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Above: Large numbers of children worked in factories during the Progressive Era.

The Labor Movement in the Early 1900s

the new century brought dramatic changes for west virginia’s workers. In urban areas, new industries brought new job opportunities as companies moved to the Mountain State to take advantage of the newly discovered natural resources. In places like Clarksburg and Fairmont, where oil and natural gas were found, steel- and glass-making factories appeared. Wheeling and Huntington were adding industries, and, on the Kanawha River, the chemical industry was emerging. Statewide, the construc-tion industry was booming.

But, with this growth came certain problems. In the early 1900s, unskilled employees in factories and manufacturing plants earned 10 cents an hour and worked 12-hour days. Many of these workers were children. Across the nation, weekly pay was less than $10. Workers could hardly provide for their families and had little hope of things getting better.

Similar conditions existed in West Virginia’s coal mines. Miners endured unsafe working condi-tions and worked long hours with little pay. During the Progressive Era, reformers called for changes to make workplaces safer and give workers higher wages and shorter work days. This resulted in the growth of labor unions, in numbers and power.

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As you read, look for• reasons for the difficulty in organizing miners throughout

West Virginia;• the role of Mary Jones in mining disputes;• the establishment of the WVFL;• examples of unsafe working conditions in the mines;• reasons for the 1912 strike;• examples of violence associated with mining strikes;• labor during and after World War I;• terms: general strike, common law, scrip, evict,

martial law, guerrilla warfare, ultimatum, collective bargaining.

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growth of the united mine workersIn 1902, the United Mine Workers took a major step forward for all

unions. Early mining strikes were usually local, directed against just one company. Because many workers lived in isolated towns that were

controlled by coal companies, expanding union membership throughout the whole state was very difficult. Organizing was also difficult because some miners simply op-posed unionization. For some, belonging to a union provided an opportunity to fight for legal and economic gains; others, however, feared that joining a union would lead to their being blacklisted.

The UMWA, however, was committed to carrying out its plan to organize the state. As a result, the union called for a general strike (one involving all unionized mines) to bring about union recognition in the Pittsburgh Bed, Allegheny/Kanawha, and New River/Pocahontas fields. During this strike, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, called “the miner’s angel,” made the first of many appearances in the coalfields to help organize the min-ers. Her presence proved to be a powerful weapon against the mine owners.

Mary Harris Jones was born in Cork, Ireland. She was a teacher in Michigan and Tennessee and later operated a dressmaking shop in Chicago. When her husband and children died from yellow fever, she decided to dedicate her life to the labor movement. She first became a member of the UMWA in 1891.

Mother Jones was an excellent public speaker who was devoted to helping the

miners win their war against the companies. When confronted with a strikebreaker or judge, she could control the situation with her quick, witty, and sometimes profane answers. Mother Jones was often the target of company injunctions, which she usually defied. On one occasion, she even spent time in jail for her union activities.

In the Pittsburgh Bed fields, injunctions stopped the miners’ efforts; as a result, only about 25 percent of the miners in the state actually went on strike in 1902. Although the strike was not successful statewide, the UMWA did obtain contracts in some areas that led to ten years of labor peace. Union efforts, for example, led to a new contract in the Kanawha fields. Because of this success, coal operators intensified their efforts against the unions. Coal owners used an old common law provision (an

Something Extra!Mary Jones may have been given the name “Mother” because she was like a stern and loving parent who stood beside the miners and suffered for their cause.

Opposite Page: Mary Harris Jones was known affectionately as “Mother” and “the miners’ angel.” Below: Private guards were hired to prevent trespassing and protect the coal operators’ property.

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unwritten law based on earlier court decisions) to take away the min-ers’ right to organize. The operators also hired private, armed guards in increasing numbers and paid off deputy sheriffs.

the west virginia Federation of laborSome local labor groups believed the state’s workers needed a greater

political voice. To this end, a group of people met in Huntington in Febru-ary 1903 and organized the West Virginia Federation of Labor (WVFL), which represented fifty-seven different crafts, including the United Mine Workers of America. By 1906, the WVFL had sixty-five locals and a total membership of 6,000. The WVFL pushed for laws to protect workers’ rights, to provide compensation for workers injured on the job, and to stop the use of children in factories. Within a decade, the WVFL became an important force in the state’s politics.

The effectiveness of the WVFL, however, was tied to the success of the United Mine Workers. Miners continued to protest against the companies’ use of private guards and the dangerous and poor working conditions they had to endure. The practice of using private guards was so com-mon that Governor William Dawson referred to them in his message to the Legislature in 1907. Although he noted that guards were used to protect property and prevent trespassing, he also acknowledged, “Many outrages have been committed by these guards, many of whom appear to be vicious and dare-devil men who seem to add to their viciousness by bull-dozing and terrorizing people.”

