The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-07-28
An Inside Story, BY Eugene V. Debs

oughly disgraced by the expose of
his efforts to defeat justice for a
fee as has Attorney General Daugh-
erty, the browning shame of the
Harding administration. For a prom
ised fee of $25,000.00 and Morse's
pledge to make him and his accom-
plice rich men he used his influence
with President Taft to secure the
pardon of Charles w. Morse. multi
millionaire banker, ship-Owner and
Spectator, convicted of defrauding
the government and sent to the At
lanta penitentiary for his crime. As
| Senator Watson declared before the
senate, "No honorable lawyer would
| deceive the president as President
Taft has been deceived in this case.
The men who did it have no honor
in them"
How and why Morse got out of
, jail through the pull" of Attorney
General Dauyherty and his accom-
plice, Fielder, are here related by Eu
gene V. Debs, recently imprisoned
in the same penitentiary and con-
versant with the inside facts about
the amazing story of hof a multimil-
lionaire bought his way out of Jail.
There is nothing extraordinary in
the Morse case that | can see, nor
any reason why people should be
shocked about it any more than
there was for getting excited about
the Newberry case. The one bought
his seat in the United States senate
and the other bought his release
from the United States penitentiary.
The only unusual feature in the
Newberry case was that he paid
more than the average market price
for his toga, and the only remark
able thing about the Morse case is
that he was ever convicted at all.
Morse simply bought his way out the
same as any other multimilliOnalre
would have done, and | do not hold
| that against him. | have no desire
to see him go back to prison. | may
be less civilized than those who now
rule society, but l would not put a
profiteer'S dog. though he had bitten
me- in penitentiary.
Morse is neither better nor worse
than his profitteering kind, and if he
| ought to be in prison, so ought the
| entire lot of silk hated hooters who
bled the government white, while the
poor devils they conscripted were
slaughtered for it in the trenches.
AS it is. the Morses name our
judges, especially those on the fed
eral BENCH and more especially the
select few who occupy the supreme
seats, and why should these judges
be expected to send the Morses to
prison?
Why Imprison MultimilliOnaires
What business has multimillion-
aire in pententiary anyway? He
does not belong there. The convicts
| who are Gagged like beasts and treat
| ed accordingly are not recruited from
his class, but from the crushed and
| despoiled victims of his class.
The prison, like the poor-house tC
which it is first cousin, is for the
poor and not for the rich. Morse
| knew this, and who can blame him
for refusing to bring reproach upon
his class, the upper class, by occu-
| plying the position of beetle-brow'
ed convict, to which he had no valit
claim?
Taft's Part in the Deal
While at Atlanta prison l hearC
great deal about the Morse case
1
ever since President Taft's bowels Of
compassion moved him to give Morse
| his liberty in exchange for fraudu
lent certificates stating that he wa:
at the point of death. These certi
ficates were procured by Taft,s pc
| litical pals, and we are now told tina
Taft was deceived. How perfectly
silly and ridiculous! And what
chumps they must take their 100 pei
cent fellow-Americans to be to be
| lieve it!
| Taft had his part in the affair anC
we'll knew what he was doing wher
he set Morse free. 1t was notorious
that the Morses had furnished hi:
campaign funds and that he abject
ly did the bidding of Wall Street
from the beginning to the end of hi:
administration, just as he did wher
he was on the district bench in send
ing union men to Jail for violating
| the despotic orders issued by him
| through which he came to be known
as injunction Bill"
How could he, being Taft, REFUSE
the pals who had made him presi
dent? But granting that he was
| deceived. what sorry and sickenint
| spectacle he presents to his country
men in that humiliating role. II
either case Taft was and its respon
| sible and no one else, and ever!
Morse of high and low degree il
the land excited in his elevation t.
| the chief justiceship of the supreme
court of the United States.
The Morse case furnishes a topi,
for unceasing comment in the At
lanta prison. High prison officials
and inmates who served with MOrs'
began telling me about the case sool
after | got there. And this in sub
stance is what they told me: Plan.
were laid to get Morse out sool
after he began to serve his sentence
Tom Fielder, then an Atlanta lawyer
of unsavory reputation, was engaged
to do the underground work. Huge
fees were pledged to him and his con
federates. DR.. Fowler, the prison
physician, was at once placed upoI
the Fielder staff. After Morse'e re
lease the doctor HE'D himself Il
Europe on a pleasure trip, and since
Morse's recent indictment Fowler has
been reinstated to his former posi-
ton as prison physician. This il
mere coincidence, of counsel Fielder
after the release of his client, wal
transferred to pastures green in New
York, where he was put in toucl
big interests and fell heir to a ricl
law practice. He later complained
that Morse had failed to put up al
the cash and he and Daugherty hat
bargained for, but in answer to thi.
it has been suggested that he may
we'll be satisfied, for had it not beer
for Morse he would still be a third
rate pettifogger down in Georgia.
Daugherty Next to the Throne
Soon after Fielder got on the joi
he realized that he must find a pa