VOL. XXII, NO. 1«
CHARLOTTE. N. C, THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER *. 1*53
MOTHER JONES
Mother Jones, who started or
KUbhil for the UMW whoa oho
wm shoot 4# aad continued ontil
oho woo 04, M ooom of the
■riooro^ fleetest stragles^ for rec
ditiona. This pittir* wu takes
lo 1*02 whoo oho wm 72. She
hod escaped a jail aeotenee
ia West Virginia, though ahe
—rood, no inaajr at hem that oho
eaco Mid: "Balog jailed aad
hoiag hailed is Jest part of the la
bor aMvenaent.” (LPA)
Mother Jones Served
U.M.W. Forty Years
"I live in the United States,
but I do not know exactly where.
Mjr address is wherever there'is
a light against oppression. Some
times I am in Washington, then
ir Pennsylvania, Arisons, Texas,
Minnesota, Colorado. My address
is like my shoos. It travels with
tt wm that |hat Mother Jones,
for more than fetf a century an
organiser aad iront line lighter
in the worst bottles of the United
Mine Workers, answered a Con
gressman who asked for her ad
^Psrt of the reason Mother
queatly wm that she wm run out
«f one state after another (always
to rams back) m she backed pub
lic officials and business interests
in her untiring efforts to help
“her boys,” the coal miners. More
often she moved voluntarily to be
where the trouble wm hottest.
In 1902, a prosecuting attorney
ia Parkersburg, W. Va., called
her "the most dangerous woman
in the country today” after she
wm hauled into court for enter
ing the state in spite of an in
junction which wm supposed to
ban union organisers from West
Virginia “forever and ever." Nev
er one to mince words, she called
the judge a “scab" at that trial.
She wm 72 at the time aad had
been in union work for more than
90 yuan.
Jury Harm Jonas was bora in
Cork, Ireland, in 1830, the daugh
ter of a laborer named Richard
Harris. He became an American
citisen whan Mary was about sev
THIRTEEN—LABOR DAY .
en years old. While still in her
teens, Mary became a school
teacher in Michigan, Inter set up
shop as a dressmaker in Chicago,
then became a teacher again in
Memphis, Tena., where in 1361,
ehe married an iroemolder. But
the yellow fever epidemic of 1867
killed her husband and fear chil
dren and Mary went bade to drees
making in Chicago. The Chicago
Fire of 1871 made her homeless.
She wass about 40 when -she
joined the Knights of Labor and
began her first work with the
into the bitter 8-hour fight and
her autobiography describes viv
idly the 1886 Chicago Haymarket
bombing and the subsequent hang
ing of leaders of the 8-hour moye
ment
One of the first places where
she was called by the affectionate
nickname of Mother Jones was
in Norton, Va^ in 1801. A wor
ried .miner who met her at the
train informed her that “the
superintendent told me if you
came down here he would blow
out gour brains.”
But Mother Jones held the meet
ing she had come for anyway—
on a public road after the coal
operators forestalled plans te
have it in a church. She was
arrested and fined right after the
meeting and the coal company of
she^duTfii iJI^Staly. “1
had the money in my petticoats.’
she explained. Her petticoats
with money and without were U
I
1—November deaths of William Greea
(left) aad Philip Marray (beside Graea)
changed tap leadership af bath AFL
aad CIO. Geerge Meany (sacaad fram
right), named te aaeceed Greea as AFL
prasidaat, aad Walter Rest her, M array’s
•accessor as CIO bead, alamat immedi
ately reapraad AFL-CIO ashy talks
which by mid-IMS bad resalted ia tea
ts tire agreemeat aa a aa-raidiag pact.
*—UMW President Join L. Lewis
(right) gets mvi that Wag* Stabilixa
wrahers. ehopi*d JTmU f°ron $1J* a
day raiaa aegetlatad by UMW. WSB
iadastry isaibara walked tat h a toff
whaa Prasideat Traataa rtatarad tto eat.
aad heard work waa placed la haade ef
-HI--1- n-»_M-A eat-a
^WetoaC • ffMlwwlat a I VBIQVIIt uleCIIMPWCr
aaepeaded all wage ceatrela shertly after
takiag efflce.
S — Appaintatat of AFL Plumbers’
President Mortis Durkin >a Secretary
of Labor, lone labor repreMhUtifo ia aa
otherw iae big-busiaess cabiaet, brought
about of “incredible” from Senator Taft,
but fellow plumbers seemed well plooped
with the hoaer accorded their top of*
leer. Ia spite of Ike’s proailoM to
streagtheo the Labor Depart amat. its
bad get was eat rathleosly by a Cougreos
aloe dominated by buoiaeas.
