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Tuesday February 29, 1916
From The Labor World: Porto Rican Strikers Shot Down, Beaten, and Jailed,

The following is a report from the February 26th edition of Duluth's Labor World:

IT HAPPENED UNDER STARS
AND STRIPES
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Porto Rican Laborers Beaten With Cutlasses
As Chattel Slaves of South.
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AMERICAN TERRITORY RUN
BY FEUDAL LORDS
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Workingmen Who Dare to Rebel Given
Long Terms In Prison.
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Sunday February 6, 1916
From the United Mine Workers Journal: John M. O'Neil on Colorado Justice

From the Journal of February 3rd:

The Triumph of Law and Order"
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IT WAS NO CRIME TO KILL AN ORGANIZER.
(By John M. O'Neil.)
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Gerald Lippiatt (Center), Union Organizer & Martyr
``````````

Nearly all the daily journals of the State of Colorado have frequently attempted to defend the fair name of the State and have declared that it was only the pen of the muck-raker that has traduced the reputation of a commonwealth whose people believed in the majesty of the law. The "kept press" has howled with indignation when men, permeated with the spirit of justice, have raised their voice in denunciation of wrong garbed in the veneer of law and order.

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Wednesday February 2, 1916
From the International Socialist Review: A Report on the Youngstown Massacre

This month's edition of the Review offers an overview of the Youngstown Massacre:

Capitalist Violence at Youngstown

By JOHN RANDOLPH

A GANG of gunmen broke loose in Youngstown, Ohio, on the night of January 7. When they got through with the paid job they came to Youngstown to do, three union workingmen were dead, twenty more labor rebels had bullet wounds on their bodies, and somewhere over $1,000,000 worth of property lay smoking in ruins.

Not a life was lost nor a bullet gash received by the enemies of labor, according to reports so far arriving. Of the $1,000,000 and more property destroyed practically all was owned by somebody else than the big steel sheet and tube works, whose workers were on strike.

Look at it. Three working class rebels are dead, murdered by hired gunmen. Who paid the gunmen and where did they come from and what were their orders? Nobody is telling. The one certainty is the dead are dead.

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Monday January 31, 1916
Indianapolis, Indiana - Mother Jones Addresses Convention of United Mine Workers, Part I

Yesterday Hellraisers reported on the speech delivered by Mother Jones during Saturday's afternoon session of the United Mine Workers Convention, now in session in Indianapolis. Today we are pleased to present part one of her speech; we will offer part two in tomorrow's edition of Hellraisers.

ELEVENTH DAY-AFTERNOON SESSION The convention was called to order at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, January 29th, Secretary Green in the chair......

Secretary Green—.....President White will not be here for a little while and, with your permission, we will pause for just a few minutes in our regular order to hear from Mother Jones. She is planning to leave soon and wants to say something to the boys before she leaves.

Mother Jones—Boys, I have looked over this convention from the platform, and I want to give expression to the feeling that in this gathering are men of the most highly developed brains this country can produce. You have come from the picks, but you are developing, and I want to say to you to keep on.

Now I want to call your attention to a few things. Away back in the old Roman age, two hundred years after the world’s greatest agitator was murdered by the ruling class, there arose in Carthage a tremendous agitation among the oppressed, the exploited, those who had borne the burden for ages. The Romans began to be disturbed and thought they would go down to Carthage and capture those who were responsible for the agitation. They went down. All they captured in those days they retained as slaves or sold into slavery. Among the group that was captured was one youth. The Roman judge asked, “Who are you?” The youth said, “I am a member of the human family.” “Why do you agitate?” asked the judge. “Because I belong to that class that has been crushed, robbed, murdered and maligned in all the ages, and I want to break the chains of my class.”

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Wednesday January 24, 1906
From the Reading Times: Mother Jones Speaks to Large Gathering on Socialism

A large crowd gathered in Reading, Pennsylvania, Monday evening to hear Mother Jones speak. Tuesday's Reading Times reported the event:

LABORS' STRUGGLE FOR AN EXISTENCE
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THEME OF EARNEST APPEAL MADE BY "MOTHER" JONES,
BEFORE LARGE AUDIENCE IN THE COURT HOUSE.
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The main room of the Court House was scarce large enough to accommodate the crowd of citizens who gathered there last evening to hear "Mother" Jones expound her theories of socialism. The meeting was held under the auspices of Local Reading, of the Socialist party, and, although the meeting was announced for 8 o'clock, half an hour before that time men and women began to gather and before the hour of opening, every seat in the auditorium was taken and as many were standing as could crowd into the aisles. The space within the bar was also filled with men and women.

As the clock struck the hour of 8, T. J. Netheary, who presided during the session, called the gathering to order and briefly stated the purpose of the meeting. He felt highly honored by so large and intelligent an audience having gathered to hear live issues discussed. The meeting, he said, was being held under the auspices of Socialists, who had met to give vent to the opinions held by millions of people today. Socialism is the same the world over, and represents the only philosophy which, if put into practice, will bring relief to down-trodden mankind. To attain liberty and freedom is the goal of all well thinking people. The only difference is in the method to reach this end. The Socialist is not a pessimist, but verily believes the dawn is coming and is striving heartily to hasten that day.

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Joe Hill on the Writing of Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent:

A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over; I maintain that if a person can put a few cold, common sense facts into a song, and dress them up in a cloak of humor to take the dryness off of them, he will succeed in reaching a great number of workers who are too unintelligent or too indifferent to read a pamphlet or an editorial on economic science.

This is the last of the WE NEVER FORGET series honoring the memory of our Fellow Worker and Rebel Songwriter, Joe Hill. Celebrations of the life and songs of Joe Hill have been going on across the nation. Joe Hill's songs are still being sung one hundred years after the State of Utah attempted to silence him forever. New recordings have been made by many talented singers, so that now, even most of FW Joe Hill's lesser known songs are featured in one or more youtube videos.

Joe Hill Centennial Celebration: Joe Hill's Great-Great Niece, Lovisa Samuelsson
She is playing on the guitar of Utah Phillips which contains some of Joe Hill's ashes.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFrZvjkh2pY width:560 height:315]

More from Centennial Celebration:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joe+hill+centenial+celebration

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Joe Hill was born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden. He immigrated to the United States in 1902 and, at some point, began using the name Joseph Hillstrom. He joined the Industrial Workers of the World, most likely in 1910 in Portland, Oregon, and soon thereafter began writing songs under the name of Joe Hill, eventually becoming the most popular rebel songwriter of his time. His songs were published in the songbook, "I. W. W. Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent," famous then and now simply as the "Little Red Songbook."

By the time of his murder at the hands of the Utah (in)Justice System, Joe's songs were being sung on picket lines all across the nation, in Britain, Australia, and many other far and distant lands, where, after his death, his ashes were scattered to the winds. Perhaps, some fading flowers will yet arise to take up the cause of Industrial Freedom for which Fellow Worker Joe Hill so courageously gave his life.

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