Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 31, 1903 Review of John Mitchell’s Book, “Organized Labor” -from The Wall Street Journal of October 28, 1903
Organized Labor; Its Problems, Purposes, and Ideals and the Present and Future of American Wage Earners -by John Mitchell, President of the United Mine Workers of America American Book and Bible House, Philadelphia, PA, 1903
Prominently placed in the October 28th issue of The Journal is a long review of “Organized Labor,” the recently released book by Mr. Mitchell. The review takes up a full column of the front page and about a quarter of a second column, and contains a surprising amount of praise for the labor leader, if not for all of his ideas:
Mr. John Mitchell, president of the united mine workers of America, has published a book entitled “Organized Labor.” It is interesting, first because its subject is now uppermost in the attention of the public, and secondly, because its author has within a year loomed large in the public eye, by reason of the great anthracite coal miners’ strike of 1902. Mr. Mitchell’s book, therefore, deserves more than the merely perfunctory and passing notices which it has received in the press generally.
It is on the whole well written, temperate in its criticisms, moderate in its claims, and fair in its general judgments. Conservatism is very much the keynote throughout, and the work as a whole serves to strengthen the opinion formed by most fair minded people after the coal strike that Mr. Mitchell may be counted among the ablest most responsible, and most far-sighted of the labor leaders in power to-day. His book is in the main a plea for the principles of trade unionism….
[Emphasis added.]
The Journal then goes on to list Mr. Mitchell’s principles of trade unionism as:
1) Trade unionism seeks to represent the interest of the working class, the workingman should identify his union with his class, and the working man owes duties to his class just as to his country.
2) Trade unionism stands for collective bargaining and is opposed to the individual contract.
3) Trade unionism seeks to secure a “definite minimum standard of wages, hours and conditions of work” for all workers in any given trade.
4) Trade unionism demands equal rights with employers “in determining how, when, with whom, at what time, and under what conditions work shall be carried on.”
5) “The trade unions..have nothing which is not free to all, which may not be shared by any and every capable workman.”
6) Trade unionism seeks to enforce the union shop in order to protect the union contract. (Or, as The Journal put it, trade unionism seeks “the monopolization of work for union men by enforcing the union shop..”)
7)Trade unionism seeks permanent industrial peace by means of trade agreements (the union contract.)
The Journal supports the right of the workingman to organized and bargain collectively, but is greatly troubled that allegiance to class should be valued as highly by a worker as allegiance to country, and calls this idea “a deep and dangerous fallacy.” The Journal also takes a stand against the “union shop,” failing to understand that without a “union shop,” the union contract that they so laud as leading to industrial peace, cannot be enforced.
The review ends with this recommendation:
While we totally disagree with Mr. Mitchell on the points discussed above, we can safely recommend his book to those who desire to inform themselves respecting the whole question. If we have in any way misrepresented his position we regret it heartily. We are fully as anxious to understand him as he is to be understood.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 20, 1903 Mother Jones Stands with Working Men and Women
Saturday October 17, 1903 Cincinnati, Ohio – Mother Jones, “The laboring man is advancing every day.”
Mother Jones was in Cincinnati for a few hours yesterday on her way to Chicago. This famous old labor agitator travels alone. While in Cincinnati she made this statement:
The Cincinnati Enquirer October 17, 1903
To advance the cause of labor and laboring people is my only object. I have for years studied carefully the labor question, and in all my speeches to the miners and others I advocated peace and efficient work as the sure road to success. My idea is that every laborer, man or woman, should be worthy of their hire. They should, out of each week or month’s salary, save a few pennies, dimes or dollars. I am in hearty sympathy with the workingman, and in times of strikes or lockouts I make it my duty to go to the scene of trouble and lend my aid to the laborer and his family. They are my personal charges.
I think the day will come when capital will learn to respect laborers enough to pay them in proportion to the services they render. I am at all times an advocate of peace when disagreements arise between employer and employees, for that is the laborer’s stronghold. If he can only hold out and remain peaceable the victory is won. It is a rare occurrence that anything is accomplished by the working men who cause strife and bloodshed. They lose the respect sympathy of those who would otherwise be with them in time of need.
I think the laboring man is advancing every day, and it will be my life work to aid in this advancement.
From The Denver Post of October 18, 1903 -Mother Jones, Joan of Arc, Expected Soon in Denver:
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 4, 1903
Editorial by Algie M. Simons: “The United Mine Workers’ Victory”
From the International Socialist Review of April 1903:
The United Mine Workers’ Victory.
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At last the long delay and deliberation are over and the arbitration committee has brought forth its report, and the capitalist press unanimously hail it as a victory for the miners.
The main point on which this cry for victory is based is in the 10 per cent rise, in the reduction to eight hours for a few favored laborers, the right to have check weighmen and a few similar articles. That this is a gain no one will deny, that it is in many senses of the word a victory is also true, but the further conclusion which practically every one of these papers draw, that the victory was attained through the methods of arbitration, we are unable to see.
