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Monday February 28, 1916
From The Masses: The Munition Maker & Uncle Sam

This month's Masses expressed a few thoughts on the war now raging in Europe. We found the following drawing by Art Young to be especially relevant.

"It's a Great Country" by Art Young:

The munition maker has made us hated in Europe, and now we must buy munitions
from him to defend ourselves against that hatred.
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Sunday February 27, 1916
The Great War in Europe and the Mass Slaughter of Working Class Sons Considered

United Mine Workers Journal, Cover of February 3, 1916:

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Monday February 14, 1916
From the International Socialist Review: Frank Bohn on Preparedness

In the February edition of the Review, Comrade Bohn offered some thoughts on the issue of preparedness:

PREPAREDNESS

A Speech Delivered at Carnegie Hall, New York, Jan. 5th, 1916
By FRANK BOHN
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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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Tuesday January 25, 1916
From the Chicago Day Book: Report on an Interview with Mother Jones

Mother Jones was recently in the city of Chicago and was interviewed by a reporter on various topics. Monday's Day Book gave the following account of what Mother had to say:

"MOTHER" JONES CALLS FOR HAPPY HOMES
IN AMERICA
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There will be no strike in the soft coal fields if the present demand for soft coal keeps up, Mother Jones told a Day Book reporter Sunday. She says operators are expected to give in to the demands of the unions this spring. "Mother" left Chicago Sunday for Indianapolis, where last week she brought the two warring factions of United Mine Workers of America together.

[She says:]

The outlook is not so promising in anthracite fields...Operators are not expected to give in to demands of miners. Strike is likely.

Thousands of tons of coal have been stored away by railroads. Some industries have contracted for delivery for months in advance, fearing an industrial struggle.

Mother Jones is hopeful in general. She sees better wages and better working conditions for American workingman. She thinks the "little revolt" in Youngstown taught money kings a lesson. She expects more voluntary increases like 10 per cent raise in steel industry.

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Thursday January 20, 1916
From The Outlook: Speculations on Causes of Youngstown Strike & Riot

From The Outlook of January 19th:

YOUNGSTOWN: THE STRIKE
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Ohio National Guard on duty in ruins of East Youngstown.
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If it is true, and we have not seen it contradicted, that the battle in Youngstown, Ohio, in which several men were shot dead and many others wounded was one between detectives hired by employers, and strikers, and was on the public street, then that fight and those deaths were a disgrace to town, county, and State. Private detectives, hired by one party to a quarrel, are not the guardians of public order; they correspond rather to the paid bravos of mediaeval private war.

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Monday January 17, 1916
Brooklyn, New York - Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Lectures on Limitation of Birth

Saturday's Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that the I. W. W. organizer, Gurley Flynn, addressed a Brooklyn audience Friday evening on the subject of birth control. As is usual when covering events conducted by members of the Industrial Workers of the World, the Eagle must first begin by mocking the event before briefly describing Miss Flynn's presentation:

FEE ROUTS AUDIENCE AT FLYNN SEX TALK
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Girl Orator's Listeners, Mostly Juveniles,
Exit When Money Is Sought.
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About a half-hundred half-grown boys and girls with a sprinkling of adults listened with avid interest to a talk by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the I. W. W. leader, on the subject of limitation of births last night. The meeting was held in Plaza Hall, Grand and Havemeyer streets, with the avowed intention of teaching poor mothers to improve their economic condition. The interest continued until an effort was made to collect the 15-cent fee, with which it was hoped to defray the expenses of the lecture, when there was a rush to get out.

The lecturer scheduled for the evening was Mrs. Margaret H. Sanger, who is expounding her doctrine on the subject taken up by Miss Flynn in various parts of the country. She was ill, however, and could not keep her engagement. Dr. Frank Harris made an address touching upon the same subject from the view point of a medical practitioner. Dr. Joseph Slavitt presided.

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Saturday January 8, 1916
From The Day Book: "Bosses Seek to Oust Governor Who Backed Miners"

Friday's Day Book reported that the Copper Bosses are out to have Governor Hunt of Arizona recalled. The governor has consistently refused to allow the mine operators to import gunmen and scabs in order to break the strike, now ongoing, against the Clifton-Morenci Co., owned by Phillips-Dodge & Co. The Copper Bosses refuse to meet with the miners, and, instead prefer to initiate a recall campaign against the Governor. The article states:

The companies refuse arbitration or any consideration of the men's demands.

From the Chicago Day Book of January 7, 1916:

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Tuesday December 28, 1915
From the Appeal to Reason: Socialist Legislators from Three Nations Seek to End the War

From the Christmas Day edition of the Appeal comes the news that Socialists from the legislative bodies of Great Britain, Germany, and the United States have asked for an end to the war now raging in Europe:

Socialists Ask to End War in Parliament of Three Nations
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Great Britain

On December 8, 1915, Philip Snowden, Socialist member of House of Commons, called upon the British Prime Minister for a statement as to the possibility of ending the war. This was Asquith's reply made in Parliament:

If proposals of a serious character for a general peace are put forward by the enemy governments either directly or through a neutral power they will be discussed by the allied governments.

Asquith thinks it is a sign of weakness for his country to begin peace negotiations. If that view is taken by all seriously and adhered to nothing but death of all the soldiers at the front could possibly end the war. Somebody must begin. Why not Great Britain?