Tag: October 1902

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part V: Found Speaking in Holyoke and Celebrating Mitchell Day in Wilkes-Barre

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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 19, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1902, Part V
Found Speaking in Holyoke and Celebrating John Mitchell Day in Wilkes-Barre

From the Holyoke Daily Transcript of October 27, 1902:

MOTHER JONES SPEAKS.
———-

LARGE AUDIENCE LISTENS
———-
The Most Successful Socialist Rally
Held Here For Many Years.
———-

Mother Jones , Phl Inq p24, June 22, 1902

“Mother Jones, the miners’ friend” who has become well known all over the country for her fierce defence of the miners in the coal strike, and who has been arrested in the mining regions several times for her utterances, lectured in this city at the city hail last evening. That she was one of the persons who gained in popularity for her course was shown by the enthusiastic reception she received here. She was welcomed by the largest audience of any campaign speaker this fall, and the largest which attended a socialist rally for years, in Holyoke. It was attributed to her cause in which she appears to be in sympathy body and soul, and to the active part she has taken in it. “Mother” Jones is a pleasant-faced woman who speaks clearly and convincingly, and at times with the most bitting sarcasm. She made a big hit with the large audience. She has force and eloquence. She has been speaking a week in New England.

E. A. Buckland, the congressional candidate of the Socialist party, in this district, presided and introduced L. F. Fuller of Springfield, as the first speaker.

It was 8.30 o’clock before the speaking began.

Mr. Fuller said that a great case was on trial, a case of dollars against men. “The statement is sometimes made that money always did rule and always will rule. This is not true; as in the case of primeval man, money did not rule, and it is my firm belief that it will not long rule. In this country we do not recognize a governmental despotism, but an industrial despotism has already taken place. Abraham Lincoln placed labor above capital. Even in this country the hardest work is done by those who have the least. Labor is the creator of all values. We notice that the home-owners are disappearing. In the last few years the percentage of home-owners has dropped from 69 to 34 per cent. Socialism demands justice for humanity. The socialist objects to dividing up. If the laboring man was not continually dividing up the profits of his labor, there would be no millionaires in this country.

“Mother” Jones, at her introduction, was received with hearty applause.

One of the most important statements made by Mrs. Jones was that the strike is not at an end. She said the commission appointed by the president was organized because an election was approaching. Mrs. Jones wanted to know why the president took the insults of the coal barons so mildly sometime ago and then consulted with Morgan last Sunday on a yacht. She said the miners went back because of public opinion and public opinion did not care for them until the matter was brought home to the people by empty coal bins.

In speaking for organized labor co-operating with the socialists she said that during her 30 years’ acquaintance with the coal regions not a single clergyman protested against the oppression of the miners until the United Mine Workers entered the district. She said that if there is any Christian religion today it is in organized labor.

In speaking of the operators of Pennsylvania and the manner in which they treat the miners she said the operators can violate the law any time they please and 10 times a day if they desire. They seem to own the world, and all the people thrown in. She pictured the manner in which the coal barons live in contrast with the bare existence of the miners, who are compelled to bring their young children into the mines to help get a living. She made much of the journey of Morgan and some others across the continent when wine costing $35 a bottle was opened.

[…..]

She said the strike will not be settled in the coal regions until the miners get what belongs to them. They did not want charity, they wanted justice. Solidarity of labor, she said, was still in its incipiency. Mention was made of the probability of a strike of engineers and firemen that would overshadow the one now in existence. She said much was being urged against the militia and other weapons of the capitalists, but the greatest danger to the miners is the injunction.

In conclusion she urged the working people to emancipate themselves [by] the power of organized labor and by voting the socialist ticket at the polls.