4—Sertn anti-labor state laws were
cnpkasiicd wkn Tnu Itst worker
Grady Ivey was a sat eared to a year fas
prisoa for ffkt soar Dallas picket Has,
aa offease paaishaMo by oaly a $5 to f»
■ao for aoa-aaiea aiaa. Released after
sorvlac f®ar aioatba of the seats ace,
Ivoy wra^ greeted by bis fasiily. Aa aael
«we labor legklsstlaa to atatos was
ssoa la aow Adaiiatetratioa’s policies.
5—Attacks •• lain of put 2t years
war* taiMtUite ifUraatk mt GOP rie
Ury la Nwtaktr. A Ckaaktr mt Cmi
■mw wWt to totny ■■dal uwrity
gat ijrapatlMtk atfatloa ftM Secretary
flabby mt tba DaparUbawt mt Haatkb,
Etuitiaa aad ITatfara, ami labar jahij
atbar graaga la aa attaaipt to black tba
arbaan. Abaea. Eatbartaa Ellicksau mt
CIO aai Nalaaa CraUnbaak mt APL
prepare pretest to Nn. flabby.
w jiww iiaminK onion conirici uir
of the peer *u prevision for • foil
poor's vacation after It poors of aervUs
in agreement between AFL Electrical
Workers and Hedco Mfg. Co. in Chicago.
Employes who don’t want all that lalanra
thnd can work the year for doable pap.
It—Aaotker dnift h tap labor load,
•mhip fuw whoa Daa ToMa (loft) re*
tired oftor 45 yean as Mall of APL
TeeaMtera. ta bo awtuW by Bncatho
vieo Pr—Moot Dm Bock. ToMa re
tained hla seat oa APL execatiee rtaarll.
which aarly ia IMS ordered tha racket*
rlddaa lateraatieaal Leagahenaaea’a Aa
eeaciatala ta elaaa ap or gat eat ef the
APL.
11—TbM WarM Caagraaa mt Iatorma
ttetial Cawteteratlati af Fr— Trtofc Urn
■ukt tjrraaay. CFTU fetegattea vaa
aaat to Emt Barlia to 4atonatea vhat
Mp m«U to fttoto tto tabaBteaa wark
Orgaateattea rtf art — totaattatto
wMaapnW ateaa tetor te
¥
visit hundreds of cool ounps
throughout the country in tha
years to follow.
Knowing -the value of the wom
en's support for their men during
strikes. Mother Jones often used
the miner’s wives to battle the
coal companies. In Amot, Pa.,
around 1900, she organised an
“array” of miners’ wives and suc
ceeded in winning a strike which
had been all but lost before she
came to town.
The coal operators welcomed
her to Amot by having her evict
ed from her hotel and throwing
into the street a miner’s family
with which she took refuge. To
take care of scabs who were work
ing the mines, Mother Jones
armed the women with mops and
brooms and pails of water.
The ’’army,” led by a big wom
an in a red petticoat and one
brack and one white stocking,
charged the mine, yelling and
banging on pots and brandishing
their mope. The mules became
frighteed and took off and the
scabs fled with the petticoat army
at their heels. The women kept
watch at the mines day and night
ir the frearing cold, blanket
swaddled babies on their hips,
mope in hand. The strike finally
was won, all demands coneeded.
In Greensburg, Pa., when Moth
er Jones used the miners’ wives
gain, the sheriff hauled the wom
•r into court Sentenced to jail
for 90 days, they took their chil
trsn and babies vffth them. But
very one eras released at the end
f five days after the women, foi
> I ’.owed Mother Jones’ suggestion
and kept the whole town awake
the entire time with load bat not
overly melodic linginf.
Mother Jones wasn’t among the
Jailed women in Groeasbarg, bat
she was in prison so many times
daring her long fight for the
working man that she lost count.
“Being Jailed and being bailed is
just part of the labor movement,"
she said.
Her longest Jail term was in
Pratt, W. Va„ where aim spent
throe months in a military prison
in 1914 when she was 84 years
old. Whoa she heard that finan
cial interests wars exerting pres
sure to kill a proposal for a Sen
ate investigation of the whole
to Washington through a friend
ly guard. It said:
“Prom oat of the military j
prison walls of Pratt, W. Va*
whore I have walked over my
84th milestone la history, I send
you the groans and tears and
heartaches of men, women and
children as I have heard them in
this state. Prom oat of those
prison walls I plead with you for
the honor of the nation to push
that investigation and the chil
dren yet unborn will rise and call
Mother Jones was released and
tbs investigation took place.
When she attempted to go to
southern Colorado in 1913 to help
the miners in the bitter fight
against the Rockefeller interests
that culminated in the Lmflew
Massacre in 1917, she was ar
rested by the militia and taken
to prison. She described her as
cort thusly: There wrr ISO
cavalry, ISO infaatry, ISO horse*
with their heads poked at me,
ISO yunmen of the Standard OU
Co. and the old weasan ..."
She was imprisoned for nine
weeks that time and waa placed
in solitary confinement for M days
when she started for southern
Colorado again as seen as she
was released. Her jail was as
unheated, dark cellar under the
courthouse and at night rim had
to fight off sewer rate with a
beer bottle.
