Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 8, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for March 1902, Part II Found in Huntington, West Virginia, and Terre Haute, Indiana
From the Baltimore Sun of March 20, 1902:
MINE WORKERS ARE STRONG ———- Half The Miners In The Virginias Said To Belong To Union.
(Special Dispatch to the Baltimore Sun.)
HUNTINGTON, W. Va., March 19.-Reports today made to the United Mine Workers of Virginia and West Virginia, in session here, showed a membership of more than 14,000. This is said to be more than half the number employed in the two States.
The election of officers this evening resulted as follows:
President, John Richards, of Loup Creek; vice-president, L. H. Jackson, of Norwood; secretary, Clark Johnson, of Montgomery; member of national executive committee, J. W. Carroll, of Glen Jean.
Headed by the famous Temperance Brass Band, of Sewell, W. Va., the miners, together with all organized labor of the city, gave a street parade, after which a big labor mass-meeting was held. “Mother” Mary Jones, of national fame, was chief speechmaker.
The sessions of the convention will probably close tomorrow.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 7, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for March 1902, Part I Praised for Her Efforts on Behalf of the Socialist Party of Erie, Pennsylvania
From the New York Worker of March 2, 1902:
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The city campaign in Erie, Pa., closed on Tuesday, Feb. 18, after more than two months of the most energetic work, and the results are such as to satisfy the most sanguine. The vote for Mayor stands:
Hardwick, Rep, 4,291. Warde, Socialist, 3,164. Warfel, Dem., 1,512. S. L. P., 163.
The campaign has been one of “boring from within” in the trade union movement-that is, it has been a campaign of education on the Socialist view of the labor question, carried on in the closest harmony with the trade unions, without fear and without compromise. The ticket was composed of men tried in the work of the unions and proven true, headed by Geo. N. Warde of Cigar Makers No. 107, Jas. Wilson, Jr., of the Pattern Makers, H. C. Gould of Typographical No. 77, Julius Erstfeld of the Machinists’ Union, T. H. Mosher of the Carpenters, and G. F. Hibeck of the Molders.
The campaign was waged entirely on educational lines. Meetings were held every night, and in nearly every union hall in the city, and the addresses of the candidates and other speakers were of the straight, uncompromisingly Socialist order. The efforts of the local comrades were most effectively supplemented by Comrades Nic Geiger, A. M. Simons, August Klenke, and Mother Jones. Geiger was with us for ten days, Simons a week, and Klenke two weeks. Mother Jones stopped over with us three days, insisted on paying all her own expenses, and made two of her characteristic speeches, which were of incalculable value to the movement, one at the big labor carnival, the other in C. L. U. hall. The services of these comrades cost us nothing-because they were Socialists.
And Mrs. A. M. Simons [May Wood Simons] should not be omitted. She was with us for two weeks and did effective work for the cause, besides speaking a number of times. We could not utilize her to the extent she desired; because at this stage most of our meetings were held at noon time in the shops; but these two noble women have dispelled the prejudice against “women agitators,”and prepared the field for comrades of their sex. Mrs. Simons made the address at the carnival on ladies’ night. It was pronounced a masterly effort. She also made a deep impression at a big mass meeting in the Second Ward…..
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 22, 1902 From Terre Haute, Indiana, Eugene Debs Pays Tribute to John Peter Altgeld
From The Toiler of March 21, 1902:
Altgeld, the Liberator
-by Eugene V. Debs
John Peter Altgeld
John Peter Altgeld has joined Abraham Lincoln in the realm of the immortals [March 12, 1902]. His career was tempestuous and heroic, and the end tragic and sublime. The gods must have set the stage for the last earthly act of the intrepid warrior and most nobly did he fill the leading role. When the last word of his impassioned plea for liberty died upon his eloquent lips the climax came and the curtain fell upon another martyr in the great drama of humanity.
John Altgeld was born in the throes of revolt [December 30, 1847].A thousand years of feudal tyranny were culminating. The fateful year of 1848 had a violent temper. It rocked the cradle of the babe that was destined to become the tribune of the people.
The leader, now fallen, never took a backward step, never subordinated principle to policy, never sacrificed conviction to attain his end. He was fearless, he was determined, and he was incorruptible.
John P. Altgeld was in the highest sense a statesman, he was a daring leader and a fiery and intense orator whose eloquent and lofty appeals inspired the multitude.
His noblest and therefore greatest official act was the opening of dungeon doors to liberate innocent victims of corporate tyranny [Chicago’s Eight-Hour Class-War Prisoners]. If the gods have to do with politics they ordained the election of John P. Altgeld for this incomparable service to humanity.
Through the rain of fire he walked with steady step to the hideous bastille’s doors, nor faltered once until the captives walked forth men; his official robes turned to ashes in the ordeal, but lo! the flame of calumny to which our hero bared his head is even now become the aureole of his fame.
The robbers of the people, the stranglers of liberty, the foes of humanity feared and hated him; the fawning sycophants of wealth, the time serving mercenaries of power slandered him; this was the measure of his greatness.
