Tag: Illinois Central and Harriman Lines Strike of 1911 to 1915

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for February 1912, Part I: Found in Colorado, Wyoming, Illinois, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Master Class Creates Violence, LA Rec p4, Dec 21, 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 27, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1912, Part I
Found in Colorado, Wyoming, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana

From the Appeal to Reason of February 3, 1912:

Mother Jones, Tacoma Tx p3, Feb 14, 1912The California Building Trades convention [of late January] unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a conference between the Socialist Party, the state A. F. of L. and the State Building Trades, with a view to united political action for the working class. Job Harriman, Mother Jones and Alexander Irvine were among the speakers at the convention.

—————

[Photograph added.]

From the Denver Rocky Mountain News of February 7, 1912:

 

ROOSEVELT ‘MONKEY CHASER,’
DECLARES ‘MOTHER’ JONES
———-

“WALL STREET WILL ELECT HIM NEXT PRESIDENT,”
SAYS WOMAN LABOR LEADER.
———-

That Theodore Roosevelt is a “monkey chaser,” but will be elected the next president of the United States despite the fact, is the opinion of “Mother” Jones, who arrived in Denver yesterday to investigate labor conditions.

“I have no doubt that Roosevelt will be the next president,” she says. “Of course, I have no use for him, but he plays to the galleries, and a Wall street will elect him.

“He is the fellow who sent guns to murder the working men in the strike of 1904 [Telluride, November 1903].

“Taft is right in with him, but I think that Taft is more of a gentleman than Roosevelt is.”

“Mother” Jones will make an address at Eagle hall tomorrow night, under the auspices of the Western Federation of Miners.

———-

From Denver’s United Labor Bulletin of February 8, 1912:

 

“MOTHER” JONES SPEAKS TO
FEDERATED SHOPMEN

Strike Is Already Won, Says “Mother”
Many Entertainments for Benefit of Strikers

“Mother” Jones spoke to a large crowd at Eagles’ hall Wednesday night, and during her address but one man left the hall. She spoke to the striking Federated Shopmen, and her discourse covered a period of two and one-half hours. “Mother” Jones has passed through the entire life of the labor movement in the United States. The daughter of a miner and later a miner’s wife, she was reared and spent her life in the labor movement. She has a wonderful memory, and in her address she followed the evolution of the labor movement in the United States, and told of how labor has been exploited by capital to the detriment of the human race.

“Mother” Jones has been traveling over the Harriman system, and said that the strike of the shopmen was won now, and it was only a matter of time until the roads will sign up. She said that on one occasion where a train on which she was riding had a nine-hour schedule it took the train thirty-six hours to make the trip.

From Rawlins Republican (Wyoming) of February 8, 1912:

 

MOTHER JONES HERE

Last Thursday evening in the Danish hall Mother Jones spoke to the striking shopmen and several of their friends. The crowd was very enthusiastic and frequently applauded the speaker.

Mother Jones is a strong and vigorous speaker and does not hesitate to call a spade a spade. She assured the strikers that she was confident that a settlement of their troubles would be made in the near future, advised them to remain firm in their demands and not desert the cause for which they had been fighting for so long. She urged the men strongly to remain away from the saloons and gambling houses and prophesied that if this was not done much discredit would be thrown upon the cause they represent.

As is usual in labor leaders, she strongly denounced the capitalist class and even took a shot at several of she religious organizations.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for January 1912, Part II: Found in Fresno at California State Convention of Building Trades Council

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Revolutionary Class Conscious Vote, Fno Tb p1, Jan 18, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 22, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1912, Part II
Found in Fresno at State Convention of Building Trades Council

From The Fresno Morning Republican of January 17, 1912:

CA Building Trades Council Convention Delegates, Fresno Mrn Rpb p3, Jan 17, 1912

[Delegates to the California State Convention of the Building Trades Council.]

