You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Tuesday July 19, 1904
Chicago Labor Leader Claims Mother Jones Threatens City of Denver
Mother Jones, the Miners' Angel
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From today's
The Hawaiian Star:
THREATS TO BURN DENVER
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DEPORTATION OF UNION MEN FROM THE COLORADO CAPITAL WILL RESULT IN A GRAVE OUTBREAK, SAYS A LABOR LEADER THE UNION MEN HAVE STOOD ALL THEY CAN STAND.
JOLIET, Ill., June 28. "If General Bell ever attempts to deport the union men from Denver, do you know what will happen? I will tell you. The union men will go, but before they do they will apply the torch to Denver; they will burn everything that can be burned in that city, and Denver will lie in ashes."
This statement was made today by C. O. Sherman of Chicago, secretary of the International Metal Workers' Union. Mr. Sherman was in Joliet on business connected with his union, and granted an interview, in which he predicted the burning of Denver if an attempt is made to deport the union miners from that city.
Mr. Sherman said he had a long talk with "Mother" Jones in Chicago yesterday. "Mother" Jones has been in Colorado several weeks, he said, and what she has seen is enough to stir the blood of all union men.
[Statement of Mother Jones according to C. O. Sherman:]
The union men..were powerless to resist. The militia saw to it that these men would not have the weapons with which to defend their homes. Fathers and husbands were dumped out on the prairie without food or shelter, and their families were left behind to subsist the best way they could.
To be a union man in Colorado now is to be put down and out. You may not even express sympathy for the miners without being marked by the despotic minions that now rule Colorado with the sword and the rifle.
Let Bell try to drive the union men from Denver. If he ever does it Denver will sink in its ashes. There will not be left a thing that can be burned. The torch will be applied in every quarter of the city. The miners have stood about all they can. They must resent further indignities, and they will.
WIVES AND CHILDREN OF DEPORTED MINERS GOING HUNGRY
From today's Kansas City Star:
MINERS ASK RED CROSS HELP.
Colorado Families Will Take Nothing From the Soldiers.
Denver, July 19.-The ways and means committee of the Western Federation of Miners appealed to the Red Cross society yesterday to take charge of the distribution of funds and the general relief work for families of deported miners in Cripple Creek district. The union miners have plenty of funds at their command with which to furnish the families of the the deported men with all the necessities. But the militia will not permit the miners to supply provisions or funds, and the families will accept nothing from the soldiers. The request to the Red Cross society was that it would take charge of the distribution only.
This article seems to suggest that the military has offered aid to families of the deported miners, in fact the military is demanding that the Western Federation of Miners of Miners turn over its relief funds to the military for distribution, that no other form of distribution will be allowed. Is it any wonder that the W. F. of M. is refusing to turn over funds to the very military despots who are actively engaged in the deportation of its members from their homes and families?
The wives and children of the deported miners are in a desperate condition of hunger due to the destruction of the Union's relief stores by the Citizens' Alliance, and also due to Special Order No. 19 forbidding the distribution of aid. Mrs. Langdon reports that a request for Red Cross assistance has been issued by the Ways and Means Committee of the Colorado State Federation of Labor:
APPEAL MADE TO RED CROSS SOCIETY.
The ways and means committee of organized labor of the state of Colorado sent the following communication to the Red Cross Society:
Denver, Colo., July 18, 1904.
Mrs. John A. Logan,
President National Red Cross Society,
Washington, D. C:
Dear Madam—As you are no doubt aware, Mr. James H. Peabody, governor of the state of Colorado, has at numerous times during the past fifteen months declared various counties in Colorado to be in a state of insurrection, and has called out the state militia and inaugurated war in said counties. At this time such a state of conditions prevails in Teller county. The fact is that, although the governor has placed Teller county under martial law, and has waged a relentless war against a class of citizens therein, no act upon the part of members of organized labor (whom we have the honor of representing), justified him in so declaring or doing.
