The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-03-22
Arouse, We Slavesl

pers:
/ Arouse, We SlavesI
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, all
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 q
| 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
| testimony of villains, and then strange
| them to death with the hangman's
1 moose.
1t is a foul plot; a damnable conspi-
| racy; a hellfsh 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 I had; the
l a l.
| jimmy and is only an excuse to murder
men who are too rigidly honest to be-
| tray their trust and too ourageous to
| succumb to threat and intimidation.
Labor leaders that cringe~ before the
| plutocracy and do its bidding are
apotheosized; those that refuse must be
foully murdered.
Personally and intimately do I know
Meyer. Haywood, Pettibone, st. John
and their official co-workers, and I 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 'sleuth" 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
ter prepare to follow them.
Nearly 20 years ago the capitalist
tyrants put some innocent men to death
for standing up for 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 1T there will be a revolution, and
L will do all in my power to precipi-
tate it.
Tho or;s;o hoe ,or,a oa5 mo have .ot
to meet it. Upon the issue involved
the whole body of organized labor can
unite. and every enemy of plutocra cy
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 the1- to be put to
death. If they can be murdered with
out cause SO can We, and so will we be
dealt with at the pleasure of these
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 a 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 action! 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
from the Atlantic to the Pacific and
from Canada to the Gulf, We will strike
terror to their cowardly hearts, and
they will be but too eager to relax their
grip upon our threats and beat a 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
industry paralyzed as a preliminary to
| a general uprising.
Ii the plutocrats begin the program
| we win end 1T.
EUGENE v. DEBS.
This is criminally excuseless and in
defensible.
| The facts are that ex-Gov. Steunen-
berg, of Idaho. was foully murdered
in manner that shocked the whole
community, and the deed was clearly
an act Of revenge upon a public official
for doing his duty at critical time.
In what manner he did that duty.
| whether he was guilty of wrongdoine
does not enter into the case at all. If
X he Il Il