The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-05-16
CHANGE WITHIN rs YEARS
SAYSB. V..DEBSlN SPEECH
Wage System Must Be Abolished In.
side rs Years to Maintain, It's
Own Progress.
Only Solution for Present Distempers
Is Establishment Of Co-Opsrative
Commonwealth.

Commonwealth.
TWENTY-FIVE years from now people
will look back to the present time
aghast with horror that men and wo-
men should have been sold in an open
market for their productive power;
not sold to the. highest bidder, as was
the black slave a generation ago, but
to the lowest bidder"
Eugene v. Debs the Socialist leader
of Terre Haute, Ind, made this pre-
diction in Evansville last week
when he addressed large audience Of
working people. His subject was La
Dor and Liberty, and the hall was
crowded both up stairs and down
stairs by an interested audience,
which cheered him repeatedly when
ever salient point was brought out
in the course of his address.
In the course of his remarks Mr..
Debs denounced the courts as being
prejudiced against labor, saying, how
ever, that he had nothing particular
against the judge, as the judges were
elected by the ruling class of people
and simply obeyed their behests.
The key note of the lecture was a
plea for the cooperative common
wealth, the lecturer contending that
there could be no real prosperity and
peace in the country until the masses
owned and operated the machine
The Industrial problem will not be
settled, he said, until the cooperative
ia i,, al
men will be equal and when the same
amount of work will be required Of
all. "The working man has not
thought seriously on this subject"
said Mr. Debs. "He has believed all
tician came around and told him he
needed free silver, rec trade, or
something elese he believed him. These
issues have nothing to do with your
prosperity and until you are intelli-
gent enough to see it you will remains
wage slaves"
There can be no peace while we
have one class owing the machines
and the other class depending upon
them. There will be strikes, lockouts,
injuncttons and riots just as long as
the present conditions exist"
The speaker talked at some length,
showing the miners in the Pennsylva-
MIA strike a few months ago got every
thing except what they struck for He
rs
sfIght rhe2di
+ ton OF the uni on and the right to
weigh their coal after it was brought
from the mines: They lost both propo-
sitions, but were given an advance Of
10 per cent in wages. Mr.. Debs said
If he were an operator he would be
Wiling to grant the miners an increase
several time in a year if he could re-
tain the right to judge how much
coal they mined.
In the opinion of the lecturer the
manufacturer of coal operators lose
nothing by strike. They raise thes
price of their commodities and the
people foot the bill. Mr.. Debs said
he had visited the coal regions of the
east and had seen the sufferings and
privations Of the miners. He painted
vivid picture of the miners hovel
and said it wah ashame and a fear
full rebuke to our civilization that the
condition Of the miner is what it is
today. In many Of the huts there
are no carpets, no pictures hang on
the wall and the miner simply exists
and his children grow up to be beg
gars or criminals and perhaps both.
These miners are the wealth pro-
ducers of the country and make possi-
BILE the firesides of the world
'These miners i'm Pennsylvania are
fit for something BETTER" said the lee
turer, lust like the woodworkers Of
Evansville. You men in Evansville
are fit for something better than to
produce wealth for the furniture man.
ufacturers. I have just read this ap-
plication for a restraining order. L
want you all to read it. IF you do
there will be 500 more Socialists in
Evansville. The woodkorkers here
have committed no violence and there
is no reason why they should be en-
joined. Whoever heard Of manu-
joined? No one. This class look
upon courts as conveniences. Now
the place for you men to strike is at
the ballot box.
1.-THE owing class in every age is
the ruling class. Courts are always on
the ruling side. Now the thing for
Tie "OIhluB 1ileu 10 90 Is TO get, EOH
the ruling side and then you I: will
make the laws and controls the courts.
When election comes you should re-
member this. You should read and
think for yourself, and you will be-
come the ruling class. 1t matters not
what the alleged issues are, remern-
ber there is only one issue for you.
The machine must be owned by the
people. - = ~'',~,'"~ .; y z<.%%
1.-The cave dweller> Of the primitive
ages ate human flesh. It was then 4
case of the survival of the: strongest
and in the morning the cave dwelIer
went FORTH club in. hand and killed
his weaker neighbor and ate his flesh.
There was no law against It. In this
age this thing would be punished, but
Mr.. Debs thought the. man who wore
away the life Of q girl in sweat shop
for q few cents 9 day was as much q
criminal as the man who would take
human life. SIS. z .E* IS.
IN closing his address Mr.. Debs ad :
vised The. local strikers to stand nrm
u