If they hire gunmen to beat up these girls,
who are the mothers of the future,
then I say to them we'll have to defend ourselves.
We wouldn't be good Americans if we didn't.
I say, "Go to it. We'll fight."
-Mother Jones
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Thursday October 21, 1915
Chicago, Illinois - Mother Jones Arrives to Aid Strikers, Testifies Before City Council
Garment Workers Parade in Chicago on October 12th
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Mother Jones arrived in Chicago on Saturday to lend her aid to the striking garment workers in their struggle for a living wage and shorter hours. She was found on Tuesday testifying before Ald. Utpatel's special council committee where she made the following statement:
If I were mayor...I'd find a way to close down the factories of the men who won't pay living wages.
I do know from these girls that they get only 8 cents an hour, and that don't even pay car fare. If they hire gunmen to beat up these girls, who are the mothers of the future, then I say to them we'll have to defend ourselves. We wouldn't be good Americans if we didn't. I say, "Go to it. We'll fight."
I've prevented violence again and again. I've gone into saloons to tell the men to go on home, but violence is necessary sometimes.
If they'd give the salaries of the military and the gunmen to the workers they might avoid a strike. We don't want any of their miserable charity; what we want is just plain American Justice.
From the Decatur Daily Review of October 17, 1915:
"MOTHER" JONES
CHICAGO STRIKERS
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Noted Labor Advocate to
Help Garment Workers.
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Chicago, Oct. 16.-"Mother" Jones, noted labor advocate, was expected to arrive in Chicago tonight to assume charge of the campaign on behalf of the 15,000 or more garment workers, who have been on strike for three weeks, demanding more pay and recognition of the union. She was to address a half score of midnight cabarets Sunday night in the interests of the strike fund.
The Aldermanic committee which has been investigating the strike and its cause and solution today announced that they had failed in their efforts to persuade the manufacturers to discuss arbitration.
There were a number of arrests today and several small riots, but no one was seriously hurt.
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[Photograph added.]
From the Chicago Daily Tribune of October 20, 1915:
GARMENT GIRLS TELL ALDERMEN
OF MEAGER PAY
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Some Workers Show Envelopes to Prove
They Get 7 to 8 Cents and Hour.
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The pay envelopes which some of the striking clothing workers received were introduced in evidence before Ald. Utpatel's special council committee yesterday to prove that in certain cases girls receive from 7 to 8 cents an hour for their work. Sidney Hillman, leader of the strikers, produced 150 of the envelopes issued at the East Chicago shop of Rosenwald & Weil.
[He said:]
This evidence cannot be controverted...on these envelopes is printed the number of hours worked and the pay received. The envelopes are made up by the time keeper for the company. They are not from one department or for one kind of work, but for many sorts of work. This pay was not given for work by the day but indicates the actual per hour scale in force the year round.
Girl Insulted by Foreman.
One of the girls from the Rosenwald & Weil shop, Mandy Spilen of 1203 One Hundred and Forty-ninth street, testified she had been improperly approached by a foreman of the shop. Her testimony was given in answer to Ald. Utpatel's question regarding the moral effect of low wages.
[She testified:]
He tried to make dates with the girls for himself and his friends in Chicago.
Her testimony was borne out by Kate Gozder, a worker in the same shop, who said she was obliged to pay 5 cents a week for drinking water. In the busy season, she said, her wages were $8 a week; in slack time, $3. She worked from 6 a. m. to 7 p. m. in the busy season, she said, though she was not permitted to punch the clock till 7:30 a. m.
Mother Jones Protests.
Mother Jones was another witness. She protested against a growing militarism directed against working men. She admitted having come to Chicago so recently as Saturday, and consequently, she said, she had no ground for discussing the present situation.
[She said:]
If I were mayor...I'd find a way to close down the factories of the men who won't pay living wages.
I do know from these girls that they get only 8 cents an hour, and that don't even pay car fare. If they hire gunmen to beat up these girls, who are the mothers of the future, then I say to them we'll have to defend ourselves. We wouldn't be good Americans if we didn't. I say, "Go to it. We'll fight."
I've prevented violence again and again. I've gone into saloons to tell the men to go on home, but violence is necessary sometimes.
If they'd give the salaries of the military and the gunmen to the workers they might avoid a strike. We don't want any of their miserable charity; what we want is just plain American Justice.
No representatives of the employers attended the hearing.
The strike situation also occupied the attention of the committee on schools, fire, police, and civil service. Reports submitted by Ald. Buck and Ald. Kennedy pointed out that an undefined hatreds exists between police and strikers as the result of traditional mismanagement of strikes by the police department. Neither report was adopted by the committee, despite protests from Ald. McCormick, Buck, and Kennedy, on the ground that the committee could only consider the report of a proposed subcommittee which had never been appointed.
-----
[Photographs added.]
~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
The Daily Review
(Decatur, Illinois)
-Oct 17, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Chicago Daily Tribune
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Oct 20, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
Chicago Garment Workers Strike,
Parade on Oct 12, ISR of Nov 1915
https://books.google.com/...
Mother Jones, Boston Glob, Jan 30, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Chicago Garment Workers Strike,
proof of starvation wages, ISR, Nov 1915
https://books.google.com/...
We Shall Fight Until We Win, ISR,
Nov 1915, Chicago ACW Strike
https://books.google.com/...
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, emblem
https://books.google.com/...
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I Am A Union Woman-Deborah Holland
I am a Union Woman
As brave as I can be.
I do not like the bosses
And the bosses don't like me.
Aunt Molly Jackson
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