Tag: United Mine Workers of America

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

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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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” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1902, Part I: Predicts Victory for Striking Coal Miners of Pennsylvania and West Virginia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Breaker Boys Bleeding Hands, LW p4, Sept27, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 10, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1902, Part I
Predicts Victory for Striking Coal Miners of Pennsylvania and West Virginia

From the Wilkes-Barre Daily News of September 3, 1902:

MITCHELL RETURNS
———-

MOTHER MARY JONES A VISITOR TO THIS CITY.

Mother Jones, Coal Miners, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902

President John Mitchell, of the United Mine Workers, arrived in this city yesterday afternoon, from Philadelphia, and immediately repaired to strike headquarters. He was accompanied by Louis Hammerling, of this city…..

Mother Jones, the labor advocate also arrived in town yesterday afternoon. She talked very interestingly to a News reporter about the prospects of the miners. She believes that no matter how long the struggle continues, there can be but one thing, and that is success for the miners.

[She continues:]

I hope the struggle will soon be over because there is no reason why the people of the anthracite regions should not be enjoying peace and prosperity, like the other workmen throughout the country. The operators if they have the proper conception of the exact conditions will end the disastrous strike, because no matter how long it continues, it will mean defeat for them in the end.

I do not not know when I shall return to West Virginia, but there is a probability that I may depart for those fields in a few days.

She also believes that the West Virginia miners will be successful in their efforts for better conditions.

[Photograph added.]

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of September 4, 1902:

HdLn Mother Jones Sure of Victory, Phl Iq p2, sept 4, 1902

“Mother” Mary Jones arrived here yesterday afternoon, confident that the mine workers would be victorious in their struggle.

[She said:]

There are 16,000 soft coal miners who are out on strike in the New River, Kanawha and Loop Creek districts of West Virginia. They are out to a man. The conditions in that region are appalling. It is far worse than the situation in the Pennsylvania coal fields.

“What do you think of the recent injunctions issued in West Virginia?” she was asked.

We are approaching a very dangerous crisis in the American nation. The American people are patient, but there will come a time when they will not tolerate such rule.

Disregarded the Injunction

Only last Saturday I was served with an injunction to prevent my speaking in Ohio. But it didn’t work. I have been served with enough injunctions to make a comfortable shroud to bury me in. In West Virginia they issue injunctions against everything. Injunctions are not laws. They are the work of one man. He makes it, issues it, serves it on us, tries us and then he sentences us. We disregard all of them because we know that none of them will stand the test.

“What is your idea of the termination of the strike?”

The miners are not weakening in the slightest degree. We are sure of victory and will accept no compromise. We are determined to right it out to the finish. There will probably be a settlement made before long. I cannot say when that will be.  Public sentiment is growing. If it is necesary, I am sure that the American people will support the miners for another year, just as well as the operators have done. The public has never before realized what a big factor the miner is in civilization.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1902, Part I: Predicts Victory for Striking Coal Miners of Pennsylvania and West Virginia” →

Hellraisers Journal: The West Virginia Treason Trials, Powerful Forces Work to Convict Union Miners in Charles Town

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 9, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Powerful Forces Work to Covict Union Miners

From The Bottle Maker of October 1922:

HdLn WV Treason Trials, Bottle Maker p27, Oct 1922

Newsclip WV Treason Trial, W Allen Convicted, Charles Town Spirit of Jefferson p2, Oct 3, 1922
Charles Town Spirit of Jefferson
October 3, 1922

Charlestown, W. Va., Sept. 5.—Industrial feudalism, allied with and enthroned upon a local aristocracy, and exploiting the naivette of guileless farmers and and unsuspecting rural population, is moving mercilessly and relentlessly in the ancient court house of this town to defeat and destroy organized labor in West Virginia, drive labor unions from the borders of the State, and take a new lease upon control and domination of government in West Virginia.

In this undertaking, industrial oppression and vengence is masquerading behind the law and the prosecuting power of the State, utilizing the executive machinery of the State, and subsidizing newspapers and news dispatches, to accomplish the end sought.

