There is no use in our getting discouraged about anything.
The storm and sunshine comes and goes and the fight must still go on.
-Mother Jones
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Saturday December 26, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado - Conditions in Southern Coalfields Are "Frightful"
Mother Jones is actively engaged in relief work in the Southern Coalfields of Colorado, having arrived by train on the evening of December 23rd. She describes the conditions of the miners and their families has "frightful" now that union relief has been restricted. The strike was called off earlier this month, but many miners have been unable to regain their old places in the mines, and continue to live in the tent colonies.
Helen Schloss, the "red nurse" who was sent to Colorado by a New York women's group earlier this year, has departed Trinidad and returned to New York City. On her way back east, she stopped in Kansas and gave speeches in an attempt raise relief funds for the miners and their families. According to one report out of Topeka, she inspired the Industrial Council of that city to indorse relief work for the Colorado miners and their families:
Miss Schloss appeared before the Industrial council at the last meeting and told of the sufferings of the people living in the tent colonies in the strike zone in southern Colorado. The weather is severely cold, and men, women and little children are without sufficient food and clothing and are living in tents. Their sufferings are pitiable, she said. Miss Schloss exhibited photographs of the dilapidated shoes the little children were wearing. They haven't sufficient shoes and clothing to go to school, and are scarcely able to keep warm at home.
The Industrial council indorsed the relief work in Topeka and made a cash contribution to the fund.
Helen Schloss in jail in Little Falls, New York.
She also saw the inside of the foul Trinidad jail during her time spent assisting the strikers of Colorado.
From The Topeka Daily Capital of December 6, 1914:
COLORADO RELIEF WORK INSTITUTED IN TOPEKA
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Committee Organized to
Solicit Contributions for Strike Sufferers.
Miss Helen Schloss, a trained nurse of New York city, who stopped over in Topeka a few days ago on her way home from the Colorado strike district, in the vicinity of Trinidad, succeeded in organizing a committee for the purpose of soliciting contributions for the strike sufferers of that state.
Miss Schloss appeared before the Industrial council at the last meeting and told of the sufferings of the people living in the tent colonies in the strike zone in southern Colorado. The weather is severely cold, and men, women and little children are without sufficient food and clothing and are living in tents. Their sufferings are pitiable, she said. Miss Schloss exhibited photographs of the dilapidated shoes the little children were wearing. They haven't sufficient shoes and clothing to go to school, and are scarcely able to keep warm at home.
The Industrial council indorsed the relief work in Topeka and made a cash contribution to the fund.
The members of the committee to whom contributions may be sent are as follows: Mrs. Mae Taylor, 1612 Topeka avenue: Mrs. May Avery, 1331 Kansas avenue; Mrs. Hattie Olmstead, 1732 Fillmore street; Mrs. Ida Burkhardt, 1008 Kansas avenue; Mrs. Lulu Felten, Twenty-eight and Ohio street. Cast off clothing will be acceptable, and may be left at the garage of F. W. Felten, 1005 Kansas avenue.
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SOURCES
Letter from Mother Jones to James Lord
Dec 23, 1914 (see below)
Various Kansas newspaper reports of
Helen Schloss on speaking tour
-Nov 19 - Dec 19, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
The Topeka Daily Capital
( Topeka, Kansas)
-Dec 6, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
See also:
For more on Helen Schloss:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
IMAGES
Ludlow Refugees in Trinidad from
International Socialist Review of June 1914
(search: "Class War in Colorado")
http://books.google.com/...
Helen Schloss in Jail
from cover of International Socialist Review of January 1913
(search: "red flag at little falls")
http://books.google.com/...
Topeka Industrial Council, AFL, 1914
http://www.newspapers.com/...
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Letter from Mother Jones to James Lord, December 23, 1914
Mother Jones in Washington, D. C.
Frank Hayes, Vice-President, UMWA;
Ed Doyle, Secretary-Treasurer, District 15, UMWA;
James Lord, Head of AFL's Mining Department
in Washington, DC
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Denver, Colorado,
Dec. 23, 1914.
Mr. James Lord,
Washington, D. C.
My dear Lord:
I have been trying to write you ever since you went away, but have not had the time. I have been down to the Southern coal fields and the conditions are frightful. I went all through Segunda, Aguilar, Delaqua [Delagua] and Ludlow and several other places and the poor wretches are in a sad plight. However, we are encouraging them all we can. I suggested to Frank [Hayes?] that while the Industrial Commission is in session in New York it would be well for us to have meetings in Brooklyn, New York, Jersey and all around to keep the thing alive while we are going. We must let Rockefeller know and the government in Washington that the working people are demanding to be heard.