The picture contains most of the prominent labor leaders attending the sessions of the B. T. C. Olaf A Tveitmoe, seated in front can be picked out by his cane. On his right is President McCarthy, ex-mayor of San Francisco, and on McCarthy’s right, J. B. Bowen, first vice president and acting president during McCarthy’s mayoralty. Anton Johannsen, state organizer, and under indictment with Tveitmoe, is seated on the extreme right of the picture. The picture was taken yesterday noon by a representative of the Western  Panoramic company of San Jose.

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UNION MEN URGED TO VOTE AS CLASS
———-
Resolutions Propose Minimum Wage Scale
of $2 and 8-Hour Day
———-

According to the official report given out yesterday from the session of the California Sate Building Trades Council, the reports from the different local councils give promises of support, both financial and moral, for the fight growing out of the recent indictments returned by the federal grand jury of Los Angeles against Olaf A. Tveitmoe and Anton Johannsen. This information was given out by Tveitmoe, who as secretary is the press bureau of the convention…

The second day of the eleventh annual convention of the California State Building Trades Council which is being held at the Union hall, was marked by speeches by Job Harriman, defeated candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, and Alexander Irvine his campaign manager, urging the banding together of all union men for political purposes. These two speakers are themselves socialists, and would probably prefer to have organized labor fall into the ranks of the Socialist party, but nothing definitely suggesting this was made in their speeches. They urged co-operation between unions and Socialists, probably leading to a Labor-Socialist party.

[…..]

PUBLIC MEETING TONIGHT

In order to allow the general public an opportunity to hear the prominent labor leaders who are now here, a mass meeting of all delegates and visitors will be held at the Barton opera house tonight at 8 o’clock, to which the general public is invited and urged to be present. Olaf A. Tveitmoe, the indicted secretary-treasurer; P. H. McCarthy, ex-mayor of San Francisco; Job Harriman, candidate for mayor of Los Angeles and Alexander Irvine, one of the henchmen of Harriman in his fight for the mayoralty, will all speak…

“Mother” Jones eighty years old and for many years connected with the labor movement of all branches, arrived in Fresno last evening and will probably be one of the speakers of the public mass meeting…..

—————

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for January 1912, Part I: Found in California Speaking on Behalf of Striking Railroad Shopmen

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—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 21, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1912, Part I
Found in California Speaking on Behalf of Striking Shopmen

From The Sacramento Bee of January 8, 1912:

SHOPMEN HEAR “MOTHER” JONES

Mother” Jones, the famous labor leaderMother Jones crpd ed, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910, spoke in this city for the second time Saturday night, when she addressed meeting in Socialist Hall at 1024½ J Street. Her theme was the principles of labor unionism, and her remarks were made principally in behalf of the striking shopmen. “Mother” Jones declared the strikers were right, and urged them to hold out firm against the efforts of the Harriman lines to prevent them from establishing a shop federation.

—————

[Photograph added.]

From the Ogden Evening Standard of January 9, 1912:

MOTHER JONES AT M. E. CHURCH
———-

Evidently holding with Kipling that “the female of the species is more deadly than the male,” Mother Jones, internationally known because of her fiery oratory in defense of labor, arraigned and chided the women of her audience in the Methodist church last night, claiming that women are always the dangerous element to the cause of labor during strikes. Mother Jones spoke under the auspices of the Harriman federation, although the expenses of her present tour over the Harriman railroad system are being bourne by the Western Federation of Miners.

The aged “guardian of the minors,” now nearing her eightieth birthday, did not lack in oratorical vigor and spoke with all the vehemence that has marked her forty years experience in the labor movement. While Mother Jones spoke with almost brutal force at times, there was withal a kindly thread of sentiment throughout her talk which softened the harshness with which she emphasized her contempt for “scabs,” “corporation lap dogs,” “capital’s spies and detectives,” “capital’s rats,” and kindred vindictive frequently used.

