The National tribune., 1906-03-22
Arouse, Ye SIavesl

The latest and boldest stroke of the
plutocracy, but for the blindness of the
people, would have startled the Nation.
Murder has been plotted and. is about
to be executed in the name and under
the forms of law.
Men who will not yield to corruption
and browbeating must be ambushed.
spirited away and murdered.
That is the edict of the Mine Own
ers' Association of the Western States
and their Standard Oil hackers and pals
in Wall street, New York.
These gory-beaked vultures are to
pluck out the heart Of resistance to
their tyranny and robbery, that labor
may be stark naked at their mercy.
Charles Meyer and VIM, d. Haywood,
of the Western Federation of Miners.
and their official colleagues-men, ali
of them, and every inch of them-are
charged with the assassination of ex-
Gov. Frank Steunenberg, of Idaho, who
simply reaped what he had sown, as
mere subterfuge to pounce upon them
in secret, rush them out of the State
by special train, under Heavy guard,
clap them into the penitentiary, con-
vict them upon the purchased perJured
them to death with the hangmans
moose.
1t is a foul plot; damnable conSpi-
racy; a hellish outrage.
The Governors of Idaho and Colorado
say they have the proof to convict.
They are brazen falsifiers and venal
villains. the miserable tools of the mine
owners. who, themselves, if anybody
does, deserve the gibbet.
Meyer, Haywood and their comrades
had no more to do with the assassina-
ton of Steunenberg than 1 had; the
charge is a ghastly lie, criminal cal
umny and is only an excuse TO murder
4 H. 4,
tray their trust and too courageous to
succumb to threat and intimidation.
Labor leaders that cringe~ before the
plutocracy ard do its bidding are
apotheosiZed; those that refuse must be
foully murdered.
Personally and intimately do I knoi'
Meyer, Haywood, Pettibone, st. John
and their official co-workers, and l win
stake my life on their honor and in
tegrity; and that is precisely the crime
for which, according to the words of
the Shiny 'tsleuth" who worked up the
case" against them, they shall never
leave Idaho alive"
Well, by the gods, if they don't the
Governors of Idaho and Colorado and
their masters from Wall street. New
York, to the Rocky Mountains had bet
ter prepare to follow them.
Nearly 20 years ago the capitalist
tyrants put some innocent men to death
Tor Standing up Tor LABOR
They are now going to try it again.
Let them darei
There have been 20 years of revo-
lutionary education agitation and or
ganization since the Haymarket trag
edy, and if an attempt is made to re-
peat It there Will be a revolution, and
will do all in my power to precipi-
tate it.
The crisis has come and we have got
to meet it. Upon the issue involved
the whole body of organized labor can
unite, and every enemy of plutocracy
will join us. From the farms, the fac
tories and stores will pour the workers
to meet the red-handed destroyers Of
freedom, the murderers of innocent
men and the arch-enemies of the peo-
pie.
Meyer and Haywood are our COM
rades, staunch and true. and If we do
not stand by them to the shedding of
the last drop of blood in our veins we
are disgraced forever and deserve the
fate of cringing towards.
We are not responsible for the issue.
1t is not of our seeking. It has been
forced upon us; and for the very reason
that we deprecate violence and abhor
bloodshed we cannot desert our COM
rades and allow the-- to be put to
death. If they can be murdered with
out cause so can we, and so will we be
tyrants.
They have driven us to the wall, and
now let us rally our forces and face
them and fight.
If they attempt to murder Meyer,
Haywood and their brothers million
revolutionists, at least, will meet them
with guns.
They have done their best and their
worst to crush and enslave us. Their
politicians have betrayed us, their
courts have thrown us into Jail without
trial and their soldiers have shot our
comrades dead in their tracks.
The worm turns at last, and SO does
the worker.
Let them dare to execute their devil
ish plot and every State In this Union
will resound with the tramp of revo-
luton.
Get ready. comrades, for actioni No
other course is left to the working
class. Their courts are closed to US
except to pronounce our doom. To en-
ter their courts is simply to be mulcted
! Of our meager means and bound hand
and foot; to have our eyes plucked out
by the yultures that fatten upon our
misery.
| Capitalist courts never have done,
and never Will do. anything for the
working class.
Whatever is done we must do our
selves, and IL we stand up like men
| from the Atlantic to the Pacific and
| from Canada to the Gulf, We viii strike
terror to their cowardly hearts. and
| they viii be but TOO eager to relax their
grip upon our throats and beat swift
retreat
We will watch every move they make
and in the meantime prepare for ac-
ton
A special revolutionary convention of
| the proletariat at Chicago, or some 9th
er central point, would be in order,
and IL extreme measures are required
a general strike could be ordered and
| a general uprising.
| II the plutocrats begin the program
we win end it.
EUGENE V. DEBS.
This IS criminally excuseless and in
defensible.
The facts are that ex-Gov. Steunen-
berg, of Idaho, was foully murdered
in a manner that shocked the whole
/ community, and the deed was clearly
an act of revenge upon a public official
for doing his duty at a critical time
In what manner he did that duty
whether he was guilty of wrongdoing
does not enter into the case at all. II
he did wrong the courts were open to
punish him and right the wrong. There
could not he in any decent mans mind
any justification for the contriyed muir
der by which he met his death.
A number of men have been arrest
| ed charged with cOmplicity in the aw-