Month: January 2018

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at United Mine Workers Convention, Indianapolis, Indiana, January 17, 1918

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Mother Jones, Praying Swearing, UMWC, Jan 17, 1918

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday January 21, 1918
Indianapolis, Indiana – Mother Jones Speaks at U. M. W. Convention

The following is a transcript of the speech delivered by Mother Jones Thursday Afternoon, January 17th, to the Twenty-Sixth Convention of the United Mine Workers of America:

President Hayes:

I feel that the convention is very anxious to hear the distinguished visitor who has just come on the platform. She is a pioneer in our movement, a woman who has been with us for many years and has helped in all the great strikes that have occurred for years past. She needs no introduction to this convention of the United Mine Workers of America. I am now going to present the grandmother of the movement, a young lady of eighty-seven, Mother Jones.

ADDRESS OF MOTHER JONES.

I want to say, boys, that I am glad I have lived to see this gathering of the miners in this country in this hall today. Years ago no one ever dreamt that this great mass of producers would meet in the capital of a great state. I am not going to throw any bouquets at you—I am not driven to that at all. I did not expect to speak in this convention. I came here more to look it over until the officers of West Virginia came back. For the first time in the history of West Virginia we have good officers; that is, we have honest, clean, sober men. They don’t make any crooked deals with the high class burglars—and if I catch one of them doing it I will see that he is hung so he will not make another.

I want to call your attention, as I have often done, to a few illustrations of what is taking place the world over today. History tells us that away back in the days of the Roman Empire they were gathering in the blood of men who produced the wealth, just as they have been doing up to this time. Back in that time the Roman lords said, “Let us go down to Carthage and stop the agitation there.” They went down and all they arrested at that time they sold into slavery or held them. They do pretty much the same today, for the courts put you in jail, which is worse than any slavery.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at United Mine Workers Convention, Indianapolis, Indiana, January 17, 1918” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to United Mine Workers Convention: “We Must Lick the Kaiser.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

You’ve been using your hands,
now I want you to use your heads.
We’ve got to do it,
because we must lick the Kaiser.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday January 20, 1918
Indianapolis, Indiana – Miners Greet Mother Jones with “Lusty Yell”

From The Scranton Republican of January 18, 1918:

MINERS HEAR MOTHER JONES
—–
Tells Delegates to Use Their Heads,
“Because We Must Lick the Kaiser.”
——

Mother Jones, Ft Wy Jr Gz p3, Dec 17, 1917

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Jan. 17.-To permit federal investigations to have complete powers to interpret contracts existing between mine workers and operators, to investigate causes for layoffs and other mine troubles, who in all probability would possess no knowledge of the coal industry, would be a serious blunder and only complicate mine labor troubles, according to the viewpoints expressed in the mine workers’ convention today.

The proposal was contained in a resolution which sought to provide means to refute accusations by operators that the mine workers were deliberate slackers, and as a result coal production was reduced.

The resolution brought the first real fight of the convention. A remedy was suggested in the creation of a federal commission composed of an equal number of employers and employes, whose duty it would be to investigate charges made by employer and employes as to each others failure to observe contract conditions.

Might Invite Conscription.

White, Hayes, Greene, Walker and the committeemen, before whom the resolution was considered declared that such a step would possibly invite the conscription of labor. White and Hayes, denied that the charges made by few operators occasionally was given credence at Washington and assured the authors that the government knew of the truth or falsity of the reports charging miners in various localities with slacking.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to United Mine Workers Convention: “We Must Lick the Kaiser.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: “Suffer Little Children” Does Not Mean to Crush Their Souls & Grind Their Bodies into Profits

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

But the young, young children, O, my brothers,
They are weeping bitterly.
They are weeping in the playtime of others.
In the country of the free.
-Anon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday January 19, 1898
In United States of America: Grinding Up Children for Profit

From the Appeal to Reason of January 15, 1898:

Suffer Little Children, AtR, Jan 15, 1898Hear the Children Weeping, AtR, Jan 15, 1898

