Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-04-06
THE WORDS OF A PATRIOT.
In What Marked Contrast to the Revolution.
ary Words Of Debs.


| In What Marked Contrast to the Revolution
ary Words Of Dsbs.
In marked contrast to the treason
able utterances of Eugene V. Debs i
an appeal for loyalty ON the part o
the workingmen written by J. K. Sow
eign for the Wallace Press. Mr.. Sow
ereign was the successor of r. V
Powderly as head of the Knights O
Labor and for long time was editor
of the Wallace Tribune, the organ O
the Western Federation of Miners
Coming from one who has been a ma
tional leader of labor, the appeal il
worthy of reproduction. 1t reads.
In the Appeal to Reason of March
10, Eugene V. Debs issues a proclama.
ton which raises the standard OF re.
volt in America and calls his followers
to arms. beg to submit my personal
opposition to his programme and de.
sire to point out the folly of his course
Debs was the candidate for Presi
dent on the Socialist ticket in the last
national campaign and is now the rec.
ognized leader of that organization.
His proclamation for armed revolu.
ton is doubtless the most violent ever
Issued by any economic leader in this
country since the foundation of this
republic.
The appeal to arms would be less
conspicuous if it came from a less
prominent leader in the labor move.
ment. But coming from him it calls
for the patriotic opposition of all the
loyal sons of America.
Debs sounds the tocsin of war, but
without any cause 10 do 80. He boasts
that he has at his command an army
q million strong. Possibly he has, but
many OF his enlisted followers have
strong muscles and, only weak brains
as requisite qualities in folrowing his
advice. He is bidding only for fields
Of destruction, desolation and despair.
He is longing for the pallid cheeks Of
widowed wives and the scalding tears
of..sisters and sweethearts as the re-
ward of his folly. He appeals to the
personal vanity Of his followers and
seeks to array faction against faction
in mortal combat by declaring that
the men accused of the murder of ex-
Governor Steuenberg are innocent,
but have been condemned TO death
for the crime.
He is unwilling to wait until any
body is tried or convicted of the crime
but rushes into public print and de.
clares that il Meyer and Haywood are
convicted the Governors of Colorado
and Idaho shall share the same fate or
suffer death by violent hands.
Well does Debs know that somebody
committed that cowardly murder and
that under all rules of good govern.
ment the person or persons who com.
mitted it ought to be convicted and
punished? But he is unwilling to
wait until the accused can even be
given fair trial before declaring the
country in q state OF armed revolution.
Is not Idaho an honorable StateP
Are not its people imbued with the
spirit of liberty and justice? Are we
not common people in q common
cause under common flag in the
great sisterhood of the American
union! Why should Debs 60 forth
half demon, half demagogue, with gun
in one hand and q torch in the other
to desolate the face and desecrate the
fair name Of commonwealth as pure
as the luster Of the morning stars?
Idaho is in her infancy. she is sending
her first cradle shouts back to the
beneficent Creator. who gave her the
domain Of earth she is proud to call
her own. Could not Debs have ap.
pealed to the citizens of Idaho to see
to it that our trials are fair and that
our courts arc just and impartialf
But instead he calls his forces to arms
all over the country to draw the life
blood OF millions who have no per.
sonal connection with the case in
question. Revolution, bloody and re.
lentless, is what he wants, and uses
the arrests in the Steunenberg murder
on which to predicate cause to show
it.
I am personally acquainted with Mr..
Debs and have been associated with
him in more than one hard struggle
for labor. But by no means could I
60 with him in the crime OF sedition,
insurrection or rebellion, and l appeal
to the working people everywhere to
refrain from expressions Of acts OF vic.
lence against the authorities or the
institutions of this great republic.
I willingly will cooperate with any
leaders of labor for honorable reform,
and l concede much of it is needed,
but when men like Debs declare they
have q million revolutionists at their
command who are ready to fight with
guns and boasts that the country will
resound with the tramp OF revolution
and suggests revolutionary conven-
ton as Debs has done, stay with the
flag and the constitution of my coun.
try and will seek to right existing
wrongs peaceably within the govern.
ment and not by armed revolutions
against il. ]. r. SOVEREIGN.