The Mesaba Ore and Hibbing News Words Takes on the “Big Fellows” Andrea C

A war of The Mesaba Ore and Hibbing News words Takes on the “Big Fellows” Andrea C. Allard

“State officials have prostituted their offices to gain favor from the Steel barons; federal and-son editors were instrumental in officers sell their souls for a nod; county officers cringe to the buccaneers and village courageously presenting alternative, and city officials kiss the feet of the task-master.” and often unpopular, viewpoints.2 The Atkinsons used the platform his sweeping condemnation vast organization that, through its of the newspaper they owned to print Tof all politicians who supported subsidiaries—in particular, the Oli- what suited them. Their articles fre- the United States Steel Corporation ver Mining Company—owned and quently took a high moral tone, with during the Mesabi Iron Range miners’ operated the mines. Described as “one editorializing replacing objective strike of 1916 was issued by neither of the largest and most violent labor reportage, a common practice in jour- radical union organizers nor striking strikes in Minnesota’s history,” the nalism of that era. By covering the miners. Rather, the writers of this strike was given front-page coverage strike the way they did, the Mesaba fiery diatribe were Claude M. Atkin- in many Iron Range newspapers, the son and his son, Marc, owner/editors majority of which sided with U.S. DR. ALLARD, who grew up in St. Paul, of one small but highly vocal Iron Steel against the miners’ claims. Long Minnesota, recently retired as asso- Range newspaper, the Mesaba Ore and before the strike began, the Mesaba ciate professor in the School of Arts Hibbing News.1 Ore and Hibbing News was unique in and Education at Deakin University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Frequent In the summer of 1916, the Mesabi expressing condemnation and out- childhood visits to her grandparents’ Iron Range was the site of a bloody right loathing of the “Big Fellows”— home in Hibbing stimulated her ongoing showdown between thousands of the mining companies and those who interest in Iron Range history. She striking miners and U.S. Steel, the supported them. As such, the father- returns to visit family in Minnesota regularly, most recently in 2014, when she researched this article. above: Claude M. Atkinson, copublisher and editor of the Mesaba Ore and Hibbing News.

FALL 2016 101 Ore editors revealed themselves to be 25-year-old daughter, Beatrice, wrote but who, the Atkinsons suggested, a hometown force, one that eventu- the weekly social column. Church ser- should be allowed to “march the ally even U.S. Steel Corporation took vices and local events were regularly streets if they want” because, “[a]fter seriously. The newspaper’s support of covered. In the summer of 1916, the a few unmolested marches and a few miners’ rights evolved over the course local news was the strike.4 meetings, the novelty of the thing of the three-and-a-half-month strike. Far from being malcontents, the will have passed—and there will be Eventually, their passionate stance on Atkinsons were first and foremost better feeling all around.” Like many behalf of the miners placed the Atkin- loyal citizens of Hibbing, which they of the papers published on the Range sons themselves in the line of fire. proudly called “the richest village and in Duluth, their initial belief that By the time the strike came to an end in the world.” They enthusiastically the strike would be short-lived and on September 17, rather than simply endorsed as a possible contender for ineffective proved to be a serious reporting the news, they had become the governor’s office Victor L. Power, misjudgment.5 the news.3 who in 1916 was on the second of The Mesaba Ore was happy to pub- what would eventually be 10 terms as licize the striking miners’ demands, village president. As business people, reprinting them on at least four laude Atkinson, an expe- the editors were aware of the need occasions. The strikers’ claims were Crienced and respected news to keep readers and advertisers on straightforward, including demands paperman, had worked on papers in their side. They were initially careful for an eight-hour day that started Wisconsin, Michigan, Wyoming, and in expressing their views concerning from the time miners traveled down Montana before buying the Mesaba the strike. In a tightrope act worthy to the mine or into the open pits, a Ore in 1902, soon after the family of circus performers, on July 1, one minimum wage of $3.00 per day in moved to Minnesota. With son Marc, month after the strike began, the the underground mines, or $3.50 who was 27 years old in 1916, he Atkinsons wrote both in support of for those who worked in wet areas, published the paper once a week, on local businesses whom, they argued, abolishment of the contract system Saturday, from offices at 108 Third “must put up with the bulk of the bur- that required miners to buy their own Avenue in Hibbing. Regular advertis- den” during the strike, as well as the tools and supplies, payday twice a ers included the local drug store, den- striking miners, whom they initially month, and double pay for overtime. tist, jeweler, and hat shop. Claude’s described as “deluded and easily-led” The miners had cause to believe that

