Tag: William B Wilson

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for November 1901, Part I: Found in Huntington, West Virginia, at State Miners’ Convention

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones WV Miners Conditions, ISR p179 , Sept 1901———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 9, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1901, Part I
Found at State Miners’ Convention in Huntington, West Virginia

From The Indianapolis Journal of November 1, 1901:

“MOTHER” JONES FOR WAR.
—————
Urges Miners to Resort to Arms if Necessary to Win.

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

HUNTINGTON, W. Va., Oct. 31.-Twenty-five of the officials and organizers of the United Mine Workers of America attended the first day’s session of the State miners,’ convention here to-day. The presence of John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, Vice President Lewis, Secretary-treasurer Wilson and others of prominence made the meeting one of more than ordinary importance. The convention consists of more than 150 union miners from Virginia and West Virginia. A permanent organization was effected during the forenoon session and the usual committees were appointed.

The afternoon was spent in hearing the reports from the various delegates as to the condition of the order in their respective territories. There were no transactions of importance, and the day ended with a mass meeting to-night which was addressed by Vice President T. L. Lewis, of the national organization. “Mother” Jones and Organizer and Secretary-treasurer W. B. Wilson, “Mother” Jones advised the miners to go home and resort to arms, if necessary, to accomplish their purpose.

———————-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1901, Part II: Found Speaking in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; Returns to West Virginia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones WV Miners Conditions, ISR p179 , Sept 1901———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 13, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1901, Part II
Found in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia

From the New York Evening World of October 28, 1901:

“MOTHER” JONES TO SPEAK TO THRONGS
———————-

GREAT TURNOUT EXPECTED IN PATERSON TO-NIGHT.
——-
Unionists of All Trades Are Invited to Hear
the Famous Labor Agitator.
——-

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

A great gathering of silk weavers and other factory workers is expected to-night at Apollo Hall in Paterson, where “Mother” Jones, the famous Pennsylvania labor agitator, will deliver an address on the advantages of unionism.

Although she comes here at the special invitation of the silk workers, the members of all other trades are invited to attend the meeting, and a great turnout of factory hands is looked for.

Daniel Teevan, the labor leader, has returned to Paterson, after having accompanied “Mother” Jones in her tour through the upper part of New Jersey.

He reports she was well received every where, and at Phillipsburg, Summit and Sterling she addressed large and enthusiastic meetings.

After leaving Paterson “Mother” Jones will go to Hazleton, where she will speak on Tuesday.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1901, Part I: Found Returning to Scranton and Hazleton from St. Louis, Missouri

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Contented Slave, St Louis Pst Dsp p3, June 17, 1901—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 9, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1901, Part I
Found at Scranton and Hazleton, Pennsylvania

FromThe Scranton Times of July 1, 1901:

“MOTHER” JONES IN TOWN.
—-

Mother Jones, Drawing, SDH p4, Mar 9, 1901

Mother Mary Jones, one of the national organizers of the United Mine Workers of America, is again in the city. She arrived this morning from St. Louis. She intends to remain here only a few days.

This is the first visit of “Mother” Jones to this city since the settlement of the silk mill strike, which was brought about through her untiring efforts. She appears to be in the very best of health. 

—————

[Photograph added.]

From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of July 3, 1901:

Celebration at Nuremburg.

One of the biggest Fourth of July celebrations in the region will be held at Nuremburg, where the United Mine Workers, who are at the head of the affair, have left nothing undone to make it an occasion long to be remembered by the citizens of the town. National Secretary Wilson, of the United Mine Workers, and “Mother” Jones, the lady organizer who is known to every miner in the anthracite coal fields, will be the speakers. Large delegations of Mine Workers from this city and the surrounding towns will attend.

“Mother” Jones in Town. 

“Mother” Jones, who will be among the speakers at the Nuremburg demonstration tomorrow arrived in town today. 

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for January 1901, Part III: Found in Indianapolis Speaking on Evils of Child Labor in Pennsylvania

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re School for Little Breaker Boys, Ipl Ns p3, Jan 29, 1901———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 13, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1901, Part III
Found Speaking in Indianapolis on Evils of Child Labor in Pennsylvania

From the Indianapolis Sunday Journal of January 27, 1901:

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail Crpd, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900

“Mother” Jones and Mr. Debs.