Mother Jones turned many of her remarks to the women of her audience, stating that because the women in many instances do not understand the economic problems of the day they often persuade their husbands or brothers to return to work when their union is on strike. She contended that a large per cent of strike breakers became strike breakers because of the urging of women. “Women,” she asserted, “are the dangerous element in every strike, because they cannot see the need of labor’s organizations and do not know the struggle between capital and labor”

[She told the women:]

If I had a husband and he had never gone on a strike I would lick him and make him go on a strike. I would not live with such a servile slave, as the worker that never strikes. This nation was founded on a strike against George III and the bravest and best men of the nation have been striking against various forms of injustice ever since. And there have always been ‘scabs,’ men who were traitors to their fellows. There were traitors in the army of Washington and there were traitors to the Immortal Lincoln; always there have been traitors but the traitors have never in the end defeated a just cause. Labor never loses. It becomes better educated with each battle and its struggles becomes more intelligent and more heroic, and in the end it cannot lose.

The gray haired speaker recounted many of her experiences in different strikes, in which she has taking place, told of facing militia bullets in Pennsylvania during the coal strike of a year ago and during the greater strike of 1904. She said that the present strike on the Harriman lines was but a symptom of the industrial disease which infected the nation and the entire world and which would never be cured until the workers themselves owned the tools with which they worked. She ridiculed those whom she termed the timid strikers who were always asking how long the strike was going to last and told them that some strikes had been on after the workers had remained away from their jobs for five years. “This strike is going to last,” she said, “until the railroad company recognizes the federation of shop workers.”

Mother Jones will leave this city today for Salt Lake City where, she will deliver an address to the striking shopmen of that city tonight.

————–

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for December 1911, Part II: Found in Los Angeles, Predicting Brighter Day with End of Profit System

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Quote Mother Jones Master Class Creates Violence, LA Rec p4, Dec 21, 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 16, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for December 1911, Part II
Found in Los Angeles, Interviewed by Estelle Lawton Lindsey

From The Los Angeles Record of December 21, 1911:

“MOTHER JONES” PREDICTS BRIGHTER DAY;
MEN NATURALLY GOOD IS HER BELIEF

Mother Jones, Small, LA Rec p4, Dec 21, 1911

By Estelle Lawton Lindsey.

“Some day men will go into the bowels of the earth and bring out lead to be made into type to enlighten the minds of their fellows, instead of bullets to brutalize. In that day we shall be civilized.”

The speaker was Mrs. Mary Jones, known through this land as “Mother Jones,” saint or revolutionist according to your point of view, a woman loved to adoration by 400,000 organized miners of the U. S., and who has been described as “the walking wrath of God.”

In conversation this woman, who will be 80 years old the first day of next May, and looks like a well-preserved and vigorous woman of 50, speaks little of wrath and much of love, understanding and education.

WOMEN MUST UNDERSTAND

My work is to prevent violence, to settle, peaceably, differences between employer and employed. Wherever there are strikes, wherever there may be violence—which I abhor—wherever feelings of revenge are rampant, there I go. My work is to teach men the causes of their difficulties, to show them how to remedy conditions by changing the laws and the system. My field of activity is the world.

The trouble with the average woman is that she is a sentimentalist. She is ignorant of the causes of our industrial disturbance. She cannot realize that as long as we have oppression we shall have violent reaction in the minds and feelings of the oppressed; and that such feelings are the root of violence. The thinker who understands the cause knows all violence can be done away with. Soon women will understand, then they will give the world better men.

My work is to keep people from getting into conflicts to get them to think instead of fighting; and to show others how to think. I believe in education; and through education I believe we can so change our forms of government that feelings of revenge will die of inanition.

