The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-01-09
A GREETING TO DEBS
LYCEUM THEATER FILLED WITH
PEOPLE EAGER TO HEAR HIM.
Leader of the A. n. U. Receives
Warm Welcome I'm minneapolis
His Address Last Night Largely
Devoted to the Strike, Its Causes
and Enect-Speech by w. w. Err
win, Introducing the Star of the
Evening-An Interview With Debs.

and Enect-Speech by w. w. Err
win, Introducing the Star of the
| Evening-An Interview With Debs.
The Lyceum Theater was crowded from
ceiling to floor Saturday night and several
hundred people were unable to gain ad-
mission to hear Eugene V. .Debs. Presi-
dent Forrest of the A. r. T., presided.
The delegates from the Trade and Labor
Council occupied seats on the platform.
| w. w. Erwin made brief opening ad-
dress. He traced the growth Of the idea
of personal liberty and claimed that the
trainers of the government desired to full
| ly protect that right Liberty of con-
| science and the strict letter of the law
| did not always conform; yet statute law
must really become the expression of the
highest moral conception of right and
| truth, or it could not endure. In the ex-
| ultation of freeing the black slave, he
| said, we had rested content for many
! years, forgetting that other problems need
| ed to be solved. I'm addition to personal
| liberty and freedom of conscience" he
said, there is another liberty. 1t is eco
i
| acknowledge the claims of economic lib
| erty. We do not yet really define it. Much
| earnest thought and conscientious endeav
or must be applied before economic liberty
| is given its true place.
| Mr. Erwin introduced Mr. Debs by pay
ing high tribute to his honesty and
| courage. Debs was greeted by perfect
| storm of cheers and applause, and it was
| several minutes before the audience be-
came quiet enough for him to proceed.
! His speech largely review of his
connection with the A. r. IT, and it fol-
lowed the same general lines as the ad-
| Gress given in ST. Paul Friday night. 1t
| was, however more temperate and phil
| osophcal in tone. The audience was very
attentive and greeted Debs' bright and
| epigrammatic sayings with frequent ap-
| olause
He reviewed the Pullman strike from the
beginning and quoted largely from Rev
CarWardine's book on that subject. He
| recited the conditions of the people at
| Pullman and said the A. r. u. national
| convention could not refuse to extend a
helping hand when such misery wit
messed Debs denied that he personally
ordered the great strike. On this point he
said: I'VE had in the A. r. L. convention
$50 delegates, representing 10000 men. l
was in the chair, and had not even
voice. The convention made the decision
He added that he willing to accept
the responsibility for anything he had
DONE but wished to be judged fairly. In
his analysis OF the sympathetic strike he
claimed that the General Managers Asso-
citation set the example. The roads hay
ing membership in the association pledged
themselves to aid each other in case of
trouble on any one line, even to the extent
OF transferring employees to the road af-
fected. He said such combination of
capital was not judged in the same way
That an organization of labor IS viewed.
When railway managers meet and agree
| to reduce wages. that's conference said
| Debs. When employees meet to resist that
| reduction of wages it's conspiracy. The
dlffefence between conference and a con-
| spiracy is about ST. 100000
After showing that reductions were made
on many railway lines, the speaker turned
his attention to the judiciary, administering
a rich brown roast to Judges Jenkins and
Woods. He said 1.-The common people are
losing faith in the law dispensers for
they perceive that the judicial nets are
adjusted so that they catch only minnows
| and let the whales through
Debs then paid his respects to public
opinion. saying that he had no confidence
IN 1T. Public opinion is always conserya-
tive. 1t is never friendly to reforms until
they are accomplished. The progressive
minority has always moved the world The
speaker scored the press in a general way
but was far more moderate and good tenn
pered than in his st. Paul speech. From
| his book of editorials and letters issued
| by the General Manufacturing Association,
| he read letter written by Eugene Hay at
| the time of the Great Northern strike.
Hay said in substance that the A. r. T.
| leaders were socialists, that the Great
Northern strike was simply feeler by
| which the organization was testing it's
strength. The real purpose of the A. r.
ment control He believed that any rec
| ognition of Debs or his as
sociates. or organization, would be
disastrous to the railways, the business
| classes and the general welfare. Debs
punctured tho Hay letter with sarcastic
comments which were apparently much
| appreciated by the audience
Coming down to the details Of the strike
Debs denied that the A. r. L. men or
| their sympathizers committed any vio-
| lence, and promised some racy testimony
| when the conspiracy cases come up for
| trial. He said: THE A. r. e. never
started out to whip the United States gov
eminent. If our government were assail-
| ed today no body of men would rush to
| the front so promptly to it's defense"
In closing he spoke of the general in
| dustrial situation, and said he thought it
| full of hope.
At the close of his speech the audience
| rose and gave three cheers s. M. Owen
| was called for and spoke briefly. Miss
| Mayme Sample was to have rendered q yo-
| cal solo, but through mistake in the pro-
gram her name omitted