In 1916, the Mesaba Ore was published at 108 Third Ave. in Hibbing, possibly in this building (exact address unknown) that Atkinson owned. financial as well as moral support and guidance to the strikers and their families at great personal risk to themselves.9 Many St. Louis County citizens, including the Atkinsons, strongly dis- approved of having representatives of such a radical organization on the Range. The IWW and, in particular, Bill Haywood (who 10 years earlier had been acquitted of the murder of a former governor of Colorado in a con- troversial trial that received national press coverage), had a reputation for anarchy and bloodshed. Many of the Range newspapers invoked Hay- Miners ready to descend into an iron mine. wood’s reputation for using violence during industrial disputes as evidence their demands were justified: with Into the battle came the Industrial of the mayhem and chaos associated World War I into its third year in Workers of the World. Regarded by with the IWW. Despite the fact that Europe, iron ore was a precious com- many as “bizarre and outlandishly Haywood himself never appeared modity, essential for the production revolutionary,” the IWW was a radical on the Range during the strike, the of the steel required for munitions, labor organization founded in 1905. Atkinsons were among those who tanks, and other war supplies. U.S. Historians have described the IWW spoke out against him, criticizing him Steel Corporation, and in particular as “first and foremost an organization as “a strong arm worker of the most its subsidiary, Oliver Mining Com- which sought to organize unskilled pronounced type.” They were pre- pany, were making incredible profits. and semi-skilled workers into indus- pared to add, on July 15, “That there Earnings in the first six months of trial unions for higher wages, shorter are honest and well-meaning men as leaders of the strike movement on the Far from being malcontents, the Atkinsons were Mesaba range there is no room for denial but whatever of good they may first and foremost loyal citizens of Hibbing. create it is promptly destroyed by the Haywood influence.”10 1916 for U.S. Steel were $131 million, hours, and better working condi- Yet, the Atkinsons did not view while the wages of the miners who tions.” Nonetheless, it was feared by the IWW as the greatest villain. That produced the ore fell well below the many. Unlike the conservative, craft- honor went to the Oliver Mining Com- local cost of living in the northern based American Federation of Labor pany. Long before the strike started, United States, and compared poorly (AFL), the “One Big Union” was an the Atkinsons used their paper to to the minimum wages paid to other industrial union committed to direct condemn the “Big Fellows” for trying workers in the country.6 action and prepared to work not only to “wipe Hibbing off the map.” One Initial battle lines were drawn on with unskilled migrants, but also sarcastic paragraph, in the June 24 June 3, 1916, when miner Joe Greeni, women and people of color.8 edition of the paper, succinctly sum- angry at the money subtracted from The IWW had a presence on the marizes the reasons why they held his wages to cover the cost of his Iron Range dating to 1911 and main- U.S. Steel and William James Olcott, tools, walked off the job and took his tained an office in Duluth. “Big” Bill the president of Oliver Mining Com- fellow miners with him. The strike Haywood, head of the IWW, sent pany, in such contempt: soon spread from Aurora and Biwa- organizers to the Iron Range in 1916 bik at the eastern rim of the Mesabi to offer support to the striking min- Less than four years ago, when Range to the mines on the western ers. The organizers were dedicated, the people of Hibbing secured rim, including those near the major and at times confrontational. Over an injunction restraining Mr. towns of Virginia and Hibbing.7 the course of the strike, they offered Olcott’s benevolent company

FALL 2016 103 from blasting the daylights out of Hibbing, Mr. Olcott caused all of his company’s mines within a radius of two miles of Hibbing to be closed down as a punish- ment to the people for daring to interfere with Mr. Olcott and his company. . . . Then, we recall that just a year ago Mr. Olcott’s big hearted organization led a movement wherein the Oliver Iron Mining company and ten other mining concerns operating in this district refused to pay their taxes, in open violation of the law. . . . This effort . . . was to punish the people for having elected to office a man who conducted the affairs of the village in the interest of the people rather than in the interest The “Big Fellows.” L to r, Horace Johnson, president of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad; William of the mining companies.11 James Olcott, president of the Oliver Iron Mining Company; W. J. Filbert, comptroller of U.S. Steel Corporation; and William A. McGonagle, president, Duluth, Missabe Railroad. The man was Victor Power. Because of Power’s leadership, the and the Atkinsons were clear about paper and laying accusations that Oliver Mining Company was forced whom to blame: the “Oliver gun- verged on libelous.14 The Atkinsons to pay their long-overdue back taxes, men.” On the front page of the July 8 also weren’t averse to accusing other saving Hibbing from financial ruin. edition, they announced “Every kill- papers of libel. When the editor of the The early predictions that the ing that has taken place on the range Tower News printed that the Mesaba strike would be short-lived were during the present labor trouble has Ore was “championing the cause” of nullified when, on June 22, a striking been the direct result of interference the IWW, the Atkinsons responded by miner, John Alar of Virginia, was shot by the hired thugs of the mining declaiming: and killed by sheriff’s “deputies”— company.” They asserted that “[i]t has gunmen whose salaries were paid by become the general practice of the That’s a base libel, Dad, and if we the mining company. Alar’s funeral Oliver Iron Mining company’s private didn’t know you for being the served as a rallying point. Over 4,000 policemen to abuse the strikers at good old scout you are, we’d be miners from across the Range gath- every opportunity and wholly with- inclined to take a whack at that ered at the Socialist Hall in Virginia out cause, and the miners don’t like old bald dome of yours. The Ore and marched behind Alar’s casket. that sort of thing any better than any is not championing the I.W.W. Led by IWW organizer Carlo Tresca, other human being.”13 or any red flag outfit because we under a banner that read “Murdered While the hired “thugs” became don’t believe in that sort of stuff. by Oliver Gunmen,” the march was the local face of the hated mining What we are trying to do is to followed by impassioned speeches company, the other organization enter our humble protest against where Tresca demanded “an eye for that the Atkinsons took exception the many abuses practiced by the an eye or a life for a life.” Oddly, the to was the Duluth News Tribune, a mining companies—abuses that weekly Mesaba Ore gave almost no daily newspaper they described as give the I.W.W. and the socialists coverage to Alar’s murder, which “a nobody, toad-eater that cringes at their footholds on the range. Get occurred on the Thursday before its the heels of the Steel Corporation” us right next time, old chap.15 Saturday, June 24, edition, nor did the and “a confirmed liar that nothing July 1 issue cover his funeral, which on earth can move . . . in the right This conversational style and occurred on Monday, June 26.12 direction.” The editors appeared to engagement with the editorials of Now the battle had turned bloody, relish taking on the much larger daily other newspapers was a common

