Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-07-27
THE DEBS MEETING.


only yesterday | saw a miner IN the
Fairmont region He had worked for
three months, and he was in debt to the
Company $2T. (Applause.) Nor Is
that an extreme instance. | have in
my possession the time sheets OF the
men out there. and l know WHEREOF
speak, and I am prepared to substan-
tate every statement I make by the
documentary evidence.
'rIn the first place, the Fairmont
miner is robbed by fraudulent meas
urement. 1t is a notorious fact. 1t has
been ascertained by the correspondent
of the New York Journal, who made a
full and impartial investigation, and
reported the facts to that great paper,
that cars which were supposed to hold
two tons of coal actually, held two and
a half tons and two and three-quarters
tons. "a voice, Right you are. }
And not only that, but after deduct
ing his supplies-that is, the powder,
and oil, and tools, and fifty cents a
month for the company doctor, whe-
Their any one is sick or not the miner
nets but is or 10 cents ton. But this
is not all, nor. the worst of it all. The
miner is not paid in money. He is
given a check, or a book of checks,
and is compelled to deal at the COM
pany store, and the farmers in that VI
entity will tell you that the miner Is
compelled to pay from 20 to 80 per cent
more for his goods than the other Gus
toners. CA voice, Right you are, old
man, All the miner has is his la
Dor, and he is compelled to sell that at
the cheapest, and to buy at the dearest
rates Under that system every right
of the individual is hopelessly lost.
How would you citizens like some one
else to draw your pay and spend it for
you? Oaughter) That is the lot of
the West Virginia miner. His wife
goes to the store where the check book
is kept. and buys what she wants, and
the checks are taken out and although
her husband works every day, at the
end of the month he is in debt and has
not a dollar to show for what he has
done. Thus the miner is an abJect
slave, with no hope for him except
through the back door of suicide.
(Sensation) l appeal to you to put
yourselves in their places Would you
be satisfied? "a voice, Mo- | am
sure you would not be. If the people
of the United States could be put in
that position for one week, This strike
would be settled in favor of the men
that is to say, it would be settled in
favor of the right and in favor of hon
esty.
But they say that Debs and Rea
came here to make a contest. That is
the fact. If men are contented in such
a state of degradation, then there is no
hope for the future. But in this con-
test every American citizen should be
an organizer. applause and cries of
"Good.'O If you could spend one day
out there in the mining region, you
would stand as l do, holding that such
conditions are a disgrace and an out
rage.
1--WE are making a little progress
just little progress every day, and |
have faith in the future, because l have
faith in the people. They are coming
around to believe in the necessity Of
of acting. The miners and garment
workers have sunk to soulless dep s
OF degradation. | remember when the
miner made five dollars a day, and he
could live like white man and educate
his children. But his wages have been
gradually reduced, until, in my own
State. the miners, on an average. be-
fore this strike, made forty-two and a
half cents day. l am familiar with
their condition"
At this point Mr. Debs spoke in detail
of the condition of the miners in some
sections of the country particularly
citing Brookdale. Ala, where the men,
although working hard, never see any
money. and just manage to get enough
clothes to make them presentable on
the streets. Proceeding he said:
"John Bright once said that the ma
ton lived in a cottage. 1t was a beau
tiful and poetic idea. But a large pro-
portion Of the wage earners among our
citizens no longer live in a cottage, for
the cottage implies a home. Byron
said: When falls the Coliseum, Rome
shall fall: and when Rome falls-the
world Here and now, we say what
when the American home falls, then
falls America, and when America falls,
there falls the greatest country in the
world. I do not say the American
home is to fall; but do say the Amer
lean home is in jeopardy when a man
has to work for forty-two and a half
cents day. (Applause.) The average
miner does not live in a cottage. He
lives in a hut, a howell. sometimes a
hole in the ground hardly fit for wild
beats. He works hard, yet his return
is little. His habitation cannot be
happy one. His wife is discouraged
She has been trying to live on fifteen
or twenty cents a day-the children are
half naked. ignorant, and all is
wretched And after ignorance comes
crime. and after crime punishment, in
the shape of the prison or the life
strangled out on the gallows. These
are the products Of conditions. Under
proper conditions we have true man.
hood and virtuous womanhood; under
vicious conditions humanity sinks TO
the level of the beast. Go to the large
centres of pOpulation-to New York
and Chicago-and you will see hun
dreds Of thousands Of people huddled
together. ignorant, vicious and de-
praved. and as a natural result Of these
conditions there is not State al pres
ent with adequate capacity for the
punishment of its criminals. This ques-
ton appeals to the patriotism Of every
honest citizen Of the republic. And
want the ear of the business men Of
this community for a little while. ]
want TO say to them that they are just
as much interested in this matter as
the miners. If they are defeated, you
will suffer to a corresponding degree.
IF the miner gets but forty-two
cents a day he must live on 1t some
how. He cannot buy good. wholesome