The few honest men who knew John P. Altgeld loved him. He was genuine; he was true; he could look God and man straight in the eye.
In the railroad strikes in 1894 he expanded to his true proportions.There he proved to be the fearless champion of the people. He stood upon the boundary line of Illinois and protested against the military usurpation of the President, and though overwhelmed, he proudly vindicated his high honor, and he, more than any other man, retired Grover Cleveland and his pirate crew from American politics.
Altgeld was too great to become President; he will be remembered long after most Presidents are forgotten.
How glorious the final scene! See him summon all his wasted strength. Note the transfiguration in the last superhuman effort—the light of liberty in his eye, the flush of dawn upon his brow as he defiantly exclaimed:
Again to the battle, Achaians!
Our hearts bid the tyrants defiance!
Our land, the first garden of Liberty’s tree,
It has been, and shall yet be, the land of the free.
Workingmen and workingwomen never had a truer friend; he yearned to see them happy, and consecrated all he had to make them free.
He paid the penalty of all the earth’s redeemers. Socrates was poisoned, Christ crucified, John Brown strangled, Lincoln assassinated, and Altgeld stabbed by a million venomous tongues.
The grandchildren of his slayers will seek his works for knowledge and inspiration, and to the coming generations he will speak forever.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 19, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1902, Part II Found Returning to West Virginia as Organizer for U. M. W. A.
From The Philadelphia Inquirer of February 16, 1902:
Mother Jones stopped over in the city yesterday on her way to the Southern coal fields, to the organization of which region she has been assigned by President Mitchell, of the United Mine Workers.
[Photograph added.]
From the Birmingham Labor Advocate of February 22, 1902:
It is interesting to note the progress being made by the organization of Textile Workers for the betterment of the workers in the textile industries, both North and South.
A national organization of these workers with affiliation with the American Federation of Labor was only formed last year, and delegates were accepted at the last convention at Scranton. The organization consists of the workers in cotton factories and knitting mills and their strides forward have been rapid and well taken. Quite a foothold has been secured in the Carolinas, particularly North Carolina, the Charlotte district being compactly organized.
[…..]
The condition of the textile workers are little understood, and if told in cold black type would probably create a furore….They are first robbed of all independence, planted in company houses, often fed from company stores and worked at the company’s will. The result is that the spirit of organization has hard ground to work over, but the Textile Workers’ organization is making headway.
Mother Jones, that noted woman who has devoted her life to the interest of the organization of labor and to the betterment of the conditions of the workers, and whose penchant seems to be the factory workers, came to Birmingham a few years ago and spent considerable time in the Avondale mills working as a weaver and trying to lay ground plans for an organization, but the time was not ripe; yet many of the facts that she made known have been most useful in the work now progressing…..
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 18, 1902 Mother Jones News Round-Up for February 1902, Part I Found in Indianapolis, Cleveland, Erie and Arnot, Pennsylvania
From Indiana’s Muncie Daily Herald of February 3, 1902:
Our Indianapolis Correspondent Has to Do With Several Points.
Indianapolis, Feb. 3.-The members of the delegation of the Illinois miners to the joint conference here told an amusing story today in which a woman’s hat was a prominent part.One of the most picturesque characters at the great convention is Mother Jones, who has a national reputation among organized laborers. She has been prominent in their trials and triumphs and the miners would be lonesome at their convention without her. Today she appeared among them with a handsome new hat and thereby hangs the tale. She attended one of their meetings last week, and during the discussion a husky Illinois delegate sat down on her hat, mashing it flat. Mother Jones didn’t say much about it, as she is with the miners first and last, but the Illinois men were determined to make good, so they took up a collection and purchased a beautiful and costly bit of millinery that was the talk of all the miners.
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[Photograph added.]
From The Cleveland Leader of February 6, 1902:
“MOTHER JONES” ———- Famous Woman Agitator Delivers Address Before Central Labor Union.
“Mother” Jones, the famous agitator made a stirring address at the meeting of the Central Labor Union last night on the subject of her organizing work for unions in the Virginias. She was bitter in her denunciation of capital and many of her remarks were warmly applauded. She stated that the toilers were in no better condition than the prisoners in Siberia. She urged the workingmen present to elect men from among their own numbers to the lawmaking bodies, as their only means of salvation…..
From Pennsylvania’s Erie Daily Times of February 7, 1902:
“MOTHER” JONES ———- The Miner’s Valued Friend, Is in Erie Today. ———-
Mother Jones stopped over in Erie today on her way from the miners’ convention in Indianapolis. By request she will remain in the city for a few days. She will give an address tomorrow evening at the Labor Carnival, and on Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock, will speak at the Central Labor Union hall, corner of Fifth and State streets. Mother Jones scarcely needs an introduction to the people of Erie, as by reputation she is well known here as the woman who for many years has been a conspicuous figure during he strikes of the coal miners.
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