Tag: U. S. Department of Labor

Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Miners and Families Are Destitute and Suffering; Committee Seeks Aid in New York

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Starve Quietly, Phl GS Speech IA, Mar 19, 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 13, 1922
West Virginia Miners and Their Families Are Destitute and Suffering

From The New York Times of February 12, 1922:

ASK AID FOR 35,000 STRIKING MINERS.
———-
West Virginia Labor Committee Here Seeks Food,
Clothes and Medicines for Idle Men.
———-

WV Battle by Shields, UE by M Becker, Lbtr p16, Oct 1921

Thirty-five thousand striking miners and their families are destitute and suffering in West Virginia, according to a statement yesterday by a committee of West Virginia labor officials who came to New York seeking food, clothing and medical aid for the unemployed workers and their dependents.

The committee said it also would appeal to the national Red Cross organization at Washington and to the convention of the United Mine Workers at Indianapolis next Tuesday for emergency help. The committee consisted of William T. Harris, President of the West Virginia State Federation of Labor; Fred Mooney, Secretary-Treasurer, District 17, United Mine Workers, and Frank W. Snyder, editor of The West Virginia Federationist.

The committee said a survey of conditions showed that more than 70,000 West Virginia miners were out of work, many of them since the signing of the armistice.

WV Battle by Shields, RR demand by M Becker, Lbtr p17, Oct 1921

High wages had nothing to do with the unemployment, the committee said, pointing out that coal was being sold in the unionized Kanawha fields at lower prices than in the non-union Guyan region. Kanawha coal, they said, was selling at $2.15 a ton f. o. b. mines last week, and in Guyan at $2.35.

In the face of the unemployment, the commutes said, the operators were attempting wholesale evictions. Many miners and their families had been forced out of their homes, but these evictions had been checked by the intervention of the Department of Labor at Washington.

“In the mining fields,” said Mr. Mooney, “there are 35,000 destitute families. They are without food and clothing. The bread winners in some of these families have not worked more than three months since the armistice. The families have been living from hand to mouth on charity furnished by their neighbors and friends.”

The committee arranged with the American Civil Liberties Union here to raise a relief fund here in New York.

[Emphasis and drawings by Maurice Becker added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From United Mine Workers Journal: Organizing Campaign Continues in Southern West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday July 16, 1920
Southern West Virginia – Union Organizing Campaign Continues Despite Gunthugs

From United Mine Workers Journal of July 15, 1920:

Mother Jones w Sid Hatfield n Organizers in Matewan, UMWJ p11, July 15, 1920

Organization Campaign in West Virginia Continues
to Spread in Spite of Gunmen and Other Obstacles

(Special to the Journal)

Charleston, W. Va., July 8—The situation in Mingo county is firm. The county is tied up tight. Before Fred L. Feick, of Indiana, and L. R. Thomas, of Pittsburgh, mediators for the Department of Labor, came to Williamson a letter arrived from Joseph P. Tumulty, secretary to President Wilson, conveying news of a conference between the President and Secretary Wilson and conveying the hope of the President for a peaceful and harmonious settlement of the differences.

The operators of the Williamson coalfields refused to recognize the union or have anything to do with the United Mine Workers of America. The strike is continuing peacefully.

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Hellraisers Journal: 24 Steel Unions Strike at Midnight; May Prove to be Greatest Industrial Battle Nation Has Ever Known

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Judge Gary Cup of Rice, Clv UMWC p540, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 22, 1919
Nationwide Steel Strike to Commence at Midnight

From The Washington Times of September 21, 1919:

GSS 24 Steel Unions to Strike, WDC Tx p1, Sun Eve Sept 21, 1919
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GSS 24 Steel Unions Named, WDC Tx p3, Sun Eve Sept 21, 1919

ONLY MIRACLE ABLE TO STOP WALKOUT,
SAY ALL OFFICIALS
—–

BY FRED S. FERGUSON.
United Press Staff Correspondent.

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 21–Plans are complete for what may prove the greatest industrial battle this country has ever known, according to officials of the twenty-four steel workers unions, which will strike at midnight.

