The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-02
Not The night Remedy.


1 radical resolutions adopted by the So
| called labor convention held at ST Louis
on last Tuesday; nor do we believe they
/ win iudorse the wild. anarchistic utter
1 ances Of Eugene Debs. The convention
was not one of representative laboring
men. So far as We are informed, there
was not a laboring mana man who de-
ponds upon the sweat of his brow for
! his daily bread-in the meeting. 1t was
composed of professional agitators,
number of their well-intentloned dupes,
and a few cranks. The speech-makers
and the resolution writers were men
who probably have not performed a lick
of work for years. whose refined sensibil-
tiles would be shocked by the smell of
| the sweat of honest toll, and whose ac-
tivity IS always devoted to the end of
tearing down, and never of building up.
! These agltators prey upon the people who
work, magnifying the wrongs of the la
| boring classes, working upon their pas
| sions and prejudices with most skillful
| touch, and meantime drawing big sala-
| ries for valuable" advice and leadership.
1t is a matter of business with the agi-
tators to stir up strife and discomfort in
| labor circles. In the absence of trouble.
the occupation of Iago would be gone; and
| Iago sees to it that he is not deprived
of his soft snap
The keynote of Debs' speech, and also
the central idea of the meeting, was OPP
| position to government and a threat of
violence il the strikers are not permitted
to have their own way by a fixed date.
It is to be noted that the strikers have
not joined in this threat and demand.
| The conventions resolutions, by inference.
suggest an armed assault upon the courts
| and our capitalistic classes" while the
strikers themselves have behaved in a
very becoming manner and have avoided
violence and opposition to legal author
ity Evidently the meeting did not rep
resent even the strikers themselves.
Debs' speech clearly unmasked the man
and his purposes. He is "agin' the gov
eminent" because the government will
not permit him to raise Cain as he may
see it, He calls himself a socialist, yet
proclams the doctrines of anarchy. THE
| only perfect government" he says, sis no
government at ALL" That is anarchism re-
dHced to it's lowest terms. Socialism con-
| templates the strongest kind of govern
ment in which all individualsm is merg-
| ed into the governments machinery. The
individual works for the government,
which in return takes care of the indi-
vidual. Anarchism, on the other hand,
proposes the abolition of all government;
and that is what Debs wants He would
| like to get even" with the United States
government for interfering with his ar
rangements, and to do that would be will
ing TO have the whole political and social
fabrics overthrow.
The working people, being blessed with
a great deal of common sense, are neither
| socialists nor anarchists. Nor are they
to be persuaded that the founders of our
government We're a set of ignoramuses,
that all men in public life since that time
excepting Debs, have been or are rascals
and tyrants, and that it is the sacred duty
of the lahoring classes to give Debs the
"vindication" he desires even at the eX-
pense of bloodshed and the sacrificing of
the system of government which has cost
so much in lives and treasure
our government system is not perfect,
by long odds: but it is the best in the
world. 1t is often perverted and made to
serve ends that were never intended to be
served. There is just cause for complaint
against congress for bad legslati and
against the federal courts for usurpation
OF power. Congress has time and again
affronted the people by disregarding their
plain mandates and saddling upon them
oppressive laws for the benefit of favored
persons and institutions. The courts have
repeatedly gone beyond the limits of law,
reason and justice. They have ridden
rough-shod over state, municipal, corpora
ton and Individual rights, and there is
urgent need that they be deprived of some
of their power. But that is no reason
why there should be talk of resortng to
arms.
1t is pertinent to ask where the respon-
sibility rests for these shortcomings of
congress and courts; and there is no other
answer possible than that it rests upon
the people themselves, through the repub-
lican party. That party has been kept in
control of the government, except for
short intervals recently, ever since the
term of Buchanan. The chances are that
many of those who are now to be found
among the followers of Debs are republic
cans, or were such until recently, and
that they have repeatedly voted for and
with the party which they knew to favor
trusts monopolies heavy taxation upon
the people, the Capitalization of govern
ment at Washington or in the hands of
federal authorities, etc. 1t is not strange.
therefore, that the republicans, being
placed in office. have proceeded to put
their theories into practice by governing
through the federal courts where they
cannot govern otherwise.
The remedy is not, as Debs suggests. a
revolution with guns. but a political revo-
luton which will retire the republicans
from control permanently, and place the
government in the hands of the demo-
cratic party, the party of the people.