The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-10-15

Il
working man consumes and the machine
does not Besides being an operproducer
the machine is a nonconsumer.
THE machine has made the tramp.
Fifty years ago there was not a tramp
or a millionaire in the entire country.
Why did all men working fifty years
ago and today, why IS it that men have
not work at living wages 1t is because
of a modern machine called the trust.
The trust makes the millionaire and
makes the tramp. never see a tramp
without a feeling of sorrow and of dis
gust for the system that makes such
things necessary. The tramp is the VIC
tim of our modern machinery and our
system. He is a tramp through force of
circumstances and if they had been a
little different you might be in his place.
THE machine has competed with men,
and wages were reduced: then the Wo-
man were called because they would
work for less and the men were thrown
out of employment; next the child was
called because it would work for less
than the women. There are today en-
plOyed in this country ], 500, 900 women
and z, 600 900 children who should not
be obliged to labor and would not If it
was not that competition and the ma
chine have so reduced the price of labor.
Senator Wolcott said in his speech in
Philadelphia, There is not today an idle
mill or an idle man. Those statements
were both lies. At the time that speech
was made two mills were closed in Terre
Haute, Ind, my home, and had been
closed since April The mills employed
over 500 men each and were closed by
the trusts. Many of the men who work.
ed in them have gone to Durango, Mexi-
co, where they can get employment. A
man who will make the statements Sen
ator Wolcott did, knowing them to be
untrue should be sentenced to a term in
the anthracite coal mines in Pennsyl-
Vania.
Private ownership is responsible for
the condition in those suburbs of he'll,
the coal mines The miner is serving a
life sentence in those. dismal dungeons
with no rest and no chance for pardon.
He may only avoid his servitude by
gliding through that back door-suicide
He lives in cabin owned by the corpor-
alton. There is no paper on the wall,
no carpet on the floor. no music greets
him as he approaches his vile abode.
Haggard poverty meets him at the door.
There can be but little love and happi-
ness in such a home for love and happi-
ness do not go hand in hand with poverty.
The skeleton of famine does not teach
love and virtue. What can be expected
of children brought up with such sur
roundings? They viii increase the GRIM
inal class. Nothing else can be expected.
The Democrats and Republicans pro-
pose to do absolutely nothing to relieve
this condition which is due to the trusts
and corporations The Republicans up
hold the trusts and the Democrats say
the corporations must be protected.
Competition has developed nothing
that Is good in man; it has developed all
that is mean and cruel and vicious.
y
iStence it is the survival of the fitteSt.
This is not true. 1t is the survival of
the one who is mean, vicious, graSping,
who has the best commercial instinct
Look back over the commercial highway
and see you are lying by the WaySide.
Is it not the man who has the large
heart? The man who could not refuse
TO credit a starving fellow creature?
There are many such. Men who trans
ferred the stock to their ledgers because
they had tender hearts and were not
tel -,r,+
Mr.. Debs touched upon the government
by injunction and cited cases where both
Republican and Democratic judges had
not only enjoined the workingnen, but
told where the soldiers had been ordered
to shoot them down. He told of Olney,
the attorney for trusts, making speeches
for Bryan and of Croker and Cochran,
members of trusts, doing the same, and
then asked what hope the working man
could hope for in the Democratic party.
You imagine you are a sovereign citi-
You are an Industrial slave. The cor
porations control your labor and control
you. You are in bondage on the Install
nent plan"
In speaking of the public ownership of
railroads, Mr.. Debs said: IF the owners
and the board Of directors of our rail-
run just the same. Trains would come
in one time and business would be done
Just promptly and accurately Their
absence makes not the slightest differ
ence. The board Of directors do not oper-
but the stocks on Wall street The en-
ployes do the work and could do it just
The government operates successfully our
postal department, excepting for deficit
rates paid the railroads for the transport
tation of the mail. If the government
system, it can operate successfully the
railroads. Tt should also operate the
telegraph lines. We are the only nation
on earth that does not do so. The West-
ern Union Telegraph Company declared
and continues to charge at the rate Of
two cents per word to send a message
message can be sent for one cent per
word;
lions will be better. The factory and the
shop will no longer be dismal dungeons
morsel Of bread, the badge of labor will
be the emblem of liberty and honor, there |
be bright and cheerful and there win be
pleasure In ever life. Men will work
enough to produce what they require and
enough to keep them healthy"
In closing he asked the people to sup
port G. G.. Cleneus for governor.
After Mr.. Debs had concluded Mr.. |
Clemens stepped to the front of the plat |
form 1+ ana he'd 4 out ms arm for SILENCE
fore it was known that Mr.. Clemens want |
ed to talk When quiet was restored he
was difficult to understand him. He said:
Is there 4 newspaper reporter here #
and he did noe notice the State Journal
representative, SO he repeated his ques- |
ton. Still there was no response and then /
Mr.. Clemens poured out the Walls of his |
wrath upon the Topeka. press, because |
there were no reporters seated at the |
table on the platform.
Il have never heard of such outra geous |
treatment" said Mr.. Clemens. DO the /
newspapers of Topeka think they are |
running the universal We will teach them |
they are not. There are 5000 railroad men |
who will resent this insult They will |
back me in what say. I will not pa
tronize a merchant who carries an adver-
tisement in the State Journal or the To- |
peka Capital and will not do business |
with a man who lends them his support |
in any manner. This is nefarious. They |
refuse to send reporters to a meeting |
where Mr. Debs speaks. but they can not |
de- sc and not suffer for it.
I have been with Mr. Debs in Chicago, |
in Cincinnati ard in many other cities
and such liscourL eoIls trea tnaant has |