Never Justice, Never Peace: Mother Jones and the Miner Rebellion at Paint and Cabin Creeks by Lon Kelly Savage and Ginny Savage Ayers (review)
Never Justice, Never Peace: Mother Jones and the Miner Rebellion at Paint and Cabin Creeks by Lon Kelly Savage and Ginny Savage Ayers
In this important work, Never Justice, Never Peace: Mother Jones and the Miner Rebellion at Paint and Cabin Creeks, Lon Kelly Savage and Ginny Savage Ayers examine the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek Mine Wars of 1912–13. [End Page 110] Savage began working on this current project shortly after finishing his previous work, Thunder in the Mountains: The West Virginia Mine War, 1920–21. Placing Mother Jones at the center of the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek Conflict, the current project was unfinished when Savage passed away in 2004. Savage's daughter, Ginny Savage Ayers, gathered her father's research materials and finish his work. The result is an excellent addition to the rich literature of the West Virginia Mine Wars.
Although the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek strike is an important part of previous studies on the West Virginia Mine Wars, Savage and Ayers's study provides a more in-depth perspective to the specific conflict at Paint Creek and Cabin Creek than is possible in a book on the entirety of the West Virginia Mine War, which includes the Battle of Matewan and the events leading to the March on Blair Mountain in 1921. The work is extremely well-researched and makes exhaustive use of contemporary accounts of the events of the rebellion in local and national newspapers as well as of the United Mine Workers' Journal, major secondary sources on the topic, and archival resources.
Savage and Ayers have produced a well-written and accessible work that is characterized by great attention to detail. For example, after the first period of martial law, proclaimed by Governor William Glasscock, in which the militia removed the Baldwin-Felts Mine Guards from the region, many of the soldiers remained behind as guards for the companies. According to Savage and Ayers, the Baldwin-Felts company was no longer at the center of the war in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek district. Although discussed in the other works on this mine war, Savage and Ayers reiterate that the role of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency was minimal after the declaration of martial law. This sophisticated treatment of the role of the Baldwin-Felts Company is a real strength of the book.
Savage and Ayers also discuss in detail the actions of Governor Henry Hatfield, who was inaugurated on March 4, 1913, and who implemented a settlement ending the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek rebellion. Casting a relatively positive light on his actions, the authors describe Hatfield's tactics at the end of the strike as "at times misguided, if not outrageous"; yet, they argue that "his intentions seemed genuine in his concern for the miners, promising to see the laws changed to further their protections" (278). This contention does not consider that the Hatfield Agreement, which ended the strike, ultimately did not lead to union recognition or to the end of the mine-guard system, which were the primary goals of the miners. Furthermore, Hatfield struck against the socialist press, closing and commandeering the equipment of two socialist newspapers in West Virginia in an effort to win public support for his settlement. [End Page 111]
Despite this relatively minor critique, this study is an extremely important addition to the literature of the West Virginia Mine Wars. This book is an engaging, well-researched, and accessible work that is appropriate for both the scholar and a general audience. Savage and Ayers have done a great service in bringing this relatively little-known story to the people of the state. I highly recommend this work for anyone interested in the Mine Wars, Appalachian history in general, and Progressive Era labor conflict.
