"Agitation—The Greatest Factor for Progress" -Mother Jones
(March 24, 1903)
Source: American Memory, The Library of Congress
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Here is a selection from an address Mother Jones gave to a mass audience
in Toledo's Memorial Hall in 1903, as reported by the Toledo Bee.
"Mother" Jones, known throughout the country and in fact throughout the world as "The
Miners' Angel," addressed a motley gathering of about 1,200 persons in Memorial hall
last night. The lower hall was packed. The gallery was full to overflowing and some even
crowded the steps leading to the building.
"Agitation—The Greatest Factor for Progress" -Mother Jones
(March 24, 1903)
It was truly a motley gathering. The society woman, attracted by mere curiosity to see
and hear the woman who has won such fame as the guardian spirit of the miners; the
factory girl, the wealthy man and his less fortunate brothers, the black man and the
white man, old and young, sat side by side and each came in for a share of criticism.
"Mother" Jones is an eloquent speaker. There is just enough of the down-east accent to
her words to make it attractive and she has the faculty of framing pathetic and beautiful
word pictures. Despite her sixty years and hex gray hairs, she is hale and hearty; has a
voice that reaches to the furthermost corner of almost any hall but it is nevertheless
anything but harsh....
"Fellow workers," she began," 'tis well for us to be here. Over a hundred years ago men
gathered to discuss the vital questions and later fought together for a principle that won
for us our civil liberty. Forty years ago men gathered to discuss a growing evil under the
old flag and later fought side by side until chattel slavery was abolished. But, by the
wiping out of this black stain upon our country another great crime—wage slavery—was
fastened upon our people. I stand on this platform ashamed of the conditions existing in
this country. I refused to go to England and lecture only a few days ago because I was
ashamed, first of all, to make the conditions existing here known to the world and
second, because my services were needed here. I have just come from a God-cursed
country, known as West Virginia; from a state which has produced some of our best and
brightest statesmen; a state where conditions are too awful for your imagination.
"I shall tell you some things tonight that are awful to contemplate; but, perhaps, it is best
that you to know of them. They may arouse you from your lethargy if there is any
manhood, womanhood or love of country left in you. I have just come from a state which
has an injunction on every other foot of ground. Some months ago the president of the
United Mine Workers [John Mitchell] asked me to take a look into the condition of the
men in the mines of West Virginia. I went. I would get a gathering of miners in the
darkness of the night up on the mountain side. Here I would listen to their tale of woe;
here I would try to encourage them. I did not dare to sleep in one of those miner's
houses. If I did the poor man would be called to the office in the morning and would be
discharged for sheltering old Mother Jones.
"I did my best to drive into the downtrodden men a little spirit, but it was a task. They
had been driven so long that they were afraid. I used to sit through the night by a stream
of water. I could not go to the miners' hovels so in the morning I would call the ferryman
and he would take me across the river to a hotel not owned by the mine operators.
"The men in the anthracite district finally asked for more wages. They were refused. A
strike was called. I stayed in West Virginia,' held meetings and one day as I stood talking
to some break-boys two injunctions were served upon me. I asked the deputy if he had
more. We were arrested but we were freed in the morning. I objected to the food in the
jail and to my arrest.When I was called up before the judge I called him a czar and he let
me go. The other fellows were afraid and they went to jail. I violated injunction after
injunction but I wasn't re-arrested. Why? The courts themselves force you to have no
respect for that court.
"A few days later that awful wholesale murdering in the quiet little mining camp of
Stamford took place. I know those people were law-abiding citizens. I had been there.
And their shooting by United States deputy marshals was an atrocious and cold-blooded
"Agitation—The Greatest Factor for Progress" -Mother Jones
(March 24, 1903)
murder. After the crimes had been committed the marshals— the murderers—were
banqueted by the operators in the swellest hotel in Pennsylvania. You. have no idea of
the awfulness of that wholesale murder. Before daylight broke in the morning in that
quiet little mining camp deputies and special officers went into the homes, shot the men
down in their beds, and all because the miners wanted to try to induce 'black-legs'
[strike-breakers] to leave the mines.
"I'll tell you how the trouble started. The deputies were bringing these strikebreakers to
the mines. The men wanted to talk with them and at last stepped on ground loaded down
with an injunction. There were thirty-six or seven in the party of miners. They resisted
arrest. They went home finally without being arrested. One of the officials of the miners'
unions telegraphed to the men. 'Don't resist. Go to jail. We will bail you out.' A United
States marshal. .. sent back word that the operators would not let them use the telephone
to send the message to the little mining camp and that he could not get there before
hours had passed. The miners' officials secured the names of the men and gave their
representatives authority to bail them out of jail the next morning. But when the next
morning arrived they were murdered in cold blood.
