The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-05-07
oEss REPLIES TO ROOSEVELT

eX- President dtOOSeNell MAOeS 60 -
on Socialism. He says that socialists
are the opponents to private proper
~" are bitterly hostile to religion
and morality" and. in a roundabout
way, are "upholders of free love"
In the Appeal to Reason of May l,
Mr.. Eugene V. Debs replies to Mr..
Roosevelt's attack. and in the doing Of
which he seems not at all mealy-
mouthed. He says that Mr.. Roosevelt
is a big bundle Of vanity and hum.
bug" Continuing he says:
Mr.. Roosevelt has covered pages at
dollar a word which, signed by any
other than Theodore Roosevelt, would
have been consigned to the receptacle
for hogwash and rot.
Again, Mr.. Debs says:
Listen, Mr.. Roosevelt! The man
whose misfortune you seize upon as an
excuse to stab socialism in the back,
and whom you cruelty in public with
the malignity Of a dragon, was born
in poverty and married as a mere boy.
In his maturer life. realizing to his I'M
speakable sorrow that he did not love
the woman he wed he was lawfully
separated from her, by mutual con-
sent, and lawfully married the woman
he did love. In this he simply did
what thousands of your republican
friends have done, and for which ev-
cry decent man hOnors them, seeing
that prostitution is never so vile and
shocking to every moral sensibility as
when practiced within the marriage
relation.
You have never criticized any of
your republican friends for exercising
this lawful right and moral duty, and
you would never have dreamed of
dragging our cOmrade into the lime
light had he also been a republican in
stead Of a sOcialist-and you know it!
But i am not yet through with you,
Mr.. Roosevelt. The gentleman prepar-
ed by your foul and Slanderous press
TO serve as your horrible example be-
cause he dared to speak the truth,
never in all his life tasted liquor or
tobacco, never uttered a profane word.
never polluted his lips with a lie, new
er played a game of chance, never
spoke an unkind word to his family
and never crossed the threshold of a
bawdy house. Can you and your init
mate associates truthfully say the
same?
And yet this is the man you dare to
lay wantOn hands upon to convict the
socialist movement of immortality.
But still, another moment l am
not yet through with you. Your own
principal political preceptor was an
eminent republican. At the very time /
you sat at his feet and implicitly obey !
ed his every order he was carrying on |
a liasOn which eliminated in a shock |
ing public scandal This eminent re- |!
publican statesman whom you visited !
with frequency and with whom you
the most intimate person /
al and political relations for years. f.
made a young woman the victim of /
a mock marriage and some time after
wards had TO leave his private car de-
tached from a regular train and take
a circuitous route TO outwit the au- /
thOrities who were waiting to serve /
the warrant issued for his arrest.
Through the powerful influence of
NAAAH NAAAAlACAAN AEpuDlANdl lie lllldllN got
rid of the cruelty outraged young wo-
man. and the nasty affair is now a
CLOSED incident"
Speaking of the virtue of the social
lists Mr.. Debs says:
Socialists are the most Intelligent of
working men and working women:
they are uniformly clean i'm their hab-
its and wholesome in their behavior.
They are readers, thinkers and stu
dents. They are men and women of
Ideas and ideals, and their modest
homes attest their fealty TO all the do
nestle virtues that sanctify the fire
side and beautify the family life. All
over the United States are to be found
these 'thOroughgoing socialists" They
are sober, industrious and CAPABLE:
there are no illterates among them
and their names are never found on !
the police register except for the vio-
lauon Of lawless capitalist injunctions
ana IN defense of the right of free as
and free speech.
These ''thoroughboing socialists"
are also ss-cOnsciOus and liberty
owing. and II Is this and not their al
eged immortality and free love"
MI BAoNOAS NilG MTdlu OF MI. ROOSe- /
'elt. He knows that they know him. ,
not alone by his words but by his acts ,
and in the stately advance of this
grand army Of undesirable citizens"
he sees his political doom. y
Refuting another charge of the ex- I
president Mr.. Debs says: i
The Appeal offered a reward of five 1
housand dollars 10 anyone who would I
lsprove Mr.. ROosevelt's connection
With the Alton Steal" as charged and :
proved by documentary evidence in its l
columns. but there has been no taker. G
the brutal wrong doing" of the Ap-
zeal consisted in its uncovering the!
brutal wrong doing" of Mr.. Roosevelt
M his whilOm friend Hartman in
winding the stock and bond holders
4 the Chicago and Alton out of sixty I
hree million dollars. the charge being q
pecihcally made and the figures :
'lainly stated in the official report of
ne interstate commerce commission. Q
The Appeal TO Reason has no apol- D
gy TO make to Mr.. Roosevelt. What r
he Appeal has printed it stands by.
II has been guilty Of Islander let it
e pointed out. that il may be shorn of :
s power for evil and Stunned of hon
ST men. But its three hundred thous-
nd CI1hCprihnrC lrnnrr- q