AN AMERICAN LABOUR LEADER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13235, 21 July 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

AN AMERICAN LABOUR LEADER.

John Mitchell, the American labour leader, receives,.' as president Xof the . United Mine Workers, a salary pf £600 per year. Mitchell was born ' in Braidwood, 111., 35 years ago. His father, who was a native of Ireland, and who' had been miner, farmer, and soldier in the Civil War, died when the boy was six years '• of age. His mother, having predeceased her husband four years, and he having married again, young Mitchell was left in care of a stepmother. His •' early " education consisted in. a few weeks ; at school fox- three or four years, as. he could not be spared from his work at home, which was largely in caring for his younger half-brothers and sisters. At ten years of age the boy ran away from home and \ went to work oh a farm. At the age. of thirteen he entered. the mines as a door boy, and he joined .'the Knights of Labour at fifteen. He then read and studied nights, Bellamy's " Looking Backward" and Spencer's " Social Statics" forming strong impressions upon his mind. Before he was of age young Mit- . chell made two trips to the West, and worked in the mines of Colorado and New Mexico, returning to the place of his birth to marry, and soon afterwards moving to his present home :in Spring Valley. Mitchell became a member of the United Mine Workers on the formation of the organisation in 1890. v He was soon afterwards made secretary of his sub-district .organisation, and then rose to the position of national organiser. In January, 1892, in his 29th year, he was elected national vicepresident, and on the resignation of President Ratchford during the year was appointed acting-president. The following January he was elected president, and he has been unanimously re-elected every year since. .;':.'-.',",■ . y:". -- ■"';.':>■ : - ,: -;'. It is always interesting when a man has achieved prominence as a ; leader of men in great crises to know how he has reached that position, which comes to some by striving and is forced upon others. Mitchell seems to be what is known as "a, born leader.". In -an able sketch of the president of the United Mine Workers by his private secretary, Miss Elizabeth Catharine Morris, we. find some information on this point.! " President of an athletic club of young coal miners or Braidwood, his home town, at the . age of sixteen, John Mitchell has been the president or the leading spirit of some progressive movement ever since," writes Mies Morris.' "He has entered no" department of human interest in which he has not soon, forced to the front and become the leader, the presiding officer, the -one to .whom all looked for guidance and advice. In his young manhood he became interested in various literary and debating societies, but it was always as president of these societies that he" was known, and when later he took up the more serious duties of citizenship he served as . president of the Board of ' Education of Spring Valley, 111., the town which;was then and is now his home. His ready wit, his logic and his facility . in debate helped him to prominence in the small circle of village life, as his magnetism, his fairness and his resourcefulness have brought him forward m the world of work and made him a figure unique in the industrial history of the nation." "" - , .The leader of the coal strikers is not a man of striking appearance. He-js rather belc#r than above medium .height, and would not, at first glance, attract attention in a crowd. Yet as one studies: bis features the impression grows .lie is a ■■'■ man out of the- ordinary run :of men. The unusual length from the point, of the law to'the ear. denotes resolution.:; There is character in the broad, prominent nose, and .intelligence in the high forehead and serene \ eyes, arid; while Re obviously does not underrate his own;importance,: lie illustrates a nice distinction once made .by Charles Reade. his vanity is in his heart and not in his countenance. Mitchell's manner is democratic to the last degree.; ■He if entirely without "side" and he does not allow , his dignity- to become a burden. Miss Morris says of him: "No miner grimy with the dust of the pit. no cowboy or > mule-feeder who comes to him'fails to receive a, pleasant greeting and the word of advice desired."- :'- : --^ : ";.'S;;>:, ! ! ,: '; ; ';s ; ; !; '';''-S:Li' y ''';; : ":' ;^;v;'r^'.;'! '^';;c''