The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1922-12-15
1000 CROWD HALL
TO HEAR DEBS AND
JEANLONCUET'

Chicago.-Ten minutes Of cheering
broke out in Ashland Auditorium yes
terday from 4G00 persons who filled
every seat, lined the four walls, and
even stood in the aisles, when Eugene
w. Debs, accompanied by his nurse,
quietly entered the hall from q rear
door, to extend the welcome of Ameri-
can comrades to Jean Longuet, the
French Socialist and grandson OF
Karl Marx. in whose honor the meet
ing was held. Several thousand 9TH
ers, who couldn't get in, clamored for
an address outside.
The two Socialists shared honors.
Longuet, who had been given a
hearty if less nosiy welcome, a half
hour earlier, advanced on the plat
form and kissed Debs on both cheeks
in European fashion. Little girls
came forward with baskets and bou-
ouet of red roses for Debs, while the
crowd continued its cheering and
fash1ight monographs were taken of
the scene.
Old Power Reappears.
When the chairman, William A.
Guinea, announced that Debs would
speak,. there was another noisy de-
monstraiton. Only for few sent
ences did the veteran Socialist leader
show any sign of weakness. Then his
old strength seemed suddenly to re-
appear on this, his first public ap-
pearance since his release from Att'
lanta prison. There were the old
familiar gestures, the crouching with
hands on knees, the pacinv back and
forth across the platform, those ter
rife affirmations of pointed forefinger,
the flashing epigram, the singing
wit.
II am just recovering from the eff
fects of a speech made over four
years ago. Debs said "It must have
been very long speech, for it began
in Canton, O., and ended in Atlanta.
I opposed the war. have no regrets.
I still oppose wars. [ would not go
to war at the command of any cap
italist government in the whole world.
Our people were opposed to the war,
but they had no voice in the matter.
The people never do have. Rulers
make wars and workers fight them.
NY conscience costs me my citizen
ship, but that is better than to have
had my citizenship cost me my con-
hscience."
Ashamed to Be Out of Jail
Debs referred to the jaiiing of Is
men in Joliet under the Illinois Grim
inal syndacalist law, to the Mooney
case, to the IS men still held as po-
litical prisoners in federal peniten-
tiaries, and said: 81 am almost
ashamed to be out of jail while those
men are in"
For over half an hour, Debs talked
in his old time syle, and then elo-
quently welcomed Longuet to the city.
Jean Longuet, who spoke in Eng
lish with slight French accent, dealt
chiefly with the status of Europe to-
day. He said: "Why have you in
America, since the war, such terrible
industrial unrest? Why millions of
unemployed? Because Of the unrest
and misery of Europe, where people
cannot buy either the products of
your industries or your farms. These
problems are especially brought to the
front at the present time in America
because Of the coming over of one OF
those men who made the peace trea-
ties and who is to such large extent
responsible for the present state OF
the world, Georges Clemenceau.
Discusses Treaty Blunders
Longuet discussed the territorial
and economic blunders of the peace
treaties, the possibilities of another
conflict, and called upon American Ia
| Dor to join hands internationally with