The Connecticut labor news., 1921-12-30
DEBS RELEASED,
 VISITS HARDING ON
 LATTER'S REQUEST
Makes Speech at Depot Leaving Washington and Is Promptly
 Called Down by Police.

Eugene V. Debs is out of prison and now at his home in Terra Haute, his sentence having been committed along with those of score ot others by President Harding i'll line with the Christmas amnesty spirit. Debs was sent to Washington at the request ot Attorney General Daugherty where he conferred with him and President Harding, but statements following that meeting declared that Debs had insisted that he would stick to his views on the social and economic problems.
 An ovation was given the. socialist leader as he emerged from the great iron gates of the prison. The roar from the crowd which had gathered outside the walls was echoed plainly from within as the many friends he had made during the past two years shouted a goodby. Debs paused in the gateway and waved his hat to a group within the prison before en- tering an automobile in which he was taken to the station.
 When asked his views regarding the release of war prisoners, Debs declared he did not care to discuss the 8subject at length, but added, "I left 2,3oo men back there and they all should be given their liberty. They are all my friends" He also de- clared he would work for the release of what he characterized as political prisoners.
 Debs was convicted in September, 1918, for obstructing the draft, and was sentenced to serve 10 years in the federal penitentiary. He made no effort to prevent the imposition of the penalty but his friends carried the fight to the United States supreme court which, in March, 1919, upheld Debs' conviction, and the socialist leader was taken to the Moundsville, w. Va, penitentiary. A few months later he was transferred to the At lanta prison~ Last spring he made a trip to Washington without escort for a conference with Attorney-General Daugherty in connection with efforts to obtain his pardon. Debs was ire quently praised as model prisoner at the Atlanta institution. Warden Dyche and former Warden Zerbst both referred to him "as an influence for good" in the prison.
 fha fr,0 4@ oeI1 AH- Daugherty said Debs came of his own "volition" while Debs declared his visit to Washington was at the "re- quest" of the attorney general, and that he was given a railroad ticket to the capital by the warden of the pen, itentiary without choice of destina. ton, although he had planned to gc immediately to his home at Terre Haute, Ind. After his conference witt Debs, the attorney general declared in a statement that there were nc unusual conditions attached to the commutation of the socialist leader: sentence, that no advice was offered to Debs nor was any requested, ano that he hoped Debs would direct hi! talents to useful purpose.
 Debs reached Washington at { o'clock Monday morning. He lief Atlanta in a day coach, giving tn, extra fare to Russian relief, but abou 10 o'clock at night, according tt friends who accompanied him, h. changed to a sleeper With him o1 his journey were his brother, Theo dore, Miss Celia Rotter of the Deb Freedom Conference, Miss Lucy Rob bins of the American Federation o Labor and a number of newspape men.
 He went immediately to hotel fo breakfast and then called upon tn attorney general, walking to the de partment of justice with his friend and a group of newspaper men, un noticed as he passed along tn streets. From the department h walked over to the White House an then back to his hotel
 He first planned to leave Washing ton as soon as his calls had bee paid, but it was decided to remai over night to confer with friend One of his first visitors after his re turn from the White House wa Samuel Gompers, president of tn American Federation of Labor, wh declared that the work for freedor "in behalf of political prisoners would go on.
 "I was courteously received by tn attorney general" he continued, "an expressed to him my interest in an my devotion to my fellow prisoner who were no more guilty that I an who still remain in prison"
 By fellow prisoners, he explained