Tag: Kensington PA Textile Strike 1903

Hellraisers Journal: From the Burley WA Co-operator: Mother Jones Describes the March of the Mill Children of July 1903

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones to TR, These Little Children, Phl No Am July 16, 1903, Foner p552—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 4, 1904
Mother Jones Describes the March of the Mill Children of July 1903

From The Co-operator of September 1904:

The March of the Children.

Lena Morrow Lewis, in The Socialist, Seattle, Washington, June 19th, 1904. From notes by Mother Jones.

Mother Jones w Army, March of Mill Children, AZ Rpbn p1, July 18, 1903

PHILADELPHIA is famed far and wide as the ” City of Brotherly Love.” Churches abound everywhere, and her people look with holy awe upon the sins and vices of their sister city on Long Island Sound. And an unsuspecting and unobserving public has been quite ready to accept without question all that the City of Brotherly Love has claimed for herself.

It has remained for the wicked labor agitator to ferret out and unearth the criminal conditions that exist in this quiet, peaceful church- going city of Philadelphia, and it is only in a Socialist paper that these facts are permitted to see the light of day.

The writer is indebted to “Mother” Jones for the items contained therein.

Last summer the textile workers of Philadelphia, 125,000 men, women and children, went on a strike. They demanded shorter hours, an increase of wages and better sanitary conditions. Filthy closets and a defective sewerage system produced a very unwholesome atmosphere in which to work. Meanwhile the rest of the world wagged merrily on, and no one seemed to know or care anything about the strike, except a few labor cranks and Socialists and the owners whose profits were being affected. Not a daily newspaper mentioned the cause of the strike, nor the fact that among the strikers were a large number of children. During this time “Mother” Jones “happened” to drop into town and, as is her custom, she began to stir up matters. The public should be forced to know what these people were striking for. But strikes were such common affairs and it would require drastic measures to arouse an indifferent public.

At last she hit upon a plan. She would marshal all the children between the ages of ten and fourteen and take them on a thirty-mile march and they were to stop at every town within that radius and tell the people the story of their wrongs. Many of these children had worked in the factory since they were seven years of age and had never been inside a school room. When they were gone about forty miles they decided to go over to Oyster Bay and present their case to President Roosevelt. There was some risk connected with a project of this kind. If any of the children had sickened or died on the way, that fact would have been heralded all over the country, and “Mother” Jones proclaimed a murderer. The mills could maim and disfigure and kill scores of children annually and no mention be made of the fact. However, “Mother” Jones felt that they could afford to take chances and proceeded with the children.

As they journeyed from town to town, members of the working class provided them with food and shelter.

The children marched thru the streets of the towns, held meetings and, thru their leaders, told the story of their wrongs. Every child was keyed up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. Every step northward was taking them farther away from Philadelphia. Some of their fathers had voted for President Roosevelt; in their eyes he was the greatest man in the United States and so they went hopefully and merrily on. When they reached Bristol the leader sent a request on behalf of the children for a permit to hold a street meeting and, when it was learned that an army of children was coming into town, a squad of policemen armed with guns were ordered to stand guard on the bridge to protect the city against the children.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Burley WA Co-operator: Mother Jones Describes the March of the Mill Children of July 1903” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Comrade: “Child Slaves of Philadelphia” by John Spargo-Textile Mills Enslave Children

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones , March of Mill Children, fr whom Wall Street Squeezes Its Wealth, Lbr Wld p6, July 18, 1903—————

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

Mother Jones March of Mill Children, Boys w Banners, Comrade p253, Aug 1903

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.

Mother Jones w Group of Girl Strikers, Comrade p253, Aug 1903

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!”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Comrade: “Child Slaves of Philadelphia” by John Spargo-Textile Mills Enslave Children” →

Hellraisers Journal: Oyster Bay-President Roosevelt Refuses to See Mother Jones and Her Army of Child Textile Strikers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones to TR, These Little Children, Phl No Am July 16, 1903, Foner p552—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 1, 1903
Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, New York-President Refuses to Meet with Mother Jones

From The New York Times of July 30, 1903:

Mother Jones March of the Mill Children, TR Refuses MJ and Army, NYT p2, July 30, 1903

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Oyster Bay-President Roosevelt Refuses to See Mother Jones and Her Army of Child Textile Strikers” →

Hellraisers Journal: Senator Platt Flees Before Mother Jones at Oriental Hotel on Manhattan Beach; Army Given Breakfast

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones to TR, These Little Children, Phl No Am July 16, 1903, Foner p552—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday July 31, 1903
Mother Jones and Her Army March to Oriental Hotel with an Elephant

From the New York Tribune of July 28, 1903:

