The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-14
ATTACKS COURTS
Debs Says the Poor Only Go
to Jail.
1t Only Took Rinehart One Day
to Explain
How He Stole 100000 From
the Santa Fe.
COURT LET HIM GO.
COURT LET HIM GO.
When Railway Managers Meet,
Says AgitatOr Debs,
It's a ssConference;" When EN-
pIoyes Do It's Conspiracy"

Denver. Jan. 14-Eugene V. Debs
spoke to a very large audience last
night on labor and economic questions;
THE worlds workers have been OPP
pressed, degraded and plundered ana
the sause they have espoused has been
maligned, misrepresented and men
have been prosecuted and put to
death" said he LAS for me, hold
public opinion in sovereign contempt
for it is manufactured by a pertectiy
vicious and subsidized press Inns
came fast upon the first sentence anu
both were loudly applauded. pubic
opinion put a halter around the neck OF
William Lloyd Garrison and dragged
him through the streets of Boston;
public opinion spat in the face of Wen
dell Phillips; public opinion served no
tice on Harriet Martineau that II she
ever should set foot on the soil OF the
state of Ohio she would be hanged. II
strangled John Brown and now IS rals-
ing money to erect statue TO MS
memory"
Entering into the labor question he
spoke first of organized labor as some
thing the objects of which the masses
Of the people did not rightfully under
stand Organized labor, said he,
seeks to maintain an American stand
ard of living and to protect the work
1ngman from degradatipn.W While strikes
are calamities, when it becomes a cholce
between striking and a life of degrade
ton favor a strike with all the power
a my command. To do otherwise is to
give up manhood, independence and self
respect Large bodies of wOrkingmen
do not abandon work without just
cause. The foundation of strike is
injustice"
He arraigned the corporation as the
great enemy of the workingman. 1t is
a creature without eyes and ears, hav-
ing no heart and-n conscience, but an
unsuitable appetite which the more you
feed it the hungrier 1t grows Cqrpora-
tions are not satisfied until they re-
duce wage-earnerS to the dead line.
Against this the workingman ever pro
tests. A man who would not defend his
wife and children from such a fate is
not entitled to have either and he is not
entitled to be an American citizen. If
that be anarchy, L accept the compli-
ment.
Were employers just there would be
no necessity of organization for the
protection of WOrkingmen. 1t seems to
me though all the forces of society
are arrayed against the poor. me poor
only go to Jail" He supported the
Leadville strike because the miners
were poor and right.
The speaker then took up the subject
of the courts and paid his respects to
judges with no little ability as sar-
castle talker. The same court which
had sent him to jail for contempt cited
Pullman to appear. Pullman responded
by going in his special train to New
York and when he returned he sought
out Judge Grosscup in chambers and
explained the matter to the courts sat
isfactiOn. Il got six months for my
personal explanation" said Debs. and
the audience shouted with laughter.
There is no longer justice to be had in
the courts. You may commit any crime
and escape if you have enough money
He asserted that no impartial judge
could find his way to the supreme court;
the only approach was through the
concentrations of concentrated capital
He referred to the income tax law and
decisions of the supreme court at some
length in support of this contention. He
referred fn the trial of President
Rinehart of the Atchison. which lasted
one day, land the court fastened to find
an excuse for the disappearance of 81
100000 of the earnings of the railroad.
Had it been a labor leader on trial for
that crime, the judge would have sent
him to the penitentiary for life The
rich are never punished, and that is
why the poor hold the courts in con-
tempt. 1t is only the moneyless man
who pays the penalties of his crimes -
Mr.. DebS praised ex-GOv Waite for
had ever ordered out the militia in the
support of workingmen and he had to
pay the penalty for his protection of
labor
when railway managers meet to
discuss the labor question:" he contin-
ued, 1T is a conference; when the en-
ployes meet it is a conspiracy. 1t is all
rJB n:awdasaidu:
the difference between a railway mana
ger and section hand Thousands OF
men and women are being aroused all
ONCI tic Country 1uty nave COME IC
the conclusion that humanity is of more
consequence than corporate capital
Men are beginning to think; and work
1ngmen will not much longer be suppl
cants for their rights. They will take
them" This last sentiment obtained
vociferOuS applause, but none followed
the next declaration, that these rights
would be secured, not by violence, but
by legal means.
After a beautiful word picture upon
the dignity of labor. the speaker urged
the Workingman to read and think, tC
get in touch with his fellow man Work
ingmen need mental training he said
man in the audience here inter