104 MINNESOTA HISTORY of Deputy Sheriff James Myron and an innocent bystander, Tomi Ladvalla, on July 3, 1916, in Biwabik. This clearly offended the Mesaba Ore editors, who spoke out against the unfair treatment of the organizers “arrested for an alleged crime that was committed twenty-five miles away [from where they were]. They are taken without warrant, denied the constitutional right to a hearing within twenty- four hours, railroaded seventy five miles to Duluth in a special train over a Steel corporation railroad, and finally held to the grand jury on the

Image of Victor L. Power, Hibbing village charge of murder.” This critique of the president, and a “Notice to Workingmen” treatment of the IWW men put the signed by Power in the midst of the strike, Atkinsons in the minority of editors from the pages of the Mesaba Ore. on the Range and was indicative of their changing attitudes.19 feature of the Mesaba Ore. As more context. In the July 2 edition they While many other Range papers of their fellow editors attacked the wrote: continued to accuse the IWW of Atkinsons’ outspoken support for the taking money from the strikers to miners, they reprinted and responded The men on strike are the men benefit themselves, the Atkinsons, to the accusations in the Mesaba Ore.16 imported nine years ago [during by mid-July, no longer endorsed this In their repeated condemnations the strike of 1907] to take the place widespread belief. “Notwithstanding of the Duluth News Tribune as the of the Finns, and in those long and all of the noise that has been raised mouthpiece of U.S. Steel and the grinding years they have become by the toad-eating press,” they wrote “un-American” private police force of imbued with a touch of American on July 15, “the fact remains that the mining company, the Atkinsons independence—they have seen the Industrial Workers of the World came dangerously close to being in the cost of living advance about has not asked to be recognized by complete agreement with the IWW two hundred per cent in the nine the mining companies and the only organizers, despite their declared years since they came to work in demands made so far have been for dislike and disapproval of “that the mines of the Mesaba range, the direct benefit of the miners and grafting, cut-throat outfit.” While the while their wages have not been laborers. Keep that in mind.”20 Mesaba Ore, for example, referred to increased to exceed fifty per cent. After the arrest of organizers the Duluth News Tribune as a “toad- Is it, therefore, any wonder they Tresca, Scarlett, and Schmidt follow- eating” newspaper and “a liar,” the listen to the labor agitator?18 ing the clash of July 3, the IWW sent Strikers’ News, an occasional paper Joseph Ettor and Elizabeth Gurley produced by IWW organizers, which The Atkinsons, as the self-declared Flynn to take their places. Flynn was claimed to be the “Official Strike Bul- voice “of the underdog . . . in a nation no stranger to the Range, having letin of the Striking Iron Ore Miners where two per cent of the population worked there during the strike in of the Mesaba Range,” frequently owns sixty per cent of the property,” 1907. Her arrival in mid-July marked referred to the News Tribune as “the appeared to become more radicalized a turning point, at least for the senior Duluth Spittoon.” Like the Atkinsons, as the strike became more violent Atkinson, who proudly announced the producers of the Strikers’ News and abuses of power by the mining in the paper that “‘the old man’ got to were scathing about the “hired thugs” company more extreme. One such shake her hand and was ‘glad of it.’”21 of the mining companies, whom they abuse was the arrest of three IWW Claude Atkinson used the occa- viewed as agent provocateurs.17 organizers, Tresca, Sam Scarlett, and sion of Flynn’s speech in late July to As locals, the Atkinsons were able Joe Schmidt, along with five miners complain of how “the corporation to put current events into historical and one miner’s wife, for the murder newspapers portrayed her as a fiery