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Little attention was paid to the dangers of the mines, including the explosions and roof falls that were common causes of death and injury. Then, in December 1907, West Virginia was the scene of one of the worst disasters in coal mining history. At Monongah, in Marion County, 361 men were killed in an explosion. Because of the lack of employee records and the fact that miners’ sons often helped load coal, some historians believe that perhaps as many as 500 miners died in the explosion.

The Monongah disaster is important in mining history because it led to the first calls for federal safety regulations in the mines. In 1910, the U.S. Congress created the Bureau of Mines to improve health and safety in the industry. However, because the Bureau was not given the power to inspect and close mines, it really did little but collect statistics. During the decade following the disaster at Monongah, the UMWA joined with the WVFL in taking the first steps to pass laws to prevent future accidents.

gROwINg vIOleNCeThe founding of the West Virginia Federation of Labor came at the

end of an era. Industry was changing. Companies were building larger and larger factories and becoming mechanized (replacing craftsmen with machines that required little skill to operate). At the same time, millions of immigrants were flocking to America, fleeing poverty and harsh governments in Italy, Russia, Hungary, and other parts of Europe. Many of these immigrants came without skills or money. They had to take the first jobs offered in their new country at whatever wages were available. The immigrants also competed for the new jobs being created by mechanization. Company owners felt the time was right to rid their factories of unions and the improved wages and working conditions they had brought.

Below: Miners from Cabin Creek were evicted from their housing and set up temporary tent colonies like the one at Holly Grove on Paint Creek.

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For a decade after the United Mine Workers organized the mines along the Kanawha River in 1902, there was labor peace. But in April 1912, coal companies on Paint Creek in Kanawha County refused to renew the 1902 union contract. As a result, the miners went on strike to ask for a nine-hour work day and to be paid in U.S. currency rather than company scrip (tokens or paper certificates used instead of money). The companies, in turn, evicted (forced out) the striking miners and their families from the company houses. Miners from Cabin Creek, who joined the strike, were also evicted from company housing. The evictions led the miners and their families to set up temporary tent colonies along roads and at Holly Grove on Paint Creek.

The mining companies, worried about their property, hired a number of mine guards from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency. Two armed groups—the company guards and the miners—faced each other on Paint and Cabin creeks. The fragile peace between the two groups ended on July 25, 1912, when a confrontation took place at Mucklow (now Gal-lagher) on Paint Creek. Before the day ended, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of shots were fired; twelve miners and four guards were dead.

The fighting continued off and on until September 2. Governor William Glasscock reacted by declaring martial law (using military forces to keep order when civilian authority breaks down). At least 1,200 members of the state militia arrived and imposed curfews, took guns away from min-ers, and outlawed union meetings. The militia also helped the companies evict strikers from company housing and protected scabs who were ar-riving on special trains paid for by the companies. Miners arrested by the militia were tried, not by a judge and jury but by a military commission. Hundreds of miners were sentenced to jail.

Something Extra!Each coal company issued its own scrip, which was usually only accepted at the company store.

Above: When the armored train known as the Bull Moose Special rode into the miners’ camp, gunfire broke out, killing one man and wounding sixteen. Opposite Page: Coal companies sometimes got injunctions to keep unions from interfering with mine operations.

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As the strike dragged on into 1913, the miners resorted to a type of guerrilla warfare (harassment or attacks by small, independent groups). Mother Jones returned to the coalfields and encouraged the miners to fight back against the guards and to defy martial law.

In early February, the miners attacked three coal camps to prevent scabs from working the mines. One company worker was killed and several were wounded. The sheriff, his posse, and the guards tracked the miners back to the tent city at Holly Grove. Then, on February 7, Baldwin-Felts guards, Kanawha County Sheriff Bonner Hill, and coal operator Quinn Morton rode an armored train, known as the Bull Moose Special, toward the miners’ camp. As the train approached Holly Grove, gunfire erupted. One man was killed and up to sixteen other persons were wounded. Each side accused the other of firing first, but no one was ever brought to trial. On February 12, Mother Jones, even though she was perhaps 83 years of age and ill, was placed under house arrest in Pratt and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. A new military court tried her, along with more than twenty others. Those who were convicted received sentences of ten to twenty years in prison.

Papers across the United States carried news of the mine wars. Many who read the stories were appalled by the events. A senator from Indiana sponsored a resolution in Congress calling for an investigation into the use of armed guards and military tribunals.