By request of Mrs. Harriman I spent a couple of hours with her before she left for Washington. I had quite a long conversation on Industrial conditions with her. I look upon her as a very strong character and hope for something to come from her ability in the future. I have been down all through the coal fields in the south and I leave again tonight. Lord, the conditions that confront us here in Colorado are beyond description. These poor wretches have nothing, at best, and now that the relief is being restricted, it is creating a spirit of discontent and we have to meet it as best we can. They beat up Street down in Routte [Routt] County. They gave him an awful hammering in the head. They threatened everybody but me and I presume they will begin to threaten me, by and bye. I will be in Washington about the first of the year. I will talk things over with you at that time. I hope you are feeling better. You looked miserable when you left here and I regretted to see you leave that night. Frank went east of Sunday night. He went to Indianapolis. I think they are having a meeting there to discuss the Ohio strike. I want to have a long talk with you on some things when we get together. I feel sorry for Frank. He seemed to have the blues when he left. There is no use in our getting discouraged about anything. The storm and sunshine comes and goes and the fight must still go on.
I wrote to Mr. and Mrs. McBride today and if you see them, give them my regards.
Are you going home for Christmas? I see that Farrington has got to the helm in Illinois [Frank Farrington elected president of District 12, UMW]. Now there is going to be war, unless the thing gets straightened up by next April, and it don't look as if it will. You know McDonald [Duncan McDonald] has no use for Farrington, and then Germer [Adolph Germer] has his machine, and between the whole of them, the office seekers and glory hunters, the poor wretches off of whose backs they live will have to pay the bill. Strange that men cannot feel for those who trust them. I want to tell you that unless this thing is cleaned up and the leeches are put where they belong the Miners' Organization will go to pieces.
Well, I must close, as I am tired and must leave tonight for Trinidad.
Loyally yours,
Mother Jones
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SOURCE
The Correspondence of Mother Jones
-ed by Edward M Steel
U of Pittsburgh Press, 1985
See also:
For more on visit of Mother Jones and James Lord with the President:
"Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Meets with President, Suggests Mines be Closed Down or Taken Over" by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/...
IMAGES
Mother Jones in Washington, DC
http://www.loc.gov/...
Hayes, Doyle, & Lord in Washington, DC
http://www.flickr.com/...
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IN HONOR OF HELEN SCHLOSS, THE RED NURSE
The Rebel Girl - Hazel Dickens
She's the Rebel Girl, the Rebel Girl,
She's the working class, the strength of this world.
From Maine to Georgia you'll see
Her fighting for you and for me.
Yes, she's there by your side
With her courage and pride,
She's unequaled anywhere.
And I'm proud to fight for freedom
With a Rebel Girl.
-Joe Hill and Hazel Dickens
"The Rebel Girl" as written by Joe Hill
http://www.folkarchive.de/...
A Tribute from Big Bill:
M. Helen Schloss, who is shown behind the bars on the cover, is of Spartan mold, a Socialist of four years' standing; well known at the Rand school in New York. She came to Little Falls and took a position with the Twentieth Century Club, a fashionable charity association to investigate tuberculosis, which is prevalent among the mill workers. When the strike began, she took up the cause of the women on the firing line and joined forces with them. This lost her a salaried position and landed her in jail where she was held for eleven days. She was charged with inciting to riot and is only now enjoying her freedom under bond of $2,000.
From "On the Picket Line at Little Falls, New York, Illustrated," by Big Bill Haywood:
International Socialist Review of Janurary 1913
(search with title above and choose p.519)
http://books.google.com/...
Featured in a novel, The Red Nurse, by Michael Cooney:
This novel tells the story of the Little Falls textile strike of 1912 from the perspective of one of its leading participants, M. Helen Schloss. She was a public health nurse and an active socialist before she came to Little Falls, New York at the invitation of a group of wealthy women. When workers at the Phoenix and Gilbert textile mills struck against wage cuts in October, she was ready to support them in every way she could.
The Red Nurse
-by Michael Cooney
Createspace Independent Pub, 2012
http://books.google.com/...
(see link also for image of book cover)
Note: I believe that this is the last we will see of the courageous Nurse, Helen Schloss. I have searched ahead and have not found any further information on her activities in support of the labor movement. I would welcome any sourced information on the life of Helen Schloss.
In Solidarity,
JayRaye
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