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part V: Found Speaking in Holyoke and Celebrating Mitchell Day in Wilkes-Barre” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part IV: Found Speaking on Behalf of Striking Miners at Boston’s Apollo Garden

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 18, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1902, Part IV
Boston, Massachusetts – Found Speaking on Behalf of Striking Coal Miners

From The Boston Globe of October 20, 1902:

HdLn Mother Jones Speaks Boston Glb p8, Oct 20, 1902

Mother Jones , Phl Inq p24, June 22, 1902

“Mother” Jones, who has become famous all over the country as a result of her work in behalf of the coal miners, addressed a gathering of more than 7000 yesterday afternoon at the open-air meeting at Apollo garden, Roxbury. The meeting was in behalf of the striking miners, and was under the auspices of the general committee of the socialist party.

It is said that more than 8000 tickets were sold and a good sum was realized, which will be forwarded for the assistance of the strikers. The meeting was also addressed by Representative James F. Carey and Ex-Mayor Chase of Haverhill, the latter socialist candidate for governor.

The meeting was an enthusiastic one and every telling point scored by the speakers brought forth ready approval. In the gathering was a fair sprinkling of women. The speakers stood on the balcony of the old house, which had been decorated free of charge, and the grove was given free of charge also.

The principal interest centered about the appearance of “Mother” Jones. She sat on the balcony while the other speakers were talking. She was dressed in a plain gown of black cloth and wore no hat. She looks to be more than 50 years old, and her hair is almost snow white. Her keen, small eyes look out from under rather heavy brows, and she has a voice of remarkable power, her address easily being heard at the other side of the grove.

She is a fighter for her “boys,” as she terms the men who work in the mines, and it was easy for those in the audience to see how she has come by the loving term of “mother.”

She told in a quiet, easy manner of her work among the miners, of their toil in the bowels of the earth, their attempts to keep their little families from starving, and of their grinding down by the coal barons. “Mother” Jones evidently knows whereof she speaks, for she told of her visits to the mines underground, and her control over the miners was illustrated by a story she told of a recent occurrence in the present strike, when she led a gathering of 7000 strikers and many women over the mountains in the coal region and their meeting with the armed militia.

———-

Respects the Law.

The keynote of her address was that the people had made the government, and must obey the law and abide by its decisions. When she was being introduced by the presiding officer, Patrick Mahoney, a man on the balcony interpolated the remark that “She also defied Judge Jackson.” She was hardly on her feet before she made a denial of the statement, saying that Judge Jackson represented the law, and she never defied the law.

Representative James F. Carey of Haverhill was the first speaker. He said the coal strike would have been a failure but for the fact that it has taught the miners a lesson. It has opened the eyes of the people. The class in economic power, he continued, always controls the government, and socialists, knowing that, have tried to bring to the attention of the voters the absurdity of voting for the representatives of capital…..

John C. Chase, socialist candidate for governor, was received with cheers. He said that if the strikers had to go back without gaining a single thing it would show one thing, and that is that the working class must stand together in industrial matters and politics…..

“Mother” Jones was the next speaker, and there was a wave of applause as she came forward. She spoke clearly and distinctly and rather slowly. At no time till she grow heated, but the pathos of her voice showed clearly that the interests of the striking miners were her interests.

She said she largely was responsible for the miners’ organization.

[She said:]
For ages men had been struggling to right the wrongs of the world. In this country we first had the civil struggle, and we settled that. Now at the beginning of the 20th century we have the industrial struggle.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part IV: Found Speaking on Behalf of Striking Miners at Boston’s Apollo Garden” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part III: Found Speaking at Socialist Mass Meeting at Cooper Union, New York City

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902————–

Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 17, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1902, Part III
New York, New York – Mother Jones Speaks to Socialists at Cooper Union

From The New York Times of October 18, 1902:

Ad Mother Jones, Cooper Un Oct 18, NYT p9, Oct 19, 1902

From The Pittsburg Post of October 18, 1902:

Mother Jones, Duffy, Mitchell, Ptt Pst p7, Oct 18, 1902
Thomas Duffy, Mother Jones and President John Mitchell

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part III: Found Speaking at Socialist Mass Meeting at Cooper Union, New York City” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part II: Describes Miner’s Sorrow; Assists with Efforts Aimed at Anthracite Settlement

