The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-10
DERS.

Everybody is trying to explain Debs, and he most certainly ought to be ex- plained if he can be. He has burst upon the startled world like an ominous comet, "inpor,dng change of times and states,' and his progress is marked by blood and fire. Who is he that hath it that h" has been able to do them? Some say he is mentally unsound and others say he hath devil. IL appears to be cGrgain that only two years ago he was a dipsomnniac, and there is abundant evidence that he is now at least a meg1lonaniac.
 | It strikes us that however many kinds of mania Debs is afflicted with and how ever many devils may have an abiding place in him, his manias have much method iii them and his devils are quite thoughtful ones. He has evidently set out to be the boss. His idea is about as big an idea of the kind as ever grew in the mind of a labor leader.n His American Railway Union is a sudden and wonderful growth based on his notion that all railroad employees should belong to the same union instead of being divided into brotherhoods &C., cording to their various classes of occu- Nl,n the express purpose of substituting It. self for all other organizations. It could not hope, therefore, to be sup ported by other unions in a strike of its own creation, and it therefore sought, by adopting the cause of the Pullman employees, to create a sympathetic strike which, while it would involve the other organizations, would rebound chiefly to its own credit and to the credit of Debs. This plan has worked pretty well, though there are signs now that some of the labor unions think there may be such a thing as being too sympathetic. And we look for more and more of such signs until it is plain that Debs' great game has been played out.
 Debs hns, been able to do what he has done because he has the qualities of a leader and because he has very skill fully taken advantage of situation which gave him an opportunity to tenn porariy make himself q powerful ty- rant. His followers have followed him because he has been bold and confident and because they are more or less dis contented and desperate, and are ready to follow anybody who will give them hope of better days. There is no doubt that many thousands of the workmen of this country believe that they can by menace or force get for themselves better treat ment and better wages. So they hold themselves in readiness to strike, either originally or sympathetically, when they think it will do them any good. They make sad mistakes in judgment, but there is no doubt about their sincerity. There is doubt about the sincerity of most of the men who become their leaders. Most of them are known to be "on the make," and few of them man. age to hold high office long. They make too big promises and sometimes they steal too much. There has been long process sion of such, and they have been about as great hindrance to the real, the honest and the deserving labor movement as the bloody anarchists have.
 The day of Debs is about over. He has had high-tlying, a bloody and a lurid time. He will soon be ih jail if he is not killed by order of General Miles. It is terrible thing that such men as Debs can lead honest and well-meaning, though discontented workingmen. into such a tragedy as that whose shadow is