You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
Wednesday August 12, 1903
Cripple Creek, Colorado - The Strike of the Western Federation of Miners in "Full Swing"
One after another the mines are shutting down: at Independence, Ajax, Findley, Vindicator, and more. The Portland is running for now while negotiations continue. Charles Moyer, President of the W.F. of M. made this statement:
There seems to be no reason for a prolonged struggle, as the Standard Mill matter is a small one which should be easily adjusted. It was simply a demand of the union men of the district that their brethren of Colorado City should be paid fair and living wages.
Govenor Peabody made this statement:
If an emergency arises I shall be prompt to order out the troops in the Cripple Creek district.
However, the Governor indicated that he was not expecting trouble from the miners.
SOURCE
The Cripple Creek Strike
-by Emma F Langdon
(1st pub 1904)
NY, 1969
Tuesday August 12, 1913
Marysville, California - The Wheatland Hop-pickers: conditions on Durst Ranch
Withholding 10% of wages until the completion of the season proves to be profitable for the millionaire Durst Brothers. The abominable conditions in the camp cause many of the hop-pickers to quit the camp before the end of the season. Tents are rented, without blankets, for 75 cents per week, about half a day's pay. Men, women, and children sleep on the floor, huddled together in piles of straw. Some forego the tents, and sleep right in the fields where they work. Food is poor, and hunger is rampant. There are only nine toilets, and none of them are in the fields. The company provides no receptacles for garbage.
Water is not provided, even with temperatures often over 100 degrees. The Durst Brothers sell lemonade for for 5 cents a glass.
Small wonder then, that illness is common in the camp, including typhoid and dysentery.
SOURCE
History of the Labor Movement in the United States
The Industrial Workers of the World 1905-1917
-by Philip S Foner
International Pub, 1965
Hellraisers Journal on vacation!
Hellraisers will appear in abbreviated form until Sept 2nd for a vacation of sorts. A total vacation is not possible since the capitalist never took any time off in their suppression of the U.S.labor movement.
Solidarity,
JayRaye