FALL 2016 105 anarchist that preached bloodshed As another indication of how more than a desire to toady to the and murder throughout the land, as their views became more radical as Big Fellows—a kind of Rooseveltian a means for adjusting the difference the strike progressed, by the end bluff.” Two weeks later, under the between capital and labor” and then of the summer the Atkinsons were headline “Standing on the Neck quickly added, “but we have found her printing accusations that the giant of the Laborers,” they implied that nothing of the kind, and the mining U.S. Steel Corporation was stealing Burnquist was looking to get himself men and others who were at the meet- the resources that rightfully belonged reelected through his stance. “Obvi- ing with us will verify the statement.” to the people of Minnesota. This ously Governor Burnquist thought he The elder Atkinson waxed poetic seems a radical version of resource saw an opportunity to make himself when declaring that Flynn’s speech ownership under capitalism, an inter- solid with the mining companies was “a message of peace, and full of pretation more in keeping with the which he evidently believed still had encouragement for those who need revolutionary ideals of the IWW, and the power to drive their men to the just such spirits as that of Miss Flynn a stance that goes much further than polls and make them vote according to keep alive the hope within them.” mere support of miners’ claims for to orders, and he played politics— The story was reprinted in the Strikers’ improved wages and conditions.24 using his high office to aid the mining News of Aug. 11, 1916, under the head- The editors’ vilification of the Oli- companies in their great effort to line “Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Makes ver Mining Company and the private grind down the laboring men of the Good Impression. Newspaper Man army of gunmen employed by them Mesaba range.”26 Finds Her Different from What She became even more vociferous as the Bold claims, indeed. Has Been Painted.” That Claude Atkin- summer progressed. On August 5, the Retaliation finally came. In mid- son became a news item in the paper Atkinsons went so far as to state that August, the Duluth News Tribune produced by the IWW became one one of the hired gunmen, Nick Dillon, claimed that the Mesaba Ore and Hib- more piece of evidence used against accused of shooting Tomi Ladvala, bing News, like the feared IWW, was the editors of the Mesaba Ore.22 had been promoted by the mining “anarchistic” in its principles. Being In their eagerness to declare them- companies from being a “bouncer” called out as an anarchist in a news- selves as supporters of the underdog at a brothel because “he is a killer. So paper with the wide circulation of the and to take a stand against U.S. Steel, long as the mining companies can Duluth News Tribune was dangerous the editors’ hyperbole occasionally employ killers that will kill, they want and could have serious consequences. made for inaccurate reportage. For to keep such men as Dillon on their This was only eight months before example, their claim that the corpo- pay-roll.”25 the Minnesota Public Safety Commis- ration newspapers portrayed Flynn as “a fiery anarchist” does not stand The editors’ vilification of the Oliver Mining Company up to close examination. The Duluth and the private army of gunmen employed by them News Tribune, unlike the Mesaba Ore, actually reprinted verbatim a large became even more vociferous as the summer progressed. section of Flynn’s July 20 speech. In their coverage, she was described as And the Atkinsons did not stop sion was established to root out those “the personal representative” of Bill there. Also in their sights was Gov- deemed to be disloyal to the country, Haywood and as an “I.W.W. agitator.” ernor Joseph A. A. Burnquist, who with subsequent raids on IWW head- She was then quoted as saying, “I am had ordered St. Louis County sheriff quarters in Minneapolis, Duluth, and not here to tell you what to do. I am John R. Meining to “stop the rioting” Chicago, and only 12 months before here to say that you should stand by on the Range, directing him to swear the passage of the Federal Espionage the I.W.W. in making this strike a in a posse if necessary. The Atkin- Act, where those judged to be anar- success. . . . The I.W.W. is your friend sons saw this as outside interference chists, radicals, or too left-wing by the and I leave it to your own intelligence and uncalled-for criticism of Range U.S. government were arrested, jailed whether you should support it.” This, authorities, and blamed the gover- or deported.27 as well as other stories about Flynn nor for bowing to pressure from the The Atkinsons did not flinch, in the Duluth News Tribune, hardly U.S. Steel Corporation. “Governor however. Instead, they used two portrayed her as an advocate of blood- Burnquist is trying to make people front-page columns to refute the shed and murder, as the Mesaba Ore believe he is possessed of a backbone, accusation. “The anarchy on the editors claimed.23 but we are willing to bet it is nothing range and other parts of the country

106 MINNESOTA HISTORY the Atkinsons’ own words against range miners—that’s the vital point them to present them as hypocrites. and the one that we are trying to The Times reprinted previous Mes- adhere to and keep on friendly terms aba Ore articles written in support with our enemies.”30 of the mining companies during the But their enemies were multiply- strike of 1907. In responding to the ing. The following week, a number of criticism, the Atkinsons wrote: “The other Range papers revealed that the Times exposé of our attitude during Atkinsons had allowed the Strikers’ the former season of labor trouble News, produced by members of the on the Mesaba range only adds to the IWW, to be printed on their presses. truth that is plainly to be seen . . . that This was guilt by association and we have learned a lot in the past nine seemed to back up previous claims years, a fact we are mighty glad the that the Atkinsons were closely allied Times has taken the trouble to further with the IWW extremists. Again, the advertise.” They again argued that editors reprinted and addressed the while the U.S. Steel Corporation earn- accusations directly, pointing out ings for the year would be over $300 that they ran a printing business and million, “it refuses to give their range the Strikers’ News, to them, was just Governor Joseph A.A. Burnquist. employees a wage advance of 15 cents another printing job. Undaunted, a day.” They also happily took credit they argued further that other busi- . . . is not practiced by the laboring for their past editorials that helped nesses on the Range also accepted men who are asking for a few cents the people of Hibbing to understand money from the IWW with no one increase in their pay—it is openly, where “the Steel corporation left off accusing them of being in sympathy wantonly and viciously practiced by and the Village of Hibbing began” with the union. And then, in a back- the United States Steel Corporation and which, they asserted, was “part of handed compliment, indicative of and its hirelings which extend into the means that prepared the way for their own changed attitudes toward every branch of the government,” they Victor L. Power’s election to the vil- the IWW, they also noted that “we wrote on August 19. In another article lage presidency and thus was broken believe [the Strikers’ News] to be more on the same day, they proclaimed that the power of the Steel corporation honest and truthful than some of the “No great cause ever gained footing in the richest village in the world.” publications inspired and paid for by in this country or any other without Making a link between backing Power the United States Steel corporation.”31 revolt, and we sincerely hope that the for village president and holding the people in this state are reaching in mining company to account for their that direction—there is surely cause back taxes was a success that the ut it was in mid-September, enough for revolt.” In near biblical Atkinsons were proud to claim.29 Bthe same weekend that the strike prose—seemingly another indication However, the newspaper’s close itself came to an end, that the most of how their attitudes toward the affiliation with Power also led the serious blow was dealt, again by the IWW had clearly shifted as a result Biwabik Times to accuse the Mesaba Atkinsons’ nemesis, the Duluth News of the strike—they wrote, “It may be Ore of being a “Vic Power organ” and Tribune. This time, the editors of the in time that the present activities of an “I.W.W. organ.” Since Power had Duluth paper charged both Power and the Industrial Workers of the World recently announced that he would be the Atkinsons with graft. Specifically, will be looked upon as the spirit that one of several defense lawyers repre- the editors of the Mesaba Ore were brought forth the men that will lead senting the incarcerated miners and accused in a report undertaken by the us up out of the wilderness.”28 IWW organizers charged with first- State Examiner on behalf of the gov- The next major attack on the degree murder, this association again ernor of defrauding the village of Hib- Mesaba Ore came in early September, raised suspicions about the editors of bing of $13,000 over the previous five led by sometime-friend and fellow the Mesaba Ore and their seemingly years. Once again, the Atkinsons went editor E. A. Koen of the Biwabik too-close alliance with the radicals. on the offensive, using three pages Times, an attack that the Atkinsons The Atkinsons argued in rebuttal that of the September 16 edition to refute republished and refuted in their accusations against them “would not the charges against them: “During the newspaper. This time the Times used cure the cause of the strike of Mesaba long years we have been engaged in

