Johnnie Mitchell excelled as a true “Champion of Labor and Defender of Human Rights.” Born in Illinois, he went to work in the mines when he was 10 years old. At 16 he joined The Knights of Labor, but the union was in decline, so Mitchell entered the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) at its founding in 1890. He rose rapidly in the union and, in 1898, became UMWA President. He was driven to help the anthracite miners who were earning miserable wages in deplorable conditions, and arrived in the regions around Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1900. He organized the 48,000 hard coal miners into the anthracite division of the UMWA and issued the order to strike. The strike was in its sixth week when the operators conceded to the union and guaranteed improvements. The miners returned to work on October 29. In tribute to Mitchell, October 29th was proclaimed John Mitchell Day and is still observed each year in the anthracite regions.
In 1902, another strike had lasted almost six months when President Theodore Roosevelt created the Industrial Commission to investigate the charges by Mitchell concerning horrid working conditions of the miners. The subsequent probe frightened the coal barons, who yielded to the union’s demands. The soft-spoken leader won public acclaim for his conservative approach to industrial relations, for he contrasted sharply with the militant labor leaders. Mitchell expressed the belief that there should be peaceful relations between business and labor and that the prosperity of both are linked. His moderate tactics, however, estranged the UMWA’s members and he stepped down as President in 1908. He then served as Head of the National Civic Federation’s trade-agreement department and held the post of Second Vice President of the American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.). In 1915, he was appointed Chairman of the New York Industrial Commission, a position he held until his death.
The Mitchell Monument stands in the Scranton Courthouse square in honor of this great labor leader who maintained, “I wish to see the interest and ideals of labor and capital fairly reconciled, not by surrender, but by mutual understanding.”