Walter Allen, a young official of the United Mine Workers in West Virginia, is on trial in Charles Town on a charge of treason against the State. Allen is one of twenty-three officials of this union who were indicted in the coal-tainted courts of Logan county last year on the charge of treason. More than 500 others are indicted on charges of conspiracy or murder. These indictments were found after the union miners of Kanawha, Fayette, and Raleigh counties rebelling against the venal industrial conditions of Logan and Mingo counties, and finding that gunmen of the coal operators prevented peaceful union organization, had attempted to right their wrongs by an invasion of those counties directed against company gunmen.

William Blizzard, president of sub-district No. 2 of this union, was another of the twenty-three. Blizzard was acquitted last May after a trial of five weeks, but no such fortune seems to be in prospect for Allen. Every resource at the command of a great and entrenched industrial feudalism in West Virginia-a feudalism that makes governors, elects legislatures, and controls political parties and newspapers—is being brought to bear to convict Allen and all of his associates, and through their confinement in the State prison, break up the miners’ union, and drive unionism as a whole from the State.

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Hellraisers Journal: “The Battle Ground of Coal” by James M. Cain-Union Organization and the Miners’ War in West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 8, 1922
“The Battle Ground of Coal” by James M. Cain

From The Atlantic Monthly of October 1922:

THE BATTLE GROUND OF COAL

BY JAMES M. CAIN

I

Battle of Blair Mt, WV Today by Bushnell, Guards, Gunthugs, Spies, UMWJ p5, Sept 15, 1921

As you leave the Ohio River at Kenova, and wind down the Norfolk and Western Railroad beside the Big Sandy and Tug rivers, you come into a section where there is being fought the bitterest and most unrelenting war in modern industrial history. The country furnishes a suitable setting. Rocky hills, small mountains, rise on each side. They are gashed by ‘creeks’; looking up these, you see that the wild region extends for miles back from the railroad. There is no soft, mellow outline about these hills. They are sharp and jagged; about their tops grows a stunted, scraggly forest. Their color is raw: glaring reds and yellows, hard, waterstreaked grays. Here and there you see the blue-black ribbon of coal.

In this untamed section of West Virginia two tremendous forces have staked out a battle ground. These are the United Mine Workers of America and the most powerful group of nonunion coal-operators in the country. It is a battle to the bitter end; neither side asks quarter, neither side gives it. It is a battle for enormous stakes, on which money is lavished; it is fought through the courts, through the press, with matching of sharp wits to secure public approval. But more than this, it is actually fought with deadly weapons on both sides; many lives have already been lost; many may yet be forfeited.

As the train carries you southeastward, you see some signs of it. You pass many coal mines, and some of these are closed down. At the stations, pairs of men in military uniform scrutinize all who alight. These are the West Virginia State Police; a strong force of them is on duty here, for bloodshed became so frequent that one of these counties, Mingo, was placed under martial law. You pass occasional clusters of tents-squalid, wretched places, where swarms of men, women, and children are quartered. Everywhere you are sensible of an atmosphere of tension, covert alertness, sinister suspicion. It is not by accident that these State policemen appear always in pairs.

If you get off the train at Williamson, county seat of Mingo, you will be at the fighting front. People there will tell you that this struggle has been going on for three years. They will tell you of the bloody day at Matewan, May 1920, when ten men, including the mayor of the town, fell in a pistol battle that lasted less than a minute.They will tell you of guerrilla warfare that went on for months; how Federal troops had to be called in twice. They will tell you of the ‘three days’ battle,’ which resulted, in May, 1921, in the declaration of martial law. Union partisans will tell you of the exercises on May 30 last, when the graves of a score of union fallen were decorated with all the ceremony accorded soldiers who have died for the flag. The operators will tell you of attacks from ambush: how their men have been shot down from behind; how witnesses for trials were mysteriously killed before they could testify. The atrocity list and quantity of propaganda give this war quite an orthodox flavor. It is very hard to sift out the truth.

