You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Friday February 12, 1904
From Moberly Evening Democrat: Militia's Case Against Rep. John M. Glover Dismissed
Thursday's edition of the Moberly Evening Democrat of Missouri reports:
The case against John M. Glover, formerly Congressman from Missouri, for having shot at Sergeant Smith, was dismissed at Cripple Creek, Colorado, yesterday in the District Court on the ground that the accused could not be tried twice for the same offense. Glover had already been found guilty of an assault upon Sergeant Dittmore.
Before sentence in the latter case is passed Mr. Glover will appeal to the Supreme Court.
The cases of General Sherman M. Bell and General Chase, charged with unlawfully imprisoning citizens in the bull pen while martial law was in effect, were then taken up.
SOURCE
Moberly Evening Democrat
(Moberly, Missouri)
-of Feb 11, 1904
See also: (for more on Rep. John M Glover)
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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Thursday February 12, 1914
From Escanaba Morning Press: Michigan Copper Strikers Tell Their Stories
Today's issue of the Michigan's
Escanaba Morning Press reports:
CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATORS CONTINUE TO HEAR
SIDE OF STRIKING MINERS IN COPPER COUNTRY
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Hancock, Mich., Feb. 11.-Striking miners continue to hold the boards today before the congressional investigating committee now engaged in a probe concerning conditions in the strike district. Several witnesses were called today to give testimony that under the wage plan of mining companies before the strike they were unable to make a living wage.
Judge Hilton, solicitor for the Western Federation, today brought the matter of the Christmas eve catastrophe at the Italian hall at Calumet to the attention of the investigators and it is likely that hearings will be conducted at Calumet in an effort to fix the blame for the large number of deaths that were recorded at that time.
Olaf Berg, a miner, testified that a mine captain in the South Kearsarge mine had cheated him out of #29 by changing the measurements on the rock he had taken out, because Berg had told him he was going to quit.
"Have you no way to rectify these deplorable conditions? asked [Congressman] Mr. Casey.
The witness replied that the mine captain's word is final.
Berg declared that he was a stockholder in a small mine controlled by the Calumet & Hecla.
"I guess your amount of stock is not enough to control the company," remarked Chairman Taylor.
"That's the trouble," replied the witness, amid laughter.
Berg said he was opposed to the one-man drill, now used in the mines because it was dangerous for one man to operate it. He said his brother had been injured for life by having one of these machines fall on his back.
Charles E Hietala, district secretary of the federation, told the investigators that he had been discharged from the Quincy mine in 1910 because he was a member of the federation. He said he averaged $60 a month working as a trammer on a day wage. It was hard, wearing work, he asserted.
Questioned about the strike, Hietala said that the federation officers had tried to persuade the miners not to go out until all other means of getting their demands had been exhausted.
O. N. Hilton counsel for the federation, read into the records several letters and telegrams exchanged between the officers here and in Denver for the purpose of showing, as he said, that President Moyer and Vice President Mahoney were not responsible for the strike being called.
Counsel for the mining companies wanted to know how many members the federation had in the copper country the day before the strike began. Hietala gave the number as 8,900, and asserted that 90 per cent of them worked under ground.
A. I. Petermann, of counsel for the companies, asked the witness to furnish the committee with the number of men who are receiving strike benefits now.
Hietala said he could not do so, as he had sent his books to Denver.
"Why did you send them to Denver?" asked [Congressman] Mr. Howell, the committee.
"I sent them there to be audited, for one reason," was the reply. "Another was that after the South Range outrage [when a Citizens' Alliance mob ransacked the union hall] I was afraid to keep them here."
Hietala said the federation was distributing about $39,000 weekly in money and store orders among its members here.
"Did you get any relief from the socialist organizations in this country?" asked Mr. Petermann.
"Not very much."
"Did you get any help from the Finnish socialist organization?"
"I don't know."
Representative Howell inquired about the manner in which the referendum strike vote was taken. Hietala said that the members had six days within which to drop their votes in the boxes, which caused Mr. Howell to ask if he was sure no one had voted more than once. The witness said he was sure, as men were on duty at the ballot boxes.
"You think, then" returned Mr. Howell, "that the members of your union are more honest than members of an electorate usually are?"
"Oh yes, they are," replied Hietala quickly.
The introduction of time checks and pay envelopes which, the federation hopes, will tend to show that miners and trammers are working for a wages upon which they barely can subsist occupied more than an hour of the congressional inquiry this morning
SOURCE
Escanaba Morning Press
(Escanaba, Michigan)
-of Feb 12, 1914
See also:
Conditions in the Copper Mines of Michigan: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Mines and Mining, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, Second Session, Pursuant to H. Res. 387, a Resolution Authorizing and Directing the Committee on Mines and Mining to Make an Investigation of the Conditions in the Copper Mines of Michigan.
-United States. Congress. House. Committee on Mines and Mining
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1914
Part I, p.1-520
http://books.google.com/...
Note: Although the above article was datelined Feb 11, the actual testimony which the reporter describes was presented before the house subcommittee hearings on Feb 10. That testimony can found beginning on page 40 of the Investigation. Hietala's testimony begins on page 106, and Berg's on page 136. Please note that the page numbers given are the actual page numbers of the Investigation, and not of the scroll bar at bottom of the Google document. The witnesses did not testify in the same order as reported in the Escanaba Morning Press.
Photo: Michigan Copper Miners
Not sure of the date of this photo, used here to represent the strikers of 1913-14.
http://blogs.mtu.edu/...
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Black Water-Jean Ritchie
In the rising of the springtime we planted our corn,
In the ending of the springtime we buried a son,
In summer come a nice man, said, "Everything's fine—
My employer just requires a way to his mine"—
Then they threw down my mountain and covered my corn,
And the grave on the hillside's a mile deeper down,
And the man stands and talks with his hat in his hand
As the poisonous water spreads over my land.
-Jean Ritchie
H/T to Old Redneck for Black Water lyrics.