IN addition to the above it might also be stated that improved labor-saving machinery is rapidly, and at an increasing ratio, forcing children into the shops and factories, displacing the women who had previously displaced the men. In New England textile papers you will see advertisement after advertisement for help: “Spinners wanted; only those with large families, whose children are old enough to work in the mill.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “Suffer Little Children” Does Not Mean to Crush Their Souls & Grind Their Bodies into Profits” →

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

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1917: Found in Indiana and West Virginia” →

Hellraisers Journal: The Shattering Grief of Monongah Illustrated by Joseph Stella and Described by Paul Kellogg

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

And it’s what will I tell to my three little children?
And what will I tell his dear mother at home?
And it’s what will I tell to my poor heart that’s dying?
My heart that’s surely dying since my darling is gone.
-Jean Ritchie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday January 17, 1908
Monongah, West Virginia – A Town of Broken Hearted Women and Girls

New Graves for Half the Town’s Breadwinners

Monongah MnDs, Graves by Stella, Charities and Commons, Jan 4, 1908

Within a recent edition of the “Weekly Journal of Philanthropy and Social Advance,” Charities and the Commons, we find a long article, written by Paul U. Kellogg and illustrated by Joseph Stella, which tells the heartbreaking story of Monongah in the aftermath of great mine disaster of December 6th of last year. Today we offer a brief example of the writing of Mr. Kellogg along with illustrations by Mr. Stella.

From Charities and the Commons of January 4, 1908:

Monongah

Paul U. Kellogg

…..That morning five priests had held mass in St. Stanislaus’s Church and over twenty coffins were ranged in the low-ceilinged room in the basement. They were the first of one hundred and ten whom Father Joseph Letston counted as lost. Many of his people had come early to the church, a-foot, with bowed heads, sorrowing in low voices, sometimes a woman half held up by her companions, to that basement where the coffin lids closed in on blistered, swollen faces and parts of men. Four or five widows wept convulsively. An older woman read from a religious book held to the flickering light of a candle at the head of a closed coffin. A peasant, ugly with her pitted face, but beautiful in her great sorrow, bent often and kissed the lips of her husband.

All of a sudden there was a cry more piercing than the others. It was from an old mother who had lost seven—her husband, a son, two sons-in-law and three nephews. She had come upon one of them, and the people with her could scarcely hold her. She threw her head on the casket, and spoke to the boy fondly, trying to caress the crumpled face with poor, wrinkled hands. She had moaned all the way that morning from her lonely house to the church door, giving infinite sorrow to those who heard, and here her grief had at last found vent.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: The Shattering Grief of Monongah Illustrated by Joseph Stella and Described by Paul Kellogg” →

Hellraisers Journal: Widows and Orphans of Monongah Crying for Bread; One-Half of Coal Camp’s Breadwinners Are Dead

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote, Paul U Kellogg, re Monongah, Labor World, Jan 11, 1908
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday January 16, 1908
Monongah, West Virginia – Hunger Reigns with Breadwinners Dead

Who among us could ever forget the following from journalist Dorothy Dale reporting from the devastated town after the great mine disaster:

Please letta me work, lady; gotta getta money…Please you get something for me, I can do.

A little hand touched my arm. The curl-framed face of a girl of 10 years looked into mine.

[She said pitifully:]

You know mans all dead. Boys all dead. Only girls left to work.

From The Labor World of January 11, 1908:

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS CRYING FOR BREAD
—–
Entire Burden of Every Industrial Disaster Falls
Upon the Poor Wage-earners’ Family.
—–
Bread Winners Killed By Wilful Negligence of
Their Employers, the Union Smashers.
—–

Monongah MnDs, Tots Beg for Work, Ptt Prs, Dec 10, 1907

In the appeal issued by the Monongah Relief Committee it is stated that of the 3,000 inhabitants of Monongah the mine disaster destroyed one-half of the breadwinners. Two hundred and fifty wives, 1,000 children and many unborn children are left without means of support. The company has declared that the families occupying these houses may remain in them until other provision is made for them and in other ways has been generous in its attitude, but it states that operations cannot be resumed at the damaged mines until these houses are available for the new force. $200,000 is asked for by the Relief Committee to meet these needs. Commenting on the situation Paul U. Kellogg, special representative of Charities and The Commons, says:

