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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 12, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1901, Part I
Grants Interview in Cleveland, Speaks at Labor Day Celebration
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer of September 2, 1901:
“Mother” Mary Jones, who has been associated with the miners and silk workers in their strike, arrived in Cleveland on the Big Four yesterday afternoon [September 1st]. She is registered at the Forest City house. Mrs. Jones was met at the train by a committee of four and conducted to her apartments at the hotel. The committee consisted of two members of the Central Labor union and two of the Woman’s Labor union.
An address will be given by Mrs. Jones this afternoon at Scenic park to the members of the Central Labor union. The theme of her lecture will be “The Necessity for Organization in the Field of Labor.” A reception will be given her after the address.
Mrs. Jone came to Cleveland from the New river district in West Virginia, where she has been working among the miners for the past two months. In the evening she will leave for Carbondale, Pa., where she will give a lecture. From there she will return to West Virginia.
“Come right in!” called Mrs. Jones in a hearty, motherly voice, in response to a rap at the door, “I like to talk to newspaper men. They belong to the workers.”
What do I think of the present steel strike? I believe all strikes are good. They are bringing us nearer the goal we are striving for, that is, equalization of wealth.
I don’t believe that the Amalgamated association struck merely to show its power. The men had real grievances. If they weren’t dissatisfied they wouldn’t have quit work. Perhaps they won’t win, but whether they do or not a great deal will be accomplished.
[She continued:]
We are a nation of strikers. We inherited the disease from our revolutionary fathers, and have been striking ever since. We will continue to strike and strike until the laboring men are emancipated.
I don’t know when that time will be, but it won’t be as long as most people think. Something will have to change before long or we will have another French revolution. The poor people who are oppressed will not stand being trodden upon too long. “The worm will turn.”
In the West Virginia mines there are boys six years old who work ten hours a day, and this is in order that a few may live without work.
[She exclaimed, her eyes flashing:]
It’s a shame and an outrage. We call ourselves Christianized and civilized, and such things in our midst. It’s a mockery.
The whole system of labor is wrong and must be changed. I hope at the ballot box, but-well-it must be changed.
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