You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
Sunday June 25, 1916
Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota – I. W. W. and the Steel Trust Police
From the Duluth Labor World of June 24, 1916:
I. W. W. STRIKE ON MESABA RANGE
SPREADS; PRIVATE POLICE
A MENACE
—–The strike of the iron miners on the Mesaba range is attracting statewide attention. The I. W. W. is not a popular organization. The methods it has employed in other strikes have set the public against it. The A. F. of L. has no use for the I. W. W. In but a few instances has it been of any assistance to workingmen. As a strike fomenter it is a success, but as a benefactor it has failed to demonstrate its usefulness to labor in most instances.
It is learned that the strike of the iron miners was not instigated by the I. W. W., but was provoked by a bully superintendent of the St. James mine at Aurora, who worked the miners into accepting a contract under certain representations and when the men attempted to carry out their contract they found they could not make a living at it. They were bothered considerably with the large amount of earth and rock in the ore, for which they received no pay. The men protested against this and asked for a revision of the contract and they were told point blank that no revision would be made. A strike was then called and it spread like wildfire throughout the range.
The I. W. W. leaders, who were in Duluth, heard of the trouble and offered their assistance, which was accepted. The only organization of miners recognized by the A. F. of L. is the Western Federation of Miners. It is not believed that any kind of labor organization would be tolerated on the ranges, that is if the mining companies and their agents there can have their way.
It is a pity that the miners are being mislead by the rantings and ravings of the irresponsible I. W. W. leaders. There is no question but that the iron miners have a just grievance which should be met and settled by the mining companies. If the spirit of tolerance prevailed any ordinary committee could settle the strike in less time than it takes to tell.
The law does not permit the importation of non-citizens of the state to act as special police or deputy sheriffs, and many Duluth men are urged to serve as such. All of the special police of the Steel trust are employed as peace officers, and so far as we have been able to learn about the only law breaking that has occurred on the ranges has been provoked by these men.
Organized labor is attempting to secure the passage of a law in the state legislature prohibiting corporations from maintaining private armies. This law, if passed, will go a long ways toward heading off law breaking in times of strikes. The police authority of the state should never be delegated as such. A police officer employed by a private corporation is interested only in protecting such lives and such property in which the company that employes him may be interested. A police officer employed by the county is sworn to protect all lives and all property; the lives of the striking miners as well as the lives of the officers of the mining companies.
George King, the special police officer for the Duluth, Missabe & Northern railway, might have been prompted by a high impulse to pull down the red banner of the I. W. W., but he used might poor judgment unless he wished to provoke a riot. If there was anything unlawful in carrying the banner, it would have been the duty of the state peace officers to make arrests and not the agent of a corporation.
The sooner we understand that this is a government of law and not of corporations we shall not have lawlessness attending labor strikes. The strong arm of the law should not be used with abuse. Most of the anarchy we know anything about is started from the abuses practiced by the agents of private corporations, who have taken the law into their own hands, such as many of them are doing on the ranges.
We must never forget that the miners have a right to strike for any reason or for no reason. They have a right to choose their own leaders. They have a right to peacefully assemble in public places and in private halls. The right to assemble in public places shall only be abridged when such assembly will interfere with the rights of the public, such as congesting traffic.
If the sheriff of St. Louis county knows his duty he will not tolerate meddlesome interference in enforcing the law from the private army of the Steel Trust.
JAIL STRIKERS FOR APPEALING TO MINERS
—–Several strikers on the Mesaba range have been arrested and sent to jail on the charge of “Attempting to stop miners from going to work.” a judge at Virginia, has given a liberal interpretation to a law never intended to apply to the efforts of workingmen who use peaceful methods in coaxing their fellows not to serve as strike breakers.
—–[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCE
The Labor World
(Duluth, Minnesota)
-June 24, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/49876611
IMAGE
IWW Metal Mine Workers IU No. 490, Hibbing MN, June 19, 1916
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015079021849;view=image;size=150;page=root;seq=3;num=1