John Mitchell's Appeal to Shamokin Strikers

United Mine Workers president John Mitchell was reported speaking to a large gathering of strikers in Shamokin during the autumn of 1900. The Public's October 13 issue introduced a passage from his address as a speech given there on the ninth. A separate newspaper reported his arrival in Scranton from Shamokin on the morning of October 10, strengthening the October 9 timing without supplying a Shamokin venue or attendance count.

The argument printed in The Public concerned who would decide when the strike ended. Mitchell contrasted earlier stoppages, ended by officers or an executive board, with a decision to be made by miners through delegates in convention. He asked them to judge the operators' offer, including whether the proposed ten-percent increase was sufficient and would be paid for a year.

He promised support whichever course the delegates chose, whether returning to work or continuing the strike. He also cautioned against expecting one stoppage to remove every longstanding wrong. In the reported address, the organization itself offered a means of seeking better conditions over time, not simply a way to force an immediate decision.

The next day's travel report belongs to that same itinerary, but its parade and mass meeting took place in Scranton. Despite a headline naming Shamokin, the body locates the event and its crowd estimate in Scranton. Shamokin's supported place in this account is the reported address and Mitchell's presence before he traveled onward.