Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1895-06-05
THE RECENT DECISION.
Debs Says 1t Is q Cruel wrong-Altgeld
IL Bitter.

IL Bitter.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind, June 4.-Eugene
v. Debs, president of the American
Railway union, has addressed circu-
lar letter to members of that organiza-
ton in relation to the recent decision
of the United States supreme court.
The circular says:
"A cruel wrong against our great and be-
loved order, perpetrated by w. A. Woods.
United States circuit Judge, has been APP
rroved nv the Tinted States supreme co:.t:
but though prison walls ifown Upon myself
and others whom you chose as ofticials OF
your order, I assure you that Meth
dependency nor despair has taken the place
of the course which has characterized us and
our order since the storms of persecution first
began to beat upon us. We have not lost faith
in the ultimate triumph of truth over perjury,
of justice over wrong, however exalted may be
the stations of those who perpetrate the out
RACES"
President Debs then reviews Incl
dents leading up to and the results OF
the great railway strike, and says:
''In Russia the victim of autocratic dis
pleasure is denied a trial by jury OF his peers.
William a. Woods carries out the Russian
practice. In Russia the doomed man or woman
is arraigned before the supreme despot or
one of his numerous satraps Truth, justice,
mercy, are forever exiled. Age, sex, charac-
ter. innocence, name and condition count for
nothing 1t is enough to know that
the brave soul yearned for freedom.
and the penalty of exile, imprison-
menr torture or death is inflicted, and it
has come to this at last in the United States
of America that the law of injunction is the
will of despot, and by the exercise of this
RUSSIAN power American Railway union off,
Gals go to prison and the hope is
that by the exercising of this
power the American Railway union will
be crushed In this supreme juncture I call
upon the members of the American Railway
uuton to stand by their order. III Gods own
good time we will make the despots' prisons,
where innocent men suffer, monumental"
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,, June 4.-Gov. John
P. Altgeld in an interview on the de-
cision of the United States supreme
court remanding Eugene V. Debs and
his friends to jail, said:
demanding Debs to jail is in itself a matter
of little Importance, but the principle estab-
lished is of transcendent Importance This
decision marks a turning point in our
history, for it establishes new form
OF government among men, that is gov
eminent by injunction. Under this procedure
federal judge sitting in rear room can, ON
motion of some corporation attorney issue
ukase which he calls an injunction forbidding
anything he chooses and which the
law does not forbid. Where the law
forbids a thing no injunction is necessary.
In other words he can legislate for himself and
having done SO he can turn around and arrest
and imprison as many people as he pleases;
not for violating any law, but on the mere pre-
text that they disregarded hisinjunction; and,
mark you, they are not tried by a jury accord
ing to the forms of law, but thesame judge who
issued the ukaSe and who claims his dignity
was offended himself tries the case and
whether anything is proven or nothing is
proven, he can send men to prison at pleasure
and there is no remedy