In that day we will not devote millions, wrung from those least able to pay, to chaining human beings like beasts for being what the government has made them.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for December 1911, Part I: Found in Berkeley, California, Receiving News of McNamaras’ Confession

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Fresno Tb p1, Nov 22, 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 15, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for December 1911, Part I
Found in Berkeley, California; Learns of Confession of McNamara Brothers

From the Richmond (California) Daily Independent of December 1, 1911:

MOTHER JONES TO SPEAK.
———-

Mother Jones, Small, LA Rec p4, Dec 21, 1911

Mother Jones, the mother of the working men, will speak at the Building Trades Temple on Fourth and Macdonald avenue, Friday evening at 8:15. Her subject will be “McNamara Defense.” The public is cordially invited to attend.

[Photograph added.]

—————

From the Richmond Daily Independent of December 2,1911:

MCNAMARA CONFESSION
CREATES COMMOTION
———-
At First Held Ridiculous Here. But Mother Jones
Meeting at Trades Hall Is Postponed–Many
See Political Move in Los Angeles Election.
———-

The blood-red extra of the Oakland Tribune last evening set the Richmond world ablaze. Its headlines, in letters inches long, read “J. B. McNamara Pleads Guilty,” “Admits Slaying Haggerty,” and “Brother Admit Dynamiting.” The Trib had little else save that it claimed that J. B. McNamara would be given life imprisonment and that his brother, J. J. McNamara under agreement with state, would receive fifteen years.

[…..]

The union labor forces of Richmond and the sympathizers with the McNamaras found themselves in queer position with the appearance of the evening papers. Mother Jones was announced to address the Richmond people at the Building Trades Council hall on Fourth street on the matter of aiding in the defense of the accused men.

Quite a body of people assembled to listen to the famous woman, but after a short wait, it was announced by the officials of the council that Mother Jones would not be present, as she was waiting in Berkeley for later and more reliable information from the southern city. There was nothing else to be done but postpone the meeting, and it was done. At a later date, should tho conditions at Los Angeles be different than reported last night, Mother Jones may appear here…..

———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for November 1911, Part II: Found Touring California and Speaking on Behalf of McNamara Brothers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Fresno Tb p1, Nov 22, 1911—————-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 16, 1911
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1911, Part II
Found in California Speaking on Behalf of McNamara Brothers

From The Sacramento Bee of November 14, 1911:

Sac Bee p3, Nov 14, 1911

“MOTHER” Jones, known throughout the country as a forceful speaker on Socialistic and Labor questions is coming to Sacramento. She will be he principal speaker at the “Capital and Labor” drama that is to be staged in the Clunie Theater to-morrow night. It is announced in local labor circles that Mother Jones is to speak in defense of the McNamara Brothers, now on trial in Los Angeles for the alleged dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times.

The drama “Capital and Labor” that is to be played at the Clunie Theater to-morrow night is in the nature of a benefit for the strikers in the local shops. It will be under the personal direction of Paul Gerson who will be supported by William A. Lowery member of the Blacksmith’s Local of San Francisco, who will appear in the role of the black smith in the play.

The receipts from the play, it is understood, will go into an emergency fund. From this fund relief will be given those unskilled laborers who were not organized at the time the strike was called and who hence are not entitled to strike benefits.

The company which is to stage the play is made up of professional talent and a good production is expected.

———————-

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Hellraisers Journal: Southern Pacific Official at Arizona Desert Town Denies Water to Striker’s New Born Babe and Wife

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Quote Joe Hill, General Strike, Workers Awaken, LRSB Oct 1919———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 4, 1911
Gila Bend, Arizona – Southern Pacific Official Denies Water to New Born Babe

From the Duluth Labor World of December 2, 1911:

LW p1, Dec 2, 1911

TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 30.-The Southern Pacific officials at this point have resorted to brutal and de­sperate methods to compel its strik­ing employees to return to work. Out on the desert where many men are on strike they depend upon the company to bring them water. As a last re­sort the company has refused to fur­nish or sell water to any employee on strike. 