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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 16, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1902, Part II
Found Describing Miner’s Sorrow; Assist Efforts to Settle Anthracite Strike

From the Duluth Labor World of October 11, 1902:

HdLn Mother Jones re Miners Sorrow, LW p1, Oct 11, 1902

Mother Jones , Phl Inq p24, June 22, 1902

[Mother Jones stated:]

If Christ came to America, took advantage of the best university education the country affords, then went into the anthracite and West Virginia mining regions he never would be able to write a book which could properly convey to the minds of its readers the horrors that surround the lives of miners. The human tongue cannot tell of the miseries that blast the lives of those who earn a living in the bowels of the earth, nor of the sufferings of their unfortunate wives and children. My hair is white and I am burdened with the weight of many years, but while I have strength enough left to use my voice it will be lifted in behalf of those miners whose lives have been ruined and who have been made slaves through the avarice of those who not only believe but declare boldly they have a divine right to the earth and the fullness thereof.

A woman of small stature, credited with having spent three-score years and ten on earth, spoke as above. Her hair is white, but her form is erect. Fire flashed from her eyes and her voice trembled with emotion as she told of her experiences with the miners. “

[She further said:]

I have spent years with them. I have lived in their homes, have partaken of their scant, coarse fare, have wept with them by the deathbeds of their loved ones, have shared their sorrows, but alas, I cannot say that I ever rejoiced with them. Joy is unknown in the mining regions of West Virginia, as far as the miners and their unfortunate families are con­cerned.

The speaker was “Mother” Jones, the idol of the miners, who have spent the greater part of her life in an effort to organize them and improve their conditions. She is lecturing in several towns on the conditions of the miners in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania and in West Virginia.

Any reference to West Virginia roused the champion of the miners.

When asked “How do the miners get along in West Virginia? She answered:

How do they live? they don’t live-they exist. Harriet Beecher Stowe never drew a picture of slavery that compares with the conditions of the miners in West Virginia. The wage slavery of that state is the blackest page in American history. I tell you, you people in the north can’t realize the amount of human misery that exists among the unfortunates with whom I have made my home for years.

“How are the miners housed?” she was asked. “

[She cried:]

Housed? Housed, did you say? Why, cattle may have decent roofs over them, but the shacks they call homes among the mines of West Virginia would not be tolerated in the worst sections of your city. They are are not houses—they consist of six boards, a bundle of shingles and half a pound of nails. Such are the homes the West Virginia miners when they are working, but many of them at present have only heaven for a roof and the ground for a pillow.

The coal operators do not propose to let the strikers indulge in the luxury of a board roof, and men, woman and children have been driven out to die on the mountain sides. At Piney Ridge three weeks ago I saw a mother with her babe, 6 months old thrown out of the shack called home by the officers of the law. An old, gray headed grandmother was thrown out with them.

The feeble old grandmother took the babe on her lap and with tears streaming down her cheeks said: “My poor babe, how soon they have begun to persecute you!”

Three hours later the babe died un­der God’s sunlight. I could recite hundreds of cases just as bad as this. They thought they would break their spirits when they threw them out of the shacks, but the woman and children in many cases have been given shelter in barns and the men can live on the mountain sides until the fight is won.

[She continued:]

The children are the worst sufferers, and their sufferings prompt some of the strikers to seek employment elsewhere. Just as I started for Iowa one of the strikers came to me and said: “Mother, I would like to stay and fight, but I’ve got twins 4 months old and I’m afraid I’ll have to go and get work some other place so can buy malted milk for them or they’ll die.” I said: “You stay here, Jack, and fight and when I get to Iowa I’ll sell books and get the money which I will send to you and you can buy malted milk for the babes.” Tears ran down the cheeks of the poor fellow as he grasped my hand and said: “If you’ll do that mother, I’ll stay and fight to the end. T’hey can’t lick us.”

The miners will win. They have come to the conclusion that they might as well starve striking as working and they will stick to the last.