Eugene V. Debs and “Mother” Jones will deliver public addresses in the Criminal Court room to-morrow night. Mrs. Jones will speak especially to the women, and particularly to women who belong to labor or trades organizations. To-morrow afternoon Mr. Debs will speak to the miners at their convention.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From The Indianapolis Journal of January 29, 1901:

OFFICERS’ REPORT 
[-from Miners’ Convention]

In the afternoon many resolutions, principally of importance to the miners only, were passed then the committee on officers’ reports was heard. After some discussion the report was adopted by sections. Of important bearing was the adoption of President Mitchell’s recommendation to organize a woman’s auxiliary union. The convention adopted the recommendation and gave the power of appointing an organizer to President Mitchell. It is understood that “Mother” Jones will be appointed organizer…..

———-

DOWN IN THE COAL MINES.
———–
“Mother” Jones Graphically Describes
Child Labor In Pennsylvania.

“Mother” Jones addressed a meeting of mine workers and their friends in the Criminal Court room last evening on the subject of “Employment of Child Labor in the Mines.” Although her address was primarily intended to be in the interest of the miners, she made a general plea for all branches of labor. Quite a number of working girls were present and the eloquent appeals made in their behalf met with hearty applause from them. The speaker described the condition which prevails among the breaker boys of the mines of Pennsylvania, where boys of eleven years work thirteen hours a day for a wage scale of 1 cent an hour.

The miners and their families, she declared, are the helpless slaves of the great combinations of capital and the operators who own and control the mines. In those regions when a child is born, the day is eagerly looked forward to when he will be old enough to do a day’s work, and when that day arrives he is taken by his father to the operator of the mine, to whom his services are offered for a pittance. Some of the worst details of the present system were gone into and the need of organization among all the miners of the country was strongly urged.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for January 1901, Part II: Found Speaking at Convention of United Mine Workers of America

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Love Each Other, UMWC Ipl IN, Jan 25, 1901———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 12, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1901, Part II
Found Speaking in Indianapolis at Mine Workers’ Convention

From The Indianapolis Journal of January 26, 1901:

“Mother” Jones Heard

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900At the opening of the afternoon session [January 25th, United Mine Workers Convention], Henry J. Skifington [Skeffington], of the Boot and Shoe Makers’ Union, addressed the convention and urged the delegates to buy none but union made shoes. Following his address, “Mother” Jones spoke. The work of Mrs. Jones among the miners is known to every miner in the country and her appearance was the signal for loud and prolonged applause. She addressed the delegates as “fellow-toilers.” She said the miners had wisely chosen the month of January for holding their convention, as it is the intermediate month between the closing of the year and the opening of spring. It was appropriate, she said, to use this opportunity to look behind and to the front.

The review of experiences of the past should be applied to preparations for the future, and the work of the miners should not be entirely for the present, but foundation should be laid for coming generations. Her pointed and witty expressions caused many outbursts of laughter and her ability to appeal to the deeper feelings was equally as effective with the delegates. When “Mother” Jones wished to say something she said it and spared none, but even members of the organization to whom she said: “if the shoe fits you must wear it.” Mrs. Jones is a Socialist and an ardent admirer of Eugene V. Debs, and she could not refrain from paying a tribute to both.

PATRICK DOLAN’S REMARKS.

At the close of her speech Patrick Dolan, of Pennsylvania, sought the floor to take objections to what Mrs. Jones had said about Debs. He said while he had the highest respect for “Mother” Jones, he did not think Debs was the only man who ever did anything for labor. So slow was he in making his point that many delegates arose to a point of order and tried to have him seated, but President Mitchell was lenient and gave him further time to express himself. The convention became noisy in an attempt to force him to his seat, but it was some time before it could be accomplished……

By vote an invitation was extended to Eugene V. Debs to address the miners while in session here, and it was later announced he will speak Monday afternoon.

———-

[Photograph, emphasis and paragraph break added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at Convention of United Mine Workers: “You have traveled over stormy paths.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Stormy Paths, UMWC Ipl IN, Jan 25, 1901 ———–

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 28, 1901
Indianapolis, Indiana – Mother Jones Speaks to Miners, Part I

January 25, 1901-Convention of United Mine Workers of America:

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900

President Mitchell: Ladies and gentlemen: There are few persons in the Industrial movement who have impressed themselves upon the toilers as has the one who will address you this afternoon. During the long years of struggle in which the miners engaged they have had no more staunch supporter, no more able defender than the one we all love to call Mother. I don’t believe there is a Mine Worker from one end of the country to the other who does not know her name. It gives me great pleasure to pre- sent to you this afternoon Mother Jones.

