The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-06-28
LABOR LEADERS.
Ellen Grey's Interview and Observ-
ance of Western La bOr Men.

ance of Western Labor Men.
Boyce is a man who knows what not
to say; tall and spare and Irish, he
wears broadcloth and means business.
Boyce does not kowtow. 1.-The Post
has been fair" was all the introduction
he wrote on his card when I asked
him to procure me an interview with
Mr.. Debs, and then he unbent and
laughed as he said:
you'll like Debs.'
Another man is Lieut.-Gov. Coates
He is a small man with reddish hair
and mustache, we'll dressed in a sacque
coat and good collar and tie, and has
his boots BACKED. I asked him how
did he come in the delegation.
Il am working man. I'm a printer,
and it is only as a labor man that I
hold office"
II could not make him out, for he
has every mark of an English gentle
man-voice, features, that something in
the way he carries himself, and in the
way he said: I'll see you in a minute
to a fellow delegate.
II have worked for my living since
was 9, and looked out for myself
and have not been to school since.''
But a boy of 8 is only baby"
Il was only baby when I was
thrown on my own resources" There
was not a trace of II am the only one
about him as he said it, and asked
him who were his people. He hesitated
and then said in way that had all the
effect of taking off his hat:
my father and mother were English
aristocrats." There is a great leaven
of that class in the Western laboring
people.
Another delegate is a lad of II from
Leadville. He's all boy. and won't
he have tales to tell that will Guido
Othello when he goes home. He never
| was away from home before and he is
! putting up at a hotel and carries a.
cane. He's tall boy and he's Irish,
| too, and represents the union of news
boys and newspaper office boys, and
feels his responsibility. He can talk
Socialism till you wonder how one
small head can hold so much.
! I'VE are more for educating the boys
and keeping them out of bad places.
We had lots of fun in our sociables
last winter. Yes, we have accomplished
one thing-we've got to work only ten
hours a day now, instead of~eleven.'
Mr.. Debs had just come in from a
walk. "I've walked just six miles by
my pedameter," he said, land what
magnificent air there is here"
| He walked up and down the room,
debating a long article which I was
writing out-dictating fluently, without
a change, with fine command of
words and pronouncing as purely as a
| ~Sn%. - ~ ~,
and again to tell some story or saying
Il wish you knew so and so; you would
like him as much as I do"
He told me story about a watch he
| gave away years ago to an engineer
| who had been out of work, and how
| the bread came back to him on the
waters, but he asked me not to tell it,
only that last night two little girls
asked to see him. One was bashful
child of Z, and the elder Of IL had all
the care takers dignity, and told Mr..
Debs she had come to see him "be-
cause her father was AL Smith"
Mr.. Debs did not know AL Smith. but
drew the two little girls into talking and
the little one said: "Papa's dead since
a long time," and the elder one said:
I'VE didn't rattle the watch, though
Mamma got a man to pay her for our
things-he paid for everything in the
house, and cried when he took every
thing away, and so did mamma"
Then the little one told him that they
had come to Denver so their mother
could have a chance to work. but they
kept the old silver watch that Debs had
given to the engineer, their father,
when the children were babies.
"'Cause papa loved it."
'.Wastn't that worth living for?' Mr..
Debs asked. And he is that kind of a
man. He is loved as well as trusted.
HELEN GREY in Denver Post.