On March 4, 1913, before the violence ended, Governor Glasscock’s term as governor ended. Henry Hatfield succeeded Glasscock and inher-ited the responsibility for ending the strike. Governor Hatfield attempted to end the violence by reducing the long jail terms set by the military commissions, including that of Mother Jones. To settle the strike, he also gave both the coal companies and the union an ultimatum (a final state-ment of terms offered by one party to another with the threat of force if the offer is not accepted). The threat brought the strikers and companies together and, on May 1, 1913, they finally reached an agreement. Under its terms, the miners would work nine-hour days and be paid twice a month. They were also allowed to shop at noncompany stores and have a check weighman on hand if they so desired to verify the amount of coal they mined.

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wORlD wAR I BRINgS PeACe tO the mINeSOther unions in West Virginia faced difficult struggles to hold onto their

members. In the steel industry, the skilled workers and their unions had disappeared. In the glass indus-try, machines had replaced most craftsmen. In mechanized facto-ries, it was difficult to convince workers to join unions despite their harsh working conditions. No laws protected a worker’s right to join a union, and the new machines made it easy for companies to train new workers if their employees went on strike.

In 1907, the Hitchman Coal and Coke Company in Benwood, Marshall County, got an injunc-tion to keep the UMWA from interfering with the operation of the company’s mines. A circuit court judge in Moundsville set a precedent by supporting the right of coal companies to ban their employees’ participation in organizing activities. The UMWA appealed the injunction. Ten years later, in December 1917, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Hitchman decision and, in so doing, legalized yellow-dog contracts.

Because of such opposition to unions, some workers looked for radical (extreme) alternatives. In the Clarksburg, Star City, and Kanawha County coalfields, many workers decided to become actively involved in politics as a way of having their voice heard. Some workers voted for the Social-ist Party, which wanted government to take control of industries and operate them in ways that would benefit all people, not just the owners. Some workers joined the Industrial Workers of the World, which hoped to convince all industrial wage earners to take over the factories in which they worked and run them for their own benefit.

World War I resulted in a different relationship between government and labor. The government wanted to maintain labor peace so as not to disrupt the war efforts. To that end, the government decided that one of the best ways to maintain peace was to encourage collective bargaining (a process where unions and companies negotiate with each other for wages and working conditions). With this government support, the labor movement grew rapidly during the war. Workers, in companies that had once fought unions, now joined unions and won benefits, including an eight-hour workday, job security, and the right to fair and equal treatment. These unions also included women and minorities.

Something Extra!Trade union membership almost doubled from 1915 to 1920.

Above: Members of a steelworkers’ union meet before preparing to strike.

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lABOR uNIONS AFteR wORlD wAR IDuring World War I, both the coal companies and the miners con-

centrated on meeting the increasing demands for fuel. When the war ended, however, business owners decided they could increase profits by eliminating collective bargaining. In industries throughout the country, employers refused to renew union contracts. In the glass industry, West Virginia businesses finally got rid of the craft union rules. Railroad workers fought a long, costly strike that almost destroyed their unions.

The course of world events made it difficult for workers to keep their unions intact. A revo-lution in Russia and uprisings in Germany and Italy frightened Americans who remembered that some workers had been linked to social-ism and other radical groups before the war. When unions made up of steelworkers, meat packers, and even police went on strike in 1919 to defend the rights they had won during the war, businessmen predicted that a revolution

was coming. In an effort to control fear and possible violence, the West Virginia government passed laws that limited the freedom of unions. The government also established the state police. Then, when steelworkers tried to form a union in the northern panhandle, the governor ordered the police to chase all union organizers into Ohio.

Reviewing the Section

Reviewing the Content

1. Why was it difficult to organize state workers into unions in West Virginia?

2. Where was the WVFL organized? What reforms did the WVFL support?

3. Why was there labor peace during World War I?

using the Content

Write a letter to the owner of a coal company in West Virginia during the Progressive Era. List and prioritize problems that exist in the mines and propose solutions for each.

extending the Reading Skill

On page 555, read the last paragraph on the page. Identify what context clues tell you about the benefits unions secured for their workers.

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History by the Highway

Rowan Memorial HomeMore than two hundred years ago, visitors came to western Virginia to visit the natural mineral

springs. One favorite place was Sweet Springs, located in what is now Monroe County. After the American Revolution, William Lewis began to develop Sweet Springs as a health resort. The Sweet Springs Hotel Building, constructed in 1839, resembles buildings designed by Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia.

The Sweet Springs property changed hands a number of times from the early 1800s until 1941. For a time, the State of West Virginia operated a clinic there. It was then converted to a personal care home for West Virginia residents. Its name was changed to the Andrew Summers Rowan Memorial Home. Today it is called Jefferson Centre–At Old Sweet. There are plans to renovate the existing buildings on the property.