Tag: Mary Heaton Vorse

Hellraisers Journal: Duluth Labor World: Mary Heaton Vorse Reports from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Strikes are not peace Clv UMWC p537, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 27, 1919
Report from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike by Mary Heaton Vorse

From the Duluth Labor World of October 25, 1919:

GSS Unshaken by MHV, Lbr Wld p1, Oct 25, 1919

[Part II.]

STATE TROOPERS TOOLS OF STEEL
—–
Cossacks Break Into Homes,
Interfere With Church Worship
and Assault Women.

[By MARY HEATON VORSE.]

We must remember that in the steel towns people have been arrested wholesale because they have committed the crime of striking. There are charges such as obstructing traffic, unlawful assembly, etc., which make it impossible to run a striker in without his having committed any real offense.

Suppression and oppression have been the father and mother of this strike and terror its godfather. But, when the company used terror, they forgot the old saying that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

There hasn’t been a home searched or an illegal arrest made that hasn’t helped the strike. There hasn’t been a club that has come down on a defenseless mill worker that hasn’t sent men hurrying to get out their union cards.

Take the case of Clairton for instance—this was the town where the union had got no foothold—the watchful authorities had kept the “agitators” out. (“Agitator” is the company’s name for all members of the A. F. of L. who try to get their fellow workers to join a union.)

There were no halls in Clairton that could be rented. All permits were denied and street meetings were broken up. That is to say, the fundamental rights of Americans were sweepingly denied. There is no right of free speech and free assembly in the steel towns. When the people in Farrell want to go to a meeting they have to go over the Ohio state line into America—and the other evening 4,000 of them walked over to hear Foster speak.

There are plenty of steel towns not in America and Clairton is one of them.

After a time the organizer hired a vacant lot from one of the mill workers. But a man in Clairton can’t ask a few friends to a lawn party on his own property—the Cossacks rode down the strikers and broke up the meeting. The mill workers didn’t know that it was un-American to strike and they had put up an American flag—this the Cossacks tore down and the flag was trampled under the horses’ hoofs. This started trouble, for there were some ex-service men there as there are in all workingmen’s crowds. The affidavits sent to the senate abound in statements like:

The state troopers rushed on the lot and the people started to run away but when said state troopers rushed to the platform and tore down our flag, the men became incensed and some ex-soldiers, seeing our flag being insulted and defiled, rushed at said troopers in defense of our flag and started the excitement and almost caused a riot and loyal citizens were greatly incensed. There was no provocation for said interference and riding over women and children.

(Signed) Mihon Terzich.

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Hellraisers Journal: Duluth Labor World: Mary Heaton Vorse Reports from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Strikes are not peace Clv UMWC p537, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 26, 1919
Report from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike by Mary Heaton Vorse

From the Duluth Labor World of October 25, 1919:

GSS Unshaken by MHV, Lbr Wld p1, Oct 25, 1919

[Part I.]

MEN SHOW DOGGED ENDURANCE;
-EVERY RIGHT IS DENIED THEM
—–
State Troopers Serve Masters of Steel-Break up Meeting
-Search Homes Without Warrant-Override Children Playing
in Streets, But Men Are Determined to Win Out at Any Cost.
—–

By MARY HEATON VORSE.

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 23.—(Special to The Labor World.)—The other day a man came in to Foster’s office. He had been on strike three weeks, and now he had about 90 cents left. He had some chickens, he had good neighbors, that had given him vegetables and things from their gardens. The man was a foreigner, a young married man, and what he had come for was not to ask strike benefits. He wanted advice and the moral support of encouragement.

He wanted to know how he was going to get along. He came rather deprecatingly, smiling in an embarrassed sort of fashion over his difficulties. Then he went away, still with his smile, his only assets his friends, his 90 cents and his indomitable will to stick out.

The strike is based on people like this; people full of faith; people full of endurance; people full of sacrifice—thousands and thousands of them.

Thousands of them looking upward and forward to a better life for themselves and their children—for these people are striking for a right to be considered as men. They are striking for the right of a little leisure. They want an end put to this de-humanizing double shift.

The other day in Braddock a mill superintendent stopped an old timer on the street. “Aren’t you working?” he asked.

“No, I am not working. I’m on strike; I’m taking a holiday. I am paying myself back those 20 Christmases I worked for the company,” said the man.

That has been the situation with the mill workers. No Sundays, no Christmas. Work that took it out of a man so that he was old at 40. Work that left him so tired at the end of a day that he wasn’t a human being any more. And now these people are willing to sacrifice to change this sort of thing, for themselves, for their children, and for the workers of all time.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Duluth Labor World: Mary Heaton Vorse Reports from Front Lines of Great Steel Strike, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “Labor Conditions in Steel Trust,” Seven-Day Work-Week Continues

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Quote, Mary Heaton Vorse, Day and Night, Steel 1920
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 7, 1918
Steel Town, U. S. A. – Some Improvements Yet Long Hours Continue

From the Appeal to Reason of March 2, 1918:

Labor Conditions in Steel Trust.

