You are not dealing with great brains;
you are dealing with wolf brains;
with snake brains; with rat brains...
Great brains are interested in a nobler manhood,
and a grander womanhood,
and a higher, nobler work.
Great brains never sell themselves for a smile
to the pirates of nations.
-Mother Jones
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Wednesday August 11, 1915
Pittsburg, Kansas - Mother Jones Speaks at Public Meeting at Labor Temple
On Saturday, August 7th, Mother Jones spoke at a public meeting held in the Labor Temple of Pittsburg, Kansas, the home of the
District 14 of the United Mine Workers.
Mother spoke on various topics of interest to working men and women: guns and gunmen; the "great brains" who rule the nation; railroad men who agree to haul John D. Jr.'s machine guns across the country with which their fellow workers are murdered; and a lecture on economics given by a preacher to the mother of several hungry children. She invited the "pencil slaves" to take down her words and print them in the morning papers. She also addressed the issue of the safety of the young Mr. Rockefeller should he ever make his promised trip to Colorado.
At the end of the meeting, with a unanimous vote of those attending the meeting, two telegrams were sent to President Wilson to protest the trial of Mathew Schmidt, and David Caplan.
Below the fold our readers can find excerpts from the speech given by Mother Jones.
August 7, 1915
Pittsburg, Kansas
Mother Jones Speaks
"The other fellow has got the gun and gunman, and you have nothing"
When we were discussing the iron workers fight, it is the same everywhere. It don't make any difference whether you are an iron worker or a longshoreman or a railroad man. It don't make a bit of difference. The other fellow has got the gun and the gunman, and you have nothing, and you don't want anything because you don't know how to use it. Over in West Virginia they murdered the children before they were born; they hired gunmen and they kicked the babies to death before they were born-the gunmen did.
In Colorado they burned them to death in the holes into which they ran to save themselves. They threw oil on them to be sure that they were murdered; babies were murdered; women, when their sides were burned off, and their arms, they were carried to the morgue, and gave birth to the coming generation when they were dead two days. They are a civilized nation, aren't they? Highly civilized: No doubt about it!
[Photograph added.]
Great Brains
A newspaper man sat on a platform with me in New York not long ago, and says, "You have got to realize you are dealing with great brains." I had to follow him. I want to take issue with the former speaker. You are not dealing with great brains; you are dealing with wolf brains; with snake brains; with rat brains. Great brains never stoop to those things. Great brains are interested in a nobler manhood, and a grander womanhood, and a higher, nobler work, Great brains never sell themselves for a smile to the pirates of nations. We are cowards and because we are cowards they make us build jails and penitentiaries, and pay wardens and guards, and they put us in them. We build palaces and put them into them, and we are awful wise! We put rags on our women, and we decorate their women with all the finery of the nation, and we are wise. There is no question about it, we are [not?] very wise at all.
Railroad men haul John D. Jr.'s machine guns.
The machine gun [that was used at Ludlow] was transported from West Virginia across the state and landed in Colorado. Let me ask this of you. Is there a railroad company in America which would haul that machine gun to the miners for them to defend their wives and children? Well, then, don't you see you have got a government of 26 Broadway? Don't you see you have got no rights under this government? Don't you see the railroad men haul these murderous machine guns to murder their brothers in Colorado, and they haul the gunmen, and when the working class wake up there will be no railroad men haul any machine guns to murder my class. We know our duty; we needn't blame those fellows. They don't do anything but what we let them do, not a single thing. Every move they make they know we will stand for.
Working for Jesus
I want to show you where they [the preachers] get their money from when they are working for Jesus.-If a man wants a good room to live in, the laboring man, he has to pay the pittance price, from 25 to 50 cents a day, for getting even the privilege to work. Anyone who refuses to pay the boss, or refuses to buy him drinks, has to give his room to someone else; he can't work there. Everyone who goes to work in any mine which belongs to Rockefeller, has to pay from ten to fifteen dollars to the boss, and he has to buy him drinks on pay day for getting the privilege to work under the earth to bring out the minerals that Nature placed there. Then they have the saloons. The ground probably cost $50.00, and the saloon keeper's charge $1,500.00 for the privilege of running the saloon. Every man is taxed from forty to fifty cents; every miner must pay. If there are three thousand miners who work in and around that mining camp, you see the money that goes. Then you see how it goes on Sunday morning.
Then on Sunday morning John the Baptist goes up to church and he gives so much to Jesus, and he tells the minister, "Now, send him to Hell, so he don't get on to the job"; and the ministers stand for it, and one minister from Chicago went to Cleveland the other day, last Sunday, a week ago today, and he preached a sermon, and John was sitting there-"Oily John" was sitting there in front of him-and he said that "Oily John" was the greatest man the nation had ever produced; that he did more good than any other man in the nation; there is no doubt but what he is the greatest murderer the nation had ever produced; no question about it, the greatest thief; there is no question on earth about that. But when it comes to the good, he can't be equaled in crime; he has murdered, shot, starved, sent to an untimely grave men, women and children by the thousands that I know, and if that is your modern version of Christianity, may God Almighty, save me from getting any of it in my system.
Such a philosophy is outrageous to preach in this age of modern machinery. To let ten men in this nation dictate what we will eat and drink and wear, and where we will live; they own the nation; they dictate the policy to the President and no one dare go beyond the dictates of that pretense, and I want to make a statement here. You are rapidly marching into benevolent absolutism. That is what the American nation is coming to.