Mother Jones March of the Mill Children, NY Tb p6, July 28, 1903

From The Scranton Republican of July 28, 1903:

Mother Jones March of the Mill Children, Scranton PA Rpb p1, July 28, 1903

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Senator Platt Flees Before Mother Jones at Oriental Hotel on Manhattan Beach; Army Given Breakfast” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks on Evils of Child Labor to Large Crowd at Bostock’s as Lions Roar in Background

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 30, 1903
Mother Jones Speaks on Child Labor While Lions Roar at Bostock’s on Coney Island

From The New York Times of July 27, 1903:

MOTHER JONES SPEAKS TO
CONEY ISLAND CROWD
———-
Delivers Address in a Menagerie
and Lions Interrupt.
———-
Anti-Child Labor Crusader Rebukes Young Man in the
Audience Who Smiled-On to Oyster Bay This Week.
———-

Mother Jones, March of Mill Children, NY Eve Wld p3, July 8, 1903

“Mother” Jones and her army were the central attraction yesterday afternoon [Sunday July 26th] at Bostock’s trained animal show at Coney Island. Mme. Morelli and her cage full of snarling leopards, reluctantly obeying her at the persuasion of a horse whip skillfully wielded by scarred arms, did not excite half the interest there was in “Mother” Jones and her army. Even the baby elephant that wanders about in the crowd at the entrance of the animal show excited little interest, to the intense mortification of the massive infant. The monkey tribe huddled dejectedly in the corners of their cages, and the animals indulged in long siestas with their backs turned to those who had come to admire them. They went through their performances in the steel-barred stage sullenly, with occasional exhibitions of savagery, at the idea that they were eclipsed by “Mother” Jones and her army.

The “barker” who raps a cane on his elevated desk to attract attention to the wonders of the show early in the afternoon grew hoarse in his announcements that “Mother” Jones would deliver an address at 4:30 o’clock. The building was well filled some time before the scheduled address of “Mother” Jones.

At the conclusion of the performance of the animals the stage scenery was shifted so that it was meant to represent the Colosseum, the populace high above all danger of the animals, and an Emperor on either side, with forearms extended and thumbs pointing downward, the two Emperors within easy striking distance of any beast, not suffering with rheumatism, which might prefer royal to other meat.

“Mother” Jones offered no objection to the stage setting; on the contrary, she expressed her approval. They were typical of aristocracy and her crusade is aimed against what she designates as “the aristocracy of employers.”

The official announcer heralded the coming of “Mother” Jones and her army, and they appeared in the Colosseum surrounded by bars. The idea of being caged was disagreeable to the speaker, and she positively refused to talk from “behind the bars.” A platform was therefore arranged for her outside of the cage, she standing on a board resting on two chairs. She had scarcely begun to talk when the largest lion, known as “the King of the Beasts,” set up a horrible roar, the others joining in his protest against attacks on aristocracy, even if it was of the human kind. During her remarks “Mother” Jones was constantly interrupted by the discourteous beasts. In the course of her address she said in part:

After a long and weary march, with more miles to travel, we are on our way to see President Roosevelt at Oyster Bay. We will ask him to recommend the passage of a bill by Congress to protect children against the greed of the manufacturer. We want him to hear the wail of the children, who never have a chance to go to school, but work from ten to eleven hours a day in the textile mills of Philadelphia, weaving the carpets that he and you walk on, and the curtains and clothes of the people.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks on Evils of Child Labor to Large Crowd at Bostock’s as Lions Roar in Background” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and Her Army of Child Textile Strikers Travel to Coney Island as Guests of Frank Bostock

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, Children Build Nations Commercial Greatness, Phl No Amn, Foner p487—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 29, 1903
Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York – Mother Jones and Her Army Guests of Bostock

From the New York Tribune of July 26, 1903:

Mother Jones March of Mill Children, Army at Bostock's Last Night, NY Tb p5, July 26, 1903

From the Indianapolis Sunday Journal of July 26, 1903
-Mother with one of her girls:

Mother Jones March of Mill Children, Mother w Girl Textile Worker, Ipl Jr p28, July 26, 1903

From the New York Worker of July 26, 1903
-Socialists plan rally to receive Mother to New York City:

Mother Jones March of Mill Children, Meeting Planned to Greet Army for July 23, NY Worker p1, July 26, 1903

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and Her Army of Child Textile Strikers Travel to Coney Island as Guests of Frank Bostock” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and Her Army March from Elizabeth to Paterson; Mother Speaks at Socialist Picnic

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones , March of Mill Children, fr whom Wall Street Squeezes Its Wealth, Lbr Wld p6, July 18, 1903—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 21, 1903
Mother Jones and Her Army Reach Paterson; Mother Speaks at Socialist Picnic

From the New York Tribune of July 18, 1903:

Mother Jones, March of Mill Children, Army Reaches Newark, NY Tb p6, July 18, 1903

From the New York Tribune of July 19, 1903:

Mother Jones, March of Mill Children, Paterson, Army Says It Was Shadowed, NY Tb p14, July 19, 1903

From the New York Tribune of July 20, 1903:

Mother Jones, March of Mill Children, Paterson, MJ to Westchester Co Park, NY Tb p4, July 20, 1903

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and Her Army March from Elizabeth to Paterson; Mother Speaks at Socialist Picnic” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Labor World: Mother Jones Leads Babes in Crusade to Expose Manifold Evils of Child Labor

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones , March of Mill Children, fr whom Wall Street Squeezes Its Wealth, Lbr Wld p6, July 18, 1903—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 20, 1903
Mother Jones Leading Babes to New York in Crusade Against Child Labor

From the Duluth Labor World of July 18, 1903:

LITTLE BABES IN A CRUSADE
———-

MOTHER JONES IS TO STORM WALL STREET.
———-

HEADED FOR NEW YORK CITY.
———-
Wishes to Give the Country a Great Object Lesson
on the Manifold Evils of Child Labor.
———-

Mother Jones, March of Mill Children, NY Eve Wld p3, July 8, 1903

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., July 16.—Many years ago a great crusade was started in Europe for the discovery of Jerusalem and the Savior’s tomb from the Infidels. A hermit rushed through the country calling upon all parents to allow their children to join the Holy crusade which would surely have the help of all the guardian angles in Heaven.

And so a great army of children of rich and poor was gathered together and set out upon a journey, the dangers of which had been sadly misjudged. They died by the way sides by thousands and gradually the great multitude appeared. Jerusalem was still held by the Infidels, while in the homes mothers mourned for their dear little ones who never returned.

“Mother” Jones’ Crusade.

“Mother” Jones believes it is time for another crusade of children. This one, however, is to be directed to storming the hearts of the people by showing them living examples of what child labor does for childhood. So she started for New York one day last week with 400 textile working men, women and children on strike for shorter hours and a wagon load of little girls to show the “sharks of Wall Street,” as she puts it, and the people generally the evils of child labor through these living examples of a child slavery system which seems so firmly fixed on the little ones of Pennsylvania.

On Wednesday morning [Tuesday July 7th] with the fife and drum preceding them, some carrying umbrellas, while others plodded along under the blazing sun, the procession started for New York City. It was a miserable looking lot of babes that strung out over several miles of dusty road.

At Cedar Hill Cemetery the first big defection took place. Nearly 100 footsore and tired men and women sat still when the order was given to resume the march. The girls in the wagon kept singing the entire time. The fife and drum corps played at intervals. Stragglers by twos and threes kept dropping out until Torresdale Park was in sight twelve miles from the starting point. Thus ended the first day’s march.

The fife and drum, especially when “Marching Through Georgia” was being played, cheered the children up a bit, and the arrival of the commissary wagons loaded with canned goods and bread was a welcome sight. “Mother” Jones will be a leader indeed if she succeeds in keeping a quarter of them together by the time she arrives in New York. An immense meeting of workers is planned to be held in Madison Square Garden when the children, reach there.

Plan Great Show.

Part of “Mother” Jones’ plan consists in the use of an assortment of costumes, glass diamonds, megaphones, phonographs and motto-inscribed banners. “Mr. Capital” is to be exhibited dressed in costly raiment. “Mrs. Mill Owner” is to sit beside him, wearing her jewels. Tableaux, charades, plays and dialogues are to be arranged, all bearing on the textile strike. Frequent stops will be made, exhibitions given, and donations asked for.

“Mother” Jones, as commander-in-chief, has full charge of the campaign. After at first opposing it the strike leaders became convinced that it was an excellent plan to stir up the workers and the general public of the United States to lend a hand in the fight for shorter hours. “Mother” Jones has therefore obtained their co-operation, though her power is somewhat restricted.

[Said Mother Jones:]

The sight of little children at work in mills when they ought to be at school or at play, arouses me. I found the conditions in Philadelphia deplorable, and I resolved to do what I could to shorten the hours of toil of the striking textile workers so has to gain more liberty for the children and women. I had a parade of children through, the city—the cradle of liberty—but the citizens were not moved to pity by the object lesson.

No Pity Here, She Says.

The curse of greed so pressed on their hearts that they could not pause to express their pity for future men and women who are being stunted mentally, morally and physically so that they cannot possibly become good citizens. I cannot believe that the public conscience is so callous that it will not respond. I am going out of Philadelphia to see if there are people with human blood in their veins.