Homestead Strike, Harpers Weekly, July 16, 1892

There has been some improvement in the conditions of labor in the steel mills, as the figures show, but it is an exceedingly slight improvement. The Steel Trust investigation of 1911-12, made by the Stanley committee of the House of Representatives, revealed an almost unbelievable state of exploitation, of long hours, of low wages and generally servile conditions. Those revelations were subsequently confirmed by the report of the Federal Labor Bureau, then under the direction of Charles P. Neill. Thereupon a committee of the more humane stockholders of the trust (the Cabot committee) insisted upon certain changes in conditions, and some of these changes have since been slowly under way. By 1913 there had been a slight reduction in hours. There has also been some increase in wages, but the increases have not kept pace with the rise in food prices.

Bulletin 218 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, published last October, gave a detailed study of wages and hours in this industry to June, 1915. It is shown that in the blast furnaces 59 per cent, of the employes in 1915 worked seven days a week, as against 80 per cent, in 1911. In 1909 no one in the blast furnaces on full time was working less than 60 hours per week, while 26 per cent, were working form 60 to 83 hours, and 74 per cent, were working a full 84 hours. In 1915 6 per cent, were working under 60 hours, 53 per cent. from 60 to 83 hours and 41 per cent, a full 84 hours. Even with the reduction made, these still remain inhumanly long hours.

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Fired by Haywood as Organizer for Industrial Workers of the World

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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MN16, ON Hilton speech, LW, Dec 23, 1916

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday July 6, 1917
Duluth, Minnesota – Miss Flynn “Expelled” from I. W. W.

From the Pittsburgh Daily Post of July 1, 1917:

Note: the information below comes via the Duluth Police Department, and not directly from Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

I. W. W. President Expels
Miss Flynn
—–

EGF, Tresca, MN Iron Miners Strike, Ev IN, Aug 17, 1916

DULUTH, Minn., June 30.-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of New York told Duluth police, before departing for her home, that William Haywood, Chicago, president [General Secretary-Treasurer] of the Industrial Workers of the World, had expelled her from the organization. Miss Flynn, according to the police, said Haywood and his advisors charged she conspired with Carl [Carlo] Tresca, Haywood’s former lieutenant, to “double cross” four industrial workers who received penitentiary sentences recently on a murder charge, in connection with labor troubles.

Miss Flynn exhibited a manuscript which was to have been her speech at Virginia, Minn., last Sunday. In it she made pleas against stories at the mines during the war, and this address, she said, was in conflict with Haywood’s plans. It was Miss Flynn’s story that brought about her release from charges of vagrancy Thursday, the police said today.

———-

[Photograph added]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mrs. Hamlin Blames Private Police for Violence in Mesabi Range Strike

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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As for the women on the picket lines,
they are not playing “the baby act.”
They’re good soldiers.
They’re thoroughly “game,” those women and
we should be immensely proud of them.
-Lenora Austin Hamlin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday September 26, 1916
Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota – Mrs. Hamlin Describes Conditions

From the Duluth Labor World of September 23, 1916:

BLAMES PRIVATE POLICE FOR VIOLENCE
IN MINERS’ STRIKE
—–
Lenora Austin Hamlin Gives First Pen Picture of
Actual Conditions on Mesaba Range From
Disinterested Standpoint—Makes Telling
Report to Woman’s Welfare League
of St. Paul.
—–

masonovich-p-m-boarders-isr-sept-1916

Lenora Austin Hamlin of St. Paul was sent by the Woman’s Welfare league to get first hand information about the treatment accorded to men and women during the miners’ strike on the Mesaba range, following a speech made before the league by Mary Heaton Vorse and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

The St. Paul women wanted a colorless story of actual conditions. Mrs. Hamlin, well trained for this sort of investigations, was requested to do the work. She visited all the important points in the strike zone, and her story confirms the claims made during the strike by the miners.

Minnesota is closely following in the footsteps of Colorado and West Virginia, as is shown by the report. It reads in full as follows:

Members of the Woman’s Welfare league will recall that on Tuesday, Aug. 15, we were addressed by Mary Heaton Vorse and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn on the subject of strike conditions on the range and that great interest was aroused by their descriptions of the part women were taking in the strike and the hardships they were enduring in consequence.
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Hellraisers Journal: Mary Heaton Vorse on the Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike in Minnesota, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday August 31, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota – “Injustices, Large and Small”

From The Outlook of August 30, 1916:

THE MINING STRIKE IN MINNESOTA
-FROM THE MINERS’ POINT OF VIEW

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE OUTLOOK
[Report of Mary Heaton Vorse, Part II]

Mary Heaton Vorse, 1874-1966, Spartacus Ed

Under the contract system, the miner contracts to mine ore for a certain price a car load. The price of this car-load may be, and is, varied at any time according to the conditions encountered. It is the mine captain who fixes the price. According to the miners, it has been the custom to sell the best places for prices varying from the virtue of the miners’ wives and daughters to presents of drinks and cigars. So universal is this custom that any reference to the graft of the captain is received in any meeting of miners by laughter and applause.