They declared it would be a fight to the finish for the right of collective bargaining, an eight-hour day, and an increased in wages.

The reports from all steel centers indicated that nothing short of a miracle would stop the strike.

Leaders of both sides declared President Wilson had taken no steps thus far to persuade steel corporation officials to meet the strikers committee.

Posses Sworn In.

State and municipal officials have taken every precaution to guard against public disorders. Posses of deputy sheriffs [deputized company gunthugs] have been sworn in many towns and cities ready for instant action. The state constabulary [Pennsylvania Cossacks] in the Pittsburgh district has been mobilized and given explicit orders.

William B. Wilson, Secretary of Labor, who is vacation at Bloomsburg, Pa., declared he had received no communication from President Wilson regarding a settlement of the steel strike.

Leaders of the steel workers’ unions reiterated their statements that they will close up every mill owned by or subsidiary to the U. S. Steel Corporation. Officials of the steel company were equally confident the strike would be a failure and declared so small a number of workers were unionized that there will be little suspension of work. They said, however, that wherever any widespread disloyalty to the company was evident, plants would be closed.

Prepared to Hold Out.

Union leaders said the men were prepared for as long a strike as was necesary to win the demands. Finances, according to W. B. Rubin, general counsel for the workers, have been provided to take care of a long drawn out fight.

Hundreds of women have begun the work of stiffening the morale of the wives and children of the workers.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Red Special, Part I: “A Train Under Heavy Guard..Passed Swiftly Across the Continent from Seattle”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote HOConnor, IWW Red Special Deportation Train, Stt Rev p154———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 24, 1919
From Seattle to Ellis Island – The Red Special Deportation Train

From The Survey of February 22, 1919:

The Deportations
[Part I]

IWW, HdLn re Red Special Deportation Train, Chg Tb p1, Feb 10, 1919—–

FOR several days last week the eyes of newspaper readers were fixed upon a train under heavy guard that passed swiftly across the continent from Seattle. Persons who peered in at the windows (apparently no one was allowed to go aboard) remarked that most of the occupants looked foreign. Few were seen to smile. Apparently there was a commissariat on board, for “no food was taken aboard at Buffalo.” Reaching Hoboken, N. J., its occupants were hurried on board ferries and soon found themselves in the detention quarters of the United States Immigration Station, on Ellis Island, in New York harbor awaiting sailing to various corners of the earth.

The passengers on this curious journey have all been ordered to be deported from the United States. They constitute the vanguard of what is described as an “army of undesirable aliens” soon to leave our shores. For weeks the newspapers have been picturing the “great combing-out process” in which the Department of Labor and the Department of Justice are declared to be cooperating.

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Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote WZF, re Poverty of Packinghouse Workers, LnL, April 1918


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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday April 6, 1918
Victory! for Packinghouse Workers by William Z. Foster, Part II

From Life and Labor of April 1918:

HOW LIFE HAS BEEN BROUGHT
INTO THE STOCKYARDS
A Story of the Reorganization of the Packing Industry

William Z. Foster
Secretary Chicago Stockyards Labor Council

The main questions, touching wages, hours and conditions of labor, involved in the Stockyards arbitration hearing before Judge Alschuler, and his decision concerning them, are of overwhelming importance, both in principle and in consequence. Just how far-reaching will be the results of the decision one cannot now forecast. But lips stiffened by poverty will perhaps now learn to smile, and thousands of families will for the first time taste of life.

[Part II]

DRASTIC ACTION TAKEN

Chicago Stockyards, WZF, LnL p68, April 1918

The cup was full. It was evident that the packers had no intention of living up to their agreement, but were seeking openly to destroy the unions, let the consequences be what they might. The unions accepted the issue. They at once broke off negotiations with the packers and sent the committee away to Washington again to demand that the President take over the packing houses, as the only way to guarantee their operation during the period of the war.

On January 18th the committee met with President Wilson, explained to him the imminent danger of a great strike in the packing houses and asked that he take steps to seize the industry. The President replied that the proposed remedy involved a big issue, that he would take it under advisement, and that in the meantime another, effort would be made to get a settlement through arbitration.

