Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 5, 1904 “The Class War in Colorado” by John Spargo-Strikes at Telluride and Cripple Creek
From The Comrade of March 1904: Western Federation of Miners sends Delegates Reed and Dougan to New York City, will make known the truth about the miners’ strikes in Colorado.
The article continues for the next two pages and covers the following subjects: -Military Despotism established by Governor Peabody to crush the striking mines. -Persecution of Foster, Parker, Davis and Adams. -Terror inflicted upon Parker’s family. -The Case of John Glover. -The Case of Victor Poole. -Telluride Deportations. -“The W. F. of M. is one of the most advanced labor organizations in the country.”
Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 3, 1903 “Child slavery’s awful curse eats at the vitals of the nation.”
From The Comrade of August 1903:
Child Slaves of Philadelphia
By J. Spargo
CHILD slavery’s awful curse eats at the vitals of the nation. But nowhere to a more alarming extent than in the City of Philadelphia. The great textile industries rest upon the enslavement of children and women. Not even in the South are conditions worse than here. At present the majority of the mills are idle owing to a strike for shorter hours of labor, and the children, or those of them who have not been cowed into submission, being on strike they are free to enjoy the fresh air. But when the mills are working the boys and girls are caged up for sixty hours a week in the unhealthy atmosphere common to these industrial hells.
The present strike in an effort on the part of the textile workers to obtain a reduction of the working hours to fifty- five per week. Although wages are miserably low they are willing to forfeit five hours’ pay if only they can obtain the desired reduction of hours.
In 1892, the year of the great panic, wages in the textile industry fell enormously.The Dingley Tariff of 1894 was to restore wages and improve conditions all round. So the workers voted for “Protection.” They continue to vote for “Protection” despite the fact that wages are still lower than in 1892, and that women and children-especially children-are employed in ever increasing numbers.
The law fixes the minimum age at which children may be employed in factories at thirteen years.The cold, calculating brutality of men deliberately passing a law permitting boys and girls of thirteen to be employed sixty hours a week is even more disgraceful than neglect of the question altogether would be. It is certain, however, that the law has very little effect so far as maintaining even the minimum is concerned.
There are said to be sixteen thousand children at work in the textile industries of Philadelphia,and it is certain that thousands of these are below the legal age. Factory inspection is of the most perfunctory kind: false certificates are not difficult to obtain, and it is easy to use certificates of older children to cover any “suspects.” Moreover, the parents themselves are, in too many cases, ignorant enough-or poor enough-to swear falsely as to the ages of their children. In thousands of cases this is exactly what happens. No one who knows anything whatever about the subject doubts that there are thousands of children between the ages of ten and twelve employed in the textile industries of this city in normal times.
On the morning before “Mother” Jones started to march to New York with her little “army of crusaders” from the Kensington Labor Lyceum, early in July, I saw a number of such children of both sexes. Whenever “Mother” or myself asked one of them his or her age we got the stereotyped reply “Thirteen!” But even if one could believe they spoke the truth, the fact remains that not a few of them had been employed for periods ranging from a few months to two years or even more. One little fellow told me how, in the factory where he worked, when the inspector came round, the smallest of them were either hidden or sent out to play. In not a few cases the “inspection” of the factory all takes place in the employer’s office as every intelligent mill worker knows.
One of the effects of child labor, the illiteracy of adults, I have observed here and in the surrounding towns and villages to a much greater extent than anywhere else in this country. It is by no means an uncommon thing to meet native born Americans of twenty-five years of age, or over, unable to read or write even their own names! What a terrible price to pay for the folly and crime of child labor!
Of course, the first break in the ranks of the strikers took place among the children. Poor children! they entered upon the strike with light hearts. To them it meant a chance to rest; to straighten their little backs. But they were in most cases easily browbeaten by the brutal bosses or their agents. I heard of several cases where mothers took their children-literally dragged them-to the mill gates and forced them inside to “scab.”One little fellow I heard of was dragged and beaten by his mother right up to the mill door when he was roughly pulled inside by a bully of a foreman who hurled a volley of curses at the cowering child.And the burden of the little fellow’s cry was “Don’t make me scab! I’ll die first! Don’t make me scab!”
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 19, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1902, Part V Found Speaking in Holyoke and Celebrating John Mitchell Day in Wilkes-Barre
From the Holyoke Daily Transcript of October 27, 1902:
MOTHER JONES SPEAKS. ———-
LARGE AUDIENCE LISTENS ———- The Most Successful Socialist Rally Held Here For Many Years. ———-
“Mother Jones, the miners’ friend” who has become well known all over the country for her fierce defence of the miners in the coal strike, and who has been arrested in the mining regions several times for her utterances, lectured in this city at the city hail last evening. That she was one of the persons who gained in popularity for her course was shown by the enthusiastic reception she received here. She was welcomed by the largest audience of any campaign speaker this fall, and the largest which attended a socialist rally for years, in Holyoke. It was attributed to her cause in which she appears to be in sympathy body and soul, and to the active part she has taken in it. “Mother” Jones is a pleasant-faced woman who speaks clearly and convincingly, and at times with the most bitting sarcasm. She made a big hit with the large audience. She has force and eloquence. She has been speaking a week in New England.
