Evening star., 1900-05-07
LABOR AND ERTY
A LECTURE BEFORE wORKtNGMES
BY EUGENE v. DEBs.
Large Audience Listens to His Re-
marks-Public Ovvne rss' ip and the
Social PrObIems

The present conditions Of labor and the
laboring classes were the subject Of a
lengthy address delivered last night at the
New Grand Opera House, by Mr. Eugene
V. Debs, the candidate of the social demo-
cratic party for President. The subject of
the lecture was Labor and Liberty and
1t was given under the auspices of the
Central Labor Union of this city. The au-
dience was a large one and the boxes were
occupied by invited guests, among whom
were Senator William E. Mason of Illinois,
Representative Sulzer of New York Rep
resentative Lentz of Ohio, Representative
John ]. Jenkins of Wisconsin, Representa-
tive Joel P. Heatwole of Minnesota Rep
resentative David H. Mercer of Nebraska,
Representative Joseph w. Babcock of Wis
consin, Mr.. John r. Sovereign, Mr.. r. V.
Powderly. Mr.. John W. Hayes Prof Willis
l.. Moore of the United States weather bu-
reau, Mr.. Thomas f. Tracey, Mr.. Andrew
Furesuth, Mr.. F. w. Palmer, Mr.. J. A
Parsons, general master workman of the
Knights of Labor, and Mr.. NJ. d. Ratch-
ford.
Trusts Will Crush Themselves.
The lecturer was introduced by Mr..
Samuel De Nedrey, who paid high tribute
to Mr.. Debs' interchangeable and self-sacri-
fcng efforts in behalf of organized labor
and compared him to President Lincoln
and Horace Greeley.
In the course of his lecture Mr.. Debs
made no allusion to politics, but confined
himself to a review of prevalent conditions.
Trusts, he declared, were the outcome of
fierce competition, and it was idle to talk
of crushing them out. He saw in them the
solution of social and economic questions
of the future, because they had centralized
capital and in a few years would be crush
ed by their own weight. He believed the
result of this would be public ownership,
nd uh he
OF competition would cease and labor trou-
bles would be ended.
Changes Wrought by Machinery.
In the course Of his remarks he said,
among other things that through compe-
tition man is arrayed against man in the
mad rush for wealth. Men have been COM
pelied to sell their labor without being able
to retard its effect upon human kind, forced
to do this because he knew that the mo-
ment he failed to be of value to his eco
nomic master he was discharged, without
any consideration from his master for his
wife or his family.
There was a time when men were
freemen. But the evolution of time and
machinery has changed all that. There
was time when all labor was done by
hand and man was virtually his own mas
ter and master of what he produced, but
today, with improved machinery, he is
no longer the master and the machine,
which was INTENDED as SOQ DieSSlnS
and help to him, has become the tool of
combinations and capitalists When men
worked by hand they were the producers
and consumers, but the machine does not
wear shoes, the machine does not wear
clothes and hats, and the result is over
production; shops are shut down, thou
sands are thrown out Of employment and
even in this period of Haunted prosperity
people are starving to death and crime is
increasing through enforced idleness.
There IS no longer hope for the wage
Garner. The avenues, in spite of the
mouthings of successful men and philan-
vancement as the world would lead US to
believe The wage-earner- today will re-
main the wage-earner forever. Unless So
cialism and public ownership relieve the
wage-earner from remaining forever and
aye the wage-earner is through the door
OF suicide. The clerk ycan no longer hope
for advancement and the laborng man to-
DAY Is only tool-using animal"
A New Era Promised.
In conclusion he said:
Some men would have us crush out the
trusts. They tell US this, yet they do
not tell us how to accomplish it. They
would have us go back to hand work.
forgetting progress and the evolution of
time. Trusts are not evils in themselves,
but they are paving the way for social
ism. They have resulted in Capitalization
and In time will fall under their own
weight. The new era will open, socialism
and public ownership will succeed the
trusts, penitentiaries will be depopulated,
the factories will no longer be overshad-
owed with lowering gloom, and the badge
of labor will be a badge of honor
The lecturer was enthusiastically received,
his address was frequently interrupted by
applause, and at its conclusion he was given
an impromptu reception.
AnthrOpOlorfeaf SOciety
The next meeting or, the program of the
Anthropological Society will be held tomor-
row evening in the assembly hall of the
Cosmos Club. Lake Dwellers Of Mexico
and Egypt in America" win be the topics