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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 13, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1901, Part III
Found Speaking in Indianapolis on Evils of Child Labor in Pennsylvania
From the Indianapolis Sunday Journal of January 27, 1901:
“Mother” Jones and Mr. Debs.
Eugene V. Debs and “Mother” Jones will deliver public addresses in the Criminal Court room to-morrow night. Mrs. Jones will speak especially to the women, and particularly to women who belong to labor or trades organizations. To-morrow afternoon Mr. Debs will speak to the miners at their convention.
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[Photograph added.]
From The Indianapolis Journal of January 29, 1901:
OFFICERS’ REPORT
[-from Miners’ Convention]In the afternoon many resolutions, principally of importance to the miners only, were passed then the committee on officers’ reports was heard. After some discussion the report was adopted by sections. Of important bearing was the adoption of President Mitchell’s recommendation to organize a woman’s auxiliary union. The convention adopted the recommendation and gave the power of appointing an organizer to President Mitchell. It is understood that “Mother” Jones will be appointed organizer…..
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DOWN IN THE COAL MINES.
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“Mother” Jones Graphically Describes
Child Labor In Pennsylvania.“Mother” Jones addressed a meeting of mine workers and their friends in the Criminal Court room last evening on the subject of “Employment of Child Labor in the Mines.” Although her address was primarily intended to be in the interest of the miners, she made a general plea for all branches of labor. Quite a number of working girls were present and the eloquent appeals made in their behalf met with hearty applause from them. The speaker described the condition which prevails among the breaker boys of the mines of Pennsylvania, where boys of eleven years work thirteen hours a day for a wage scale of 1 cent an hour.
The miners and their families, she declared, are the helpless slaves of the great combinations of capital and the operators who own and control the mines. In those regions when a child is born, the day is eagerly looked forward to when he will be old enough to do a day’s work, and when that day arrives he is taken by his father to the operator of the mine, to whom his services are offered for a pittance. Some of the worst details of the present system were gone into and the need of organization among all the miners of the country was strongly urged.
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At the opening of the afternoon session [January 25th, United Mine Workers Convention], Henry J. Skifington [Skeffington], of the Boot and Shoe Makers’ Union, addressed the convention and urged the delegates to buy none but union made shoes. Following his address, “Mother” Jones spoke. The work of Mrs. Jones among the miners is known to every miner in the country and her appearance was the signal for loud and prolonged applause. She addressed the delegates as “fellow-toilers.” She said the miners had wisely chosen the month of January for holding their convention, as it is the intermediate month between the closing of the year and the opening of spring. It was appropriate, she said, to use this opportunity to look behind and to the front.
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