E. A. Buckland, the congressional candidate of the Socialist party, in this district, presided and introduced L. F. Fuller of Springfield, as the first speaker.
It was 8.30 o’clock before the speaking began.
Mr. Fuller said that a great case was on trial, a case of dollars against men. “The statement is sometimes made that money always did rule and always will rule. This is not true; as in the case of primeval man, money did not rule, and it is my firm belief that it will not long rule. In this country we do not recognize a governmental despotism, but an industrial despotism has already taken place. Abraham Lincoln placed labor above capital. Even in this country the hardest work is done by those who have the least. Labor is the creator of all values. We notice that the home-owners are disappearing. In the last few years the percentage of home-owners has dropped from 69 to 34 per cent. Socialism demands justice for humanity. The socialist objects to dividing up. If the laboring man was not continually dividing up the profits of his labor, there would be no millionaires in this country.
“Mother” Jones, at her introduction, was received with hearty applause.
One of the most important statements made by Mrs. Jones was that the strike is not at an end. She said the commission appointed by the president was organized because an election was approaching. Mrs. Jones wanted to know why the president took the insults of the coal barons so mildly sometime ago and then consulted with Morgan last Sunday on a yacht. She said the miners went back because of public opinion and public opinion did not care for them until the matter was brought home to the people by empty coal bins.
In speaking for organized labor co-operating with the socialists she said that during her 30 years’ acquaintance with the coal regions not a single clergyman protested against the oppression of the miners until the United Mine Workers entered the district. She said that if there is any Christian religion today it is in organized labor.
In speaking of the operators of Pennsylvania and the manner in which they treat the miners she said the operators can violate the law any time they please and 10 times a day if they desire. They seem to own the world, and all the people thrown in. She pictured the manner in which the coal barons live in contrast with the bare existence of the miners, who are compelled to bring their young children into the mines to help get a living. She made much of the journey of Morgan and some others across the continent when wine costing $35 a bottle was opened.
[…..]
She said the strike will not be settled in the coal regions until the miners get what belongs to them. They did not want charity, they wanted justice. Solidarity of labor, she said, was still in its incipiency. Mention was made of the probability of a strike of engineers and firemen that would overshadow the one now in existence. She said much was being urged against the militia and other weapons of the capitalists, but the greatest danger to the miners is the injunction.
In conclusion she urged the working people to emancipate themselves [by] the power of organized labor and by voting the socialist ticket at the polls.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 18, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1902, Part IV Boston, Massachusetts – Found Speaking on Behalf of Striking Coal Miners
From The Boston Globe of October 20, 1902:
“Mother” Jones, who has become famous all over the country as a result of her work in behalf of the coal miners, addressed a gathering of more than 7000 yesterday afternoon at the open-air meeting at Apollo garden, Roxbury. The meeting was in behalf of the striking miners, and was under the auspices of the general committee of the socialist party.
It is said that more than 8000 tickets were sold and a good sum was realized, which will be forwarded for the assistance of the strikers. The meeting was also addressed by Representative James F. Carey and Ex-Mayor Chase of Haverhill, the latter socialist candidate for governor.
The meeting was an enthusiastic one and every telling point scored by the speakers brought forth ready approval. In the gathering was a fair sprinkling of women. The speakers stood on the balcony of the old house, which had been decorated free of charge, and the grove was given free of charge also.
The principal interest centered about the appearance of “Mother” Jones. She sat on the balcony while the other speakers were talking. She was dressed in a plain gown of black cloth and wore no hat. She looks to be more than 50 years old, and her hair is almost snow white. Her keen, small eyes look out from under rather heavy brows, and she has a voice of remarkable power, her address easily being heard at the other side of the grove.
She is a fighter for her “boys,” as she terms the men who work in the mines, and it was easy for those in the audience to see how she has come by the loving term of “mother.”
She told in a quiet, easy manner of her work among the miners, of their toil in the bowels of the earth, their attempts to keep their little families from starving, and of their grinding down by the coal barons. “Mother” Jones evidently knows whereof she speaks, for she told of her visits to the mines underground, and her control over the miners was illustrated by a story she told of a recent occurrence in the present strike, when she led a gathering of 7000 strikers and many women over the mountains in the coal region and their meeting with the armed militia.