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Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote WZF, re Organizing Packinghouse Workers, LnL, April 1918

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday April 5, 1918
Victory! for Packinghouse Workers by William Z. Foster, Part I

From Life and Labor of April 1918:

Life and Labor, Editors, and WZF, April 1918

The main questions, touching wages, hours and conditions of labor, involved in the Stockyards arbitration hearing before Judge Alschuler, and his decision concerning them, are of overwhelming importance, both in principle and in consequence. Just how far-reaching will be the results of the decision one cannot now forecast. But lips stiffened by poverty will perhaps now learn to smile, and thousands of families will for the first time taste of life.

[Part I of III.]

Chicago Stockyards, WZF, LnL p63, April 1918

EIGHT MONTHS ago the vast army of packing house workers throughout the country were among America’s most helpless and hopeless toilers. Practically destitute of organization, they worked excessively long hours under abominable conditions for miserably low wages. Hope for them indeed seemed dead. But today all this is changed. Like magic splendid organizations have sprung up in all the packing centers. The eight hour day has been established, working conditions have been improved and wages greatly increased. From being one of the worst industries in the country for the workers the packing industry has suddenly become one of the best.

The bringing about of these revolutionary changes constitutes one of the greatest achievements of the Trade Union movement in recent years. A detailed recital of how it occurred is well worth while.

Since the great, ill-fated strike of 1904 the packing trades unions had put forth much effort to re-establish themselves. But, working upon the plan of each union fighting its own battle and paying little or no heed to the struggles of the rest, they achieved no better success than have other unions applying this old-fashioned and unscientific method in the big industries. Complete failure attended their efforts. No sooner would one of them gain a foothold than the mighty packers, almost without trying, would destroy it.

The logic of the situation was plain. Individual action had failed. Possibility of success lay only in the direction of united action. Common sense dictated that all the unions should pool their strength and make a concerted drive for organization. Therefore, when on Friday, July 13, 1917, exactly thirteen years after the calling of the big strike, Local No. 453 of the Railway Carmen proposed to Local No. 87 of the Butcher Workmen that a joint campaign of organization be started in the Chicago packing houses, the latter agreed at once. The two unions drafted a resolution asking the Chicago Federation of Labor to call together the interested trades and to take charge of the proposed campaign.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: William Z Foster on the Alschuler Award: “How Life Has Been Brought into the Stockyards,” Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: General Strike In Kansas City Now Underway in Sympathy with Striking Laundry Workers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Solidarity Forever
For the Union makes us strong.
-Ralph Chaplin

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 28, 1918
Kansas City, Missouri – General Strike Is Spreading

Workers of Kansas City, both union and non-union, are rallying to the aid of laundry drivers and laundry workers who have been on strike now for about five weeks.The employers have repeatedly refused to bargain with their employees, and have even refused to meet with the federal conciliators sent by the U. S. Department of Labor.

From The Leavenworth Post of March 27, 1918:

GREAT STRIKE AT KANSAS CITY
NOW WELL UNDER WAY
—–
Walkout Began at Eight o’Clock This Morning
With Barbers, Bartenders and Brewers
in the Forefront of the Fray.
—–

TROUBLE REPORTED THIS AFTERNOON
—–
Sympathetic Strike, Called to Aid Laundry Drivers,
Brought Out 700 Card Men
From Other Unions in First Call.
—–

Kansas City GS, Chg Tb, Mar 27, 1918

Kansas City, March 27.-Kansas City today was in the midst of a general strike, the exact extent of which was unknown this afternoon. The strike began at 8 o’clock this morning and although labor leaders declared it would result in a virtual tie-up of all industry by tomorrow night, best reports indicated that so far only 700 union men, including brewers, bartenders, barbers and members of certain building trades unions had quit work. Men from other crafts were walking out this afternoon, however, it was said. No disorders had been reported to the police. The strike was called to support the walkout of laundry workers and drivers.

Street cars were still operating this afternoon and reports were current that members of the Street Railway Employes’ union had voted not to strike.

Late News Tells of Violence.

