The labor advocate. [volume] (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1912-1937, 1916-06-03

Long ago there was a strong man
who began his career in the service of
a noble cause slaughtering thousands
with the jawbone of an ass-he ended
spectacular life by pulling down the
pillars of mighty temple and dragged
men, women and children down with
him to death. Since the time of this
tribal hero, there have been many who
have conspicuously striven to perform
heroic deeds, but who have lost their
strength and the opportunity of man
hood through the seduction of some
Deilah-like ambition and have sought
to conceal their own defeat by dragging
others down in the wake of their ruin
Such a one is Eugene V. Debs. He
had power of personality, many quail
ties and parts that foreshadowed the
possibility of useful life. But he came
under the baneful influence of desire
for conspicuous action. He saw injus-
tice and suffering in the world and con-
ceived vision of their removal and
with Himself as the center of all eyes
performing these things for the people
Tie felt the lure of the spotlight, the
hunger for first page notoriety, nerv-
Gus unrest that found qualification only
in noisy applause.
gan career which has emulated a
wild West" show in thrilling situa-
tions and excitation to invidous sports
manship. The stakes from which he
gambled involved human welfare and
human opportunity agencies he
manipulated were trustful human souls
he egotism of Debs urged him on to
emulation of the heroic mood. He felt
that He must save the. DeODle
About 1894 MIR. George Howard, be-
fore that an officer of the Order of
Railway Conductors, disclosed to the
writer in Kansas City, Missouri, pro-
ject he had of launching a new organi-
zation OF all railway men of the coun-
try, absorb all the men in the railroad
brotherhoods and suppant those organi-
cations" He asked us to join with him
in that movement. We endeavored to
impress upon Mr.. Howard not only the
unwisdom but the injustice of such a
course, and that we could never place
ourselves i'll the position to try and tear
down what it had cost so much to build
up in the interest of the workers. Mr..
Howard's answer was: "Then | shall
have to get Gene Debs." And Mr. How
ard got Gene Debs and there was then
launched the american Railway I'm
lon,' Mr.. Debs assuming its presidency
while he was still editor of the official
magazine of the Brotherhood of Loco
motive Firemen In other words, Debs
became the head and front of move
ment to destroy the organization of
which he had been a trusted officer, both
as Secretary-treaSurer and later as edi-
tor of its official journal.
Under his leadership the stupendous
struggle of 1894 was undertaken, which
led the men into needless journeys
through the wilderness of sacrifice, re-
sulting in despair.
Failing in his project, his next step
was to organize a movement of workers
iii rivalry and antagonism to the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor He organized
the American Labor Union with which
he proposed his famous land colonial
ton scheme and minutive cooperative
commonwealth; each proposition being
abandoned, one after the other with
equal celebrity as they were dreamed by
him over night
Mr. Debs' next move was the organi-
zation of the Western Labor Movement
OF America.
Later when the Western Federation
of Miners withdrew from the A. +. of
fluence to keep that organization from
Mr. Debs. How disastrous and mis-
taken were the policies of the w. F. of
NJ. as advised and guided by Mr.. Debs
has been recently recounted by Presi-
dent Meyer in an illuminating bit of
labor history that must prove lasting
lesson and blessing for all wage-e earners.