MITCHELL, John, American labor leader: b. Braidwood, Will County, Ill., 4 Feb. 1870. He entered the mines at Braidwood at the age of 13, and in 1885 joined the Knights of Labor. The next few years he spent coal mining in different States of the West and Southwest, and in 1890 settled at Spring Valley, continuing his work at his trade. He read and studied constantly and was a member of several debat ing societies and reform clubs; he was also active in the labor movement and was presi dent of the Knights of Labor local at Spring Valley. On the formation of the United Mine Workers in 1890 he became a member of that organization, was frequently delegate to district conventions and in 1895 was elected secretary treasurer of the northern Illinois subdistrict; in 1896 he was chairman of the Illinois mine workers' legislative committee, and in 1897 was made a national organizer of the United Mine Workers. In January 1898 he was elected vice president of that organization and in September of the same year became acting president; he was elected president in 1899, but retired in March 1908; he was also a vice-president of the American Federation of Labor from 1898 to 1914. During his term of office as president
of the United Mine Workers the union was enlarged, wages were increased and the eight hour day extended; he conducted the strikes of the anthracite miners in 1900 and 1902, and brought the latter to a close by his offer in behalf of the miners to accept the decisions of a commission appointed by the President of the United States. After serving for nearly three years as active head of the Trade Agree ment Department of the National Civic Feder ation, he spent two years on the lecture plat form, speaking in all parts of the country. He served on the New York State Commission on Employers' Liability and Workmen's Compen sation, which drafted the first compensation law enacted by the State of New York. In March 1914 he was appointed to membership on the Workmen's Compensation Commission of New York State, then created, and when in May 1915 this commission was merged with the State Department of Labor, under the ad ministration of the Industrial Commission, he was made chairman of the Industrial Commis sion of the State of New York.