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part II: Describes Miner’s Sorrow; Assists with Efforts Aimed at Anthracite Settlement” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part I: Speaks in Iowa, Takes Part in Anthracite Strike Conference in New York

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 15, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1902, Part I
Found in Colfax, Iowa, and at New York Anthracite Strike Conference

From the Des Moines Registrar and Leader of October 1, 1902:

Mother Jones HdLn Speaks at Colfax IA, DMns Reg Ldr p1, Oct 1, 1902

Mother Jones , Phl Inq p24, June 22, 1902

Colfax, Ia., Sept. 30.-(Special.)-Mother Jones, the famous organizer of the miners in the anthracite region, gave an address, tonight at the Methodist church, and urged the miners of the Sixth district to work for John P. Reese of Albia for congress. Mother Jones denounced the capitalists of the country in severe terms, and was bitter against the use of the injunction by the courts. Her address was listened to by a large audience, composed for the most part of miners. Immediately after her speech, Mother Jones started across the country to Prairie City and caught a night train for Albia, where she will speak. She will also deliver an address at Ottumwa and then return east.

Mother Jones is now over sixty years of age, her hair being white as snow. Yet she is vigorous and energetic, and speaks with wonderful feeling and eloquence when describing the sufferings of the miners in the anthracite regions. She urged the miners and workingmen to wake up and work for their rights.

[She said:]

You don’t need a gun. Let us bury the bullet and resurrect the ballot.

Wants Iowa to Act.

I want Iowa to be the first state to carry the banner of organized labor into congress and elect a workingman to that body. I want a worker to make laws for me and not a henchman. If ever an awakening comes in this country it must come now. The injunction must be stopped. I plead with you young men; shall you all be slaves or shall you be men? You have got to take hold of this government and run it for all the people. It is your duty to see that the next congressman from this district is a miner so that the next congress shall have a miner in it. When the last injunction bill was up before congress there was no one there to press it, because no one there had felt the sting of the injunction injustice.

I say down with the government that upholds injunctions. I repeat I want to see the next congress have a miner in it. When the corporations see the workingmen waking up and electing workingmen to office they will tremble. You have got to break up this corporate power. The only way to break it up is by legislation. If you men feel that you are too big cowards to do it, stand aside and let us women do it and we’ll show you how. Woman is the greater sufferer from the power of corporate wealth.

Mother Jones, at the outset of her address, spoke of the progress of the human race and the various inventions that have been made.

[She said:]

Yet the workers have not the benefit of these inventions. A few men who have never done anything in their lives have taken advantage of them all and the human race stands aghast and asks “What shall we do?” If these inventions have been produced by society, why should one band of thieves and robbers, and assassins, and plunderers possess them to the detriment of all the rest? That is the great question before the human race. There is no other question before you. You have the labor question to settle, and it will be settled in this century. The men who produce the wealth will have the wealth.

Who has built your magnificent homes and public buildings? Who have gone down into the depths of the earth and toiled sixteen hours a day? The workers. Who live in your palaces? The parasite. Why? Because he has plundered other men of what they produce. When he boasts of prosperity, what is it to 30,000 breaker boys in the anthracite region? That you can make money by scheming doesn’t make a nation prosperous. You can’t have a prosperous nation until the workers prosper. If you give to your nation an illiterate broken down body of workers, ruin will overtake your country.

Mother Jones paid her respects to Morgan for saying he had nothing to arbitrate, and to Baer, who says he owns the earth and is the “steward of the Almighty.”

[She said:]

I wish he would take care of these men and women down in West Virginia, if he is the Almighty’s steward, as he claims.

