The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-06-03
MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1895.
AItgeId Versus Debs.

That Eugene v. DeDs snOulu Heeu IL
defender in the person Of Governor
Altgeld, seems TO us TO be a distinct
disadvantage to the cause that has its
foremost advocate in Debs.
Relative TO the movement that had
its leader in Mr.. Debs. last year, the
Standard is on record. This page did
not-falter in the expression of its opin-
ion. The employees along the line of
two transcontinental railways. among
others, were out on strike. Two fed
eral judges came to the front with de-
crees so astounding as TO excite sus-
picion that the bench was absolutely
in the pay OF the railroad ring.
The Standard said as much when,
from Denver and Milwaukee. corrupt
looking injunctions were fired at the
strikers. 1t all came out right; courts
of resort promptly put down the
Judges whose injunctions were written
manifestly in the interest of the roads.
The proposition that a man is not mas
ter Of his own movements was
quashed.
Up to certain point Mr.. Debs was
supported in these pages. He went
too far. and the Standard said so at
the time. His strike failed, but when
its failure was an assured fact he
wired TO railway centers in Montana
that .the Standard was not telling the
truth and that his success was as
sured. That was dishonest on the part
of MrsDebs, and the results were dis
astrous 10 hundreds of men who had
fought his battle and who persuaded
themselves at the time that. in fact,
the news was wrong and Debs was
right.
These men paid the penalty which
deception imposed upon them. They
might have returned to their work:
they would have done II had they ac-
cepted the truth as, at the time, the
Standard printed It. Afterwards.
scores Of them actually experienced
the pangs Of hunger, simply because
they had listened to Mr.. Debs; they
might have ''caught on" but for his
dishonest dispatches.
Essentially, the movement that had
its manager in Mr.. Debs. as far at
least as the railroads of the Northwest
are concerned, had merit in IT, Where
in the Union Pacific and the Northern
Pacific were concerned, IL was n strue-
gle between decent pay for labor. on
the one hand, and richer pickings for
insatiate receivers on the other hand.
II is history that, in this section of
the Northwest, the strikers conducted
themselves in a manner that COM
mended them to the good will of the
public.
But there was riot and bloodshed
and destruction of property in Chicago
and at other points. The plain truth
about II is that Mr.. Debs and his
agents started a racket which they
couldn't stop. No man is warranted
in an adventure of that sort-to our
mind the only question is whether il
is worth while to hold Mr.. Debs 10
personal account.
In any event, however. we draw the
line on Altgeld. We look upon him as
an imported BLACKBOARD. To our way
Of thinking Mr.. Debs fares the worse
for finding a defender in a person so
contemptible. We believe this man
Altgeld 10 be a demagogue who will
never be dangerous unless the lawless
element in Chicago gives him license:
and our respect for Mr.. Debs would be
heightened were he TO hasten the an
nouncement that he has no use for
Altgeld and never sought in him a
special pleader.