Some months ago when the arbitration committee was first elected we pointed out that the miners would receive just what the proletariat has always received in a contest with its masters,—what it was able to take. There is, at least, some doubt if in this case the United Miners have not received even less than they could have taken had the fight gone on. We now know that there was nearly a million dollars still remaining in their treasury with funds pouring in from all over the world. We now know that a few weeks more of the strike would have brought on a coal famine that would have paralyzed the industries of this country. The great capitalists probably knew this at the time the arbitration committee was appointed. They must have known something of the probable effect of such a coal famine on the permanency of exploiting institutions. It is pretty safe to say that in view of this knowledge they would have been willing to have conceded the full demands originally made by the strikers rather than to have permitted the strike to have gone on to much greater length.
Every day that passed during the closing weeks of the struggle gathered new converts for the miners’ cause. At the same time the Socialists were using the material which was developing from day to day with tremendous force as an indictment against the entire system of capitalism. Under these conditions it is at least questionable whether Mitchell showed good tactics, considered from a trade union point of view, in accepting a Committee of Arbitration whose membership was so decidedly capitalistic. While considering what they have granted to the miners, the question comes up, could they have given much less and had any surety that another strike would not at once follow? It seems hard to believe that men living in the conditions that it has been shown the miners of Pennsylvania were living, and who had just been able to show such marvelous solidarity and organized resistance, would have remained quiet had they received much of anything less than what the Commission awarded them.
On the other hand, it must be at once admitted that the investigation of the Commission has not been without its value. Its proceedings when published will throw a flood of light upon industrial conditions in one of the greatest of American industries. This information will be of the greatest value in every battle which is waged against exploitation.
It is certain that the Pennsylvania Socialists who have shown such remarkable growth during and since the strike will derive new ammunition from this report for future battles. But neither of these things offers any argument in support of the arbitration of industrial disputes.
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Just how sincere the capitalist press have been in declaring the decision to be a great victory for the strikers is seen by an extract from a private telegram which has come into our hands, which was sent out by awell known firm of Wall street brokers to their customers. After giving the terms of the Commission report they say of the demands: “All of these, particularly five, six, eight and nine, are absolutely in favor of operators. The first and second clauses were offered by Mr. Baer three months ago. This looks like favorable news for PENNSYLVANIA, ERIE FIRST and D. & H.”
The “five, six, eight and nine,” which they favor, are the clauses concerning check weighmen, directing the payment by operators directly to mine laborers, condemnation of boycott and of blacklist. So much for the present. When we come to consider the future we are confronted with the proposition stated above that the contending parties will get exactly what they are able to take. There is no power outside of either of the parties to enforce the decisions of the Commission. In so far as governmental power will be called into use it is upon the side of the operators. There will undoubtedly be another fight before this recognition is granted.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 14, 1903 Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1903, Part I -Arrives in Indianapolis for Convention of United Mine Workers
From The Clarksburg Telegram (West Virginia) of January 2, 1903:
“MOTHER” JONES VISITS CLARKSBURG
“Mother” Jones was in her usual splendid health and was quite talkative and courteous.
While in the city she was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. D. W. McGeorge in Glen Elk.
[Photograph added.]
From the AppealtoReason of January 3, 1903:
From the Kingwood West Virginia Argus of January 8, 1903:
The election of Samuel B. Montgomery to the office of Mayor of Tunnelton for another term, is quite a compliment to this rising young orator who is called the “Patrick Henry of West Virginia,” by Mother Jones. Mayor Montgomery has a good strong ticket with him composed of the leading men of the Coal Center.
From the Bisbee Daily Review of January 9, 1903:
LABOR IS CAPITAL; CAPITAL IS LABOR
By “Mother” JONES. Friend of Striking Miners
WE are in a battle of class against class. Pierpont Morgan can go abroad-to Germany, to Russia, to England-and when he arrives he is entertained by his class, his own class, though you sometimes forget it in America-the class that oppressed you in Europe and that is growing more and more powerful and oppressive here. CAPITAL AND LABOR ARE THE SAME THING. LABOR IS CAPITAL, AND CAPITAL IS LABOR. WHAT WE’RE FIGHTING IS NOT CAPITAL, BUT CAPITALISTS. When the fight is won, this third element will be missing, and capital and labor will be joined without separation.
In the last 160 years there has been an economic revolution. What would you have thought years ago if some one had told you that all these coalfields would be held and operated by one combination. That sort of thing is what you must defend yourself against.
