The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-09-21

The following extracts froma circular
letter. addressed to the laboring men of
America, and dated at Wheeling, are
published by request The letter IS
somewhat lengthy, and only such por'
tions of 1t are printed as pertain to the
history OF L. ". Debs' connection with
the American Railway Union and his
organization of,the Social Democracy,
as follows;
Joined the American Railway Union
in as good faith ms any man ever Joined
any organization Gn this earth be-
lieved that It was all that Mr., Debs
claimed for II, was well satisfied that
IL was an organization whose purpose
WINS to elevate the laborlng man and to
better his condition, and the eloquent
words uttered by Mr., Debs thrilled me
beyond expression.
AZ the first convention of the Amerl-
can Railway Union, held in Chicago on
juno 70, 1894, Mr. Debg declared thar The
first local union was organized on Au-
gust II, 1893, and that at that time June
u. 1874, after lapse Of nine months and
twcnty-efgft days there were 49j local
unions and more than one hundred
thousand members.
Mr.. Debs, in his address before that
convention. furher said, speaking OF
the organization OF the American Rail-
way Union: "Nisc task has been hercu-
lean, but results are Of a character
which atone for all exhaustive labor
which has been bestowed. The fires of
local unions are blazing on mountains.
in valleys and OF plains, Phenomenal
success so far has attended our efforts.
It is rapidly encompassing the great
Republic from ocean to pcean-fTom the
lakes to the gulf" These were elo-
quent words. and were calculated to
kindle enthusiasm in the breast OF any
and every earnest member of this great
labor organization,
Now, all members of the American
Railway Union know that II costs, un-
der section 7'of the constitution, fee
of one dollar as an admission fee, and
capita tax due TO the general union at
the time OF admission, to become Il
member OF the a. Il. u. AND these sums
accompany the application for
membership. See section 81, page 10
and 20 OF the constitution Of the Ameri-
can Railway Union. Now, the capita
tax is one dollar per annum s provided
by section IS, page Is Of the constitution,
and no smaller sum than twenty-five
cents, which Is the amount for one
quarter, is received from any member.
Therefore, according to Mr.. Debs' decla-
ration In his speech just referred to on
June ~, 1894, there ought to have been
In the treasury or satisfactorily ac-
counted for. at the smallest possible
limit, over $4,000. According TO the
published proceedings OF this conven-
ton OF June 18th to the 23rd. 1894. as
printed by the Henry o. Shepherd
Company. OF Chicago. and on page liz,
the treasurer then had In hand S22,j10 %.
The total amount as shown in his report
as received by him was $751; SOL 40. When
the report was published. containing an
Il does Mr.. Debs' speech in which he
assured US that there were over one
hundred thousand members, and which
contained the report OF the secretary.
which shows on page ll5 that there were
all told only 2iS0S members In the en-
tire United States. my enthusiasm and
confidence both experienced n severe
shock / had considered Mr.. Debs the
greatest man on the American CONT
nent, and the greatest friend and leader
labor had ever had in this or any other
country, and my faith although shaken,
followed him In all his trials and tribu-
latlOns until It began to dawn on me,
very much against my will, that Mr..
Debs was playing labor people OF the
United States for all that he could make
out Of them.
The next convention OF the American
Railway Union. and the only Conven-
ton held since 1894, was held In Chi
cago. commencing June To- 1897. When
this great convention OF this great or
ganiEaton assembled in little stuffy
hall in Chicago on June 15 1897, there
were not present over twenty delegates
from the entire United States: In fact,
there were only four long-distance del
egates In Attendance, one OF these was
from Brooklyn, N. Y, one from Texas,
and two from Georgia, the balance of
the convention being made up OF q
drunken mob of anarchists gathered
from Chicago and 1t suburbs In addl-
ton to the delegates, numbering not
over twenty, there were present In the
hall about seventy-tlve men and three
women. One Of the women was Mrs.
Parsons, the mulattO wife OF Parsons,
who was hung for participating in the
Hnymarket bomb throwing in Chicago
some years aga Another woman pres
ent was Mother Jones. OF some notoriety
in the city OF Chicago. Debs. OF course,
was present and made number of
speeches and talks. and here was the
great American Railway Union, as
sembled for the second time, holding in
its treasury, according to the published
reports, $22, $40 % unacCounted for. with
q small handful Of idle bummers perfor-
ming the funeral rites Of the A. Il. U.
and Matching into life the beautiful but
terly called "The Social Democracy OF
America"
In this last convention. to show how
utterly Debs had failed. and how COM
plctcly the A. r. u. had dwindcd into
nothing. the entire southern states had
at that time but nine iocui unions. of
which Salisbury. n. c., Fernandlnn.
Fla. Birmingham, Ala. Galveston, Tex.
Smithyille Gu. Montgomery, Ga. At
Miss, were the head Office OF the small
number OF local unions in the entire
southern states.
In this convention, composed OF three
delegates from the south, one from the
east, and the rest from Chicago. Mr.
Debs declared that he wanted to serve
the working man, but by serving the
rallroadg he could get q position that
Who can measure HHQb.V