You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Monday November 16, 1914
From the Trenton Evening Times: Fifty Thousand March in A. F. of L. Parade
From Saturday's Trenton Evening Times of New Jersey:
50,000 TOILERS IN LABOR'S PAGEANT
Hundreds of Women March
With Men
in Spectacular Parade in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA., Nov. 14-Hosts of organized labor, 50,000 strong, marched in Broad Street last night in a spectacular demonstration planned as a feature of the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor in session here since Monday.
A hundred thousand persons lined both sides of Broad Street from Diamond to Snyder Avenue, the route of the parade, to witness the spectacle, which began at 8 o'clock and lasted until nearly midnight.
Every branch of organized labor was represented in the pageant. Hundreds of the marchers were women, garment workers and girls who work in the textile mills of Kensington. There were seventy bands and twenty-five floats in the line. Banners and transparencies blazed forth the slogans of the working man and calls for equal rights and privileges.
On the reviewing stand were Mayor Blankenburg; President Samuel Gompers of the Federation, and other national leaders in the labor world. As the parade passed by this stand the entire line was ablaze with red lights, carried in the hand of every marcher.
TRENTON WORKERS SAW BIG PARADE
There was no meeting of the Mercer County Central Labor Union last night and many union labor men and women from this city went to Philadelphia to witness the big street parade held there in connection with the annual convention of the A. F. of L.
Wilkes Post and the Municipal Bands participated in the parade. Among the Trentonians who went were: Miss Magdalen Andreas, Miss Maud Kerns, Luke B. Travers, C. Howard Severs, George Guthrie, John Parent, Anthony Spair and John Randolph.
[photograph of A. F. of L. button added]
More Labor News from the Trenton Evening News of November 14, 1914:
YOUNG WOMAN HAS LONG AIDED LABOR
Maud Kerns,
Central Union Official,
Is Leader Who Accomplishes Much
Active not only in her own local, but also in the Central Labor Union, Miss Maud Kerns, of 88 Pennington Avenue, has become one of the leading workers for Union labor in this city. Her efforts always bring results and she has gained much for her fellow workers by the businesslike methods she uses.
Mis Kerns was the first woman elected to office by the Central Labor Union. She is its financial secretary and the able and efficient manner in which she has conducted the affairs of the office has made her one of the best officials the Central body ever had.
Miss Kerns is a delegate from the Porcelain Finishers' Local No. 267 and her activities in that body has put the Finishers in the front rank of organized labor. She has served as treasurer of that Union several terms.
Miss Kerns takes an active part in all the affairs of the Unions and last night she was in the delegation that went to Philadelphia to see the labor parade there.
The Porcelain Finishers are rapidly gaining in membership and the organization is becoming as strong as any organization in the city.
A WORKMAN
(BY WILLIAM J. HOGAN).
Just say that I'm a workman
That I earn my daily bread
That by my constant labor
The idle rich are fed;
And when you tell this simple tale,
The world should know the rest-
'Twill know that I have labored-
Put the idle to the test.
I've built the gilded mansion,
I've bridged the roaring stream,
I've tunnelled through the mountain
And, believe me, 'twas no dream;
I've dug New York's great subways,
Built the trains which through them ply,
I've built the shops and factories,
While the years went quickly by.
I've fathered many children,
The boys to soldiers be,
Or man the super-dreadnaughts
That plow the briny sea;
Or mine the coals-the minerals-
Or farm the fertile lands,
So that food may come a-plenty
To the many factory hands.
The wife-the workwoman-helped me,
Through sacrifice and pain;
She reared the sons and daughters,
Who built the world's great gain;
The pictured arts-the beauties-
The best that we might love,
Ordained by some great power,
The Lord of lords above.
Now that I've told my story,
What will work-people do?
Sit 'round and ask the question
Just like me and you?
Or will they deal out justice
To those who are faithful found,
The workman and workwoman
Who make happiness go 'round.
Trenton, N. J., Nov. 14, 1914.
---------------
SOURCE
Trenton Evening Times
(Trenton, New Jersey)
-Nov 14, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Images
Labor News Banner & MissMaud Kerns
http://www.newspapers.com/...
AFL Button
http://www.laborsolidarity.info/...
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
There Is Power in a Union - Billy Bragg
The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union
-Billy Bragg
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````