While best known for her work
srith the miners, Mother Jones
wae involved in the battles of
other yarts of the labor move
ment, too. In Kensington, Pa., in
1903, 75,000 textile workers, 10.
000 of them children, were on
strike. Many of the children had
lost hands or fingers in the un
safe textile machinery.
Mother Jones decided to take
the infamous situation to Presi
dent Theodore Roosevelt himself
and she organised the chilotea
irto aa army which started from
Philadelphia for the Roosevelt
mansion at Oyster Bay, N. T.
The children had knapsacks and
cooked their food hi a wash boil
er along the rand. Sometimes
they got free rides from train
men and other sympathisers.
Everywhere Mother Jones hold
meetings, often over the protests
of public officials. She need the
children as exhibits. “I held up
their mutilated hands,*’ she said
“and showed them to the crowd
and made the statement that
Philadelphia’s ™»»itions were built
Countless similar mat* in th«
lustary of Mother Jones’ service
to the labor ssovsment could bo
told. She remained active until
about IMS when she was 94 yean
old. She had passed her 100th
birthday when she died December
1, 1000. near Hyattsville, Md. She
was hurled at Mouat Olive, 111.,
In the Miners Union Cemetery.
The crowds at the funeral were
so groat that 4,000 had to bo
L.LP.E
Labor-Mtiagemeit
Partnership Necessary
For Natim’* Strength
Bp WHITLEY P. McCOY.
It is indeed aa honor on this
Labor Day for me to Join in the
many tributes to the American
working man.
As indispensable pnrtners in
our industrial democracy, the men
and woman of labor in those
United States haws made a tre
mendous contribution to the ec
onomic growth of our nation.
In .times of peace, through their
exorcise of their right of volun
tary association and by fully util
ising the democratic process of
collective bargaining, they have
helped to safeguard the funda
mental liberties which we all
cherish.
At times whan the security of
this nation has been threatened,
they gladly laid aside their eelf
with industry te defend and pre
serve our democracy against all
who sought te destroy H. Time
and again, they have demonstrated
to a troubled world that ia a de
mocracy management and labor
can live and work together for
the common good of all peoples.
Their record of progress and
achievement ia truly a beacon of
hope lighting the path for ail
(Cant, aa Paga 8, This Sectiea)
Mortf* f. SSkk»
wcwtwy of Labor
Secretary Of Ubur
Durkin’s Address
By MARTIN P. DURKIN,
Secretary of Labor
Labor Day ii an expression of
American freedom and American
It whs created 71 years ago
by a group of trade unionists
seeking to give labor its true
dignity. Their efforts succeeded.
Labor Day has become a holiday
of all the people, and an accepted
symbol of the spirit of free work
American free labor has grown
along with the American nation
and its people, and it has used
its strength to help the canoe
of freedom around the world.
On this first Monday in See
tember, IMS's Labor Dag, It is
fitting and proper that ftuniriran
working people, those in white
collars as well as those in overalls,
extend again their thoughts and
their greetings and well-wishes to
their brother workers in foreign
Our massage to the workers In
free lands is one of fellowship.
Wo are Joined to oppose the
ugly spectres of dictatorship and
communism. Through our govern
ment, our churches, our labor mi
ions md other wyniiiit^f1) w#
[have offered our help in the cold
war that is being waged over the
world for the minds and souls as
well as the bodies of men and
For the oppressed workers be
hind the Iron Curtain, American
workers send a message of hope
and sympathy. Six thousand years
of history have proved that no
suppression, no oppression, can
kill the desire of man and women
for freedom and dignity, the
yearning to build a bettor world
for their children. Wo in America
pray, and wo know and believe,
that the workers in foreign lands
will fight an as wo have for free
dom and progress, and the event
ually they wiU win.
of But Germany
The workers
end of Chechoslovakia have struck
eat against the despots seekiag
to enslave them, in the world's
meat recent examples of nun’s
long struggle for freedom. The
Jons graves of their martyrs are
already hallowed shrines in the
minds of freedom-loving people
everywhere. On this Labor Day
In America, we win pray for la
bor’s strength and pregrsss everp
the past you, so that the pur
chasing power of the average per
son has risen to now nil-time
highs, ive percent greater than
a year ago, despite an increase
of IM million in our population.
Labor income has expanded $17
billion or 10 per cent, as a result
of increased employment and in
creased wage rates. The cumber
of persons at work has seared to
record levels and unemployment
has dropped to levels attained
heretofore only in the nsidst of
an all-out war.
Reflecting the rising value of
the workingmen, both in terms
of his increasing productivity and
in terms of the need for services,
average hourly earnings have
risen steadily and ‘have gained oa
prises, which have remained fairly
steady in the aggregate tor more ?
than si year.
It is worthy of not# that prog
the American standard of living
b achieved only when real income,
r.ot jut dollar income, rises. Sab