The New Pieces

So here are my pieces:

This is the speech from Mother Jones. The pieces is broken up into three voices:

Charleston, WV August 15^th, 1912

I want to say,

with all due respect to the Governor —

I want to say to you that the Governor will not,

can not,

do anything,

for this reason:

The governor was placed in this building by Scott and Elkins, and he don't dare oppose them. Therefore you are asking the governor of the State to do something that he can not do without betraying the class he belongs to.

I remember the Governor in a state, when Grover Cleveland was perched in the White House — Grover Cleveland said he would send the federal troops out [to protect the miners], and the Governor of that state said,

"Will you? If you do, I will meet your federal troops with the state troops, and we will have it out."

Old Grover never sent the troops; he took back water...

You see, my friends, how quickly the Governor sent his militia when the coal operators got scared to death...

They wouldn't keep their dog where they keep you fellows. You know that. They have a good place for their dogs and a slave to take care of them.

The mine owners' wives will take the dogs up, and say, "I love you, dea-h" [imitating a mine owner's wife].

My friends the day for petting dogs is gone; the day for raising children to a nobler manhood and better womanhood is here!

You have suffered; I know you have suffered. I was with you nearly three years in this State. I went to jail. I went to the Federal courts, but I never took any back water! I still unfurl the red flag of industrial freedom; no tyrant's face shall you know, and I call you today into that freedom — long perch on the bosom —

[Interrupted by applause.]

I am back again to find you, my friends, in a state of industrial peonage...

We will prepare for the job, just like Lincoln and Washington did. We took lessons from them, and we are here to prepare for the job.

Well, when I came out on the public road [to get to the rally] the superintendent

— you know the poor salary slave —

he came out and told me that there were notaries public there, and a squire —

one had a peg leg —

and the balance had pegs in their skulls!

[Laughter]

They forbid me speaking on the highway, and said that if I didn't discontinue I would be arrested.

Well, I want to tell you one thing, I don't run into jail, but when the bloodhounds undertake to put me in jail I will go there.

I have gone there.

I would have had the little peg-leg squire arrest me, only I knew this meeting was going to be pulled off to-day, to let the world know what was going on in Colorado.

When I get through with them, by the Eternal God, they will be glad to let me alone.

I am not afraid of jails.

We [will] build jails, and when we get ready, we will put them behind the bars!...

Now, brothers, not in all the history of the labor movement have I got such an inspiration as I have got from you here to-day. Your banners are history; they will go down to the future ages, to the children unborn, to tell them the slave has risen, children must be free.

Read more: Mother Jones Speaks to Striking Coal Miners http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/jones-coal-miner/#ixzz13UXtcpUC

And this is the Rockefeller stuff. It has 5 voices:

Official call to go on strike - September 17, 1913

All mineworkers are hereby notified that a strike of all the coal miners and coke oven workers in Colorado will begin on Tuesday, September 23, 1913 … We are striking for improved conditions, better wages, and union recognition. We are sure to win.

John D. Rockefeller Jr. to CF&I vice president Lamont Bowers after beginning of strike - October 1913

We feel that what you have done is right and fair and that the position you have taken in regard to the unionizing of the mines is in the interest of the employees of the company. Whatever the outcome, we will stand by you to the end.

Lamont Bowers to Rockefeller - October 21, 1913

Our net earnings would have been the largest in the history of the company by $200,000 but for the increase in wages paid the employees during the last few months. With everything running so smoothly and with an excellent outlook for 1914, it is mighty discouraging to have this vicious gang come into our state and not only destroy our profit but eat into that which has heretofore been saved.

Rockefeller to Lamont Bowers - Dec. 8, 1913

You are fighting a good fight, which is not only in the interest of your own company but of other companies of Colorado and of the business interests of the entire country and of the laboring classes quite as much. I feel hopeful the worst is over and that the situation will improve daily. Take care of yourself, and as soon as it is possible, get a little let-up and rest.