FALL 2016 107 what we are pleased to call a fight for the Hibbing council. Despite the seri- IWW, in hindsight, the Atkinsons humanity, we have not received one ousness of the charges, the Atkinsons’ were far more astute than many of five cent piece as payment for that sense of humor was still evident in their newspaper colleagues when effort we have made to expose and one jocular statement that appeared they wrote, “The policy of the Mesaba fasten upon the minds of the people on page 1 of the September 16 edition: range mining companies is to prevent of Minnesota, the nefarious opera- “If we can only manage to keep out of their employees from organizing and tions of the Steel corporation.”32 jail until after the huntin’ season we’ll the Industrial Workers of the World The Atkinsons argued that the take chances on the rest.” Because is used merely as a blind to hide their claim that they had overcharged most of the Mesaba Ore’s pages that own lawlessness. The same condi- (and thus defrauded) the village of Saturday were devoted to the editors tions would have prevailed no matter $13,000 in printing charges was defending themselves and Victor what might have been the name of based on an incorrect assumption: Power against the graft charges, the the labor organization.”35 namely, that the printing done for the strike itself received little coverage. village should have been charged at a By forcing the Atkinsons to address lower “legal advertising” rate but was accusations of fraud, the Duluth News ver the course of the strike, instead charged at the higher “display Tribune, and indirectly the Oliver OClaude and Marc Atkinson, advertising” rate. Furthermore, they Mining Company, had found a way to father and son, used the power of argued, the report was undertaken at silence their most strident critics. their small local press to give voice the behest of U.S. Steel Corporation, By mid-September, the battle was to the concerns of those who lacked which was looking for something to over. A day after the Atkinsons pub- the power to make themselves heard. use against Power during his March lished their response to the charges Their support of the miners’ rights, 1916 reelection campaign, and once of graft, the miners voted to end moderate to begin with, became completed, was improperly leaked the strike; within a month, miners’ stronger and more unequivocal as to the Duluth News Tribune. They wages were increased and condi- the violence against the strikers defended Power, and also accused: tions improved; and within three increased. Fearlessly, they refused “Will all the noise by the Steel corpo- months the charges of first-degree to curtail their criticisms of the “Big ration cover up the fact that it is not murder against IWW organizers were Fellows.” Indeed, they became more paying its employees a decent wage dropped and they were released from strident in the face of U.S. Steel Cor- and that it is robbing Minnesota of its jail. As part of the agreement, three poration’s opposition. Their advocacy mineral wealth?”33 immigrant miners accepted prison of the rights of citizens to have their The Atkinsons also gave Power sentences.34 say and to have their labor fairly a front-page column to refute the While U.S. Steel’s refusal to enter rewarded drew widespread condem- charges made by the News Tribune into negotiations with the miners nation from a number of other editors against him and other members of was blamed on the presence of the and made the Atkinsons the targets of baseless and dangerous charges. “Anarchists” and “grafters”—the accusations against them—had come not only from the hated Duluth News Tribune but also from some of their colleagues in other Range newspapers. Yet the Atkinsons stood their ground to demand justice from the Oliver Mining Company and to hold government officials to account. Nothing appeared to have come of the charges against the Atkinsons, despite the fact that their unremitting criticism of the mining corporation

Third Avenue, Hibbing, looking north from Oliver Hotel, around 1910.