In a news story published by, “The Voice of the People” of this city, a tale is told of the tactics of the com­pany in its attempt to crush the men on strike: The paper states: 

Refused Water. 

“Even a Digger Indian or a Papago buck on the war path, will turn over a rock and allow a squaw with a new born pappoose the first pick of the fat grubs which may be found beneath it, but it has remained for an official of the Southern Pacific railroad, Superintendent J. H. Dyer, of the Tucson division, which extends from El Paso, to Yuma, to refuse a drink of waiter to a strikers’s wife with a new born babe at her breast,

“The babe was only three days old when the order was issued by the railroad superintendent, and on account of the order the wife of W. E. Stewart a striking boilermaker at Gila Bend, Ariz., out in the desert, miles from civilization, is without water for the nurse to wash the linen, which the simplest demands of sanitation, to say nothing of civilization, require in such cases. 

Two Kind of Water. 

There are two. kinds of water at Gila Bend-the water which the engines must use—it eats the flues out of boilers with a celerity which requires a force of men at the round house to make what are called “running repairs” on the locomotives, and W. E. Stewart was one of these men. 

“The other water is drinking water, which is brought in a water car from Sentinel. Since the strike Stewart has been standing with the other me­chanics of the federation at his post, the little semi-oasis of the desert about half way between Tucson and Yuma. 

“On November 7, Superintendent Dyer, angered and furious at the un­breakable lines of the shopmen who would not return to work until the grievances are adjusted, issued his order to cut off the water from all strikers at Gila Bend. 

Money Is Tendered. 

“The secretary of the Tucson branch of the federation received a wire from Stewart telling of the action and asking legal counsel. A. A. Worsley, the attorney for the fed­eration, notified Stewart by wire, to tender pay for the water. 

“Stewart obeyed and money was of­fered by his father-in-law, while Stewart held his three days old babe in his arms and looked into the eyes of his suffering wife, unable to offer her a drink of water which she craved, but the money was refused by the roundhouse foreman, Allgood, who was acting under Dyer’s orders. 

“Kindly disposed women neighbors, whose husbands are still in the rail­road service in other departments than that affected by the strike, have seen to it that enough water to drink has been smuggled to the bedside of Mrs. Stewart, whose condition forbids her being moved to any other place at this time.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1911, Part I: Found in L. A. at McNamara Trial

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Courts n Justice, ES2 p190, to Mooney Conv, Jan 14, 1919———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 19, 1911
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1911, Part I
Found in Los Angeles at Trial of J. B. McNamara 

From the San Francisco Examiner of October 14, 1911:

LA Trail of JB McNamara

LA Trial of J. B. McNamara

LOS ANGELES, October 13-[…..]

To-day [at the McNamara trial] the most notable visitor undoubtedly was “Mother Jones,” “the woman to whom a strike is an inspiration to action-the only revolutionary woman we have in America,” as she has been described…..

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Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: Phillips Russell on the Shopmen’s Strike against the Harriman Lines

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Quote Joe Hill, General Strike, Workers Awaken, LRSB Oct 1919—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 3, 1911
“Switched off the Main Line” by Phillips Russell

From the International Socialist Review of November 1911:

Title re Harriman RR Shopmen Strike by P Russell, ISR p268, Nov 1911

ON the last of September, the long delayed strike of the System Federation among the shopmen of the Harriman lines took place, extending from the middle west to the Gulf in the south and taking in all that territory westward to the Pacific ocean.

The System Federation comprises the shopmen of ten different organizations. the principal ones being the International Association of Machinists, Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Brotherhood of Blacksmiths and Helpers, International Association of Sheet Metal Workers, the steamfitters, clerks, painters, engine hostlers and members of the Federal Labor Union. The first five mentioned are the leading organizations involved. The international presidents of these unions, having had many conferences with Vice-President Kruttschnitt of the Harriman lines, finally called the strike on three lines, these lines being the Illinois Central, the Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific lines.