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Widows and Orphans of Monongah Crying for Bread; One-Half of Coal Camp’s Breadwinners Are Dead” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Jane Addams on Society, the Social Evil and the Christian Attitude

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Girls in this way, fall every day,
And have been falling for ages,
Who is to blame? you know his name,
It’s the boss that pays starvation wages.
A homeless girl can always hear
Temptations calling everywhere.
-Joe Hill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday January 15, 1918
From Hull House, Chicago – Miss Jane Addams Speaks for “Fallen” Women

In this week’s Appeal, we find a reprint of an article by Jane Addams which previously appeared in The Survey of May 4, 1912.

From the Appeal to Reason of January 12, 1918:

Jane Addams, Society and Social Evil, AtR, Jan 12, 1918

Jane Addams, Survey, Apr 6, 1912

A great English preacher has said that life holds for every man one searching test of the sincerity of his religious life, and that although this test is often absurdly trivial, to encounter it is to “fall from grace.” We all know these tests: a given relative or familiar friend has an irritating power of goading us into anger or self-pity; a certain public movement inevitably hardens us into a contemptuous mood of all uncharitableness; one particular type of sinner fills us with an unholy sense of superior virtue.

If we may assume that society itself is subject to one such test, if it too possesses a touchstone which reveals its inmost weakness and ultimate meanness, may we not say that the supreme religious test of our social order is the hideous commerce of prostitution, and that the sorry results of that test are registered in the hypocrisy and hardness of heart of the average good citizen toward the so-called “fallen” woman. May we of claim that in consequence of this irreligious attitude, prostitution remains today a hard, unresolved mass in the midst of so-called Christian civilization, until it has come to be regarded as a vice which cannot be eradicated, as a sin which cannot be forgiven, as a social disease which cannot be cured.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Jane Addams on Society, the Social Evil and the Christian Attitude” →

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs Defends Thomas McGrady “to rescue the memory of a faithful and devoted comrade.” Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Thomas McGrady found joy in social service
And his perfect consecration to his social ideals
Was the crowning glory of his life
And the bow of promise at his death.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday January 14, 1908
Eugene V. Debs Defends the Memory of Thomas McGrady, Part II

From the Appeal to Reason of January 11, 1908:

CALUMNIATING THE DEAD.

BY EUGENE V. DEBS.

[Part II]

Father Thomas McGrady, Arena, July 1907

Now, as to the next lie-and we must be excused for so characterizing these malicious calumnies-the lie that McGrady renounced the doctrines of Socialism. Five months prior to his death, when already stricken with what he knew to be his fatal illness, he wrote his last paper on “The Catholic Church and Socialism,” which appeared in the Arena for July, 1907. Let anyone who dare say that he renounced Socialism read this article, his last published word upon the subject, and find the least possible justification for such an atrocious libel. On the contrary, in this paper McGrady exposes the hypocrisy of the church, and its secret alliance with capitalism and reaffirms his absolute faith in the principles of the Socialist movement. This article, which may be regarded as McGrady’s last authoritative declaration, and which should be read, not only by every Catholic, but by every seeker after truth closes with the following paragraph:

The triumph of monopoly will swell the ranks of Socialism by the accession of the toilers and the middle professional class. Catholics will gradually break their allegiance with Rome, for necessity will compel them to join the army of revolutionists which the church condemns. The political character of the church will be revealed by her open defense of commercial and industrial despotism, for when there are only two classes she will be driven to the necessity of committing herself, and taking the side of the exploiter, the sacred charm of her mysterious influence will fade, religious rebellion will follow, and Rome will ultimately go down in ignominious defeat with her capitalistic allies.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs Defends Thomas McGrady “to rescue the memory of a faithful and devoted comrade.” Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs Defends Thomas McGrady “to rescue the memory of a faithful and devoted comrade.” Part I

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Thomas McGrady found joy in social service
And his perfect consecration to his social ideals
Was the crowning glory of his life
And the bow of promise at his death.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday January 13, 1908
Eugene V. Debs Defends the Memory of Thomas McGrady, Part I

From the Appeal to Reason of January 11, 1908:

CALUMNIATING THE DEAD.

