The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-27

the jail at Chicago, where he met young
msin sentenced to twelve months impris-
onment for stealing a cloak to protect his
wife from the zero weather of the Illinois
metropolis. "That man wasn't a crimi-
nal, " explained Debs. "He could not get
employment; he could not earn 81, and in
desperation he stole"
Debs looks just like his picture. Thi n,
angular and smooth-shaven, the leader of
the American Railway Union is a pictur-
esque figure. He speaks with soft, easy
drawl, gestures with his left hand index
finger extended, accents his stronger pas
sages by clapping his hands together, and
in the midst of a conversational speech,
every now and then, hurries his voice to
utter an epigram, equaling in point and
brevity some of the best ever coined by
Ingersol. He had an audience, good
sized one, in full sympathy with his re-
marks last night.
George W. Monteith, the attorney who
has conducted the defense of the strikers
| in the Federal courts, introduced Debs in a
brief speech. Their appearance on the
platform was the signal for prolonged ap-
plause. When Debs arose to acknowledge
the introduction he was greeted with three
cheers and tiger.
Ladies' and gentlemen" he began in a
slow measured drawl, s'there are many
thousands of our people who are alarmed
at the widespread upheaval of the indus
trial and social system. They think that
Macaulay's prophecy is about to come
true, that representative government has
been demonstrated to be failure, and that
the sun OF the republicis about to set in
universal gloom. / am not of that num-
Der. l think the good old ship of state will
breast the storms and finally reach port in
safety"
The speaker plunged into the subject of
| the great strike of 1894, which he charac-
terized as the greatest individual upheaval
of modern times. He regarded a strike in
| the nature of a calamity, but now and then
| 1t came to choice between a strike and
degradation and slavery, "and when that
| time. comes l favor the STRIKE" said the
| speaker.
Every inch of progress has been born of
agitation and strike. Our very Govern
| ment owes it's origin to strike Every
star and every stripe of our flag was born
of strike. 1t began with strike at Lex
| ington and at Concord. If it were not that
the revolutionary fathers struck for their
rights. we would be British subjects to-
night instead of American citizens. Amer
leans must be as dead as embalmed Egyp-
| tan mummies if their hearts do not glow
at the acts of these immortal patriots.
The revolutionary patriots abhorred kings,
fought crowns and broke scepters. They
formulated the doctrine that all men were
created equal, and they crowned them
selves sovereign citizens and accepted the
ballot as the divine right
Debs declared that the Pullman strike
was born OF tyranny and the oppressive
Pullman Company. He read from a book
written by minister of Pullman to show
the condition OF the employees in that town.
Checks were drawn every two weeks. After
paying rent and store accounts Pullman
employees had from 81 to Sc left to live
upon Tor the next two weeks. The checks
were made out not singly, but in two
forms, one OF which was for the cancella-
ton OF debt and the other for what re-
manned after the debt was paid. One man
had check for cents as the amount
coming to him. He never cashed the
check, but preferred to keep it as SOU
venlr OF Pullman's philanthropy
The speaker gave at some length statis-
tics showing the wealth of the Pullman
Company and the dividends which it paid.
Ihere was not an inch of free soil in Pull
man, he declared. The child born at
Pullman was rocked in a Pullman cradle.
went to Pullman school, worshiped in a
Pullman church, died and was buried in
Pullman cemetery. "And that is the story
of human life at Pullman" said he
The speaker declared that he had visited
Pullman; he had met the employees and
their wives-some of them. Others were
SO scantily clad that they could not be
seen. He had seen children crying for
bread in Pullman, and had seen more peo-
pie in rags there than he had ever seen be-
fore
Referring to Pullman,s gift of 100000 to
the museum in Chicago, Debs said: "a
man is not entitled to commentator for
what he does with other peoples money.