The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-04-22
DEBS' NEW PLAN.
The A. R. o. to Establish a Co-opera-
tive Commonwealth

tive Commonwealth.
New York, April 22.-Eugene Webs.
president of the American Railway
union, has witten a communication to
the Journal setting forth his ideas of
the new cooperative commonwealth. 1t
is as follows:
The approaching special convention
of the American Railway union, to be
held at Chicago beginning the third
Tuesday in June, promises to be one of
the most interesting and important
conventions OF labor representatives
held in recent years. There is no doubt
that radical changes will be made, that
the order will be vastly broadened in
its scope and that a progressive and
up-to-date policy will be adopted. The
mem bers have long since realized that
the old methods have been Outgrown
and that nothing more can be accom-
plished on present lines; and they have
simply been waiting for the full effects
of the great strike of 1894 to make
themselves felt upon railroad employees,
confident that it would result in ripen-
ing them for the great change which is
now contemplated.
To organize for another strike were
worse than folly. At present railroad
corporations have things their own
way so far as employees are concerned,
and the latter might We'll have no or
ganiZatiOn. If organizations are rec
ognized or considered at all it is only
when they fully and unqualifiedly sub
scribe to the terms made by the corpora
llOnS, unQef neutrality-suspicious. harmony
prevails and the best OF feelings exist
between the companies and their en-
ployes."
In the meantime the capacity of all
machinery is being increased and more
and more business is handled with less
and less men. An army of idle en-
ployes, the federal and state soldiers
and a SubSerVient federal judiciary
would perpetrate this state of affairs
Indefinitely.
Fortunately, however, such object
ands of railway employees and all other
kinds of workingmen who have been
victims of corporate supremacy have
been using their brains, and as a result
they propose to adopt new tactics, and
by the application of common sense
methods overcome the selfish, sOrdid
gang who have monopOlized the coun-
try and the fullness thereof and place
the people in possession of their own.
How is this to be done? By uniting
the workers of the country in a. grand
cooperative scheme in which they shall
work together in harmony in every
branch of industry, virtually being
their own employers and receiving the
whole product of their labor.
The country is ripe for such a move
ment, and believe the coming conven-
ton of the American Railway union
will launch it. 1t is to be confined to no
particular class Of labor, but all who
toll are to be admitted without regard
to natiOnality,se sex, color or previous con-
ditiOn of SerVitude. The primary work
viii be largely educational. Every prob
lem relating to our social, economic, po-
litical and industrial life will be exam
med. Lecturers and organizers will
take the field and enter upon a thorough
canvass of every state of the Union.
Some of the foremost men in the re-
form movement will head the crusade,
and it is a foregOne conclusion that it
will grow more rapidly than any organ
ization that has ever preceded it, and
being founded on the intelligence of its
membership the growth will be healthy
and substantial, and it will not be long
until this movement will be one of the
determining factors in shaping the poll
icy and destiny of the republic.
Industrial cooperation as the basis
of a higher type of civilization will be
the principal object. 1t is impossible |
to enter into details so farm advance, but |
these will doubtless adjust themselves |
a t the proper time. Upon fundamental, |
bedrock principles a round million of |
us are agreed. We shall unite all our |
energies to destroy the present capital |
istic system and establish the co-opera- |
tive commonwealth
Under the former, which is now in |
the last stages of Consumption the !
country has been brought to the verge |
of ruin, and humanity has been degrad- !
describe. To one whose SensibilitieS are |
not wholly dead a mere contemplation |
Of the horror of our social life is sick |
ening and shocking.
The time has come for social regen- |
Grafton, and this is only posi- BILE through |
a new and worldwide change of Sys-
will be the purpose of the new move |
ment to be launched soon in the great |
metropolis of the west.
Soon after the work is under way it |
is proposed to begin active operations |
in some western state. The state will |
be cOlGnized by our people, the leaders !
will converge there, a full ticket viii |
be nominated and we will undoubtedly |
have votes enough to secure complete |
possession and control of the state gov |
eminent. We will then esta blish the !
cooperative commonwealth, and the |
state government will be in harmony |
with it. The 1abOrless thousands of the |
country will be invited to the state, and |
will be given equal opportunities with |
all others to develop its resources and |
enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness
There are several western states in |
any one of which all the unemployed of |
the country could, under sane condi- |
lions, not only provide for themselves,
but attain a type of civilization COM
pared with which the present would
appear like cannibaliSm.
From one state the new life will rap
idly Over1eap boundary lines and per
meate others, and thus the tide will
sweep in all directions until the old |
barbaric system has been DESTROYED |
and the republic is redeemed and dis |
enthralled, and is, in fact, the land of a |
free and happy people.
FIRST ON RECORD.