Mrs. Mary Jones: Fellow toilers, it seems strange that you should have selected the month of January for your conventions. It has a lesson by which you may well profit, and no craft needs more to profit by that lesson than the miners. The month of January represents two seasons, a part of the dead winter and a part of the beautiful coming spring. I realize as well as you do that you have traveled over stormy paths, that you have rubbed up against the conflict of the age, but I am here to say that you have come out victorious, and in the future you will stand as the grand banner organization. My brothers, we are entering on a new age. We are confronted by conditions such as the world perhaps has never met before in her history.

We have in the last century solved one great problem that has confronted the ages in the mighty past. It had ever been the riddle of the people of the world. The problem of production has been solved for the human race; the problem of this country will lie with the workers to solve, that great and mighty and important problem, the problem of possession. You have in your wisdom, in your quiet way, with a little uprising here and a little uprising there solved the problem of the age. You have done your work magnificently and well; but we have before us yet the grandest and greatest work of civilization.

We have before us the emancipation of the children of this nation. In the days gone by we found the parents filled with love and affection. As the mother looked upon her new-born boy, as she pressed him to her bosom, she thought, “Some day, he will be the man of this nation; some day I shall sacrifice myself for the education, the developing of his brain, the bringing out of his grander, nobler qualities. But, oh, my brothers, that is past, that has been killed! Today, my friends, we look into the eyes of the child of the Proletariat as it enters into the conflict of this life, and we see the eyes of the poor, helpless little creature appealing to those who have inhabited the world before it. Now when the father comes home the first question he asks is “Mary, is it a boy or a girl?” When she answers, “It is a boy, John,” he says, “Well, thank God! he will soon be able to go to the breakers and help earn a living with me.” If it is a girl there is no loving kiss, no caress for her for she cannot be put to the breakers to satisfy capitalistic greed.

But my friends, the capitalistic class has met you face to face today to take the girls as well as the boys out of the cradle. Wherever you are in mighty numbers they have brought their factories to take your daughters and slaughter them on the altar of capitalistic greed. They have built their mines and breakers to take your boys out of the cradle; they have built their factories to take your girls; they have built on the bleeding, quivering hearts of yourselves and your children their palaces. They have built their magnificent yachts and palaces; they have brought the sea from mid-ocean up to their homes where they can take their baths—and they don’t give you a chance to go to the muddy Missouri and take a bath in it.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for October 1900, Part II: Found Leading Army of Women; Lattimer Now Close Down Tight

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Lattimer Raid Oct 6, 1900, Ab p87, 1925———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 20, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part II
Mother Jones with Army of Women Shuts Down Lattimer

From The Scranton Times of October 6, 1900:

Lattimer Closed Mother Jones PA Anthracite Strike, Scranton Tx p1, Oct 6, 1900Lattimer Shf Mother Jones PA Anthracite Strike, Scranton Tx p1, Oct 6, 1900Hazleton, Pa.. Oct. 6. The striking miners here made a raid on the Lattimer colliery this morning and executed a unique coup. Sheriff Harvey, with a number of deputies and coal and iron police, were on hand to protect the miners who have remained at work at the colliery.

The company also made thorough preparations for offensive and defensive warfare against the raiders. They were determined to keep their miners at work, but they failed to count on the cunning of “Mother” Jones, who was operating with the raiders.
 
She, with a small band of strikers, entered the company store and persuaded the workmen to follow her out into the road.
 
She kept the men there talking to them, and the sheriff and his deputies directed all their attention to the woman. In the meantime other strikers made a detour of the mine property and talked with the men they found at work. As a result all of these men laid down their tools and left for home, and the mine is now closed tight…..
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Hellraisers Journal: United Mine Workers President John Mitchell Declares Victory in Great Anthracite Coal Strike

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, If war Shamokin Sep 8, Phl Iq p2, Sept 9, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 27, 1900
Hazleton, Pennsylvania – Mitchell Declares Victory in Great Coal Strike

From the Philadelphia Times of October 26, 1900:

PA Miners Strike, Victory Mt Message, Phl Tx p1, Oct 26, 1900

Special Telegram to THE TIMES.

HAZLETON, October 25.

The great coal strike is a thing of the past.

President Mitchell, at 8 o’clock this evening, issued a statement calling the miners to return to work at all operations where the strikers’ demands have been met. The statement follows:

Temporary Headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America, Hazleton, Pa., October 25, 1900.

To the Miners and Mine Workers of the Anthracite Region.