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Respects the Law.
The keynote of her address was that the people had made the government, and must obey the law and abide by its decisions. When she was being introduced by the presiding officer, Patrick Mahoney, a man on the balcony interpolated the remark that “She also defied Judge Jackson.” She was hardly on her feet before she made a denial of the statement, saying that Judge Jackson represented the law, and she never defied the law.
Representative James F. Carey of Haverhill was the first speaker. He said the coal strike would have been a failure but for the fact that it has taught the miners a lesson. It has opened the eyes of the people. The class in economic power, he continued, always controls the government, and socialists, knowing that, have tried to bring to the attention of the voters the absurdity of voting for the representatives of capital…..
John C. Chase, socialist candidate for governor, was received with cheers. He said that if the strikers had to go back without gaining a single thing it would show one thing, and that is that the working class must stand together in industrial matters and politics…..
“Mother” Jones was the next speaker, and there was a wave of applause as she came forward. She spoke clearly and distinctly and rather slowly. At no time till she grow heated, but the pathos of her voice showed clearly that the interests of the striking miners were her interests.
She said she largely was responsible for the miners’ organization.
[She said:] For ages men had been struggling to right the wrongs of the world. In this country we first had the civil struggle, and we settled that. Now at the beginning of the 20th century we have the industrial struggle.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 28, 1902 “The Anthracite Coal Strike” by Comrade William Mailly, Part II
From the International Socialist Review of August 1902:
The Anthracite Coal Strike.
[-by William Mailly] ———-
[Part II of II]
Socialist Spirit, July 1902 Comrade Mailly, now in field of great anthracite coal strike.
This somewhat lengthy and yet incomplete explanation of the strike situation has been necessary in order that outsiders can understand why the Socialist agitators received such a warm welcome in the strike region. We came with a new message to the strikers and they heard us gladly. Thrown into the position of fighting simply to save the union that had protected them for two years, harassed and antagonized by the business men whom they had formerly believed their friends, deserted and deceived by the politicians who had always proclaimed themselves their champions, misrepresented and discouraged by the papers they had always supported, they were ready to listen to those who came and spoke the truth. In my experience I have never seen men who listened so eagerly and with such unfeigned enthusiasm to the Socialist presentation of the situation as did these strikers.
But the way had been prepared for us. “Mother” Jones had not been through the region for nothing. Everywhere she had left a trail of Socialist books and papers behind her. Few of the officials but had subscribed for a paper, and many of the miners received one she had subscribed for for them. And “Mother” Jones’ name is a talisman that opens the hearts of the anthracite miners to any Socialist that comes to educate and not abuse.
Then National Secretary Greenbaum’s “strike bulletins,” following upon his messages of friendship to the miners’ conventions, had also familiarized the name of the Socialist Party. These bulletins were much appreciated and made a good impression.
It did not take long, therefore, for the Socialist agitators to secure a hearing. Nothing could more emphasize the different effect produced by the Socialist Labor Party [SLP] tactics and those of the Socialist Party [of America, SPA] than the treatment accorded our representatives. Wherever I went in the region I heard stories of how the S. L. P. agitators had made themselves obnoxious by their attacks upon the union and their efforts to disorganize the men. It sometimes became necessary to explain the difference in the parties to enquirers who classed all Socialists as “union wreckers.”
I think the members of the Socialist Party are justified in believing that the presence of their representatives in the field was beneficial to the strike and the miners’ union. We preached the necessity of Solidarity and explained the industrial situation so that the miners could not help but become imbued with an increased faith in themselves. They were not slow to acknowledge this, and to show their approval of what we said. It became a very easy matter to get up a meeting for a Socialist speaker and, in some cases, men were known to walk several miles to hear us. The Socialists presented the case with a force and clearness that went home and made, I am sure, a lasting impression, especially as the situation provided all the necessary features for Socialist arguments of unlimited length.
There was no antagonism to the Socialists exhibited by any of the officials. On the contrary, there was an evident desire to allow us to be heard, and local officials gave us much assistance. Personally I received a letter from President Mitchell introducing me to the locals, which, as representative of the “Worker,” was of great help to me. I did not have to use the letter to get up meetings. Just as soon as it was learned I was a Socialist and “all right,” meetings were arranged for me. There was no danger of not having anything to do.
Wherever Vail, Spargo, Geiger and Collins had spoken, the same encomiums of their work were heard. We had a clear field, for none of the capitalist party politicians were in sight, and the miners were in the mood for the truth. Collins couldn’t begin to organize locals fast enough, and he’ll probably never do harder or better work again. Fortunately, we had comrades at Carbondale and Wilkesbarre, who took advantage of every opportunity presented.
