The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-02-02
BUTTE WINS THE TALK
The Joint Debate Mas a Very Inter.
eSting Affair.
LOGIC AND ELOQUENCE
Both Sides of the Question
Were Ably Handled by Three
Very Bright Young
People.

conda high school took place tonight in
the high school auditorium and was a
most interesting event. The large room
was crowded with people. many visitors
from Anaconda being present. The ques-
ton debated was:
Resotced, That the recent great A. r. U
strike was not justifiable.
The affirmative was taken by Orville
j. Saville, Harold Bretherton and James
Persons of the Butte's senior society and
the negative by Miss Elna Waterbury.
Miss Anna Tietjen and Oswald Cohen OF
Anaconda.
Judge w. w. Dixon was selected as
chairman and expressed great satisfac-
ton with the honor of presiding. lie said
he knew of nothing that could have better
educational results than a debate of the
kind announced, as it brought together
the students in friendly contest and gave
them experience that would prove inva!-
liable. He said there was additional in
terest given TO the affair by the fact that
two of the debaters from Anaconda were
young ladies.
Alex Leggat, president of the Senior So
clety, made a short opening address, in
which he said that the subject to be de-
oaied was one that had occupied the
minds of the deepest thinkers of the ma
ton and had engaged the attention of the
whole world. He said the debate was the
first contest of the kind ever held between
two cities in Montana andkhe believed
mat IL would form bond of friendship
between the two societies and between
Butte and Anaconda that would last Tor
all time.
The Senior society selected E. b. Howell
as judge and the Anaconda society Sc
lected Mrs. Kirby, and they selected
clinton ii. Moore as the third Judge.
The debate was opened by Orville j.
Savllle with masterful argument on the
affirmative side. He said the condition
oil the country seemed to demand a social
reformation of some kind and that what
ever the decision OF the judges might be,
II would not settle the labor question. He
explained that the Pullman strike resulted
from difficulty about wages and rent be-
tween Pullman and his employees and re-
viewed the events leading up to the de-
cislon of the a. Il. Z. at its convention to
JOIN In sympathetic strike. The decision
was reached without elaboration and IL
IS given out as a fact that President Debs
was at that time under treatment for in
sanity. The sympathy OF the A. II. L.
was misplaced. They did not iniure Pull
man but everybody else. They had no
real excuse for striking and the people of
the United States do not sanction an I'M
justified strike or lockout.
HE strike was condition of anarchy,
and anarchy will not be tolerated in this
country. The methods were not jusufi-
able or legal. The success of the strike
depended upon stoppage of the trains
ana all traffic and commerce. A strike is
not justitiable while the people are
sovereign. Incendiarism. intimidation
and anarchy are not the means by which a
change in the social condition can be
brought about calmly. the ballot is the
only means by which the good sought can
be acc emphasized.
Miss Edna Waterbury made the opening
argument for the negative and her
eloquent words were frequently inter-
rupted by applause. She said there was
an eternal conflict between labor and
capital and she was surprised that any
person IN Butte, the greatest labor ;own
in the world, and the last town to give in
In the unequal contest, should question
the justice of the strike. Capital seems to
have an idea that ii alone has the right to
organize for self protection while il tried
to keep labor in a worse condition of
slavery than was that of the negro before
his emancipation.
Miss Waterbury spoke of the condition
OF Pullman's employees and his autocratic
and despotic treatment of those under
him. Was it any wonder the men finally
turned and decided TO quit the employ of
Pullman and the A. II. L. did as they
would others should do to them? The
strike was their only weapon to oppose
the grinding power of the capitalists and
corporations, and the method was iusti-
fled. For the right to share in the results
OF its toll, the laborer is to-day striving
and the people will ultimately accord to
him that right. The A. II. L. was not re-
sponslble for the unfortunate conse-
quences of the strike and the destruction
of property. The failure of the strike was
due to the lack of unity between the great
labor organizations and the actions of I'M
rlnllS. QOmnnGan ri hp in,
no sense connected with labor organiza-
tions. If the strike had been successful
there would now be no question of its JUS
LITIGATION, and The contest still going on
between capital and labor would have
been settled last July.
Harold Bretherton followed for the
affirmative and gave one of the most con-
Vinclng arguments on the debated ques-
ton. He said the argument of the young
lady who preceded him had nothing to do
with the question under debate. He
could not see what the general troubles
between labor and capital had to do with
the A. X. L. strike. The justification of
the strike at Pullman did not show that
the a. X. L. strike was justitiable. Pull !
man had right TO cut wages If he saw
fit and when his employees did not want
TO work for the wages offered they could
quit. Their rights ceased there. When |
the a. X. L. men interfered and asked
Pullman TO restore wages or submit the
controversy 10 arbitration. Mr.. Pullman
very properly said there was nothing TO
arbltrate. The A. r. U. then took
it upon itself to decide what was
in the case and what constituted a
mail train and inflicted injury upon count
less numbers of people and innocent rail- |
roads, while Puliman's corporation suf- I
fered least OF any. The Pullman COM I
pany could have held out till eternity |
under the methods pursued by the A. Il. I
L. and the only ones TO suffer would have /
been the country and the people who had |
no interest in the controversy. Had the |
strike been justifiable the result would /
Y have been successful. One |
OF two results must have grown out of the /
strike. either the strike would have been |
or the government and its laws /
and the government of the /
people. for the people and by the people 1
was preserved.
Miss Anna Tietjen on the negative side, !
n young lady with a good voice and easy 4
aDDearance on tho nla form m ada "A m ofo