance. I would not be surprised to hear any minute of a tragedy which would make the Matewan difficulty look like 30 cents. Pike county deputies were all drunk. In my opinion they constituted one of the most dangerous gangs of men I have ever come in contact with. I would not go back into Pike county for any amount of money.
The Borderland Coal Company and the Pond Creek Coal Company have employed the detectives. Fred Mooney, miners secretary, requested Attorney General Palmer to take some action. Governor Morrow, of Kentucky, was also asked by Mooney to help. It is feared that miners of Matewan will secure arms and cross the Kentucky Border to help their fellow miners. Mother Jones is here and will go to Pike county.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 23, 1920
Williamson, West Virginia – Mother Jones Speaks at Public Meeting, Part II
Williamson, West Virginia – Sunday Evening June 20, 1920
-Mother Jones Speaks at Public Meeting in Front of Courthouse.
SPEECH OF MOTHER JONES at WILLIAMSON, PART II.
[Mother Jones on Agitators.]
The West Virginian June 22, 1920
I went to a meeting and the secretary of the steel workers went with me. He got up to speak. They took him. The next fellow got up; they took him. I got up. They arrested me. I wouldn’t walk. They had to ride me. A big old Irish buck of a policeman said, “You will have to walk.” “No, I can’t.” “Can you walk?” “No, I can’t.” “We will take you down to jail and lock you up behind the bars.”
After a few minutes the chief came along.
“Mother Jones?”
“Yes, sir.”
“There is some of the steel managers here want to speak to you.”
“All right, let the gentlemen come in. I am sorry gentlemen, I haven’t got chairs to give you.” (Laughter.)
One good fellow says, “Now, Mother Jones, this agitation is dangerous. You know these are foreigners, mostly.” “Well, that is the reason I want to talk to them. I want to organize them into the United States as a Union so as to show them what the institution stands for.”
“They don’t understand English,” he says.
I said, “I want to teach them English. We want them into the Union so they will understand.”
“But you can’t do that. This agitation won’t do. Your radicalism has got to go.”
I said, “Wait a minute, sir. You are one of the managers of the steel industry here?”
“Yes.”
“Wasn’t the first emigrant that landed on our shore an agitator?”
“Who was he?”
“Columbus. Didn’t he agitate to get the money from the people of Spain? Didn’t he agitate to get the crew, and crossed the ocean and discovered America for you and I?
“Wasn’t Washington an agitator? Didn’t the Mayflower bring over a ship-full of agitators? Didn’t we build a monument to them down there in Massachusetts. I want to ask you a question. Right today in and around the City of Pittsburgh I believe there has assembled as many as three hundred thousand people [bowing the knee to Jesus during Easter season.] Jesus was an agitator, Mr. Manager. What in hell did you hang him for if he didn’t hurt your pockets?” He never made a reply. He went away.
He was the manager of the steel works; he was the banker; he was the mayor; he was the judge; he was the chairman of the city council. Just think of that in America—and he had a stomach on him four miles long and two miles wide. (Laughter.) And when you looked at that fellow and compared him with people of toil it nauseated you.
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