The union officials claimed that 25,000 men came out. The railroad heads asserted there were only a few thousand at most.

In this strike there are just two questions with which the men in the ranks need concern themselves, and these are-hours and wages. The matter of recognition early in the fight was made the most of, but of all the issues involved, this was the most insignificant. However, the Federation heads insisted on making recognition the leading demand and pushing the first two fundamentals into the background.

Of all the questions at issue, that pertaining to the hours of labor is supreme. Men on strike can afford to make the matter of wages a secondary issue. It is the hours that count, for it cannot be too often repeated that shorter hours in variably mean higher wages.

Several thousand unorganized workers followed the union men out, and having been given the impression that the revolt was for an eight hour day and better conditions, they were eager for the fight.

But on learning that the question of hours and conditions was not going to figure in the struggle, and on hearing the incessant chant of the Federation heads that they asked only recognition for the Federation, the unorganized men soon lost interest and began to drift back into the shops.

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Hellraisers Journal: Industrial Worker: “Union Scabs Working on Harriman Lines; 30,000 Shop Men on Strike”

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Quote Joe Hill, General Strike, Workers Awaken, LRSB Oct 1919—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 17, 1911
30,000 Shopmen on Strike on Harriman Lines; Union Scabs Continue Working

From the Spokane Industrial Worker of October 12, 1911:

Harriman Strike, HdLn Union Scabs, IW p1, Oct 12, 1911

It is estimated that there are 30,000 shop men, members of the Federated Shopmen’s Union, now on strike on the Harriman lines. The strikers comprise four crafts, which includes the blacksmiths, carmen, machinists and boilermakers. Up to the present time the men remain firm in their demands and few desertions are recorded, if any. Much of our news has come through the capitalist press and therefore we are forced to read between the lines. That there has been an earnest effort on the part of the strikers to keep the professional scabs from going to work in many places is certain. We have not heard of any bricks being thrown at the switchmen, who are also members of the A. F. of L., neither has many firemen, who are firing the coal into the engines that pull scabs around the country, had their heads knocked off.

There is some hope expressed that the strike may extend. We hope so. We hope that every craft now employed on the Harriman system will discover the fact that they are also employes of the Harriman management and have interests in common with the strikers and so long as they continue to work when four crafts are battling for better conditions, that they are scabbing. If the strike goes the way of many strikes it cannot be said that it was LOST. It will be of some benefit to the workers, as it will point the way to a more solid organization. It will demonstrate that it was not the so-called professional scabs that caused the temporary defeat, but was caused directly by the union scabs who stayed and helped the master whip those who were battling for better conditions. Until all the slaves working for the one industry and all the slaves working for all the industries recognize that “an injury to one is an injury to all” it will be a case of recording defeat after defeat. Not a train has been bottled up so far on the Harriman system and it would be absurd to say that the object in a strike is not to bottle up a railroad or other industry and FORCE the boss to come to terms. To FORCE concessions is the object of any strike, then why not have enough FORCE?

Is it creditable to go into an affray knowing that you have not enough FORCE to be victorious? Is it creditable to be always getting whipped? We hope the federated crafts will win their strike. We hope all strikes could be won. It is our one desire to not only win the little strikes known as skirmishes, but to win the BIG STRIKE when the boss will be FORCED to do his share of the work of the world instead of living off the toil of labor. If the strikers will only discover the fact that there are other scabs than professional scabs and will treat other scabs in the same way and with the same contempt as they are those who are directly taking their places or attempting to, the strike will be of short duration. Bottle up the railroad. Make the other crafts strike or forever damn them as the lowest scabs on earth. Make them fight to help you if possible. Send back their resolutions of sympathy and call a spade a spade. Call a scab a scab. Let every railroader on the Harriman lines lay down his tools or be condemned as a traitor to the working class. It’s a skirmish in the great class struggle, then fight it on class lines.

—————

[Emphasis and paragraph break added.]

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