I would rather go before God Almighty
with a paid-up union card than
with first class credentials
from any church in the United States.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday March 28, 1917
Washington, District of Columbia – Mother Jones Speaks
On the Monday Evening, March 26th, Mother Jones spoke at a rally for the striking street carmen and their wives, urging them to “stick together” and to “get some red blood and fight!”
The speech was covered by most of Washington D. C. press.
From The Washington Herald of March 27, 1917:
MOTHER JONES URGES STRIKERS TO STICK
—–
Predicted Disorder Fails to
Materialize at Meeting.Mother Jones, with silver hair and bent form, but with voice and gesture as vigorous as any orator in the prime of life, swayed an audience of 1,500 that packed National Rifles Armory to the door last night to hear her version of the street carmen’s strike.
While trouble was expected to follow her address, the meeting was conducted without disorder, and a big detail of police under the direction of Lieut. Hartley saw the meeting disperse without trouble on the streets.
The speech of Mother Jones was tinged with anarchism, but in its entirety, the theme of her address was to have the men “stick together” and the wives of the strikers were urged to back them to the limit.
Present Strike Picnic
She rehearsed the industrial battles of the miners, which have brought about her title “Angel of the Miners” and declared that the present strike was a picnic compared to the majority which she had witnessed.
Some of the telling passages in her speech were:
This is the age of arbitration and not the age of Kings.
I would rather go before God Almighty with a paid-up union card than with first class credentials from any church in the United States.
Rome perished when the women became indifferent. So did Greece. So will every other nation. In this industrial war we must have the support of women.
Any old traitor or hypocrite can holler hurrah for the flag. The man who is a true patriot is the one who will work for free manhood for those beneath it.
The walls of the nation will never perish upon an altar of gold.