The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-03-23

RNiluy 1tuD DIT VI DtlIllOlf-
co.'s, in New York, is long step in right
direction. Since Mr.. Debs stopped organic
| ing strikes and advising organized labor to
violate the law he has shown seemingly
sincere desire TO benefit the laboring class
in some other way. From dangerous agi
| tator he has become. apparently, an honest
| investigator of social conditions. actuated
| by sircere desire t. improve them. His
| scheme for colonizing Fer men and estab-
| fishing a self-supporting community on a
| sort of cooperative plan, though visionary.
| was not vicious. A wiser and better read
man would have known that many similar
| experiments had failed and that the organi
| cation of modern society, not to say of hui
| man nature, forbids their success. Never
theless, the scheme was, apparently, an un-
| selfish one and its protector deserved credit
| for devoting his time and efforts to il. Since
Mr. Debs took to lecturing he has become
broader in his views and more temperate in
| their expression. Formerly he talked like an
Anarchist and incendiary; now he talks
| more like man who is facing great social
| problems that he realizes without under
| standing, and that he would like TO solve
| without knowing how to do In this
spect he is not alone. Many wiser and better
| men than he have had the same experience
| before and are having it every gay. Many
wiser and better men than he have given
| years to the study of social conditions and
| wrongs where he has given days and have
already done much towards improving con-
| ditions which he seems 10 think are as bad
now as they possibly can be- There
great many things in the organization of
modern society that need reforming. and
| great many good people have been engaged
| in trying to reform them long before Mr..
| Debs began He has not made any new dis
covery and he is not a pioneer in new
| field of labor.
His lecture before the Nineteenth Century
| Club Tuesday night. was on Prison La
| Dor; Its Effects on Industry and Trade"
| This is an old topic and Mr.. Debs will have
to study 1t long time before he can hope
to throw any light on IT. AS long as we have
crime we must have prisons. and just so
| long the question must be considered of
| what to do with prisoners, how TO employ
| them and how to reform them One does
| not need TO have given the subject much
attention to know that it involves many i'm
| portant questions. moral and material. Mr..
Debs showed that he only saw one of them
and had wrong view of that. Speaking of
| the disturbing effect of convict labor on
| free labor. an evil that everybody recog-
| nizes and deplOres. ne said:
| 1t should not be overlooked that prison
K llhn
| that convict labor Is recruited almost wholly
| from the propertyless wage-working class
and that the inhuman system which reduced
/ comparative few from enforced idleneSS
| 10 CRIME has sunk the whole mass of labor
| TO the dead level of industrial servitude. 1t
/ tected against its criminals | prefer TO be-
| lieve that criminals should be protected
/ against society, at least while we live under
| system that makes the commission of
| crime necessary to secure employment. De-
| veloPing along this line IL would be only a
| question of time until the state would be
| manufacturing all things for the use of the
| people and then, perhaps, the inquiry would
| be pertinent: If the state can give men
| steady employment after they commit crime
| and manufacturing can be carried forward
| successfully by their labor. why can il not
! give them employment before they are driv-
/ EN- TO that extremity, thereby preventing
them from becoming criminals?
The argument here is that most criminals
are driven to crime by lack of employment.
or, as Mr.. Debs would put it, by enforced
| idleness.' caused by the oppression of capt.
| tai. Everybody knows this is not So A large
|: majority of criminals never did honest la
Dor and would not if they had a chance.
| When Mr. Debs says that convict labor
| is recruited almost wholly from the proper
| tyless, wage-working class" he insults all
wageworkers. He insults them again when
| drive many of them to crime have sunk
| the whole mass of labor to the dead-level
of industrial servitude." That is not the con-
dtion of free labor in the United States,
and workingmen generally will not thank
him for saying so.
Mr.. Debs asked II the state could give
men steady employment after they commit
| crime, and If manufacturing can be carried
| on successfully by convict labor. why can
the state not give men employment before
| they are driven to crime? He ought to know
that the state only gives it's convicts en-
ployment as the less of two evils. and that.
not matter of profit, but chiefly for the
benefit of the convicts themselves. He may
possibly have been sincere in this sugges-
ton, but he can hardly believe that Ameri-
can workingmen who have not been con-
victed of crime would accept employment
from the state on terms conditions any
thing like those put upon convicts.
The trouble with Mr.. Debs is he knows so
little about the subjects he discusses. He evil
IDENTIFY does not know anything at all about
prison management. He ought to know
something about labor conditions if he
knows anything but he shows gross ignor-
ance of those when he says 1--WE live under
a system that makes the commission OF
crime necessary TO secure employment"
Whatever the evils of convict labor may be
he has not contributed anything to the solu-
ton OF the question or suggested anything
for the benefit of either convict free la
Dor. AS a woul3-be reformer of social con-
ditions he illustrates the blind leading the
blind.
When the suggestion was first made for a
local celebration of Dewey day. May l.
the Journal gave 1t prompt and hearty ap-
prevail. The reasons were obvious and the
time seemed opportune for getting up a