I agree with Mr. Darrow that the ballot will not bring us anything. I have watched the reform movement for the last fifty years. I have come to the final conclusion that there is only one thing will bring us relief, and that is for us to stand on both feet. When they murder our children, tie up every industry and for every working man they kill, you kill one of them. Put that down as anarchy if you wish. Put it down for every working man. After this for every man they send to the penitentiary, let us send one of them over the road, and it will soon stop. You bet your life!
Ah, but some fellow will say when he goes home: "Oh, hell, that was too radical." Christ said ten thousand things more radical than I only preaching Christianity, and that is modern Christianity. I want to tell you men and you women, too, you have no blood in you. You run around preaching foreign missions and temperance. You don't know any more about it than the blankest pagan. Get out in the fight! Organize; stop talking!
A Texas Sky Pilot Preaches Economics
I want to make a statement here that no minister can dictate to me my economics; he can tell me about Heaven, that is a long way off, but I am dealing with things here; I am dealing with things that confront me now; I am dealing with the bread and butter question. I don't know whether they have bread and butter on the other side or not, and I don't care if I can get it get it here.
A Sky Pilot once when I was down in Texas came to a poor little woman who had a lot of little children, and he said, "Sister, I want Brother John to donate to me a bale of cotton when it is ready when it is picked for the Lord," and she says, "Oh brother, I have been sick all summer and we owe the doctor and the druggist and my little one have no shoes or clothes." "Well, the Lord will send it to you, and you give the bale of cotton," he says. "I don't think we can, brother," she says. And he turned to me and he says, "Won't you donate to the Lord, sister:" "What Lord?" says I. "The Lord Jesus." I says, "Why he was a carpenter, he knows how to build his own house." So he says, "Well, the Lord will take care of you." "He has enough to do to take care of himself," says I. It just show you the rotten superstitious stuff that they pour down our throats and we swallow, and we don't protest, and we go in rags.
"I will borrow money or steal it to buy guns for my boys."
Over there in West Virginia one day, they were walking up and down there with their thumbs in their mouths. "Did you ever shoot any rabbits?" says I. "Yes," says they. "What did you shoot them with?" "We have a gun, Mother," says they. "Have you got the gun yet?" "Yes, Mother." I wonder if the reporters are here. You can have this for the morning if you want it, and then you can tell about it, and I heard those fellows say, "Those fellows are threatening to come down here and clean our wives and children up." "I will tell you what to do," says I. "You go get that gun and either go up that mountain and clean them fellows up, or go and throw your rotten carcass into the river and the fish will chase you out. The fish won't leave you in. Now, you do one thing or the other; go up that mountain or jump in the river," and they did, and that was the last fight we had. You bet your life.
Buy guns, yes, and I will borrow money or steal it to buy guns for my boys, and I will not only do that, but I will make them use them, and I will tell you why. Now you can tell the editor to clean me up tomorrow if you want to, I will tell you why. These fellows robbed my class; he hires murderers' he a pays them with the money I ought to feed my children with; he buys guns for them; he pays their transportation; he pays them wages, then if he can do that I can pay for the guns for my own class and use them.
Now, boys, the fight is on.
Pencil Slaves & Pick Slaves
I am glad the editors are here. Sure the editor is a slave. What the matter with the editor is, if he don't do the work he will have to go; they will get another editor. That is what is the matter with him. Don't you say a word to the editor. These are pencil slaves and we are pick slaves. That is the only difference. I always take the newspaper boys' part; whenever I can help them I do it all over the country. I give them all the information I can so they can do the best they can. Some of them don't get any more than $10 a week.
The Safety of Young Mr. Rockefeller in Colorado
Young John D. Rockefeller came to me and he said, "Would it be safe for Mr. Rockefeller to go to Colorado?" "Well," I says, "Mr. Rockefeller had a lot of murderers out in Colorado; he has hundreds of them there, and I am an old woman with my head gray, and if I am not afraid to face his murderers, why should he be afraid to face his own murderers?"
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SOURCE
The Speeches and Writings of Mother Jones
-ed by Edward M Steel
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988
https://books.google.com/...
IMAGES
Mathew Schmidt, David Caplan,
International Socialist Review, Aug 1915
https://books.google.com/...
Mother Jones on Cover of United Mine Workers Journal
of Jan 21, 1915, Repaired by JtC, thank you, Johnny!
http://books.google.com/...
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Dear Readers of Hellraisers,
This year for my vacation, Hellraisers will not be as scaled back as it was for the past two vacations. This happy change is due to my new & much faster computer.
The big change that my readers will see, starting July 16th, will be the shorter length of the postings along with fewer links.
When my readers find unfamiliar names, places, or events, please use the tags along with JayRaye (in diarist section of search feature). Or just leave a question for me in the comments and I will get back to you.
When I actually leave for Minnesota, I'll let everyone know.
Solidarity,
JayRaye
Note: Vacation has started! Until Aug 7th, I'll be able to check in about twice a day. From Aug 8-30th, I'll be checking in only 2 or 3 times per week. Hope everyone keeps on Raising Hell (with the corporate powers, not with each other) until my return from Minnesota.
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The Spirit of Mother Jones - Andy Irvine
Mother Jones, the Miners' Angel must be treated with respect
She's an old fashioned lady, and you never would suspect
That this gown and this bonnet would fill a rich man full of dread
"She's the most dangerous woman in America," they said.
-Andy Irvine
See Also:
Spirit of Mother Jones Festival July 2014
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