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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 31, 1914
Seattle, Washington – Labor’s Memorial Day Honors Martyrs; Mother Jones Speaks
A grand parade, sponsored by the Central Labor Council and the local Socialist Party, was held yesterday in Seattle to honor those who have died as martyrs in the cause of Labor. Mother Jones was the honored guest and the featured speaker at the mass meeting held at the corner of Third and Blanchard Street where the parade ended. She rode at the head of the parade in an automobile which was followed by a thousand coal miners who had been invited to Seattle for that purpose. Following the miners, came marching members of all the various trade unions of Seattle. Some estimates are that six to eight thousand unionists marched in the parade.
LABOR’S MEMORIAL DAY PARADE
From The Seattle Post-Intelligencer of May 31, 1914:
Their banners and emblems draped in mourning, and each wearing a tag bearing a picture of Mother Jones, noted labor leader, who was the guest of honor and speaker of the day, in their coat lapels, thousands of members of organized and unorganized labor turned out yesterday in a monster parade and mass meeting to memorialize their fellow workers who have died in fighting industrial battles. It was the first observance of its kind ever held in the United States, and the huge success which it met prompted those in charge of the project to stamp it an annual affair…
The appearance of Mother Jones, familiarly called “the most devout friend of labor,” was the feature of the program. The aged labor leader addressed two large open air meetings at Third Avenue and Blanchard…
[Emphasis added.]
From The Seattle Daily Times of May 31, 1914:
The central figure of the parade was “Mother” Mary Jones, the noted coal strike leader who was the orator of the day. She rode in an auto with six children and A. Hutcheson, secretary of the joint [trade union and Socialist] committee.. and was cheered early and often along the line.
[Emphasis added.]
Three floats, covered in flowers, lead the three sections of the parade. One was dedicated to the memory of the “The Children of Calumet,” another honored “The Women and Children of Ludlow,” and a third remembered “The Heroes of Labor Who Have Lost Their Lives in Industrial Battles.”
THE SPEECH OF MOTHER JONES
Mother delivered the main address of the day; her speech, in part:
During the Civil War the emancipation of the slaves in the South was brought in as one of the leading measures. Today there is another war-a great war with a bunch of high-class burglars and looters, and the measure of this conflict is the emancipation of the mine workers and the nationalization of the mines. Why should we permit a bunch of burglars to own the mines? Nature did not put that mineral in the bottom of the earth for them. It was put there for the use of the people.
She spoke of that terrible day at Ludlow, of the machine-gun fire which tore through the tents, of the women and children whose bodies were taken from the death pit:
This happened right here in America, not in Russia or in Mexico, but right here under the American flag.
The peculiar thing about it all is that the public in general has not been aroused to a very noticeable extent. It seems that the public has to be struck by a cyclone before it will come to the realization of the actual state of affairs.
While I was down in Washington not very long ago, a Congressman asked me if I told the mine workers to buy guns. I replied that I certainly had told my boys to arm themselves and to do it in a hurry. And I am still appealing to mine workers and other workers all over the United States to arm themselves and be prepared to protect their families and their property. I would not be a fit woman to live in America if I did not tell my boys to be men and not cowards.
Get together, is my message to labor. The worker who has a label on him is not true to the working class. I was a member of the old Knights of Labor, and went into the American Federation of Labor when the Knights disbanded, and I will live and die in the Federation for it represents 2,500,000 workers.
I have been a Socialist for more than twenty-nine years, but I am not one of those who believe that individual freedom is going to drop down from the clouds-while we sleep. The fight can be won, and will be won, but the struggle will be long and education, agitation and class solidarity all must play a part in it. I have no patience with those idealists and visionaries who preach fine spun theories and cry down everybody but themselves. Let us keep our feet on the ground.
[Emphasis added.]