II

Back in 1898, when the coal industry was quite as unsettled as it is now, the union and the big operators evolved a working plan to stabilize conditions and equalize opportunity. This was the conference in the Central Competitive Field, whereby a wage scale was arrived at for this region, and scales in all other union districts were computed by using this scale as a basis and making allowances for different operating conditions, freight rates, and so forth. This was in order to give all districts an equal chance at the market. Coal is probably the most fluid commodity sold: coal from one section competes with coal from another section remote from the first. It is not analogous to a trade-marked article, for which an arbitrary price can be obtained by advertising campaigns and kindred methods. No amount of advertising can make coal of a given grade from one section outsell the same grade from another section at a higher price. This peculiarity of the coal market was the reason for the basic wage-scale arrangement which gave all districts as nearly equal chances as possible, and precluded the possibility that a miscalculated rate might put whole mining fields out of business altogether.

The plan worked fairly well for a time. Within a few years, however, it was discovered that large new areas of coal lands had been developed, and that most of these were being worked with nonunion labor. They had been left out of the original calculation, largely because the existence of such large virgin fields was not known until after the opening of the present century. Some of them were in Pennsylvania, but most, and by far the largest, were in southern West Virginia. Employing nonunion labor, they worked at a lower wage-scale than the union areas, and had become a formidable factor in the industry, for they were underselling union coal constantly. In the years just preceding the war, their effect on the market-and particularly the greater number of days their labor worked during the year-had become definitely noticeable. During the war, there was demand for everybody’s coal, and there was no pinch then. The pinch came, however, in the year following the peace.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battling Miners of West Virginia” by Edward H. Kintzer, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Red Flag of Socialism, ISR p303, Oct 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 3, 1912
“The Battling Miners of West Virginia” by Edward H. Kintzer, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of October 1912:

The Battling Miners of West Virginia

By EDWARD H. KINTZER
Socialist Candidate for State Auditor of West Virginia.

[Part II of II]

WV Miners State Courthouse, ISR p295, Oct 1912

———-

Send the Politicians Here.

In this situation the pure and simple politicians could learn a lesson in tactics. It is one of the unusual conditions in America’s industrial wars, in which are engaged men who understand the importance of political action, but who feel how hopelessly lost they would be to depend solely upon this in the present crisis. Many of these strikers are members of the Socialist party. To suggest to them that sabotage or other than political acts or taking a timely vacation from work would exclude them from the sacred circle where politics is crowned king, would cause them to question your sanity.

Nor are the miners alone in this fight. There is a bond of sympathy between workers in the region that is worthy of note. It is an example of the class consciousness that is permeating industry all over the world.

WV Mine Guards v Miners, ISR p301, Oct 1912

The railroaders who haul the mine guards understand that they (the mine guards) are not spying upon them; that it is the miners who are being hounded, but their hatred for the guards has precipitated several fatalities.

Dead bodies of two guards were found under a structural steel bridge, apparently having fallen while walking the ties. Yet it is the boast of train crews that they loathe these human bloodhounds. Numerous such circumstances have come to light.

The favorite position of the guards while traveling the coal region is to perch themselves on the pilot of the engine. On one occasion three guards boarded the pilot. The engineer of the freight train was particularly hostile to them. He opened wide the throttle and went at a speed that none of his crew knew the train to make before. But they understood. Anything that could happen was welcome. Sharp curves had no terrors for the engineer. What this mad race meant might only be guessed at. Whether or not what happened was by design or accident, all the miners and most of the railroaders considered it more than just. Rounding a curve, with the complacency of the guards taxed to the utmost, the strain upon the crew being unusual, a cow attempted to cross the track. The guards say there was plenty of time to slow down and allow her to cross. The engineer declared that it was impossible unless he unbuckled his train. Result: Before the bovine could wink her tranquil eye she was unrecognizable, with quantities of her blood, hair and what-not covering the three guardsmen, who were otherwise unharmed. A hasty bath in a nearby creek restored the appearance of the guards, and with knowing winks among the crew, the train moved on.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battling Miners of West Virginia” by Edward H. Kintzer, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: John P. White, President of U. M. W of A., Will Not Participate in Glasscock’s Sham Conference

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Howling Anarchy, Cton WV, Sept 6, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 30, 1912
Charleston, West Virginia – President White Issues Statement

From The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, N. C.) of September 24, 1912:

MEETING TO PLAN PACIFIC OUTCOME
MET WITH REBUFF
———-
Mine-Workers’ Organization Officials
Refused to Participate In It
———-

CONFERENCE IS POSTPONED
———-
Excitement Attended Gathering to Settle
Mine Labor Dispute in West Virginia
———-

STATEMENT TO GOVERNOR

(By the Associated Press.)

