The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-17
THE NEW DEBS IDEA.

The country knows what the old Debs
idea was. 1t was to organize one of the
largest branches of labor in the country
against the capital engaged in the industry
and to maintain the organization in an at
.titude of hostility. That movement failed,
partly through it's inherent viciousness and
partly because the courts stepped in to pro-
tect the rights of the government and of
individuals The new Debs idea is not suf-
ficiently formulated yet to be susceptible
Of exact definition. One of its prime OBJ
jects seems to be the abolition of the wage
system. In his recent speech in Chicago
presenting his plan Mr.. Debs said: The
wage system is essentially slavery. By it
men are driven to suicide, crime, degrade
ton, starvation and all other ills which af
fict the race of men," The Journal would
like to believe in the honesty of Mr.. Debss
motives in this new movement, but it is
hard to do so in the face of such declara-
tions as the above. At all events, to be-
Aeve in his theory is to impugn his intel
lgence. No intelligent person who reads
history and biography Alright and takes
note of the countless instances in all civil
lied countries in which wage earners have
become employers and risen to the highest
positions in commercial, social and political
life can honestly indorse the statement
that the wage system is essentially slavery.
On the contrary it is essentially freedom
the right of every person to control his
own labor and to enjoy the fruits of it.
Slavery means compulsory labor without
compensation; the wage system means vol
untary labor with compensation graded ac-
cording to the skill, industry and produc-
tiveness of the laborer. If there is any
fairer system than this or any better one
for those who are capable of approaching
and appropriating it's benefits the wit of
man has not been able to discover it since
the time when it was written, THE laborer
is worthy of his hire" and when the in
junction was given, BE content with your
wages" If Mr.. Debs succeeds in doing
away with the wage system he will have
abolished one of the prime factors in the
worlds progress and a chief cornerstone
of civilization.
Mr. Debs has not said what he proposes
to substitute for the wage system, but he
talks in a vague and optimistic way about
some mysterious system under which
everybody is to be prosperous, contented
and happy, and under which there shall be
no wage payers nor wage earners-perhaps,
even. no workers. In a recent communica-
ton to a. New York paper he explains that
it is a feature of the new movement to
colonize a Western State. with the object of
capturing, at some future election, the
state government through the ballot. The
ticket to be put up will be pledged to put
in effect socialistic ideas, so far as the
federal Constitution will permit, or. as Mr..
Debs says, ito establish within the limita-
operative commonwealth" COOPERATIVE
commonwealth" has a fine large sound,
but what does it mean? In the best posi-
BILE sense Indiana and every other State is
there is a wide-open door forNevery individ-
ual to make the most of himself and to Sc
cure in the highest possible degree his own
prosperity and that of the community at
large OF course, Mr.. Debs's cooperative
commonwealth would be something very
different from that of the free and prosper
Gus State of Indiana but we are still left
in doubt as TO what it would be. One thing
however, is noticeable. For some time to
come his cooperative commonwealth
would be dependent for its support on the