Gentlemen: After carefully canvassing the entire strike situation, we, your officers, district and national, have concluded that your victory is so nearly complete that no good end can be served by continuing the strike longer. The contest has been in progress for thirty-nine days and the companies employing you have, with few exceptions, signified their willingness to pay the scale of wages formulated by the Scranton convention of October 12 and 13.

We are aware that some disappointment and dissatisfaction has been caused by the failure of the operators in Districts No. 1 and 7 to separate the reduction in the price of powder from the advance in wages; but after careful inquiry we are satisfied that each mine employe will actually receive an advance of ten per cent. on the wages formerly paid. In the Schuylkill and Lehigh regions the largest companies have agreed that the sliding scale should be suspended; and that wages should remain stationary at ten per cent. until April 1, 1901, thus removing one of the iniquities of which you have complained for many years.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1900, Part I: Found in Pennsylvania Working with Mine Workers’ Union

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, If war Shamokin Sep 8, Phl Iq p2, Sept 9, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 12, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1900, Part I
Found Working with Pennsylvania Miners Ready to Strike

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of September 5, 1900:

Mother Jones n Father Phillips w Miners in PA, Phl Iq p4, Sept 5, 1900

A WOMAN’S WILL SWAYS THOUSANDS
——-
“Mother” Mary Jones, of Chicago, Now Working
Hand in Hand With Mine Workers’ Union,
at Wilkes-Barre
——-

Mother Jones Speaks to Miners in PA, Phl Iq p4, Sept 5, 1900

Special to The Inquirer.

WILKES-BARRE, Sept. 4.-The United Mine Workers’ Union here seems to be dominated by “Mother” Mary Jones, of Chicago, and she has full sway in dictating the policy of the union in the labor situation here.

She has not only every member of the United Mine Workers’ Union ready to strike, but her eloquent presentation of the wrongs suffered at the hands of the operator has made many new members, while an equal number are ready to follow the union men out without formally joining the organization.

Mrs. Jones has been working among the soft coal miners of the Meyersdale (Md.) and Central Pennsylvania districts since helping those in Tioga county to win their strike last winter.

Fifty-six years of age, she is bright and active. Her white hair commands respect, while her cheery face and manner hearten up the most morose assemblage.

[She said:]

The condition of the miner is most deplorable. He is the butt of a system of robbery. Of course, there are some good operators-men who would correct the grievances if they dared, but who are governed by others. In New Zealand the operators urge the men to organize, but in this country they shoot them down or get out an injunction and throw them into jail.

In this crisis if the operators don’t make concessions I believe that a strike is inevitable. The law says 2240 pounds make a ton. The operator expects 3300 from the miner. The miners are publicly robbed.

The company doctor is an imposition and ought to be driven out. The company store should not be tolerated. I don’t believe the men want to strike, but if it is their only alternative, I say strike.

I do not approve of strikes, but at times they are necessary and if the operators do not grant the just and equitable demands of the men there is but one thing for them to do-strike, and continue to strike until they gain fair treatment.

—————

[Drawing detail added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks in Locust Gap, Pennsylvania, as Miners Prepare for Great Anthracite Strike

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, If war Shamokin Sep 8, Phl Iq p2, Sept 9, 1900———–

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 19, 1900
Locust Gap, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Speaks to Determined Miners

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of September 14, 1900:

MINERS WAITING AND HOPING
——-
In the Shamokin Region They Do Not Want to Strike
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Mother Jones Speaks to Miners in PA, Phl Iq p4, Sept 5, 1900

From a Staff Correspondent.

SHAMOKIN, Pa., Sept. 13.-“We are waiting now-waiting and hoping that the mine operators will change their minds and hold a conference with the mine workers.”

If John Fahy, president of the Ninth district of the United Mine Workers, had spent hours in thinking it over he could not have put into more epigrammatic form the sentiment of his fellow-officials and the men they represent. The hardest fighter is ever the man who is pushed into a corner and forced to fight against his will. He will fight to a finish. He will fight so long as he can stand. That is the condition of affairs in the anthracite coal region to-day. The men do not want to strike, and no one is more anxious to avoid a strike than President John Mitchell. But the silent determination written in large letters upon the faces of the men as they answer the query: “Will you go out on Monday if no settlement is arrived at?” tells the truth more plainly than any words…..

This evening Mother Jones was one of the speakers at a mass meeting at Locust Gap, about seven miles from here, where it is said the men are not so well organized as in other sections…..

T. L. R.

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