Evening star., 1924-12-05
DEBS, RECOVERED,
TO RENEW FIGHT
With Health Restored, So
cialist Leader to Resume
His Battle for "Freedom."
n Dispatch TO The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind, December g.
In gray frame house in uttle-fre-
quented street in Terre Haute lives
q quiet, mild-mannered man whose
name is known the world over. He
is Eugene Debs, Socialist, who spent
three years in prison because of his
political views and who is back home
again after four months in a sana-
torium.
Born in aristocratic circles, he has
spent his life among the working
classes, fighting their battles, going
TO prison for their beliefs.
To most jof the sworld the name
Debs brings to mind a picture of a
hard-boiled, bomb throwing. riot
starting ruffian. Nothing could be
farther from the character of Eugene
Debs, known as Gene to his friends.
Peace and love, one man for another,
is what DebS wants, what he will
fight for, what he has gone to prison
for and what he is planning to work
for again, now that he has regained
his health.
Never Loses Hope.
Mr.. Debs is large man. broad
shouldered. gaunt. But he's not
fierce-looking man. His blue eyes
are friendly and mild. His smile is
gentle. His manner pleasing and
soothing. After talking to him
few minutes one knows why the
broken hearted, the hopeless and the
discouraged of the world go to him.
For to him nothing Is hopeless. He
Is full of courage, quiet determina-
ton and faith and filed with love
for his fellow man.
Mr.. Debs at present is busy on a
book of prison stories which will be
published in the spring. The mate
rial for these stories was gained
through his own prison experiences.
OF those experiences he says:
Il was not in prison. not my soul.
At my will those prison walls could
vanish, the bars melt into thin air.
] could roam the universe. But suf-
fered with those about me, those who
could not escape that prison, those
who were the victims of circum-
stances and who didn't understand.
Those prisoners were not criminals
because they were just naturally
mean and different from the rest of
humanity. With the right treatment
practically every one of them could
be reclaimed for society. Love, kind
ness, understanding. is what they
need. l know. 1 tried II on them and
1t worked.
Wins Slayer's Confidence.
''When I first went to prison there
was a man there whom every one
was afraid to approach. He was in
for murder, and was a rough, wild
fellow. But 1 went up to him, called
him by name and said:
I've are brothers. With your
training and in your environment
would have been what you are. with
my training and my environment you
would have been what 1 am. We
aren't really different
I'VE became real friends. Oh, 1t
would work with them all, 1 would
give anything 1 possess, five years of
my life. IL they would let me try It,
But they're afraid to. There's too
much graft connected with prisons"
Mr.. Debs won the hearts of the in
mates of that prison, there is no
doubt. AS the gates closed behind
him the day he was freed such a
shout went up from those he left be-
hind as had never before been heard
inside those grim. gray walls. 1t was
the shout of JOY of the prisoners that
their friend was free.
Mr.. Debs has just returned from a
sanatorium in Elmhurst, Mass. Four
months ago the doctors said he would
die.
But in my heart was the determi-
nation to live" he said.
Cured by Nature.
'Tn the sanatorium they let nature
take its course. If we only would let
her, nature would cure us of all our
ailments. We wore very little cloth
ing, allowing the sun and the air to
get to bodies that had been closed
away from 1t SO long. For breakfast
we had nothing but fruit. Most Of
the vegetables were eaten raw, skin
and all. We weren't put to bed with
nothing to do but lie and think about
sSSsssA