[And again:]

Every page of every book of every Carnegie library in the country is written with the blood of Homestead.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1902, Part I: Speaks in Iowa, Takes Part in Anthracite Strike Conference in New York” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Comrade: Mother Jones Speaks at Cooper Union, October 18, 1902, by Ryan Walker

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Quote Mother Jones WV Miners Conditions, ISR p179 , Sept 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 8, 1902
Mother Jones at Cooper Union (October 18th) by Ryan Walker

From The Comrade of November 1902:

Mother Jones at Cooper Un, Ryan Walker, Comrade p28, Nov 1902

———-

Sieverman n Mother Jones, Comrade p28, Nov 1902Frank Sieverman and Mother Jones

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Comrade: Mother Jones Speaks at Cooper Union, October 18, 1902, by Ryan Walker” →

Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part II

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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 25, 1902
Pennsylvania Anthracite Strikers Ordered to Resume Work, Part II

From the Scranton Tribune of October 22, 1902:

HdLn re Great Anthracite Strike, Miners to Resume Work, Scranton Tb p1, Oct 22, 1902

[Part II of II]

REJOICING AT SHENANDOAH.
———-
Eighteenth Regiment Band Leads
the Parade of Miners.

By Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press.

John Mitchell, The Columbian, Bloomsburg PA p2, Oct 23, 1902

Shenandoah, Pa., Oct. 21.-News that the convention declared the strike off reached Shenandoah at 12 o’clock, and almost simultaneously every bell in the town was ringing and the whistles of every factory and breaker pealed joyous notes. There was a spontaneous outpouring of people and ten minutes after the good news reached town the streets were crowded.

At Mahanoy City and elsewhere in the anthracite field the news of the strike settlement was received with wild enthusiasm. There was blowing of whistles and ringing of bells, and almost the entire population of the towns assembled in the streets. In some localities there were impromptu parades, in which the fire departments and other organizations joined in some instances.

Pathetic scenes were enacted as the men, who have been idle and under great strain for nearly six months, rushed off to prepare for work.

Colonel Rutledge sent the Eighteenth Regiment band into town this afternoon to take part in the strike settlement celebration. The band marched through the streets at the head of a mine workers’ parade and was wildly cheered all along the line. Nearly every building in the town is decorated with flags, and the people in general appear almost insanely happy. Besides the soldiers’ band, two other bands took part in the demonstration.

—————

PRESIDENT ACTS PROMPTLY.
———-
He Summons the Members of Commission
to Meet on Friday.

By Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press.

Washington, Oct. 21.-Shortly before 3 o’clock this afternoon, President Roosevelt received a telegram from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., informing him that the convention of miners had declared off the anthracite coal strike. The telegram was signed by John Mitchell, chairman, and W. B. Wilson, secretary of the convention, and was identical with that made public at Wilkes-Barre before noon today.

Immediately on receipt of this Information, the following telegram was sent to Mr. Mitchell:

White House, Washington, Oct, 21, 1902

Mr. John Mitchell, Chairman of Convention, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.:

Upon receipt of your telegram of this date, the president summoned the commission to meet here on Friday next, the 24th instant, at 10 a. m.

George B. Cortelyou, Secretary.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Coming of the Lord, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 24, 1902
Pennsylvania Anthracite Strikers Ordered to Resume Work, Part I

From the Scranton Tribune of October 22, 1902:

HdLn re Great Anthracite Strike, Miners to Resume Work, Scranton Tb p1, Oct 22, 1902

[Part I of II]

By Exclusive Wire from The Associated Press.

John Mitchell, The Columbian, Bloomsburg PA p2, Oct 23, 1902

Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Oct. 21.-With a shout that fairly shook the convention building, the representatives of the 147,000 mine workers, who have been on strike since last May, officially declared off at noon today the greatest contest ever waged between capital and labor, and placed all the questions involved in the struggle into the hands of the arbitration commission appointed by the president of the United Slates. When the news was flashed to towns and villages down in the valley and on the mountains of the coal region, the strike-affected inhabitants heaved a sigh of relief.