There are at present in the hands of the Federal investigators affidavits sworn to before a notary public concerning all these forms of grafts, from insulting propositions made to the women of miners’ families to affidavits that drinks or money were paid for the job.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mary Heaton Vorse on the Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike in Minnesota, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mary Heaton Vorse on the Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike in Minnesota, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday August 30, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota – “A Fierce and Important Struggle”

From The Outlook: Report of Mary Heaton Vorse, Part I:

THE MINING STRIKE IN MINNESOTA
-FROM THE MINERS’ POINT OF VIEW

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE OUTLOOK

March, Mesabi, Marcy, ISR Aug 1916

ONE of the most sinister aspects of life in this country is the failure of the serious and thinking people to obtain prompt information about the various industrial struggles and to get at the causes which are at the root of our industrial unrest.

Since June 3 a strike has been waged on the Mesaba Range, Minnesota, whose largest single owner is the Oliver Iron Mining Company, an arm of the Steel Trust. This strike has affected the life, not only of the twelve thousand miners employed on the Range, but of ten towns and villages from Aurora to Hibbing, a distance of sixty miles. The strike has been characterized by the prompt deputizing of a large force of gunmen, numbering, according to Sheriff J. R. Meining, of Duluth, over a thousand; more, according to residents of the Range towns.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mary Heaton Vorse on the Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike in Minnesota, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Flynn, Vorse, and Women’s Welfare League Fight for Wives of Striking Miners

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday August 29, 1916
Virginia, Minnesota – Mrs. Masonovitch Held in County Jail

From the Duluth Labor World of August 26, 1916:

STUDY CONDITIONS OF MINERS WIVES
—–
Women’s Welfare League Would Relieve
Suffering In Strike Zone.
—–

Masonovitch, Militza & Phillip, ISR, Nov 1916

VIRGINIA, Aug. 26.-Mrs. L. A. Hamlin of St. Paul, a member of the executive board of the Women’s Welfare league of that city, visited in Virginia and Biwabik recently, making an investigation of the strike conditions for the St. Paul club and for the charities and correction committee of the Minnesota Federation of Women’s Clubs, of which Mrs. V. F. Kinney of Minneapolis is chairman.

Mrs. Hamlin is making the investigation for the purpose of reporting on the manner in which the women of the range are treated, especially by the special deputy sheriffs employed by the mining companies. The women’s Welfare league was recently addressed by Miss Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of the I. W. W. and Marie Heaton Vorst [Mary Heaton Vorse], who visited on the range to secure news of the strike for Harper’s magazine and other eastern publications.
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Hellraisers Journal: On the Mesabi, “When Strike-Breakers Strike” by Marion B Cothren, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday August 27, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota-“To Hell With Such Wages!”

From The Survey of August 26, 1916:

When Strike-Breakers Strike
The Demands of the Miners on the Mesaba Range
By Marion B. Cothren
[Part I]

MN Iron Miners Strike, Location, Cothren, Survey Aug 26, 1916

THE strike-breakers of 1907 have become the strikers of 1916 in the iron mines of Minnesota. Coming over in boatloads from south eastern Europe nine years ago and hired by the United States Steel Corporation to break the iron strike called at that time by the Western Federation of Miners, these polyglot nationalities speaking thirty-six different tongues have become Americanized in the melting pot of the Mesaba mines. Today Finns, Slavs, Croats, Bulgars, Italians, Rumanians, have laid down picks and shovels and are demanding an 8-hour day, a minimum wage of $3 for dry work and $3.50 for wet work in underground mines and $2.73 in open pit mines, abolition of the contract labor system, pay-day twice a month.

The last of May, so the story goes, Joe Greeni, an Italian employed underground in the Alpena mine at Virginia, Minn., opened his pay envelope to find a sum much less than he had under stood his contract called for. “To hell with such wages”, cried he, throwing his pick in the corner, whereupon he vowed never to mine another foot of ore. Second thought, however, convinced Greeni, that action was deadlier than inaction. For three days he stayed at his post, going from stope to stope, saying, “We’ve been robbed long enough, it’s time to strike!” Then he left for Aurora to begin agitation at the extreme eastern end of the range in the little St. James’ mine with its force of 40 miners.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: On the Mesabi, “When Strike-Breakers Strike” by Marion B Cothren, Part I” →