Atlanta Georgian., 1914-03-01


of nine, | was initiated into the mining trade,
and in this profession earned my way as a
miner, not as a boss, for twenty-seven years.
| began at this early age because my
fathers health gave out. He had an at
tack Of lumbago, which made it impossible
for him to load the cars. He could sit on
the floor of the mines and drill the coal, but
he could not stoop to load it, and he called
me into service. This was my beginning
but later learned all kinds of mining.
was very young when joined the Labor
Union, and | don't know that | had any
real conception of the movement then, but
on the 22nd of November in 1873, | joined
the Union as a half-member | was then
eleven years old. am union man now
and have my union card When was eigh-
teen | was made to suffer for my sympathies
and activities for the Union, and was asked
to leave the mines. was put on the black
list and prosecuted by that species of Jinx
for twenty years. That was what drove me
west to fire on a locomotive engine. | held
this job for eight or nine months. The
blacklist was my foe. | worked in the
woods, chopping wood by the cord, dug
bitches, worked in the sawmill, wrote arti-
cles for newspapers, stuck type,
(" chained" for surveyors on coal properties
and did whatever my hand found to do to
keep the wolf from the door. Until | was
thirty-six years of age, | never earned as
much as forty dollars month the year
around. Sometimes | earned more, but
the lean seasons kept down the average,
and no matter how hard poverty knocked at
my own door, | always found a less fortu-
nate neighbor, whose lot demanded sympa-
thy and whose condition could only be re- :.
lieved in the proper way of sharing.
In my childhood could not go to school
on account of my early work, but my argu-
mentative father helped in my education
better than he knew. He was not an edu-
Gated man, but he gloried in debate that he
could back up by authorities. He could
not read very WE'LL but mother had taught
me to read and father kept me busy every
evening reading to him on works of political
economy, the Bible, Chambers Information
for the People and later on, a list of the poets,
so that can see now, | had what might be
called a fairly good literary training. My
father stimulated my memory by expecting
me to corroborate his quotations when he
debated questions, and this practice was
productive of good results along my mental
To add to this, our mining COM
munity arranged for night school, The
pupils contributed one dollar a month each
to the principal, and | was able to attend
this school for while. But | learned my
real insight into grammatical construction
and punctuation when | stuck type for the
F" Bostwick Advertiser. After my west
ern experience as a locomotive fireman, |
returned to Pennsylvania, mining in local
mines solely for local supply, and later on
was secretary of the United Mine Workers.
That body boasts of three million members
and has improved labor conditions in the
mines throughout the country. In fact, the
working mems support made my nomination
and election possible, and there couldn' t have
been more congenial selection for me than
the place now occupy, because my life
time has been spent in the labor movement
William B. Wilson