"These federal judges, who continue granting injunctions, are appointed by men who
have their political standing through the votes of you labor union fellows! You get down
on your knees like a lot of Yahoos when you want something. At the same time you
haven't sense enough to take peaceably what belongs to you through the ballot. You are
chasing a will-o-the-wisp, you measly things, and the bullets which should be sent into
your own measly, miserable, dirty carcasses, shoot down innocent men. Women are not
responsible because they have no vote. You'd all better put on petticoats. If you like those
bullets vote to put them into your own bodies. Don't you think it's about time you began
to shoot ballots instead of voting for capitalistic bullets.
"I hate your political parties, you Republicans and Democrats. I want you to deny if you
can what I am going to say. You want an office and must necessarily get into the ring.
You must do what that ring says and if you don't you won't be elected. There you are.
Each time you do that you are voting for a capitalistic bullet and you get it. I want you to
know that this man [Samuel Milton] Jones who is running for mayor of your beautiful
city is no relative of mine; no, sir. He belongs to that school of reformers who say capital
and labor must join hands. He may be all right. He prays a good deal. But, I wonder if
you would shake hands with me if I robbed you. He builds parks to make his workmen
contented. But a contented workman is no good. All progress stops in the contented
man. I'm for agitation. It's the greater factor for progress[.]"
Here the speaker changed her attention to the society woman. "I see a lot of society
women in this audience, attracted here out of a mere curiosity to see that old Mother
Jones.' I know you better than you do yourselves. I can walk down the aisle and pick
every one of you out. You probably think I am crazy but I know you. And you society
dudes—poor creatures. You wear high collars to support your jaw and keep your
befuddled brains from oozing out of your mouths. While this commercial cannibalism is
reaching into the cradle; pulling girls into the factory to be ruined; pulling children into
the factory to be destroyed; you, who are doing all in the name of Christianity, you are at
home nursing your poodle dogs. It's high time you got out and worked for humanity.
Christianity will take care of itself. I started in a factory. I have traveled through miles
"Agitation—The Greatest Factor for Progress" -Mother Jones
(March 24, 1903)
and miles of factories and there is not an inch of ground under that flag that is not
stained with the blood of children."
Source: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/motherjonesprogress.html Discussion Questions: 1. Who is the intended audience? 2. What is the purpose? 3. What is the historical context? 4. What is the author’s point-­‐of-­‐view? Description: After the Civil War, American industries grew due to an abundance of raw materials, a large labor supply, technological innovations, ambitious entrepreneurs, expanding domestic markets, and the assistance of the federal government to help the growth of business. Corporations led by John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan attained a great deal of wealth during the second half of the 19th century. This wealth was distributed unevenly throughout the population and it led to the organization of workers into labor unions and the emergence of socialist parties. These unions fought against the exploitation of employees and began to call for better pay, hours, and conditions. Businesses generally had the support of the local, state, and federal governments and the battle against them went well into the 20th century. Several union leaders emerged during this time, including “Mother” Jones. Over the course of 50 years, Jones would fight for the right of workers and advocate for child labor laws. Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1837-­‐1930) was born in County Cork, Ireland. After emigrating to Canada and then the United States, she worked as a teacher and dressmaker. In the 1860s, her four children and husband died during a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee. She then moved to Chicago, where she owned a dress shop, but it burned down during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. These events would change the course of her life. In the 1880s, she began to organize for the Knights of Labor, until their downfall after the Haymarket Square riot in 1886, and the United Mine Workers. Events like the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, led Jones to be more militant in her attacks on business and government. By 1902, she had been deemed the “most dangerous women in America” by West Virginia District Attorney Reese Blizzard. In 1905, she cofounded the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the “Wobblies.” During the course of the Progressive Era, she continued to advance the cause of mine workers in West Virginia and Colorado, including Ludlow. Jones was arrested on several occasions throughout her time as an activist and continued to speak well "Agitation—The Greatest Factor for Progress" -Mother Jones
(March 24, 1903)
into the 1920s. She was well known for being a passionate public speaker using humor and profanity in her speeches. “Mother” Jones also became associated with the fight for child labor laws and led the famous “Children’s Crusade.” Starting on July 7, 1903, she led a march from Philadelphia to Theodore Roosevelt’s summer mansion in New York. Roosevelt refused to meet with the marchers, but it brought the issue to the attention of the American public. The legacy of “Mother “ Jones continued throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. She was the subject of the 1978 book The Scapegoat by Mary Lee Settle and a prominent leftist American magazine is still named after her.