The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1908-09-29

was ignored. He made speeches ac-
cording to reports, and. with his abil-
ity as a talker, I have no doubt it was
he who got them out. For one I then
honestly believed he could use his
gifts Of speech on the receivers en-
ployes. AS said before we had been
advised by our counsel that we could
do so and that the injunction was be-
yond the power of the court.
After Phelan was arrested and the
strike broken, the question came up in
our board in Chicago about having
Phelan defended In the hearing, which
he informed us would be conducted
before Judge Taft. urged the i'm
portance of having Phelan defended
by the best lawyers we could employ.
was overruled and he was left to
the advice of lawyers who made him
say things that, knowing Phelan as
l do, I am sure he would not have
said, whatever the consequences to
him.
Mistakes in Phelan's. Trial.
II have thought and studied much
on the happenings of those days. Sew
eral times l have read the opinion
of Judge Taft before he sentenced
Phelan to Jail for contempt of court.
In the first place 1t must be said
in fairness to all concerned that Phe-
Ian was badly defended.
"On the trial before Judge Taft,
under the advice of his attorneys. he
denied doing many of the acts he was
charged with having committed. The
gist of the charge was that he incit-
ed the receivers employees to strike.
His denial that he did this was in
the nature of an admission that 1t
was wrong to so incite them. The
proof before the Judge was that Phe-
Ian did get out the receivers en-
ployes.
Instead then, of avowing what we
do, under the guaranty Of the right
Of free speech, induce man to strike,
regardless of an Injunction, and take
the consequences like man, Phelan
was put before the court as liar
and perjurer.
at is plain that Judge Taft was at
fected, as any man would have been.
by what Judge Taft in his decision
considerably terms 'Phelan's want Of
candor' when before him.
Points Conceded by Debs.
within recent years Eugene v.
Debs has stated over his own sigma
ture what he did not tell us when
using his wonderful eloquence in per-
suading our convention to inaugurate
the strike in sympathy with the Pull
man mechanics, or while was In tel
egraphic communication with Phelan
that he and the other heads OF the
railroad brotherhoods were advised
by their counsel during the O. strike
in 1883 that IL they ordered employees
of Receiver McNulta of the Wabash
road out, that is, to break their con-
tracts of employment purely out Of
sympathy, Judge Gresham would
probably put them all In jail for con-
tempt Of court.
"Debs says further they took NO
chances, but acted ON the advice al
their attorneys and paid them big fees
for it. Debs made this disclosure al
a time when he was urging the organ.
ization Of the social democracy, a!
leging this aa q reason why the strike
or boycott by the laboring man wat
q futile effort.
Not Question Of Politics.
AT the time Of our strike or re.
bellion we thought jury would &C.
quit US because, as Governor Altgelt
said, the federal courts had simply
sneered at the antitrust law which
congress had passed July 2, 1890, In.
stead Of enforcing It. 1t was undel
this act that Attorney General Richart
Olney was pretending to prosecute
us. Indictments based upon the Grim
inal provisions Of this act against 10,
Greenhut and the other officers of thu
whiskey trust this same Richard OlneI
aided by Elihu Root and other corpor