Many days have gone by since more welcome news was received. Everywhere there was rejoicing, and in many places the end of the strike was the signal for impromptu town celebrations. The anthracite coal region, from its largest city-Scranton-down to the lowliest coal patch has suffered by the conflict, and everyone now looks for better times. While the large army of mine workers and their families, numbering approximately half a million persons, are grateful that work is to be resumed on Thursday, the strikers have still to learn what their reward will be. President Roosevelt having taken prompt action in calling the arbitrators together for their first meeting on Friday, the miners hope they will know by Thanksgiving day what practical gain they have made.

The vote to resume coal mining was a unanimous one and was reached only after a warm debate. The principal objection to accepting the arbitration proposition was that no provision was contained in the scheme to take care of those men who would fail to get back their old positions, or would be unable to get any work at all. The engineers and pumpmen get better pay than other classes of mine workers, and they did not wish to run the risk of losing altogether their old places and be compelled to dig coal for a living. This question came up yesterday, and was argued right up to the time the vote was taken. No one had a definite plan to offer to overcome the objection, and the report of the committee on resolutions, recommending that the strike be declared off and that all issues be placed in the hands of the arbitration commission for decision, was adopted without the question being settled. A few moments before adjournment, however, a partial solution was reached when a delegate in the farthest corner of the hall moved that the problem be placed in the hands of the three executive boards for solution, and his suggestion was adopted.

The principal speech of the day was made by National Secretary-Treasurer W. B. Wilson, who practically spoke for President Mitchell and the national organisation. In a strong argument he counselled the men to accept arbitration, the very plan the strikers themselves had offered, return to work and trust to the president’s tribunal to do them justice.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Great Anthracite Strike Ended; Miners Agree to Accept Judgement of Roosevelt’s Commission, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1902, Part III: Found Supporting UMW Official, John P. Reese, Running for Congress

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Quote Mother Jones, Told the Court in WV to Stay, Ipl July 19, 1902, UMWC p86—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 12, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1902, Part III
Found in Hiteman, Iowa, Supporting John P. Reese for Congress

From the Ottumwa Semi-Weekly Courier of September 30, 1902:

SHE ASKS FOR REESE VOTES
———-
”Mother” Jones Tells Miners to Elect
One of Their Number to Congress.
———-

HER IMPASSIONED SPEECH AT HITEMAN
———-

SHE APPEALS TO THE TOILERS TO AWAKEN
AND SHOW THE WORLD THAT THEY ARE ABOUT TO
“ASSERT THEIR RIGHTS TO A FAIR SHARE OF EARTH’S RICHES.”
———-

Mother Jones, Socialist Spirit p19, Aug 1902

In an impassioned address in which she sought to show the evils of the injunction, Mother Jones, the woman trades unionist and socialist, appealed to the miners and citizens of Hiteman Saturday afternoon to elect John P. Reese to congress, in order that he might introduce a bill taking from the federal courts the right to issue the injunction. She cited the effect the “one-man instrument,” as she called it, has had upon the strikers in the West Virginia coal fields, and stated that the strike would not have lasted more than two weeks if it had not been for the injunction. A short address was made by John P. Reese, who was chairman of the meeting, prior to Mother Jones’ speech.

In introducing Mother Jones to the audience Mr. Reese took occasion to thank the people of Hiteman and the members of the local miners’ union especially for the support they have given him during his term as president of the district miners’ organization, from which he is about to retire in order to commence his fight against Hon. John F. Lacey for the election to congress to represent the sixth district of Iowa.

Mother Jones is an avowed socialist. She points to the great day which she says is surely approaching, when the laboring millions shall rise in their might and claim a just share of the riches which they have produced and turned over to their employers. She says that conditions are leading up to a great climax. Her speech, which had much to do with the evils which she claimed were caused by the injunction, ended with a long appeal for support for Mr. Reese in his candidacy.

Mr. Reese Talks.

The meeting was to have been a part of the picnic planned by the people of Hiteman, to take the place of a Labor Day celebration, but owing to the inclement weather the big event was declared off. However, the people were not to be cheated out of an address by Mother Jones, and consequently they held a meeting at the opera house in Hiteman in the afternoon. The first address was by John P. White, of Oskaloosa, secretary-treasurer of the district organization of the United Mine Workers. During his speech Mr. Reese and Mother Jones arrived.