John P White, Lake Co Tx IN p1, Sept 26, 1912
Lake County Times
Hammond, Indiana
September 26, 1912

Charleston, W. Va., Sept 21.-Excitement attended the meeting here today of representatives of the commercial and civic bodies of West Virginia, called by Gov. Glasscock, to consider the labor situation.

International President John P. White, of the United Mine-workers of America, with Vice-President Hayes, announced early in the day that they would have nothing to do with the conference because they had learned that it was not the purpose of those in charge of the meeting to permit a discussion of the strike situation in the Kanawha coal field, where 2,200 West Virginia militiamen are maintaining martial law.

Why It Was Twice Postponed.

The meeting was postponed in an effort to bring the leaders of the miners and the operators together, and later in the day it was postponed again, but when it finally convened there was nothing to indicate that an agreement had been reached by which a discussion of existing labor difficulties might be taken up.

President White’s Statement.

President White prepared a statement for presentation to the governor in which he said:

We were led to believe that the conference called by the governor was for the purpose of discussing the present strike, and to find some method by which it might be amicably adjusted, but in a preliminary conference in the governor’s office which brought to our attention by the parties who appealed to the governor to call the conference, that its purpose was solely for the discussion of an industrial dispute act to be submitted to the next legislature and it was not contemplated in any way to enter into a discussion of the real problem of the problem of the present hour, an honorable solution of the difference existing at this time between miners and operators. We are much disappointed that this conference does not contemplate such discussion and in view of this fact we have nothing to discuss at this time.

John P White, Lbr Wld p1, Sept 28, 1912

Hayes Addresses Strikers.

This statement did not change the situation so far as White was concerned and while efforts were being made to outline a course of action for the conference, Vice-President Hayes addressed a large number of striking miners and their sympathizers and Mother Jones talked to another audience almost with the shadow of the state capitol.

Belated Conference Short One.

When the governor called the conference to order late in the afternoon the house of delegates in the capitol building was crowded. The governor stated that the conference would consider the question of a minimum wage, high cost of living and settlement of future labor troubles by arbitration but the miners strike on Paint and Cabin Creeks would not be discussed.

Adjourned in Confusion.

C. Burgess Taylor of Wheeling, was introduced as chairman and the question of who had a right to sit in the meeting arose, it having been given out that only West Virginians could take part. A statement presented by coal operators of the State that their “presence in this conference is not to be taken as recognition of the United Mine Workers of America,” finally created such confusion that a motion to adjourn was put and carried.

(Newsclips clips and emphasis added.

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Hellraisers Journal: Duluth Labor World Covers Pennsylvania Anthracite Strike, Calls for Donations to Miners’ Aid Fund

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, UMWC, Indianapolis, July 19, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 29, 1902
Pennsylvania Anthracite Strikers Will Win with Support from Union Labor

From the Duluth Labor World of September 6, 1902:

Great Anthracite Strike, Mine Strike Won, LW p1, Sept 6, 1912

From the Duluth Labor World of September 13, 1902:

Great Anthracite Strike, Give to Miners, LW p1, Sept 13, 1912

From the Duluth Labor World of September 20, 1902:

Great Anthracite Strike, Mitchell Says Miners Will Win, LW p1, Sept 20, 1912

From the Duluth Labor World of September 27, 1902:

Great Anthracite Strike, Fund for Miners Not Doing Well, LW p1, Sept 27, 1912

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Duluth Labor World Covers Pennsylvania Anthracite Strike, Calls for Donations to Miners’ Aid Fund” →

Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “The Anthracite Strike” by William Mailly, Part II-Socialists Aid the Miners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Capitalists should surrender gracefully, AtR p2, Sept 14, 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 28, 1902
“The Anthracite Coal Strike” by Comrade William Mailly, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of August 1902:

The Anthracite Coal Strike.

[-by William Mailly]
———-

[Part II of II]

William Mailly, Sc Sp p2, July 1902
Socialist Spirit, July 1902
Comrade Mailly, now in field of
great anthracite coal strike.

