Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-08-01

pays the penalty.
Thomas JEFFERSON was prophetic when
he said that eventually the Supreme Court
would undermine our political fabric. That
is what it is doing to-day. When there
Is no law to punish workingman. they
issue an injunction. Oaughter.) What
Is an Injunction? II is not law; 1t is SIM
ply the viii of Judge. You are brought
into Court, and he says. You are guilty;
go to JAIL And the Supreme Court says
there is no appeal from that decision.
The same judge is judge. jury. Court and
executioner Are the great corporations
enjoined? No. Who is? The workingman.
He is enjoined from asserting his rights.
Take the case of the railroads. There is
the judge who had. charge of the Northern
Pacific railroad. and who reduced the
wages Of the employees ten per cent. That
is the railroad which has been plucking
every time there was pin feather in
sight. Laughter) 1t has become fashion,
! able, you know. after railroad has been
wrecked. to give II into the hands of the
United States. The United States Courts
have become repair shops for railroads.
and there is an increasing number Of peo-
pie who think that II the United States can
operate railroad after il is wrecked. II
can Operate ii before II Is wrecked ZAP
plause.) Well, Judge Jenkins issued an
order cutting the wages Of the employees
of the Northern Pacific ten per cent. and
then he issued another order restraining
the men from quitting. under penalty OF
contempt of Court and going 10 jail IL
was a clear case OF the United States hold
ing UP workingmen while a corporation
went through. their pockets. The thing
was so palpable that there was fuss
about it. and it got to the ears of Con-
gress, and Congress appointed commit
tee to investigate the thing. and appropri-
ated FIVE hundred dollars. and about the
time the corruption level was struck by the
committee the appropriation gave out, and
you have never heard OF ii again. and
never will Qaughter.) The Supreme
Court IL not in touch with the people. The
members Of that Court are elected by no
body. and It is responsible to nobody. 1t
does just as II pleases. 1t has usurped the
legislative features of our government.
and Congress might as well be abolished,
for the Court says what is and what is
not law.
81 plead for the common people. ] am
for the common people. and plead espec-
tally for the suffering poor and for the
man who works deep down in the bowels
of the earth And when I tell some peo-
pie that. they want TO know what there
is in il for me. They cannot understand
It, They say ought TO mind,
my own business Wei, he is my bust
ness. and / am attending to his cause
applause } MilIonaires and mendicants
are the abnormal creatures of our Amer
lean abnormal system, and when they dis
appear they will disappear together II
man has the right TO live he has the
right to work, and II he has no right TO
work he has no right TO live Under
proper conditions there would be work for
all, and there would be more of an equita-
BILE distribution. Jay Gould died twenty
years before his time. (Applause) The
trouble Is money is the standard for ev-
erything 1t is false standard. Moral
worth ought to be the standard The man
who has the most money stands highest
en- the social thermometer The best man
is not he who has the most money, ana
the worst man Is not he who has the least.
Many man has gone into bankruptcy be-
cause he had more heart than avdrice-
more conscience than cupdlty. Death Is
a perfect democrat. CLaughter) He has
no more respect for the millionaire than
for the pauper. He levels his finger at the
throbbing heart of the miollionaire and
saps Stop and in the twinkling of an
eye-instantly-that heart stops beating.
and the great millionaire had sunk TO the
level of the pauper. Not long ago the head
of the house of Vanderbilt lay stretched
upon his bed In his palace on Fifth Ave
nue.. New YorG All that money could do
for him was done-but money could do
nothing. Money is not everything in this
world. It is very little. Its acquisition
saps the strength and shrives the brain.
and all to what end? The conditions are
all wrong. AT one end Of the system men
are being driven to suicide or insanity: at
the other end to starvation, degradation
and crime. | appeal to the well-to-do 10
come to the front Men cannot afford 10
be selfish; life is too short. But how many
appear to understand our motives?When a
man arises TO plead for the masses it IS
the fashion to cry him down as a dema-
gogue and a disturber of the peace. The
trouble IS, a selfish and a dishonest man
cannot understand an unselfsh or honest
one. We are not so far removed from the
old methods after all. In former times the
stronger tribe devoured the weaker. Then
II was called canniba1sm. We are doing
the same thing to-day with our fellow
men, but we do II by a more refined pro-
cess All we can have In this world is a
name, and we can only truly help our
selves by helping others"
After quotation from Lowell. the
speaker said:
uses It for the oppression OF his fellow men
is not civilized, in the proper sense of the
term. Such man is sent into the world
with exceptional abilities; he cannot help
1.-THE. was born that way. He uses those
abilities and succeeds. and he calls himself
sef-made man. He has simply done
what he could not help.
Every man in this world is my brother.
Some may doubt It. and some may deny
II, but II is so. l believe in the brother
hood of man. and when we all have come
to believe in that we have begun the d.
vine march to higher civilization" ZAP
plause)
Mr.. Debs closed his address at 1875 o.
clock with sincere thanks TO his audienc
and in return was given three hearty
cheers.