Hellraisers Journal, Thursday October 18, 1917
Mother Jones News for September, Part I: Speech in Springfield

From the Illinois State Register of September 1, 1917:

On the evening of August 31st, Mother Jones spoke in Springfield, Illinois, to striking carmen and their supporters. The speech was well-covered the next day by the Register.

MOTHER JONES ASKS AID
FOR CAR STRIKERS
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Tells Unionists to Unite in Fight
Against Street Car Company and Win
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4,000 HEAR SPEAKER
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Crowds Throng Court House Yard
and Cheer as Advocate of Labor Talks
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Four thousand striking car men, members of allied labor organizations and curious outsiders last night on the court house square heard “Mother” Jones, self-confessed labor agitator and proud of it, urged the strikers and their sympathizers to disregard judges, courts, injunctions or any other power that might be invoked and to fight the street railway company until it is forced to meet the demands of the union.

Less extreme than she is reported to have been in other cities where labor troubles were in progress, “Mother” Jones did not directly urge the strikers to resort to violence in gaining their ends, but she demanded that every allied labor organization in Springfield take up the cause, have their meters removed and go out on “sympathy” strikes to tie up the city’s industries until pressure is brought to bear to force the utility company to admit itself beaten.

The meeting, advertised to be held in Carpenters’ hall, was transferred to the court house grounds, when it became evident long before the time set for “Mother” Jones to speak, that not one-third of those who wished to hear her would be able to get into the hall. Before half-past seven the hall was packed, and hundreds were thronging the street before the building seeking admittance. Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1917, Part I: Found in Illinois and Kentucky” →