Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 29, 1921 Alabama Coal Miners Continue to Live in Tents, Are Without Food
From the Duluth Labor World of May 28, 1921:
RUN ‘AGITATORS’ OUT OF ALABAMA! ————— Governor of State Joins With Mine Owners in Attempt to Crush Miners’ Union. ———-
-from the United Mine Workers Journal of March 15, 1921
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 26.—It is estimated that 40,000 men, women and children in the coal district of Alabama are without food. They are housed in tents furnished by the United Mine Workers of America.To relieve this situation, trade unionists are contributing funds and the [Minnesota] state federation of labor has forwarded $500. The coal owners deny that starvation exists, while they force miners to make oath that they are not, and never will be, members of the United Mine Workers.
A statewide blacklist is being conducted against the union miners with the approval of Governor Kilby. The state executive acted as arbitrator in the recent mine strike, and supported the coal owners in every point.
Governor Kilby also ruled that the coal owners are under no obligation to re-employ these miners. The governor has been called upon to relieve the distress that his decision created, but refuses to act, and has publicly declared that he “sympathized with the miners.” This statement has brought a withering reply from Van R. Bittner, representative of the United Mine Workers, who tells the official that “such hypocrisy makes men wonder.” The trade unionist refers to a public statement by the governor when the strike was on, wherein the people of Alabama were called upon to “run the agitators out of our state.”
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday September 17, 1907
Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike: Good News from the Front Lines
From the Duluth Labor World of September 14, 1907:
GRAND JURY REFUSES TO INDICT STRIKERS
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No Miscarriage of Justice in Duluth Courts.—
Won’t Practice Range Methods.
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Jury Practically Holds That Petriella Was
Justified in Protecting Himself.
—–
Teofilo Petriella
The cases against the striking miners on the Mesaba range have fallen flat. When the Grand Jury took up the matter of the nine miners who were bound over on the charge of inciting a riot they listened to the evidence presented by the state, and then promptly, and very properly dismissed the matter by asking that the defendants be released.
Petriella too, who was bound over for carrying concealed weapons, was dismissed, and his $1,000 was returned to him.
One of the members of the grand jury in commenting on the cases said: “It was ridiculous to bring such frivilous cases before the grand jury.”
Judge Brady ought to see by this time that he is putting the county to needless expense in binding men over to the grand jury simply because hirelings for the Steel Trust bring them before him.
Petriella admitted carrying a revolver, but the jury thought he was justified, in view of the fact that newspapers on the range were threatening his life, advising tar and feathers, and demanding that he be driven from town. Petriella’s bail money was returned to him.
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday January 30, 1917
From the Duluth Labor World: “I. W. W. Bill” Passes State Senate
I. W. W. BILL IS PASSED
BY STATE SENATE
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Amendment Limits It to Two Years-Fund
of $50,000 for Governor
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The I. W. W. bill, which was introduced in the state legislature for the purpose of providing means for the suppression of the activities of that organization in the northern part of the state, passed the senate Wednesday morning with only Senators Rockne and Andrews casting negative votes.
The bill was amended in two particulars from the original draft. Instead of the emergency fund of $50,000 a year made available for the governor being perpetual with annual accountings and returns to the general fund, it was provided for two years, until the next meeting of the legislature; and another amendment provided that all deputies employed during similar trouble shall be residents of the state.
Expected to Pass House.
It is claimed that the bill will not have as easy sailing in the house as it did in the senate, although it is expected to pass. It came up in the upper house Wednesday morning on the calendar and was passed under suspension of the rules.
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday August 28, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota-Strike Investigators on the Scene
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 II]
The crux of the trouble, is the demand of the underground miners, for a minimum of $3 for dry work and $3.50 for wet. The underground men are paid either by the foot or by the carload, the rate depending upon the quality of the ore mined and conditions of work—hard and wet mining for instance bringing more than soft ore and dry mining. Thus, although the captain (boss) of the mine agrees beforehand upon the rate to be given a miner, this contract price may be changed from time to time as the character of the ore changes. Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: On the Mesabi, “When Strike-Breakers Strike” by Marion B Cothren, Part II”→
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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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]
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”→
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