BY EUGENE V. DEBS.

[Part I]

HMP, EVD, Eugene OR Guard, May 30, 1907

THE Appeal does not court religious or sectarian controversy. Its columns bear sufficient testimony of this fact. We may go farther and say that the Appeal, for obvious reasons, shrinks from such discussion and avoids it whenever possible. This has been the policy under the most extreme provocation, and when there is an exception to this rule it must be for good and sufficient reason. The Socialist movement is made up of people of all religions, and of no religion at all, the same as any other political party; and no more than any other political party does it interfere with the religious beliefs of its adherents. This is well known to every Socialist.

The charge so frequently made that the Socialist party is an irreligious party and that its aim is to destroy the church and wipe out religion is simply a made-to-order falsehood, one of the many coined in the mint of capitalism, and circulated through its propaganda to injure the Socialist movement.

The facts above stated can be verified by simply reading the platform of the Socialist party, in which its essential principles and purposes are clearly enunciated, and by reading any of the numerous Socialist papers in which these principles and purposes are discussed with the widest freedom. It is true that an occasional article appears in the Socialist press touching the institutional church, and the priesthood or ministry but in such cases it will usually be found that the Socialist press is on the defensive, not on the offensive.

When the Pope issues an encyclical misrepresenting Socialism, the Socialist press cannot without stultifying itself remain silent. When a popular and pampered minister slanders Socialists from a rich and fashionable pulpit, they would be cowardly not to resent the insult. When a priest is engaged to tour the country under the patronage of capitalists to disseminate the falsehood that Socialism will destroy the home, and turn the family into a harem, and love into lust, what would be said of the Socialist press if it sat by in mute and supine submission? When a catholic paper publishes a special edition filled with capitalist advertisements, and with editorial and contributed matter exhorting wage-slaves to be meek and lowly and submit to the will of their masters, and this special edition, ordered and paid for by capitalist exploiters, is delivered in bundles at factories where the slaves are fettered and fleeced, and they ar asked to read this rot-which Christ would have trampled and spat upon-as the law and gospel of their spiritual advisors, is it likely that self-respecting Socialists who seek the freedom and uplifting of the working class could contemplate such an unspeakable outrage in silence without sinking to fathomless depths of self-contempt?

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs Defends Thomas McGrady “to rescue the memory of a faithful and devoted comrade.” Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: George Pettibone in Los Angeles, Gives Interview, Visits With Clarence Darrow at Hospital

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday January 12, 1908
Los Angeles, California – Pettibone On Labor Spies and Frame-Ups

From the Los Angeles Herald of January 11, 1908:

PETTIBONE TELLS STORY
——

NOW IN CITY AND MAY RESIDE HERE
—–
Man Accused of Complicity in Assassination
of Former Governor Steunenberg Gives
Interesting Opinions
—–

HMP, Pettibone day of acquittal, crpd, Colliers Jan 25, 1908

Weak from long confinement in the jail at Boise, Idaho, where he was held a prisoner on a charge of complicity in the assassination oE former Governor Steunenberg, George A. Pettibone has arrived in Los Angeles and is staying at the Touraine apartments, 447 South Hope street.

In company with his wife, Mr. Pettibone contemplates making Los Angeles his permanent home. His trial attracted attention wherever the words “labor union” are known.

He spoke heatedly of the efforts which were made to connect him with the murder of Steunenberg.

[He said:]

False testimony concocted by Pinkerton agents was responsible for the arrest of William D. Haywood, Charles H. Moyer and myself and the sole purpose of their efforts was to give them an opening wedge so that they could retain their official position as agents of the Mine Owners’ association.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: George Pettibone in Los Angeles, Gives Interview, Visits With Clarence Darrow at Hospital” →