James Baxter, of Hiteman, was temporary chairman of the meeting, and at the completion of Mr. White’s speech he introduced John P. Reese as the permanent chairman. Mr. Reese took charge of the meeting, [and addressed] his former associates, the residents of the town where he resided as a coal miner a few years ago; and from which he went to take his position as president of the district miners’ union…..

[Mr. Reese said, in part:]

I will say that whatever the future may hold in store for me, I assure the miners of Hiteman and the citizens of this town that you will find that I will continue to be one of you in reality, and that I will continue to hold my membership in your union as long as I am eligible.

Now I want to introduce to you the only miner who wears skirts; the only miner who is allowed to belong to every local in the country at one time; the only miner who does not wear a pit cap; a woman who has the respect and love of every miner in America; a woman who, before she has finished her speech, will convince you that the mission of labor is a holy one; that the labor organizations have accomplished more progress during their existence than has any other similar organization during the same length of time during the history of the world. Ladies and gentlemen, I take great pleasure in introducing to you “Our” Mother Jones.

Mother Jones’ Address.

A round of enthusiastic applause greeted Mother Jones as Mr. Reese closed his speech, and she bowed in acknowledgement. After a selection by the band, she advanced to the front of the stage. Her hearers were interested because of her statements, although the speech in itself is not connected throughout. She said:

Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Toilers: —This is my first visit among you. It is not my first nor my last visit among workers. Away back among the ages we find that from the time the human race left the cradle and began to learn to talk there was planted in the bosom of mankind a desire to advance, to march forward; a desire for greater, nobler things. That desire has followed us down the stairway of time and has each day pressed on until the toilers are awaking now in such a way as the world never knew. Today we are confronted with conditions never known before.

Class Separation.

The people are being separated. Events are bringing to the mind the deep thinker of today the realization that there is a great evolution, a great revolution, going on in the world. Society is divided. The lines are closely drawn. On one side is a handful of human beings with all the wealth the human race has created in ages in their hands. On the other side is a multitude of people, robbed, oppressed, downcast, but pleading for the time when the human race shall possess its own. We look back into history and as we realize what the conditions were, and we thank Providence for the light that is beginning to dawn upon civilization…..

[Mother Jones on Trial in West Virginia]

As soon as I entered the court room I told my comrades [fellow U. M. W. organizers] that we were all convicted and that we might as well stand up and be sentenced…

The judge [John J. Jackson] asked me what right I had to come among the miners of West Virginia and disturb them. I answered him that I was a citizen of the United States and as such that I had a right to go anywhere in the country that I pleased. That judge was cornered and he asked me nothing more. But in the closing argument of the prosecuting attorney the most dangerous statement was made. It meant more than he, or anyone else but myself, probably, realized.

Points Out Danger.

He said in his argument to the court: “Owing to the fact that this is the most dangerous woman in the United States today, and owing to the fact that she can go among the miners and commence a disturbance at any time, if she will consent to leave the state of West Virginia and stay away, I would suggest that the court should have mercy on her.” Leave the state never to return! Mind you what that meant. Think of a public official making a statement of that kind…..

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1902, Part III: Found Supporting UMW Official, John P. Reese, Running for Congress” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1902, Part II: Found Interviewed in Chicago, Illinois, Relates Woes of Miners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Evicted Miners Baby Dies on Roadside, Evl Jr Ns p3, Sept 28, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 11, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1902, Part II
Found in Chicago, Illinois, Depicts the Misery of the Eastern Coal Region

From the Evansville Sunday Journal-News of September 28, 1902:

MISERY IS DEPICTED IN EASTERN COAL REGION
“Mother” Jones Relates Woes of Miners and
Declares a System of Slavery is Being
Practiced by the Operators.
———-

Mother Jones, Socialist Spirit p19, Aug 1902

CHICAGO, Sept. 27.-“Mother” Jones, friend and organizer of the eastern miners, arrived in Chicago yesterday direct from the fields of action where the seeds of independence she has been sowing for years are bearing fruit as they never bore before. Confident that the miners will win the great strike in Pennsylvania and West Virginia because the operators cannot afford to win, “Mother” Jones, fearless and determined as ever, discussed the problems and conditions of the present grave situation in the East. In spite of her snowy hair and sixty summers “Mother” Jones declared that she was as young to-day as she ever was.