When I think of the present and future I fear for my country. The criminal classes keep increasing. Large sums of money are being poured out for almshouses, or refuge, reformatories and schools for defectives, but they are only a drop in the bucket. The disease cannot be cured unless the cause is removed. Keen, unrestrained competition, rivalry for commercial supremacy and lust for wealth tramples on humanity and feels no remorse.

May Visit Roosevelt.

I am going picture capitalism and caricature the money-mad. I am going to show Wall street the flesh and blood from which it squeezes its wealth. I am going to show President Roosevelt the poor little things on which the boasted commercial greatness of our country is built. Not one single Philadelphia minister of Christ’s Gospel has so much as touched on the textile strike in this city. I shall endeavor to arouse sleeping Christians to a sense of their duty toward the poor little ones. 

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Labor World: Mother Jones Leads Babes in Crusade to Expose Manifold Evils of Child Labor” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and Her Army of Child Textile Workers Enjoy the Hospitality of the Unionist of Elizabeth, N. J.

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones , March of Mill Children, fr whom Wall Street Squeezes Its Wealth, Lbr Wld p6, July 18, 1903—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 19, 1903
Elizabeth, New Jersey – Mother Jones and Her Army Treated to Great Hospitality

From The New York Times of July 17, 1903:

HdLn Mother Jones, March of Mill Children, at Elizabeth NJ, NYT p5, July 17, 1903

From The Cincinnati Post of July 17, 1903:

Mother Jones, March of Mill Children, Signs, Cnc Pst p6, July 17, 1903

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones and Her Army of Child Textile Workers Enjoy the Hospitality of the Unionist of Elizabeth, N. J.” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Writes to President Roosevelt: “These little children, raked by cruel toil beneath the iron wheels of greed, are starving in this country…”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones to TR, These Little Children, Phl No Am, Foner p—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday July 17, 1903
Elizabeth, New Jersey – Mother Jones Writes to President Roosevelt

From the Hazleton Plain Speaker (Pennsylvania) of July 16, 1903:

Mother Jones at Elizabeth NJ, Writes to Prz Roosevelt, Hzl PA Plain Spker p5, July 16, 1903

From the Philadelphia North American of July 16, 1903:

Elizabeth, New Jersey
July 15, 1903

Theodore Roosevelt
President of the United States
Dear Sir:

Being citizens of the United States of America, we, members of the textile industry, take the liberty of addressing this appeal to you. As Chief Executive of the United States, you are, in a sense, our father and leader, and as such we look to you for advice and guidance. Perhaps the crime of child slavery has never been forcibly brought to your notice.

Yet, as father of us all, surely the smallest detail must be of interest to you. In Philadelphia, Pa., there are ninety thousand (90,000) textile workers who are on strike, asking for a reduction from sixty to fifty-five hours a week. With machinery, Mr. President, we believe that forty-eight hours is sufficient.

If the United States Senate had passed the eight-hour bill, this strike might not have occurred. We also ask that the children be taken from the industrial prisons of this nation and given their right of attending schools so that in years to come better citizens will be given to this republic.

These little children, raked by cruel toil beneath the iron wheels of greed, are starving in this country which you have declared is in the height of prosperity-slaughtered, ten hours a day, every day in the week, every week in the month, every month in the year, that our manufacturing aristocracy may live to exploit more slaves as the years roll by.

We ask you, Mr. President, if our commercial greatness has not cost us too much by being built upon the quivering hearts of helpless children? We who know of these sufferings have taken up their cause and are now marching toward you in the hope that your tender heart will counsel with us to abolish this crime.

The manufacturers has threatened to starve these children, and we seek to show that no child shall die of hunger at the will of any manufacturer in this fair land. The clergy, whose work this really is, are silent on the crime of ages, and so we appeal to you.

It is in the hope that the words of Christ will be more clearly interpreted by you when he said “Suffer little children to come unto me.” Our destination is New York City, and after that Oyster Bay. As your children, may we hope to have the pleasure of an audience? We only ask that you advise us as to the best course.

In Philadelphia alone thousands of persons will wait upon your answer, while throughout the land, wherever there is organized labor, the people will anxiously await an expression of your sentiments toward suffering childhood.

On behalf of these people, we beg that you will reply and let us know whether we may expect an audience.

The reply should be addressed to “Mother” Jones’s Crusaders, en route according to the daily papers.

We are very respectfully yours,
“Mother” Jones, Chairman

Committee–Charles Sweeney, Edward A Klingersmith, Emanuel Hanson, and Joseph Diamond.

[Emphasis added.]

Note: John Lopez was assigned by the Philadelphia North American to cover the March of the Mill Children, and he has been traveling with them every step of the way.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Writes to President Roosevelt: “These little children, raked by cruel toil beneath the iron wheels of greed, are starving in this country…”” →