This somewhat lengthy and yet incomplete explanation of the strike situation has been necessary in order that outsiders can understand why the Socialist agitators received such a warm welcome in the strike region. We came with a new message to the strikers and they heard us gladly. Thrown into the position of fighting simply to save the union that had protected them for two years, harassed and antagonized by the business men whom they had formerly believed their friends, deserted and deceived by the politicians who had always proclaimed themselves their champions, misrepresented and discouraged by the papers they had always supported, they were ready to listen to those who came and spoke the truth. In my experience I have never seen men who listened so eagerly and with such unfeigned enthusiasm to the Socialist presentation of the situation as did these strikers.

But the way had been prepared for us. “Mother” Jones had not been through the region for nothing. Everywhere she had left a trail of Socialist books and papers behind her. Few of the officials but had subscribed for a paper, and many of the miners received one she had subscribed for for them. And “Mother” Jones’ name is a talisman that opens the hearts of the anthracite miners to any Socialist that comes to educate and not abuse.

Then National Secretary Greenbaum’s “strike bulletins,” following upon his messages of friendship to the miners’ conventions, had also familiarized the name of the Socialist Party. These bulletins were much appreciated and made a good impression.

It did not take long, therefore, for the Socialist agitators to secure a hearing. Nothing could more emphasize the different effect produced by the Socialist Labor Party [SLP] tactics and those of the Socialist Party [of America, SPA] than the treatment accorded our representatives. Wherever I went in the region I heard stories of how the S. L. P. agitators had made themselves obnoxious by their attacks upon the union and their efforts to disorganize the men. It sometimes became necessary to explain the difference in the parties to enquirers who classed all Socialists as “union wreckers.”

I think the members of the Socialist Party are justified in believing that the presence of their representatives in the field was beneficial to the strike and the miners’ union. We preached the necessity of Solidarity and explained the industrial situation so that the miners could not help but become imbued with an increased faith in themselves. They were not slow to acknowledge this, and to show their approval of what we said. It became a very easy matter to get up a meeting for a Socialist speaker and, in some cases, men were known to walk several miles to hear us. The Socialists presented the case with a force and clearness that went home and made, I am sure, a lasting impression, especially as the situation provided all the necessary features for Socialist arguments of unlimited length.

There was no antagonism to the Socialists exhibited by any of the officials. On the contrary, there was an evident desire to allow us to be heard, and local officials gave us much assistance. Personally I received a letter from President Mitchell introducing me to the locals, which, as representative of the “Worker,” was of great help to me. I did not have to use the letter to get up meetings. Just as soon as it was learned I was a Socialist and “all right,” meetings were arranged for me. There was no danger of not having anything to do.

Wherever Vail, Spargo, Geiger and Collins had spoken, the same encomiums of their work were heard. We had a clear field, for none of the capitalist party politicians were in sight, and the miners were in the mood for the truth. Collins couldn’t begin to organize locals fast enough, and he’ll probably never do harder or better work again. Fortunately, we had comrades at Carbondale and Wilkesbarre, who took advantage of every opportunity presented.

Two things are to be regretted. First, that more agitators could not be kept in the field, and second, that more literature and better facilities for handling it could not be provided. I was never more impressed with the necessity of a well-formed, efficiently conducted Socialist organization. The national and State officials of the party did their utmost, but their hands were tied for lack of funds. I am of the opinion that half a dozen good Socialist agitators, speaking different languages, following each other through the region, would do more toward winning the strike than all the money the Socialist Party can give to a strike relief fund. The demand for literature cannot begin to be filled. The miners are reading and discussing what they read as never before. Such an opportunity to reach a large number of workingmen so receptive and hungry for knowledge will seldom be presented again. As it is, we can feel that not only have we done our utmost to propagate Socialism, but we have also inculcated into the hearts and minds of thousands of workingmen the true spirit of the class struggle and some conception of the prevailing industrial phenomena.

A final word about the strike itself. That the conditions around the mines justify organization goes without saying. Nevertheless, I believe these conditions might have been endured a while longer if tyranny had not been exercised to such an extent. To be continually insulted and reviled when seeking redress, to be cursed by the boss and subjected to his open contempt, to be ignored by the employer when seeking recognition—this was more than the miners could stand forever. The union has offered them the only medium of expression for their grievances, the only form of protection from the domineering of under bosses and the larger tyranny of the operators they have ever had. The strike is the harvest of years of arbitrary and selfish corporate misrule.

