The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-08-21
DEBS ON THE STAND.
The Strike Leader Before the
National Commission.
WHY THE STRIKE WAS DECLARED,

WHY TIE STRIKE WAS DECLARED,
II was Only Through sympathy for the
Suffering Pullman workers, After other
Efforts TaiIed-Government Ownership
Of Railroads Preferable to Railroad
Ownership Of Government
CHICAGO, Aug. 2L-president Eugene |
! V, Debs, of the American Railway union, |
, testified yesterday before the national la |
| b7r commission. He said, in answer to a |
! question, he was 3s years old, and In addi- !
ton to being at the head Of the American
| Railway union, was editor Of The Loco
motive Fireman's Magazine
He testified that from the beginning he
was opposed to a strike and so told Vice
p resident Howard He then continued;
'T twice went to &. NJ Pullman and to
the town of Pullman to thoroughly in
vestigate the conditions existing at the
carshops l found the employees were not
only not getting wages enough to live,
but were daily getting deeper into the
debt of the Pullman company. No mat
ter how offensive the conditions were
there, the men were obliged to submit TO
| them.
when l found out all these things |
| Immediately determined that the A, X. U.
should 90 to the assistance of these un-
fortunate people. We believed that any
fair board of arbitration would have de
cided in favor of the employees, and all
we asked was arbitration. This the Pull
man company arbitrarily refused. Not
only this but W hen we asked them to ex-
anime into the question to see whether or
not there was anything to arbitrate, they
] also refused this.
'Very much has been said about an al
legged conspiracy against the railroads and
against hauling the mails. l want to call
the attention of this commission to the
fact that every meeting of the A. X. U.
was held with open doors, and that re-
porters of the press were allowed to be
present. If there had been any conspiracy
| contemplated we certainly would have
been more secret about it.
'Not only did the employees of the var
ious railroads strike because of the in
Justice being done to the Pullman em-
ployes, but because the various roads had
grievances of their own, which shall pro-
: ceed in time to show We used our in
fluence to prevent strikes during the
Worlds fair, as we did not believe it just
to the public to inaugurate strike at such
a time 1t was all that could be done by
s+riI-o Tn yieyy Of tho mems WORKING
p tl','a,,,,Lo,I+ +ho fair tba railway man
- -, ,,,,,, f ~, ,,.ds q ,,,.o,,,issd an in,
',,,,,,s, 81 ,,.aJ,os. ctr tho fair was over
!, I,,staod of doine, this tbev began immedi
!, ately after the fair closed to begin a sys
te,,,otic rednc+ion Of wages tbToupbou,
ttil .siiie'v,U a,,',,t,.,. >,
prosido,t Dobs sold moreover No rail
T. rood red1,cad the WAGES. of ALI its men n
, -, l,,,+ red,,cod tler, b,, sac
tjons 10 declared tho A r II We've,
tb,sa u.},,otio,,s y,,itb the e,reo+.st annra
/ ta,,sio, Tbe or,,a,ization feIt tbat IN,
z ilH,, 49,, I,ad oo,,,e 70 oct
Il Tba yyi+nass ennmerated the failures q
Q +be old lobor ACCOMMODATIONS to cain redres
for the grievances of tbe emploves. an,
oi sartod r., fet tbeir onI1 hone law i
80 p IT 20 which thay fnaiIv trIppe
for baI,
ys ,I yI,o,ld 1ilza to stota ~ s.id Mr. Deb,
ID chat the railroad companies have neve
n ,oised Woes NJ their own accord Ever
ic i,,oroaso 10 ,,,or,es has baan yyrnng froT
~ ,il.i,'' 81, a,,' b,, nr,,sTized Inbor -
IS .Do yon claim ;, asked Mr. WIGHT "tba
- the railroads were respon.ible for th
To | stril,e bacause tbev insisted on hsulin
IS. pnlIroar csrs,,
n n; "No sir The American Railway unio
n ,,os res,onsibIe for il INT under agra,
otin,, circurstances The general mar
n, ~ a,,ars ore nnited to reduce WAGES IN
n. ennIoyes are united to resist such redu,
lie +ions In case of a Reduction that lead
Is ~ ,,',. .trite we think tbe comnonv resnoI
sible -
N. ,,VVbat is vour oninion as To methods :
80, overting stgil,esy,j asked Commission,
Worthington
= .sNTv own idea and IL is the idea of tn