The first violence in connection with the strike occurred at 2 o’clock this afternoon when a crowd estimated at one thousand persons rushed a crowd of police reserves who had arrested three men in connection with the overturning of a laundry wagon. The officers used their clubs freely and the crowd responded with stones and fists. A number of persons were injured, none severely it was reported. The prisoners escaped during the tussle and only one of them was recaptured it was said.

Reports late this afternoon indicated that the strike was spreading slowly.

———-

[Inset is from Chicago Daily Tribune of March 27th.]

 

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1917: Found in Indiana and West Virginia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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The devil might possibly scare [Mother Jones],
but a machine gun can’t.
-Claude G. Bowers

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday January 18, 1918
Mother Jones News for December 1917: Visits with Claude G. Bowers in Fort Wayne

Mother Jones, NY Sun, Dec 2, 1917

During the month of December of last year, Mother was found in Fort Wayne, Indiana, visiting with Claude G. Bowers who is writing a biography on the late Senator John W. Kern. Mother Jones has often praised Senator Kern for the role he played in freeing her from the Military Bastile of West Virginia during the Coal Mine strike there in 1912 and ’13. (See story below at Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.)

We also found her praised for her patriotism due to her call to “lick the kaiser,” and, at the end of the month, we found her in Charleston, West Virginia, “taking part in the street car strike.”

An article by Peggy Dwyer in the United Mine Workers Journal reminds us that the gunthug who recently murdered a union miner is still at large. This is the same thug who pointed a gun at Mother Jones and threatened to blow her head off. Such is the life of a union organizer brave enough to work in the state of West Virginia.

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Hellraisers Journal: Bisbee Deportation Severely Scored by Report of President Wilson’s Mediation Commission

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Don’t worry, Fellow Worker,
all we’re going to need
from now on is guts.
-Frank Little

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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday December 1, 1917
Washington, District of Columbia – Bisbee Deportation “Wholly Illegal”

The deportation of the striking miners of Bisbee, Arizona, carried out last July by the sheriff of Cochise county and about 2,000 of his armed “deputies,” was “wholly illegal and without authority in law, either state or federal.” So says the recently released “Report of the Bisbee Deportations Made by the President’s Mediation Commission.” The Commission was chaired by Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson.

William B Wilson, Sec of Labor, LOC ab 1913

From the Duluth Labor World of December 1, 1917:

COMMISSION CRITICIZES BISBEE DEPORTATIONS

WASHINGTON. Nov. 29.—Severe criticism of the persons responsible for the deportation of 1,186 striking copper workers from Bisbee, Ariz., and the Warren mining district July 12, is contained in a report of President Wilson’s special labor commission made public Saturday by the president.

The deportation was carried out by the sheriff of Cochise county and about 2,000 armed men, “presuming to act as deputies under the sheriff’s authority,” the report said, and “was wholly illegal and without authority in law, either state or federal.”

After extensive investigation of the causes and circumstances surrounding the copper mine strike, the commission found that the deportations were planned by a number of Bisbee citizens, including officers of the Phelps-Dodge and Calumet & Arizona mining interests.

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Hellraisers Journal: Conditions of “Economic Indecency” Commonplace Today in Nation’s Capital

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday October 23, 1917
Washington, D. C. – Report on Poverty from U. S. Department of Labor

Bitter Cry, Spargo, Little Tenement Toilers, Feb 1906

—–

The nation was shocked in 1906 when John Spargo’s Bitter Cry of the Children revealed shocking details of the lives of millions of American children who then lived in conditions of abject poverty (such as those pictured above). A recent report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, demonstrates that conditions of “economic indecency” are yet commonplace among the American working class.

From the Appeal to Reason of October 20, 1917:

Bad Living Conditions In the
Nation’s Capital

Everybody knows-and mostly from painful personal experience-that living conditions are shockingly miserable as a result of high prices. But when confronted with the cold facts and figures, such as the Appeal has been running regularly for several weeks past, one realizes the truth even more terribly. We do not believe any one can read the following report of the federal bureau of labor statistics on living conditions in the city of Washington, which appears in the Weekly News Letter of the American Federation of Labor, without agreeing that it affords “a shocking example of economic indecency”:

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