108 MINNESOTA HISTORY continued in the following year. In (Summer 1988): 63. Along with the Mesaba Ore, mative discussion of why the AFL refused to en- the long term, their advocacy on other Iron Range newspapers that covered the gage with the miners of the Mesaba Range, see strike included the Eveleth News, Hibbing Tribune, Donald G. Sofchalk, “Organized Labor and the behalf of the strikers and their stance Mesaba Miner (Chisholm), Tribune-Herald Iron Ore Miners of Northern Minnesota, against Oliver Mining appears to have (Chisholm), Virginia Daily Enterprise, Biwabik 1907–1936,” Labor History 2 (Spring 1971): 214–43. earned them local respect and greater Times, and Tower News. In Beyond the Ore Docks For more information about the campaigns orga- (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, nized by the IWW, see Pernicone, Carlo Tresca, success, as measured by the fact that 2006), Richard Hudelson and Carl Ross note and Lara Vapnek, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Modern the weekly paper expanded to daily that, “Even the Labor World, though highly criti- American Revolutionary (New York: Westview publication in 1920, renamed the cal of the IWW, ran stories critical of the cover- Press, 2015). Hibbing Daily News and Mesaba Ore. age of the strike by the local press, charging it 9. Hudelson and Ross, Beyond the Ore Docks, with gross distortion and bias on behalf of the 61; Foner and Johnson, “The I.W.W. Prior to Amer- The daily paper continued under the mining companies” (70). In Carlo Tresca: Portrait ica’s Entry into World War 1,” 92. auspices of the Atkinson duo until the of a Rebel (Gordensville, VA: Palgrave MacMillan, 10. “Corporation Uses I.W.W. as a Blind,” Mes- end of 1927, when Claude retired.36 2005), Nunzio Pernicone stated, “Local news- aba Ore, July 15, 1916, 1. On the murder trial, see, papers and businessmen assisted the [Oliver for example Mesaba Ore, May 13, 1916, 1; Mesaba Claude Atkinson died suddenly Mining] company by demonizing the IWW and Ore, June 24, 1916, 1; Virginia Daily Enterprise, July of influenza on January 1, 1929, in withholding credit and supplies from the strik- 7, 1916, 3; Duluth News Tribune, June 17, 1916, 9; Litchfield, Illinois, while on a visit to ers” (89). J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small 3. Bylines were not used for most articles or Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of son Marc, who had moved with his for the Atkinsons’ own responses in the Mesaba America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997); family from Hibbing to become editor Ore to comments made about the strike or Douglas Linder, “The Trial of William ‘Big Bill’ of the Litchfield Times. Claude’s death themselves by other Range newspaper editors. Haywood” (2007), doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1023972. received banner headlines and front- By implication, the views conveyed were shared The claim about Haywood’s role was disputed in by both editors. several pro-mining company reports. See, for ex- page coverage in papers across the 4. For C. M. Atkinson’s biography, see obitu- ample, Tyler Dennett, “The Mining Strike in Min- Range, with his friend and colleague ary in the Hibbing Daily Tribune, Jan. 2, 1929, 1–2, nesota: The Other Side. Special Correspondence Grove Wills, editor of the Eveleth and 1905 Minnesota State Census Index, Atkinson, to the Outlook,” Outlook 113 (May-Aug. 1916): Claude, record 314888, http://people.mnhs.org 1046–48. Clarion, aptly noting, “No person ever /finder/census/314888. On Haywood’s reputation, see, for example, had reason to guess for whom and for 5. “Armed Guards Constantly on Duty,” Mes- “A Black Record,” Virginia Daily Enterprise, July 6, what he championed.”37 aba Ore, Jan. 15, 1916, 1; Mesaba Ore, Sept. 27, 1916, 1; “I.W.W. in Desperation Attempts Mur- Revisiting this David and Goliath 1913, 4; “Wherein the People Will Have a Say,” der of Women and Children,” Virginia Daily Enter- Mesaba Ore, July 1, 1916, 1;“Refuse to Make Mar- prise, July 8, 1916, 1; “Another Attempted Murder battle between a small weekly news- tyrs of Strikers,” Mesaba Ore, June 24, 1916, 1. For by I.W.W.,” Virginia Daily Enterprise, July 11, 1916, 1; paper and the mighty U.S. Steel Cor- the opinions of other papers, see, for example, “Great Northern Bridge Burned; Believed to be poration serves as a reminder of the “I.W.W. Agitators’ Efforts to Call Strike Prove Fu- the Work of the Industrial Workers of the World,” tile,” Duluth News Tribune, June 17, 1916, 9; “Agita- Virginia Daily Enterprise, July 14, 1916, 1; “Agitators importance of the free press in a dem- tors Prove Unpopular Throughout the District,” Prove Unpopular”; “Dynamite Placed on D. & I.R. ocratic society. One hundred years on, Duluth News Tribune, June 18, 1916, 14; “Agitators Tracks. Hayward Is Directing I.W.W. Leaders. No- the Atkinsons’ words, published in Make No Headway,” Virginia Daily Enterprise, July torious Agitator Sends Tresca Check for ‘2 3, 1916, n.p.; “Back Bone of Strike is Broken: Weeks’ Work,” Duluth News Tribune, July 3, 1916, 1. the Mesaba Ore on September 9, 1916, Sheriff Meining with Force of 800 Deputies Con- In response, Strikers’ News went on the de- near the strike’s conclusion, are a tes- trols Situation,” Virginia Daily Enterprise, July 5, fensive in their first edition (n.d.), with the head- tament to their abiding belief in the 1916, 1; “Strike Will End This Week. Miners Satis- line “What the Miners Demand,” writing, “Vials power of the fourth estate to advocate fied That They Can Safely Return to Work Since of poison have been poured into the well of pub- Worst Element Has Left Range,” Virginia Daily lic opinion, we have been branded as murderers, for social and economic change: “We Enterprise, July 6, 1916, 1. thieves, rioters, traitors, undesirable aliens— shall continue the fight and glory in 6. “Proceedings,” Strikers’ News, n.d., 1; “Make why? Because we are demanding more wages, it.” This serves as a fitting epitaph to Known Demands,” Duluth News Tribune, June 23, shorter hours, a better standard of living and 1916, 9; “Mines Crippled by Strike of I.W.W. Fol- some measure of protection against a ruthless the Atkinsons, and to the ordinary lowers,” Mesaba Ore, July 1, 1916, n.p.; “Piling Mil- employer and their dishonest hirelings” (2). people of the Range, whose rights lions for the Plutocrat,” Mesaba Ore, July 8, 1916, 11. “A Heart That Is Mellowing with Age,” Me- they argued for so passionately in the 1; “Contract System Not a Square Deal,” Mesaba saba Ore, June 24, 1916, 1. For the Atkinsons on Ore, July 15, 1916, 1; Douglas Ollila, Jr., “Ethnic Oliver Mining Company, see “Wherein the Peo- summer of 1916.38 Radicalism and the 1916 Mesabi Strike,” Range ple Will Have a Say.” For a full recap of how Hib- History 3.4 (Dec. 1978): 1–4, 10. bing as a village stood up to the Oliver Mining 7. Neil Betten, “Riot, Revolution, Repression Company, see Edmund D. DeLestry, “editor and in the Iron Range Strike of 1916,” Minnesota His- publisher of the Western Magazine, St. Paul, Min- tory 41 (Summer 1968): 82–93; Michael G. Karni, nesota,” “The Romance of a Town,” which was re- Notes “Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and the Mesabi Strike of printed in full in Mesaba Ore, May 27, 1916, 1. 1. “Anarchy Throttling the State,” Mesaba Ore 1916,” Range History 5 (Winter 1981): 1–5. 12. “‘Murdered by Oliver Gunmen’ in Red and Hibbing News (hereafter cited as Mesaba Ore), 8. Ollila, “Ethnic Radicalism,” 4; Philip S. Leads Striker’s Funeral,” Duluth News Tribune, Aug. 19, 1916, 1. Foner and Michael R. Johnson, “The I.W.W. Prior June 27, 1916, 5; Ollila, “Ethnic Radicalism,” 3. 2. Robert Eleff, “The 1916 Minnesota Miners’ to America’s Entry into World War 1,” Science & 13. “Mesaba Range Mines Closed By I.W.W. Strike Against U.S. Steel,” Minnesota History 51 Society 29 (Winter 1965): 91. For a full and infor- Men,” Mesaba Ore, June 24, 1916, 2. The

