New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-07-15
DEBS AND OTHERS.
spiracy.

| Mr. Pullman, as responsible manager or Il
| manufacturing establishment owned IN great
| part by persons of moderate means, preferred
| last spring to keep on paying 42oo employees
| a much larger sum In wages than the hhisheu
| product Of their labor could be sold Tor rather
| than 10 throw them out OF employment d! sus-
pending operations They demanded tnat Nv
| should subject the four thousand owners VI me
establishment to still heavier loss by restoring
| the wages Of prosperous times. lie did not
| deem II ,ust or wise to accede 10 their demand
| and told them why he did not. offering to let
| them prove the validity Of his explanation by
| an examination of the books. The next day they
struck. voluntarily relnquishing their WORK anu
earnings. This they had perfect legal rign'
IA do Soon aftcrwaN Debs. president or the
American Railway Union, ordered the raiiroauS
10 support the rejected demands OF the strikers
by refusing 10 draw Pullman cars. The rail-
roads declined TO break their contracts and vio-
late their obligations 10 the public. Thereupon
Debs ordered the American Railway Union 10
quit the service Of the railway companies IN the
expectation Of parayzing trafilc coinpie'eV anu
consequently coercing the companies into COM
pliance with his conditions.
What followed has been described by Debs
with unexpected tlcarness. though his descr'p
ton fits the situation which existed not at the
time when he sent II 10 the railway managers,
but several DAYS before. Debs says:
The contest has waxed aercely. II has extended
far beyond the limits OF interests originally in
yolvsd and has laid hold OF vast number OF IN
dustres and enterprises In nOWise Responsible lot
the differences and disagreemenis that led 10 the
trouble Factory. mill. mine and shop have been
silenced Widespread Generalization hes sway
The interests OF multiplied thousands OF the inno-
cent people are suffering. The common welfare Is
seriously menaced. The public peace and tran
guilty are imperiIled' rred' aPp'e"'"''o' va '"'
future prevails.
There Is nothing else about this statement 50
likely 10 Impress sane persons as the colossal
audacity OF such a prelude under such circum
stances as existed when he wrote II. 10 nnal
attempt at dictation. Debs says in effect 10 the
railway managers: Because l. vain, lmpu
dent tyranncal scOundrcl. traitor at heart
and a criminal IN action, have succeeded In
causipg vast misery 10 host OF innocent per
sons by wanton defiance OF law, and have
produced q state Of terror and Generalization
throughout the country, therefore demand that
YOU take back into your employment all my
agents through whom have done these abom
Unable things and so stop them And because
the managers decline 10 negotiate with beaten
and desperate public enemy, the vindictlve iooi
declares that be will fight 10 the death.
This is Debs Tens Of thousands or working
men admired and trusted him little while ago
That was before they knew him. To-day we
suppose that by vast majority Of them he Is
despised and execrated They have no use 1os
such a combination Of malice and imbecility
When they have fully recovered their senses
they will realize that he has betrayed them into
a shameful conspiracy against The American
people Probably their strongest feeling now
is indignation at being swindled by man whom
they had hired at large salary to serve them.
Tho ,vor,ingmen have done with Debs. The
courts will now take him up.