Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-04-27
became the implement Of his degrade

became the implement Of his degrade
tiOn.
Mr.. Debs stated that the machines
to-day are owned by those who do not
operate them, and operated by those
who do not own them. One wants
profits, the other wants wages. Their
interests are Numerically opposite.
The workingmen have laid every line
of railroad, but all of them combined
do not one a single spike in one of
them. They do everything; they own
nothing. The other class does moth
ing, owns everything. All the work
fngmen cannot get out an injunction.
They make the guns that are turned
against them when they go on a
strike.
Just recently the American Steel &
Iron Trust closed down twelve mills
to allow a few people in Wall street to
do some stock jobbing. Last year
their profits were thirteen millions.
Notwithstanding this, Manager Gates
ordered the factories closed down and
as if by magic 5000 workingmen and
their families are made to suffer in
enforced idleness. 1t is possible that
they may grow hungry and cause trou-
bic. Then will the soldiers come for
ward to protect them? Oh, no, they'll
be called out to protect the nails these
men made, and then shoot the men
who made the nails. The point | want
to make is that six men have it in
their power absolutely TO starve 5000
men. They have them completely at
their mercy. They are their econom-
tool ~ ncfnr III rEAa r-o - YIN D fn
industrial slaves.
Under the new condition the skill
that was formerly in the wage worker
has been transferred to the machine.
Men work, not in small bodies, but in
great armies. The speaker denied chat
the condition of the workingmen
better to-day that it was 100 years ago.
How many Wheeling workmen have
$1,000 in bank? How many own the
homes in which they live? One per
cent. of the population WINS 80 per
cent. of the wealth of the country.
Notwithstanding what is said about
prosperity, there never. was a time in
the history of the country when the
wages of the laborer were SO low,
measured by the standard of what he
produces.
Mr.. Debs took up the coal miners to
prove that the condition of the work
ingman is infinitely worse to-day than
it was thirty years ago.. He argued at
length to disprove the assertion that
the condition of workingmen is i'm
proved, or improving. He did not re-
gard it as strange that crime has been
increasing at an alarming rate in
wow ne tho oOnditinnc r~rrOpndinO the
workingmen, and the novels in which
the new generation of citizens is be-
ing reared.
The speaker referred to the search
for a new market in the Philippines,
for goods for which the workingmen
here are suffering. He said overcon-
sumption was due to the fact that the
machine makes shoes, but does not
wear them; makes hats, but does not
wear them. 1t is because of over-pro-
duction, based upon under-consump-
ton, that there are tramps in this
country. A half century ago the word
tramp had not been coined. He de-
clared that he was with the tramp,
against the society that made him a
tramp. He was in sympathy with him
because he was a victim of industrial
conditions which he could not control;
and because the, speaker feared that
if the present conditions continue, he
might have to join the army of tramps
himself.
Mr.. Debs declared that the shadow
of the next panic is already upon us,
and he asked his hearers to remem-
Der what he said.
Mr.. Debs declared that it was not his
purpose to sound a note of despair. He
was not a pessimist. He was absolute
~ hopeful. He believed that the right
must prevail. He held that if men are
fit to be political equals, they are fit
to be economic and social equals, and
he looked forward to the time when
caste and class will disappear. The
world is in travail, but out of chaos
will come the new order of things. The
middle class is doomed to extinction.
The trust is the latest phase in econo-
mic development. The speaker was
not in favor of destroying the ma
chimes. He was in favor of taking pos
session of them. He continued to
argue along this line, and then pointed
out his remedy, which is government
ownership. 1t was after 10:3 80 a'clock
when he concluded a brilliant perora-
ton, and the audience, which was al
most as large as when he commenced,
applauded most heartily.
Auction sale of Law Books and Of
fee Furniture at 2 o'clock p. M, Satur-
day afternoon, April 2Sth, at Office of
the late Joseph ]. Woods, 1920 Chap