Federal mediator Ethelbert Stewart comments on the situation - October 1913

Theoretically, perhaps, the case of having nothing to do in this world but work, ought to have made these men of many tongues, as happy and contented as the managers claim … To have a house assigned you to live in … to have a store furnished you by your employer where you are to buy of him such foodstuffs as he has, at a price he fixes … to have churches, schools … and public halls free for you to use for any purpose except to discuss politics, religion, trade-unionism or industrial conditions; in other words, to have everything handed down to you from the top; to be … prohibited from having any thought, voice or care in anything in life but work, and to be assisted in this by gunmen whose function it was, principally, to see that you did not talk labor conditions with another man who might accidentally know your language — this was the contented, happy, prosperous condition out of which this strike grew … That men have rebelled grows out of the fact that they are men.

Rockefeller defends "open shop" before Congressional committee - April 6, 1914

"These men have not expressed any dissatisfaction with their conditions. The records show that the conditions have been admirable … A strike has been imposed upon the company from the outside …

"There is just one thing that can be done to settle this strike, and that is to unionize the camps, and our interest in labor is so profound and we believe so sincerely that that interest demands that the camps shall be open camps, that we expect to stand by the officers at any cost."

"And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?"

"It is a great principle."

New York Times' account of the massacre - April 21, 1914

The Ludlow camp is a mass of charred debris, and buried beneath it is a story of horror imparalleled [sic] in the history of industrial warfare. In the holes which had been dug for their protection against the rifles' fire the women and children died like trapped rats when the flames swept over them. One pit, uncovered [the day after the massacre] disclosed the bodies of ten children and two women.

Rockefeller to Lamont Bowers - April 21, 1914

Telegram received … We profoundly regret this further outbreak of lawlessness with accompanying loss of life.

Socialist writer Upton Sinclair's open letter to Rockefeller - April 28, 1914

I intend to indict you for murder before the people of this country. The charges will be pressed, and I think the verdict will be "Guilty".

I cannot believe that a man who dares to lead a service in a Christian church can be cognizant and therefore guilty of the crimes that have been committed under your authority.

We ask nothing but a friendly talk with you. We ask that in the name of the tens of thousands of men, women and children who are this minute suffering the most dreadful wrongs, directly because of the authority which you personally have given.

Rockefeller's version of the events - June 10, 1914

There was no Ludlow massacre. The engagement started as a desperate fight for life by two small squads of militia against the entire tent colony … There were no women or children shot by the authorities of the State or representatives of the operators … While this loss of life is profoundly to be regretted, it is unjust in the extreme to lay it at the door of the defenders of law and property, who were in no slightest way responsible for it.

Abby Rockefeller to John D. Rockefeller Jr. - September 1914

I am writing more and more to urge you to leave to me the petty details of the houses, places, etc. even though I realize they will not be as well or as inexpensively done; and throw the full force of your thought and time into the big, vital questions that come before you.

Rockefeller's testimony before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations - January 26, 1915

"I should hope that I could never reach the point where I would not be constantly progressing to something higher, better — both with reference to my own acts and… to the general situation in the company. My hope is that I am progressing. It is my desire to."

"You are, like the church says, 'growing in grace'?"

"I hope so. I hope the growth is in that direction."

Rockefeller speaks to the miners - September 20, 1915

We are all partners in a way. Capital can't get along without you men, and you men can't get along without capital. When anybody comes along and tells you that capital and labor can't get along together that man is your worst enemy. We are getting along friendly enough here in this mine right now, and there is no reason why you men cannot get along with the managers of my company when I am back in New York.

United Mine Workers' leader John Lawson comments on Junior's visit to Colorado - September, 1915

I believe Mr. Rockefeller is sincere… I believe he is honestly trying to improve conditions among the men in the mines. His efforts probably will result in some betterments which I hope may prove to be permanent.

However, Mr. Rockefeller has missed the fundamental trouble in the coal camps. Democracy has never existed among the men who toil under the ground — the coal companies have stamped it out. Now, Mr. Rockefeller is not restoring democracy; he is trying to substitute paternalism for it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/sfeature/sf_8.html

So there it is ^_^