Two things are to be regretted. First, that more agitators could not be kept in the field, and second, that more literature and better facilities for handling it could not be provided. I was never more impressed with the necessity of a well-formed, efficiently conducted Socialist organization. The national and State officials of the party did their utmost, but their hands were tied for lack of funds. I am of the opinion that half a dozen good Socialist agitators, speaking different languages, following each other through the region, would do more toward winning the strike than all the money the Socialist Party can give to a strike relief fund. The demand for literature cannot begin to be filled. The miners are reading and discussing what they read as never before. Such an opportunity to reach a large number of workingmen so receptive and hungry for knowledge will seldom be presented again. As it is, we can feel that not only have we done our utmost to propagate Socialism, but we have also inculcated into the hearts and minds of thousands of workingmen the true spirit of the class struggle and some conception of the prevailing industrial phenomena.
A final word about the strike itself. That the conditions around the mines justify organization goes without saying. Nevertheless, I believe these conditions might have been endured a while longer if tyranny had not been exercised to such an extent. To be continually insulted and reviled when seeking redress, to be cursed by the boss and subjected to his open contempt, to be ignored by the employer when seeking recognition—this was more than the miners could stand forever. The union has offered them the only medium of expression for their grievances, the only form of protection from the domineering of under bosses and the larger tyranny of the operators they have ever had. The strike is the harvest of years of arbitrary and selfish corporate misrule.
Whatever the outcome may be, the fact that the fight is one to preserve the right to organize should be of encouragement to all Socialists. There is one thing also of which I am morally certain: that, even if the strike be lost, the union will not wholly be destroyed. It has the elements of permanency in it, for men like those to be found in the anthracite region are not conquered by one defeat. The union is there to stay, no matter how this strike may result or who the officers may be. The seed of Solidarity is too deeply planted to be uprooted and destroyed so easily as the mine owners wish. And if the Socialists have only succeeded in planting that seed a little deeper, this alone should recompense us for any money or energy expended during the strike.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 3, 1902 “Child Labor in Free America” by John Spargo, Illustrated by Ryan Walker
From The Comrade of July 1902:
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Mocking the stately phrases of the Declaration of Independence and the proud boast enshrined in our national songs, is the terrible reality of child-slavery. From the far South comes a cry from children that know no childhood and upon whose degradation the great edifice of our commercial supremacy is being raised. Not since the early years of the last century when the great and good Robert Owen, Michael Sadler and the seventh Earl of Shaftsbury (then Lord Ashley) gave voice to the terrible condition of the mere babes who languished and toiled in British mills and factories, has such a terrible story of shame been told as that which is told of Alabama, Georgia, and the two Carolinas to-day. Little boys and girls of five, six, seven, and eight years, toiling in factories ten, and even twelve, hours a day, all unconsciously mock our “civilization” and imperil the very life of the nation.
But it is not alone in these States that child labor prevails. From almost every State in the Union the cry of the child toiler for rest, for childhood, for life, is heard. In the North no less than the South; East no less than the West, the same great problem exists-the problem of child labor co-existing side by side with a permanent army of unemployed adults. In the textile mills of the South it is estimated that there are at least 20,000children at work under fourteen years of age. In Alabama alone there are some twelve hundred children employed, being a proportion of between six and seven per cent of all the operatives. In Georgia the proportion of children under twelve to grown persons employed in the mills is stated to be not less than 14 per cent, and in SouthCarolina it is at least nine per cent. The ages of these children thus classified as “under twelve” run all the way down to six and even five years!
Let those who prate of our “glorious progress,” and boast of our ascendant commercial power, reflect upon the terrible fact that little children, scarcely more than babies, can be found by the thousand in these southern mills working 12 and 12½ hours every day at the spinning frames for wages that range from ten to twenty cents a day. Here is a terrible account of this child slavery, written by a special correspondent of Cincinnati Post, which should be sufficient of itself to shame the people of this country, and to rouse them to vigorous action. He says:
I secured entrance to the People’s mills of Montgomery, (Alabama) which manufacture sheeting for the China trade. In the spinning room, where most of the children are employed, there were 125 persons of all ages at work. Of that number between 40 and 50 were children less than 12 years old. Those who had ever been in a school house were rare exceptions. In this room I saw boys and girls so small that their efforts to perform their work were absolutely pitiful. In reaching up to join the ends of the broken threads they were obliged to strain and stretch every muscle and sinew of their frail bodies and some were so small that they were compelled to stand on their tiptoes. This was repeated every five minutes or oftener for twelve long hours. I called the foreman’s attention to several little ones who I was sure could not be over six years old and was told “they are not working,” which meant that they were not on the pay-roll, but were helping the parent or older brother or sister, or learning the machines, so as to be able to take their place in that mill.
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Frank Sieverman and Mother Jones
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