While the governor persists in declaring Teller county in a state of war, this war, is entirely one-sided, being carried on by the militia and others who are opposed to organized labor, the sole purpose being to terrorize union men and their families so as to compel them to sever their connections with the unions.
However, be this as it may, truth is that our people are being subjected to all the cruelties that usually exist during actual war, the powers that be resorting to methods of abuse that would not be tolerated even against a foreign enemy in time of war. They do not hesitate to make war against defenseless women and helpless children in their mad desire to exterminate the unions. To this end, after having deported from their homes the husbands and fathers, they now refuse to allow relief in the way of food and clothing to be issued to the wives and children, unless it be through the hands of the military authorities. In proof thereof, I herewith submit copy of special military order No. 19, issued by Col. Edward Verdeckberg.
[Special Order, No. 19 followed.]
Now, since they have resorted to this method, which was entirely uncalled for, and which we believe was done for the sole purpose of breaking the spirit of the fathers through the sufferings of their wives and children, we do not feel justified in trusting the matter of relief to the military, feeling satisfied that owing to the hatred they have shown to our people they would not faithfully carry out this great trust.
Now, therefore, we knowing it to be the mission of the Red Cross Society, of which you are the official head, to take charge of and as much as possible eliminate suffering caused by the cruelties of war, we earnestly appeal to you to arrange to have your noble organization take charge of the distribution of food and clothing to the families of deported citizens of Teller county. We will furnish all necessary supplies, and only ask that your organization take charge of the distribution of same.
Hoping you will not turn a deaf ear to this appeal, but that you will give it your immediate and favorable consideration, I am, very truly yours,
(Seal.) H. B. WATERS,
Secretary-Treasurer Ways and Means Committee.
Room 504 Exchange Building, Denver, Colorado.
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SOURCES
The Hawaiian Star
(Honolulu, Oahu)
-of July 19, 1904
The Kansas City Star
(Kansas City, Missouri)
-July 19, 1904
The Cripple Creek Strike
-by Emma F Langdon
"COPYRIGHTED, 1904-1905
BY MRS. EMMA F. LANGDON"
-of Victor, Colorado
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
Note: The letter to Red Cross was originally placed in Hellraisers of June 24, 1904. It was removed from there and placed here to correct the error. I apologize for the error. -JayRaye
IMAGES
Mother Jones
http://www.greatthoughtstreasury.com/...
Miners Deported into New Mexico
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
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Saturday July 19, 2014
More on C. O. Sherman of the Metal Workers Union:
A year later, C. O. Sherman became one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World. The following is a report on the ratification meeting of July 7, 1905:
RATIFICATION MEETING
Appendix, Part I
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD, CHICAGO, JULY 7.
Speeches Delivered by:
THOMAS J. HAGERTY, THOS. POWERS, WM. D. HAYWOOD, CHAS. O. SHERMAN, WILLIAM E. TRAUTMAN, PAT O’NEIL
MISS LUELLA TWINING, Presiding.
A meeting to ratify the work of the Chicago convention in forming the Industrial Workers of the World, was held at Brand’s Hall, in that city, on Friday evening, July 7, at 8 o’clock. The hall was completely filled, and many people were compelled to stand throughout the meeting. The greatest enthusiasm was manifested as the different speakers explained the purposes of the organization. Miss Luella Twining, of Pueblo, Colorado, representing the American Federal Union, presided and introduced the speakers.
In opening the meeting Miss Twining made the following speech:
Fellow workers:—We have come to celebrate and ratify the organization of the Industrial Workers of the World. Industrial unionism stands for the solidarity of labor. Under industrial unionism it would not be possible that the Western Federation of Miners, when on strike, could be shot down by the militia hauled by trainmen. Industrial unionism stands for solidarity. I will not explain the principles of industrial unionism further, for there is no one on the program but who is celebrated as an exponent of these principles.
This link leads to the speech made by Charles O. Sherman at that meeting:
https://www.marxists.org/...
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There Is Power in the Union-Utah Phillips
If you want nothing before you are dead,
Then shake hands with your boss and look wise.
-Joe Hill
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