The Connecticut labor press., 1919-09-13
United States.

not been confined to Workmen's organi- zatlOns. At least five times he refused , lucrative positions i'll mine owners or ganizations. He ignored chances to go into business that would have made him a wealthy rn36. He had the success hab, it from the very beginning. He wa; president of the Spring Valley Board of Education before old enough to vote and despite the fact that he had never graduated from any school 1ncider, tally he was an excellent school board head, and later caused the passage of much legislation making the road to erudition much easier for the son and the daughter of the miner. And, unlike so% many self-made and self educated successful men, he was an ardent advo- cate of university training and higher education generally.
 The Republicans having failed to in duce Mitchell to seek the Vice=Presi- dency, the Democrats tried to lure him with the same sort of bait. In 1908 he was asked to run for the Governor ship of Illinois on the Democratic ticket. The chances of his. winning wee more than ordinarily bright. But Mitchell declined saying:
 "I have no right to seek political honors. I will not be a candidate for the Vice-Presidency, nor for Governor on the Democratic ticket, nor on the the honor, but it is best for man to cling to the plan that he has adopted as his own life's work"
 In 1911 Mitchell, then chairman of the trade agreement department of the National Civic Federation, was told by the United Mire Workers that either he would resign from the Civic Fed. eration or from the United Mine Work CTS. This u1timattlm was forced through the U. M. w. A. by the Socialists, whose more radical views Mitchell opposed. He let it be known that whatever his decision might be it was to be under stood by the radicals that he still op- posed them and would continue oppos- ing them.
 He resigned from the federation and clung to the United Mine Workers, where his work was devoted to main taining its equilibrium whenever there arose the menace of the l. w. w. One of Mitchelps most memorable of speech es contained the following worth while lines:
 ''I am not an advocate of strikes. But there are times when strikes are necessary to clinch the argument of truth. Strikes are a development of c1v1lizatiOn a means to an end ;n the great social evolution that we are fac- ing. Strikes are the sledge hammers that weld the connecting links of labor and capital and make the endless chain of commercial prosperity"
 the United Mine Workers of America for 10 years. He resigned because of continued i'll health. He had never met with failure as strike organizer and conductor, yet he had always won by clean methods and fair play.
 Physically he was spare man of muscular build and about five feet nine inches tall. He weighed probably 15O pounds-no more. His physical ap- pearance was so wholly indicative. of the character of the man it is worth while describing him.
 His face was clean shaven. He hao rather deep set eyes that possessed a hard, direct gaze His face was not mobile but there was a fire in his eyes that betrayed his thoughts. From and was that of the intellectual, Below there was the suggestion of greater animalism. Force, power and perception were the dominant suggestions of the combination.
 As has been said before, he was ston- fly honest-honest with himself and those he represented. But he always acted with a view of obtaining an end and his methods indicated his firm be- lief that if the ends to be obtained transcended all contemporaneous mat ters, the methods were entirely justified. He possessed a native dignity and in dress and mannerism suggested the ecclesiastical student.
 He was clear minded, naturally 1ogi- cal i'll the processes of his thought and constructive in that he demanded, all ways, a basis orl which to build. He was a needless desire to inf1ame the passions of disgrunt1ed workers. Yet he would not have scorned such methods had he found them necessary. He had, how ever, wonderful magnetism and he did not fail to command an audience nor quiet 1t, no matter how turbulent it had been previously. He could sway men when he had calmed them into ref1ec- ton aid thought. Therein lay John Mitche1l's greatness, for he was truly great i'll his profession:
 Those who called him a labor agita- tor did so thoughtless1y. He was any thing but an agitator. He was the most forCeful of all his contemporaries as a labor leader but his forcefulness was tempered with tact and sane conserva- tis1n. He openly opposed the I. w. w. and the Haywood type of demagogue and they were bitterly his enemies. But he won for the working man where the radicals lost. He remained power and raised his followers with him while his anarchistic opponents deserted their misled fol1owings to seek refuge from the law.
 During the war Mr. Mitchell was the chairman of the New York State Food Council. In this capacity he further