THERE IS A TREMENDOUS CHANGE GOING ON; AND YOU MUST CHANGE TO MEET IT.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 12, 1903 Children of Pennsylvania’s Anthracite “Coal Shadow” -Part III of article by Francis H. Nichols, with illustrations by Frank E. Schoonover
From McClure’s Magazine of February 1903:
CHILDREN OF THE COAL SHADOW
BY FRANCIS H. NICHOLS
Illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover
[Part III of III]
Where the Daughters Work
While the miner’s son is working in the breaker or mine it is probable that his daughter is employed in a mill or factory. Sometimes in a mining town, sometimes in a remote part of the coal fields, one comes upon a large, substantial building of wood or brick. When the six o’clock whistle blows, its front door is opened, and out streams a procession of girls. Some of them are apparently seventeen or eighteen years old, the majority are from thirteen to sixteen, but quite a number would seem to be considerably less than thirteen. Such a building is one of the knitting mills or silk factories that during the last ten years have come into Anthracite…..
Through a district organizer I was enabled to interview under union auspices a number of little girls who were employed in a knitting mill.One girl of fifteen said that she was the oldest of seven children. She had worked in the mill since she was nine years old. Her father was a miner. As pay for “raveling” she received an amount between $2.50 and $3 every two weeks. Another thirteen-year-old raveler had worked since the death of her father, two years before, from miner’s asthma; her brother had been killed in the mine. The $3 she received every two weeks in her pay envelope supported her mother and her ten-year-old sister…..
The breaker boss finds at the mill or factory a counterpart in the “forelady.” This personage holds a prominent place in the civilization of Anthracite. It is taken for granted that the forelady must be habitually hateful, and in all controversies side with the proprietor against the rest of the girls. It is her duty to crush incipient strikes, and to do all in her power to “break” the union. She enjoys being hated by every one, and leads an isolated life of conscious rectitude for about $5 a week…..
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 11, 1903 Children of Pennsylvania’s Anthracite “Coal Shadow” -Part II of article by Francis H. Nichols, with illustrations by Frank E. Schoonover
From McClure’s Magazine of February 1903:
CHILDREN OF THE COAL SHADOW
BY FRANCIS H. NICHOLS
Illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover
[Part II of III]
The School of the “Breaker”
The company’s nurseries for boys of the coal shadow are the grim black buildings called breakers, where the lump coal from the blast is crushed into marketable sizes…..Between the [coal] chutes are boys. All day long their little fingers dip into the unending grimy steam that rolls past them…..
…..In front of the chutes is an open space reserved for the “breaker boss,” who watches the boys as intently as they watch the coal.
The boss is armed with a stick, with which he occasionally raps on the head and shoulders a boy who betrays lack of zeal…..
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 10, 1903 Children of Pennsylvania’s Anthracite “Coal Shadow” -Part I of article by Francis H. Nichols, with illustrations by Frank E. Schoonover
From McClure’s Magazine of February 1903:
Every child of the coal fields who to-day is ten years old has lived through at least two great strikes [Great Anthracite Strikes of 1900 and 1902]. During these periods the indefinite and sullen discontent takes a concrete and militant form. There is talk by idle men of “the rights of labor” and the “wickedness of riches.” Deputies armed with rifles are guarding the company’s property. A detachment of militia is encamped at the end of the street…..
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 24, 1903 Mother Jones News Round-Up for December 1902, Part II Found Organizing in West Virginia for the United Mine Workers
From the Clarksburg Daily Telegram (West Virginia) of December 27, 1902:
“MOTHER” JONES VISITS CLARKSBURG ———- Upon Her Return From the New River District -On Her Way to Tunnelton to Make an Address to Miners. ———-
Talked Freely of Strike Conditions in Other Sections of the State -Compliments Jackson but Has no Flattery for Goff.
“Mother” Jones, the noted strike and labor agitator, arrived in the city Friday evening on No. 12 from the New River district. She reports conditions in that field unsettled and the strike unended. Many miners are residing in camps and there is considerable suffering. She paid her compliments to both Judge John J. Jackson and Judge Nathan Goff. She thinks Judge Jackson has a tender spot in his heart but entertains a different opinion of Judge Goff. Her remarks about the latter were not at all flattering. She left Saturday morning for Tunnelton to address a mass meeting of miners there Saturday night.
She believes the Roosevelt commission’s work will be of much benefit to the miners’cause, especially in the way of moulding public opinion. She also thinks that some beneficial legislation will result from the investigation of the commission. She expressed herself as gratified with what she termed a more liberal spirit on the part of the press toward the miners.
She reviewed briefly prevalent conditions in some sections of the southern part of this state. She says the miners are allowed the regulation weight and the short ton and they have the privilege of buying at the pluck-me store as she terms it or elsewhere. There is nothing compulsory about it. She thought under those circumstances that the strike had been beneficial to the miners.
Inquiry was made by her as to what was doing around here. She made no comment when informed that all was quiet and we were running along in the even tenor of our ways.
“Mother” Jones was in her usual splendid health and was quite talkative and courteous.
While in the city she was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. D. W. McGeorge in Glen Elk.
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