FALL 2016 109 Atkinsons had argued previously against the 21. Eleff, “The 1916 Minnesota Miners’ 33. Mesaba Ore, Sept. 16, 1916, 1. presence of such an armed force in “the pay of Strike,” 72; “Why the Big Fellows Fear Miss 34. The assertion about altered conditions is the Oliver Mining company.” For example, in the Flynn,” Mesaba Ore, July 29, 1916, 1. For a full dis- contested, but there are a number of historians Jan. 15, 1916, edition of the Mesaba Ore, they cussion of how other Range papers viewed who argue wages were improved once the strike showed prescience when they wrote, “Supposing Flynn, see Karni, “Elizabeth Gurley Flynn,” 1–6. was called off. See, for example, Eleff, “The 1916 now, for instance, there comes trouble at the 22. “Why the Big Fellows Fear Miss Flynn”; Minnesota Miners’ Strike”: “Within a month after mines and the mining companies see fit to order see also Strikers’ News, Aug. 11, 1916, 2. the end of the strike, according to the report fi- out its private police force to shoot down those 23. “Six Hundred I.W.W.’s Hear Elizabeth nally issued by Fairley and Davies in late October, they deem need shooting down, then you can Flynn,” Duluth News Tribune, July 21, 1916, 5; see both day wages and contract rates were in- understand the nature of this prostitution of the also “I.W.W. Speaker Promises Peace,” Duluth creased by 15 to 20 percent” (74). See also Jeff Pi- laws of the state—wherein a private corporation News Tribune, July 29, 1916, 14. lacinski, “‘We’ve Been Robbed Long Enough. It’s is permitted to control and use the machinery of 24. “Anarchy Throttling the State.” Here the Time to Strike’: Remember the 1916 Strike on the sheriff’s office to protect the mining compa- editors claim, “Hibbing has been the theatre Minnesota’s Iron Range,” Industrial Workers of nies in anything they may decide to undertake” where the lawlessness of the Steel corporation the World, 2006, http://www.iww.org/pt/node (1). Much of this article was reprinted as “Why has been on constant show for the past several /2556. Other historians argue that overall the The UnAmerican Gunman System of the United years and the end is not yet. The reason is greed, strike was a failure due to the negative conse- States Steel Corporation Is Unpopular,” Mesaba unalloyed greed that will be satisfied with noth- quences it generated, including the spy network Ore, July 15, 1916, n.p. ing short of the earth and the fullness thereof— subsequently instituted by U.S. Steel. See Frank 14. Mesaba Ore, July 8, 1916, 2; “Range Munic- the exploitation of the state’s mineral wealth to L. Palmer, Spies in Steel: An Expose of Industrial ipal Officers Appeal to Government and the make a few favored ones richer at the expense of War (Denver, CO: Labor Press, 1928). As another Steel Corporation Newspapers Appeal to Class the poorer ones, and the robbery of a common- consequence of the strike, Sofchalk, in “Orga- Prejudice,” Mesaba Ore, July 29, 1916, n.p. wealth.” See also “Will All of This Noise by the nized Labor and the Iron Ore Miners of Northern 15. Mesaba Ore, Aug. 5, 1916, n.p. Steel Corporation Cover Up the Fact This It Is Minnesota,” points to the fact that the miners 16. See, for example, the Mesaba Ore, July 16, Not Paying Its Employees a Decent Wage and did not become unionized until the mid-1930s. 1916, n.p., where the editors summarize and re- This It Is Robbing Minnesota of Its Mineral Betten, “Riot, Revolution, Repression,” writes spond to articles in other papers as diverse as Wealth?” Mesaba Ore, Sept. 16, 1916, 1; and “The that, “In the end, the strike was defeated not the Pine City Poker, the Owatonna Citizen, the Steel Corporation and Other Mining Concerns through arrests or violence, or by importation of Thief River Falls News Press, the Chisholm Tribune Are Every Year Taking Millions of Dollars Out of strikebreakers, but simply because the resources Herald, and the Fairmont Sentinel. They often ad- the State That Belong to the People of Minne- of the miners, always meager, were finally ex- dressed the editors by name; not all of the items sota,” Mesaba Ore, Sept. 16, 1916, 7. hausted” (93). they commented on concerned the strike. 