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Show li ?i : 1 j i2 i : 2 i-i J ' !i f LtOador oj7 Miners w, Jchn r.atchfll who Ordered w JJ j t The Great Strike. X. C h? V: r J3 Fl V '?'?$535-: :-y?5M (SpoUl I.e:r) John M.tc'.e !. the m:It of tha fluted M ne Workers of America, la only 31. but he i not look evn that. Like mur.y i-:w mn of force, he la smoi.th-f.irtd. nlm.wt bi!sh In appeal a&cc Kir H wlg-it. nearly 170 pounds, he 1 ra Vt small In stat-nre. stat-nre. He dre.-s nearly, t it not ei-penolvely. ei-penolvely. and usuu'ly ?ars a soft slouch hat. He is a native of Illinois, hav.ng b.-en born in Hraldwood on Keb. 4. 1S0. Hla father waa not only a miner, but a I'nlon soldier, so that mining and plm k run In fcU veins. He wax ! a mere lad when he b-gan supporting j himeif. Hla mother cli-d when be j aaa 2 years old, and nil father died ' four yeais later, and until he waa 10 i yearn old the boy lived with his step-I step-I mother, acquiring what equation bl i meagre circumstances permitted. I Then be cast louse and began to shift for himself. He became a farm laborer, but the mining Impulse waa In him, and at 13 he began bla career aa a coal miner. By IS he was a Knight of Labor. Joining the order at j Bracevllle. 111. He already had I sense of Ibe power that was to be j gained by organization and systema- tiled saltation. Shortly after joining he concluded to eee something of the far west, and traveled to Colorado, New Mexico and other point In the west and southwest, earning his way by digging coal. If returned to 1111- electcd w t'. o.t a rote bring ca-1 against t.ai. so grri! Is Ma popularity. popular-ity. When he reane p--.I r.t tha or-(an or-(an ii:i n nurtiherel 4 .: 0 '0 II now Las 1J iii) men; '..era. Mi : .:! to man of f.i much forcL.ii;:.l and tack keen p rc'ra'.lon that since his prest-demy prest-demy It" tTKatil.'&'.l'in ha bad na fiilures. and has ben eiicea.ful la J all the strikes he has ordored. Consequently Con-sequently he slam's we l will I a rank and (lie of the o-g inliatloa. Oulaide of this, he has hi . n. since ins, tuurtk vice-president of the American SVInr-atlon SVInr-atlon of l'-or. and a member of the executive council. In which be In One of the cime adviscra or Samuel tlma-pers. tlma-pers. He la an active and energ. t.e man outside of hla labor Inte.rnKtii. Whlle a resilient of Hp-'na: Valley he waa president of an slul t-s sa-ocia-. tion and of scwial literary anJ Ji-catlunal Ji-catlunal clul'k. and preKldint cl th board of education, and wa elber-wise elber-wise pr.inilnent In locij nffajra, b'-ing a leader of an lnedepcndeiU uri:UaJ club. His youthful appeaninea baa aTready been remarked upon. Among ta associates. as-sociates. th In lalrir lnlr and l the outside clutu over which ha baa presided. Ms young l,s hav ewr.cd tlm the title of "the boy prtlituiL" His addre as a public irpaXr la rati to be aereeible and Inipreralre, aa ke haa a cle:ir, rvil Tilce and an excellent ex-cellent corrnianil of langnngR. JOHN MITCH Kl.L. i I nuls In the spring of 191. and made hla home at Spring Valley, where, at the age of 22. he niarrled M s C'athcr-I C'athcr-I Ine O Kotirke. Mia. Mluhell and ! their chll'lrcn. three buys and a girl, j no reildc in Spring Valley. ills first office of Importance In con- ! ce- tl n with the Knights of laibor sn ' In the North 1 llnolv siib-dltrtct, of j which, in IviJ. he wan ma le su reia'y-' reia'y-' treasurer. He aas brli;l.t and qul'k-! qul'k-! wlttid. ith a knak for ar;iiment I and a pleasing aidress. which made j ! Ihniie with ahoni be argued listen to j what he had to say. Coniequently. I a year after he be ane se,-rerary-trea- urer he was sent to Sprl'isflfld to j wjrk for mining measures before the ! legislature. Tbla h did wl h s-i-h I pernistenie snd intelligence that lie I secured the paasire of the "gross ; weight" law and the anti-trust laws I These snd other nieaiurei a-hlih aire ! passed at his ln.t;inc made him ei-i ei-i tremely popular. As a result he te-! te-! came. In 1''7. a me-nli. r of the eieca- tlve committee of the Illinois state J organization, and In the same year j waa nia.le an oiganner of the nation- al bo.ly. I Ptep by step be had rtsen to more commanding Importance In labor ! counclie. He took another step up in UI S. hen he w is el.-led vl.e-presl-; dnt of the l iuted M.ne Workers of i America, and he reached the top oi that organization, the prem.lency. i when. In the following September. M. ' D. Rat. hford resicn-d to become a ! member of the national Industrial ' commission. The proud p Hon to which Mitchell hid succeeded became ' hla hy election at PltMhurg In Janu-' Janu-' ary. lVi9. and at the In Uanapolls con- ventlcn. In January. 1SW0. he was re- |
