The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-21
PRES. DEBS TELLS HISST0RY
LrsAYs HE HAD NO VOICE IN OR.
 DERIHG THE STRIKE.
tf He Had He Would Have Ordered it. wni shirk no Responsibiiity-He Coun. seiod Against vioienee-Raiiroad Or rnnizntions to be Unified.


 wni shirk no Responsibiiity-Ho Coun-
 seiod Against vioieneo-itaiiroad Or
 ganizntions to be Unified.
 Chicago, Aug. 20.- President Eugene V. Debs of the American Railway union took the stand at the beginning Of this mornings session of the national labor commission. He said that in addition to being at the head of the American Railway union he was editor of the local Fireman's Magazine. He said that from the beginning he was oppos- cd to a strike and so told Vice Presi- fvat Howard. He then continued:
 T twice went to George M. Pullman fEl to the town of Pullman to thor uughly investigate the conditions ex- istlng at the car shops. l found the employees were not only not getting wages enough to live on but were daily getting deeper into the debt of the Pullman company. No matter 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 Amer lean Railway union should go to the as- sistance of these unfortunate people. We believed that any fair board of arbitration would have declared Il favor of the employees and all we asked YES arbitration. This the Pullman rompany arbitrarily refused. Not only this, but when we asked them to ex- anime the question to see whether or not there was anything to arbitrate, they also refused this.
 "Very much" said he, "has been said about an alleged conspiracy against the railroads and against haul ing the mails. l want to call the at tention of this commission to the fact that every meeting of the American Railway union was held with open doors and that representatives of the press were allowed to be present. If there had been any conspiracy contem- olaed, we certainly would have been more secret about it.
 MT. Debs then told of the several failures of the American Railway union to secure arbitration from the Pullman company and the subsequent inaugura- lion of the strike.
 Not only did the employees Of the various railroads strike because of the Injustice being done to the Pullman employees, but because the various roads had grievances of their own, which shall proceed in time to show. We useL our infittenceS to prevent strikes during the worlds fair, as we did not believe it just to the public to inaugurate strike at such a time It was all that could be done by the leaders of the labor unions to prevent B strike. In view of the mems working throughout the fair the railway managers on many of the roads promised an increase of wages after the fair was over. h. stead of doing this they began imme- diately after the fair closed sys- tematic reduction of wages throughout the country. No two companies re duced wages at the same time. This to me was a very significant action. It showed me that there was concert ed action among the various roads. md that they did not wish to arouse the antagonism of too many railroad em- oloyes at the same time"
 President Debs said moreover no rail- :oad reduced the wages of all its men, 1t the same time, but reduced them by sections. He declared that the A. R. U. viewed these reductions with the greatest apprehension. The organiza- lion felt that the time had come to act. He continued:
 When the A. R. U. met in convention In Chicago on June 21, it was confronted by these conditions as we'll as the state Df affairs at Pullman.
 Was this convention called to con- sider the reduction of wages or the Pullman matter?" asked Commissioner Wright
 "The convention was called for no specific purpose. It was the regular 1uadrennial convention, provided by the constitution"
 The witness then enumerated the fail ures of the old labor organizations to gain redress for the grievances of the employees and asserted that they felt their hope lay in the A. R. U. to which thay finally turned for help.
 When asked what the outcome of the convention which declared the boycott against Pullman cars would have been had it not been for the grievances of Pullman employees, MT. Debs said there would have been no strike but for the Pullman trouble, as the A. R. U., owing to the depressed condition of the coun- try, deemed 1t an inauspicious time to strike.
 T would like to state," said MT. Debs, "that the railroad companies have nev- CT raised wages of their own accord. Every increase of wages has been wrung from them by organized labor" q had no voice in ordering this strike myself" said the witness, "but if had had voice in it, would have ordered It. I have always counseled against violence. The telegram attributed to me which read, save your money and | buy gun,' though sent over my sigma l lure, never saw. It was sent by our | ,tenographer to his superior in Montana | and was not intended literally. It was merely a playful expression current in Montana" The witness claimed the men would | have won the fight had not the courts | nterfered. Tt was not the soldiers" he said, | "nor the labor organizations, but the | Federal courts that kept us from | winning. By the arrest of the leaders the ranks of the strikers were demoral- | '1od O