25. “Different Laws for Different People.” 35. Mesaba Ore, Sept. 2, 1916, n.p. 17. “Mesaba Range Mines Closed by I.W.W. 26. “Governor Says Rioting on Range Must 36. On continuing criticism, see, for example, Men”; “Trying to Cover Up the Main Issue,” Mes- Stop,” Duluth News Tribune, July 1, 1916, 1; see also “We’re Not Bullying Brutes,” Mesaba Ore, Feb. 24, aba Ore, July 8, 1916, 1. On the “Spittoon,” see, for “Commend Act of Governor,” Virginia Daily Enter- 1917, 1, where the Atkinsons wrote, “Notwith- example, “Duluth Spittoon Has Another Spasm prise, July 14, 1916, 1, which reports on support for standing all the noise made by the Steel corpora- and Invents a ‘Local Clergyman’ to Whom They the “effective action taken by Governor J. A. A. tion and its subsidized newspaper, the [IWW] is Credit Their Lies,” Strikers’ News, Aug. 18, 1916, 1; Burnkuist [sic] towards suppressing the unlawful gaining a following, in membership and sympa- “Cuyuna Cockroaches Have Another Spasm,” disturbances”; “Governor Insults the Range thizers, that is fairly carrying the Big Fellows off Strikers’ News, Aug. 18, 1916, 2; “‘A Lie from Start Courts,” Mesaba Ore, July 8, 1916, 1; Mesaba Ore, their feet.” to Finish’: Mike Susterich Absolutely Denies July 22, 1916, 1. The new daily paper was reported on in the Statements Credited to Him By Duluth Spit- 27. For a full discussion of the impact of the Skillings’ Mining Review 8.39, “an international toon,” Strikers’ News, Sept. 1, 1916, 2. Minnesota Public Safety Commission, see Carol mining trade publication” published in Duluth. 18. “Striking Miner of Nine Years Ago,” Mes- Jenson, “Loyalty as a Political Weapon: The 1918 The Review noted that, “As was to be expected, aba Ore, July 8, 1916, 1. Campaign in Minnesota,” Minnesota History 43.2 the Daily is full of action, breezy and newsy. Pep 19. “Honesty Is Too Deep for ’Em,” Mesaba (Summer 1972): 43–57; Matt Reicher, “Minnesota will inevitably be a chief characteristic of the Ore, Sept. 16, 1916, 1; “Different Laws for Different Commission of Public Safety,” MNopedia, new daily newspaper” (7). People,” Mesaba Ore, Aug. 5, 1916, 1. http://www.mnopedia.org/group/minnesota 37. On banner headlines, see, for example, 20. “Corporation Uses I.W.W. as A Blind.” On -commission-public-safety; Sofchalk, “Organized “C. M. Atkinson Dies at Litchfield, Illinois Yester- other local newspapers, see, for example, “Con- Labor and the Iron Ore Miners of Northern Min- day,” Hibbing Daily Tribune, Jan. 2, 1929, 1–2. tract System and Range Strike,” Virginia Daily En- nesota,” 231, 239; Michael R. Johnson, “The I.W.W. 38. “Why the Ore Changed Front.” Mesaba terprise, July 7, 1916, 3; “Strikers Fail to Get and Wilsonian Democracy,” Science & Society 28 Ore, Sept. 9, 1916, 1. Promised I.W.W. Money,” Virginia Daily Enterprise, (Summer 1964): 257–74. July 13, 1916, 1; “The Present Situation,” Virginia 28. “Anarchy Throttling the State”; “Duluth Daily Enterprise, July 13, 1916, 2; “July 15, I.W.W. Citizens Are Awakening,” Mesaba Ore, Aug. 19, All images from MNHS Collections. Pay Day Passes Without One Cent Being Distrib- 1916, 1. uted to Deluded Strikers. Promised Payment of 29. “Why the Ore Changed Front,” Mesaba Strike Benefits Fails to Materialize Today,” Vir- Ore, Sept. 9, 1916, 1. ginia Daily Enterprise, July 15, 1916, 1; “Hibbing 30. The accusations were reprinted in Mes- Committee Is Given All Funds,” Duluth News Tri- aba Ore, Sept. 9, 1916, 1; “Why The Ore Changed bune, June 24, 1916, 9. This article notes that Front.” “The committee was appointed to dispel reports 31. “Just Like Other Tradesmen,” Mesaba Ore, that the strike agitators were here for the sole Sept. 9, 1916, 1; “Honesty Is Too Deep For ’Em.” purpose of enriching themselves and when they 32. “Frantic Effort to Destroy One Man Who had secured sufficient funds would decamp and Stands in the Way of the Steel Corporation,” Mes- leave the miners to shift for themselves.” aba Ore, Sept. 16, 1916, 1.

110 MINNESOTA HISTORY

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