Whatever the outcome may be, the fact that the fight is one to preserve the right to organize should be of encouragement to all Socialists. There is one thing also of which I am morally certain: that, even if the strike be lost, the union will not wholly be destroyed. It has the elements of permanency in it, for men like those to be found in the anthracite region are not conquered by one defeat. The union is there to stay, no matter how this strike may result or who the officers may be. The seed of Solidarity is too deeply planted to be uprooted and destroyed so easily as the mine owners wish. And if the Socialists have only succeeded in planting that seed a little deeper, this alone should recompense us for any money or energy expended during the strike.

William Mailly.

Boston, Mass., July 23, 1902.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Anthracite Strike” by William Mailly, Part I-Right to Organize

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Quote Mother Jones, Capitalists should surrender gracefully, AtR p2, Sept 14, 1901—————-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 27, 1902
“The Anthracite Coal Strike” by Comrade William Mailly, Part I

From the International Socialist Review of August 1902:

The Anthracite Coal Strike.

[-by William Mailly]
———-

[Part I of II]

Great Anthracite Strike, Mitchell Statement, Scranton Tb p1, Sept 26, 1902
Scranton Tribune
September 26, 1902

There is only one issue in the present struggle between the anthracite coal miners and the mine and railroad owners. That issue is the right to organize. There were other issues when the strike began—wages, hours, dockage, weighing, etc., but they have all been subordinated to this one. The coal trust wants to get rid of the union; the miners want to preserve it. No other question will be settled, or will even be considered, until this one is disposed of: The right of the miners to organize—that is, the issue. The mine owners refuse to arbitrate because that will mean recognizing the union. This they will not do, unless forced to it. The miners, having exhausted every other means, say they will compel recognition.

In order to fully understand how much the preservation or the destruction of the miners’ union means to both sides, one has to be right on the ground and hear direct testimony. For twelve years, following upon the failure of the Hazleton and Panther Creek Valley strike in 1887, there were practically no unions in the anthracite region. Strikes broke out spasmodically, but were soon crushed. Lattimer became famous through one of these in 1897. The operators had everything their own way, and that way was simply one of extortion and oppression. There are no gentler names for it—and these are too mild. The miners were discouraged, cowed and spiritless. Those among them who tried, secretly or openly, to organize were “spotted” and blacklisted out of the region. I met several such men, who had returned after the strike of 1900. During this time the mine owners were organizing. Untrammeled by any resistance from their employes, they had free scope to fight one another in the market. Inevitably combination resulted. Small owners were wiped out or absorbed, until now the coal trust controls the anthracite output, the transportation facilities and dictates prices to the consumer. There are individual operators, but they are dependent, more or less, upon the trust, and their position makes them even harder task masters than the trust companies.

In 1899 the Vanticoke [Nanticoke] miners succeeded in organizing, and in winning a strike which lasted five months. Wages were increased, docking regulated, hours reduced and several minor grievances adjusted. This victory awoke the miners of the whole region. A clamor for organization arose from various quarters. President Mitchell answered the cry by sending “Mother” Jones and other organizers into the field. They worked all winter. Every corner of the region was invaded. The capitalists fought them tooth and nail. At some places the miners themselves, goaded on by their bosses, mobbed and jeered the agitators. There are exciting stories told of those time, but this is not the place to tell them.

Out of those feverish days and nights of dangerous and difficult work came the strike of 1900. Not all the miners responded immediately to the call. Persuasion was required to get some, exhibition of numbers to get others. After six stormy weeks the strike was settled. It was won, whether politics had anything to do with it or not. True, the union was not directly recognized, but it was established. And that was the main point.

From that time, organization spread and strengthened. Every mine in the region has its local and the districts are well organized. Last year, when the mine owners refused to consider the miners’ demands, a strike was avoided through the advice of President Mitchell. He counseled peace, told the men they were not ready to strike, the organization was not compact enough and that they lacked resources. They should accept the situation and prepare for decisive action later. The advice was taken. The men continued to organize and they did prepare. And the present strike is the result.

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