The record-union., 1894-12-17
THE USUAL COMPLAINT AND
CHARGE.

punishment of Debs for violation of the
mandate of the Chicago court is "An out
rage and an assault upon labor.'t
What nonsense. Debs was duly served
with the mandate Of a court of his coun-
try. It was in unmistakable language.
commanding him to cease certain action
pending litigation Of an issue. He de-
Iberately defed the order and contempt
uously treated it. He knew when he did
30 that he was liable to be punished for
the action. He took the chance, and lost.
The court dare not let so signal an in
stance of defiance pass unnoticed, even if
1t wished to. To ignore the contempt
would have been a blow at free govern
ment and all civil and religious liberty,
and the man who does not see it is too
obtuse to realize the advantages of
American citizenship. If the court had
failed to punish Debs for contempt, it
would have lost ability to enforce any de-
cree in defense of the rights of any citi-
zen, and it would be useless longer to ap-
peal to courts for protection.
This shout that the court is, or was sub
servient to corporations, the rich and the
vicious, is idiocy. Every sensible man
knows that when the proper petition is
filed, and showing made before a compe
tent court, praying that one be restrained
OF wrong-doing, the court must, no mat
ter who applies, issue the order pending
Its inquiry into the charges set out in the
petition. According to the growlers, il
1t was IAN outrage" to issue an order
against Debs and his underlings. The
court should have said to applicants:
''No; this offender, this person whom
you charge with lawlessness and assault
upon your rights is priviledged person;
he cannot be restrained; your application
is denied, though the laws of the land say
that you have the right to make it, and
that the court should grant it."
We quote from Current History, a
faithful chronicler and impartial "Some
tyrannies are shrewdly planned and we'll
timed for success. This attempt at tyr
amy lacked no element of Stiffness and
absurdity. The transient sue
cess of the strike involved the stoppage
OF mails lit will be recalled that even
when some carriers offered to send out
trains with ordinary coaches only, if al
lowed to do so, that orders came from the
strike leaders that no trains Of any kind
should move until Pullman yieldedl and
large suspension of commerce be-
tween the States. i = July Cd
Federal writ issued by United States
Judges Grosscup and Woods enjoining
Debs from any sort Of interference or in
citing of interference with trains carry
ing mails or engaged in commerce be-
tween the States of the Union. The
United States Attorney General ordered
the arrest of all persons disobeying this
writ. This brought forth fierce protests
and menaces of resistance. and they were
made impressive by increasing tierceness
of riot and wild disorder, and wilder de-
States Marshals were resisted in dis
charge of their duty, and on certification
of United States officials at Chicago, that
Federal troops were necessary to enforce
the orders of the courts, the President is
sued his proclamations commandinaQ Of
tenders to dispense"
aho
word of order to his men to obey the ex-
ecutive order or court order, or cease
offending. All that he did do was to say
Continue the strike, but use no vio-
lence." This was pleaded in his behalf
in court last week, but the court holds,
and properly, that it was insincere, be-
cause it was not followed by exercise of
power, and because it was contradictory
in itself; and even if no force were used,
still the defendant was defying the order
of the court.
In this connection we call attention to
the well-known fact of which we had in
this city frequent illustration, that orders
over Debs' signature would appear and
be given to the press by wire, directing
the strikers not to modest railroad prop
erty, or go or stay upon it, and to do no
violence. AT the same time dispatches
would come from Debs to local strike
leaders, telling them not to pay any at
tention to the dispatches about his orders
which appeared in the newspapers, but
s'stand pat'' and continue the strike on
original lines. This fact is within the
knowledge of all here, and fully sustains
the statement and finding of the court
that Debs in his assumed compliance
with the mandate of the court was insin-
cere-which is a mild way of characteriz-
ing his conduct.
1t would seem that there is a class in
the land bound to stir up trouble on the
assumption that whenever a court rules
against an unlawful proceeding it is COR
rupt, if the offender happens to be a
labor agitator. The same men are found
invariably upon the calamity side of all
public questions; there is nothing good
in the land, no reason, decency or right
that is not alone embodied in them and
their ideas. The true citizen who honors
labor would conserve every right of every
buman being. who stands for the highest
%I,a