Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 2, 1912 Big Bill Haywood Tells the Story of the Joyful Return of Lawrence Children
From the International Socialist Review of May 1912:
When the Kiddies Came Home
WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD
Monster Parade Welcomes Lawrence Children Home
After two months’ vacation in their temporary homes in New York, Philadelphia, Barre, Vt., and Manchester, N. H., the children of the Lawrence strikers, who had been involved for ten weeks in an industrial war with the master class of the woollen and cotton industries, returned to receive the greatest reception ever held at Lawrence. Most of the children were too young to appreciate what the wonderful demonstration of solidarity meant or the reason of their departure and their return under such changed circumstances. There were among their number, however, some who were strikers themselves and knew their home leaving was to lessen the burden of their parents. The strikers understood it was not a matter of sentiment, but that this rigorous action was adopted as a war measure.
It was for the purpose of calling the attention of the world to the conditions existing at Lawrence, to the conditions of the thousands of children in the textile industry of the New England states that were slowly starving to death because their parents were unable to make a living wage, likewise for the purpose of relieving the Strike Committee of the burden incident to caring for so many little ones and to remove their emaciated and wan faces from the vision of their parents who were on strike.
Although this measure had never been adopted before in America, its significance was soon realized and the spirit of class consciousness became aroused in the working class everywhere. The children found excellent homes and the letters they wrote back to their parents were a comfort and an inspiration. At the same time it enabled those who cared for the children to take an active part in the struggle that was on at Lawrence. Ordinarily they would have contributed their quota to the strike fund, but in caring for the little ones of the striking textile workers, they not only gave many times what their contributions would have amounted to, but they took a big part in the real battle.
The strikers of Lawrence hold a feeling of deepest appreciation for those who have cared for their children. They know that their little ones were treated better than they could have been at home. From all reports, they were received as little guests, and when the time came for them to leave: their “Strike Parents” there was many a tug at their little heartstrings. They had learned to love their new homes. They left Lawrence physically destitute, often ill-clad and without underclothes and wearing garments made of shoddy.
These were the children of parents who weave the cotton, linen and woollen fabric that helps to clothe the world.
They went to other cities to be clothed and returned to their homes well dressed, with roses in their cheeks and laden with toys and other gifts.
Their arrival was made the occasion of a great demonstration in celebration of the millworkers’ notable industrial victory. More than 40,000 people thronged the streets, over half of them taking part in the monster parade.
While the mass of workers were waiting for the arrival of the train, the Syrians, headed by their drum corps, marched around the county jail playing their inspiring Oriental music and carrying to the cells of Ettor and Giovannitti the glad tidings of the coming children.
Long before the special train with the children arrived from Boston, the region in the vicinity was black with people, while along the side streets leading into Broadway, the different divisions of the Industrial Workers of the World were drawn up in line according to nationality, there being fourteen divisions in all. The Italians and Syrians were accorded the place of honor. The heads of their divisions were made prominent by the beautiful floral decorations, the Italians carrying a massive piece on a litter held up by four men. It was these two nationalities that furnished the martyrs for the strike, Anna Lapizzio, the Italian woman who was killed in a fusilade of bullets fired by policemen, andJohn Rami, the sixteen-year-old Syrian boy who was stabbed in the back with a bayonet in the hands of a militiaman. His lung was pierced and he died shortly after being taken to the hospital. The floral pieces were in remembrance of the dead.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 23, 1910 Manchester, New Hampshire – Lewis Hine Exposes “Unspeakable” Conditions
From the New Orleans Times-Democrat of November 22, 1910:
GIRLS OF FOUR WORK AT NIGHT ———- Unspeakable Moral Conditions Declared to Exist in New Hampshire Cotton Mills -Child Labor Law Is Being Urged. —–
Special to The Times-Democrat
New York. Nov. 21.-A Special from Concord. N. H., says: Because of what are termed the “unspeakable” conditions existing in the immense cotton mills at Manchester, N. H., the New Hampshire Legislature will this winter be asked to pass a law forbidding the employment of young girls in the cotton mills of the State at night. The mills employ 15,000 persons.
A report made by Lewis Hine, a special agent of the National Child Labor Commission, after an investigation of the mills, refers to the “unspeakable moral conditions under which girls are employed at night.”
Mr. Hine was loaned to the superintendent of public instruction, Mr. Morrison, to make the investigation, and it is understood on his findings that Mr. Morrison will ask for a law prohibiting the employment of children between the hours of 6 at night and 6 in the morning. Mr. Hine’s report will be incorporated in that which Mr. Morrison will place before Gov. Bass and his council. It will show that girls of four and upward are employed in the mills throughout the night and that this is not forbidden by law. Mr. Morrison is averse to publishing the facts that have come to his knowledge, if the Legislature will pass the bill without such publicity. He makes no threats about publication, but he says:
“We want that law.”
He also urges that the age limit for child labor be abolished, and that the qualification be one of education, except that no children be permitted to work nights.
“There are big hulking boys under the age limit.” said Mr. Morrison to-day, “who are only in the way at school, and who might just as well be at work.
“On the other hand, there are undersized and underfed little children of sixteen and over, mere skin and bones, who ought to be pulled out of the mills and shops in the name of humanity.”
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[Emphasis added.] [Note: photograph added is by Lewis Hine, taken at Manchester, N. H., on May 25, 1909.]
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 5, 1909
“The Apostate” by Jack London, The Story of a Child Laborer
From The International Socialist Review of June 1909:
A Story of Child Labor
“THE APOSTATE”
BY JACK LONDON.
F you don’t git up, Johnny, I won’t give you a bite to eat!”
The threat had no effect on the boy. He clung stubbornly to sleep, fighting for its oblivion as the dreamer fights for his dream. The boy’s hands loosely clenched themselves, and he made feeble, spasmodic blows at the air. These blows were intended for his mother, but she betrayed practiced familiarity in avoiding them as she shook him roughly by the shoulder.
“Lemme ‘lone!”
It was a cry that began, muffled, in the deeps of sleep, that swiftly rushed upward, like a wail, into passionate belligerence, and that died away and sank down into an inarticulate whine. It was a bestial cry, as of a soul in torment, filled with infinite protest and pain.
But she did not mind. She was a sad-eyed, tired-faced woman, and she had grown used to this task, which she repeated every day of her life. She got a grip on the bedclothes and tried to strip them down; but the boy, ceasing his punching, clung to them desperately. In a huddle at the foot of the bed, he still remained covered. Then she tried dragging the bedding to the floor. The boy opposed her. She braced herself. Hers was the superior weight, and the boy and bedding, the former instinctively following the later in order to shelter against the chill of the room that bit into his body.
As he toppled on the edge of the bed it seemed that he must fall head-first to the floor. But consciousness fluttered up in him. He righted himself and for a moment perilously balanced. Then he struck the floor on his feet. On the instant his mother seized him by the shoulders and shook him. Again his fists struck out, this time with more force and directness. At the same time his eyes opened. She released him. He was awake.
“All right,” he mumbled.
She caught up the lamp and hurried out, leaving him in darkness.
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F you don’t git up, Johnny, I won’t give you a bite to eat!”