[She said:]

The miners can now see the dawning of a brighter day and a new civilization. They are as hopeful of success as we are. John Mitchell was never so hopeful. The bituminous miners of West Virginia will win and the anthracite miners in the Pennsylvania fields will win. But no one can prophesy how long the strike will last.

“Mother” Jones said that the system of slavery that America’s blood poured out to abolish was never worse than a slave system conducted by the mine operators of West Virginia. She declared that miners are bought and sold for money, that bloodhounds are kept to trail fugitive slave miners and to avenge assaults on the “blackleg” agents of the operator.

She said that the immigration laws were being broken by the operators, whose agents go to Europe and import released convicts to work in American mines.

She proposed a congress of American labor to be held in Washington next winter when Congress is in session to investigate the rights of workingmen and get an expression from the government concerning the injunction cases of West Virginia and to seek legislation against injunction.

Concerning Commissioner of Labor Carroll D. Wright, who spoke at Minneapolis the other day, “Mother” Jones said:

Mr. Wright does not know the conditions concerning which he speaks. In the first place, I want to ask why he delayed making his report from the anthracite region until a week or two ago. I think it would pay the people to demand an investigation of the agents Mr. Wright sends out to gather his statistics. I found that one of them in the New River District has been dead for forty years and does not know it. He is incapable absolutely for the work he is assigned to do.

[Mother Jones continued:]

Herman Justi said at the Minneapolis convention, that arbitration is a failure. Arbitration is not a failure. The miners believe in arbitration and are willing to arbitrate. If the operators would ask for arbitration or would submit to arbitration of the present troubles the miners would abide by the decision. The whole trouble in this strike is because the operators do not want their schemes of robbery exposed.

[She continued:]

The operators buy their powder for 90 cents a keg and they sell it to the miners for $2.50 a keg. Is that robbery? The operators, against the laws of Pennsylvania, do not weigh the coal at the mines at all. The law says they should have scales and check weighmen. The miners demand these provisions. The miners want a nine-hour workday and they refuse to submit to discrimination against their organization.

The miners demand a semimonthly payday, which five of the operators have already agreed to. As it is now they are paid every sixty days. If a miner goes to work now he must wait sixty days before he can get any money. Then at the end of that time he finds that $1 a week has been deducted from his wages for doctor bills whether he has had the services of a doctor or not. He can go to the “pluck me” stores and get food, the price of which is deducted from his earnings, and in many of the districts the miners are forced to pay for the water they drink.

The wretchedness and misery “Mother” Jones described in detail.

[She said:]

I tell you that there are no words capable of portraying the misery and woe. If Christ himself should come to earth and investigate the mining camps he could not find words to tell adequately what he saw. Along the mines of Loop Creek, West Virginia, “man-catchers” are regularly sent out by the operators to bring in mountaineers on some false pretense. These men are actually sold off at so much a head to the various mine operators. The “man catchers” are called “blacklegs” and are protected by trained bloodhounds. These bloodhounds are set on the trail of escaped slave miner.

“Mother” Jones declared that the miners and their families are living on the highways, forbidden to step onto mining grounds by injunction. Two thousand families have been driven into the streets in West Virginia.

[Mrs. Jones said:]

I saw one poor woman, her mother and her babe driven from their corporation shack into the street, and within four hours the starved, sickly babe died in its grandmother’s arms on the roadside. Such misery is apparent on every hand.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1902, Part II: Found Interviewed in Chicago, Illinois, Relates Woes of Miners” →