New Britain herald., 1926-10-21

war, cruelty, greed and lust must all give way before it. It will overthrow all tyrannies. It will empty all pri- sons. It will not only emancipate the human race eventually but to a great extent 1t lifts us individually above the struggle while we are in the thick of the fight for human brotherhood"
 A native of Terre Haute, Ind, born on November 5, 1855, he re- mained resident of that city and obtained his first railroad position locomotive fireman-on the Terre Haute & Indianapolis railroad work ing from 1871 to 1874. The next five years he was employed in whole sale grocery house but in 1880 he again answered the call of railroad ing.
 Entered Politics in 1879
 Debs first came under the political searchlight in 1879, when he served as city clerk at Terre Haute, Ind, holding the position until 1883. In 1885 he was elected to the Indiana legislature.
 Debs opened his labor activities in 1880 when he was chosen grand secretary and treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Bremen and served until 1893. As president of the American Railway union he directed and won a strike on the Great Northern railway early in 1894. and in the same year while managing the strike of the western railroads, he was charged with con- spiracy but was acquitted. This was the first time his name was in court records as defendant. He served his first jail sentence at Woodstock, III, where he was held for six months on a contempt of court charge for violation of an injunc- ton.
 Dcbs Urged Violence
 The AmeriC n railway strike, which paralyzed traffic in the west, had been broken, however, by the intervention of President Cleveland. who ordered federal troops to guard the trains. Released from jail, Debs urged the workers to "sell your shovel and buy a gun" and announc- ed he would consecrate his life to their emancipation. He became a socialist lecturer, writer and orga- nizcr and travelled all over the Unit ed States.
 From that the on Debs, the so- cialist, rallied round him all the strength the party could muster. In 1900, his first campaign r3r the pres idential chair, he boiled S7,Sl4 votes; in 1912. oo1,S72 and in 1920 nearly 100000. And so his popu- larity grew. Undaunted by Q peni- tentiary sentence, the socialist party nominated him as it's standard bear CT while he s a prisoner in the federal ponitentiary at Atlanta, Ga, serving a ten year sentence for vio- lation of the espionage act during the war.
 Sent To Prison
 Debs' conviction came as the re- suit of a speech he L.ade at Canton, O., in 1918. in which he attacked the part in the war and as sailed the terms of the selective serv- ice act under wh, ' the American army was being raised. He was found guilty in September, 1918, Of trying to obstruct the draft and was sentenced by Federal Judge David c. Westcnhaver to ten years in the w. Va, penitcntiary. Debs made no effort to prevent the of the penalty. John Brown of Ossawatomie, was his fav- orite eXampler. He offered no evi- dence in his own defense and made his own address to the jury, an ad dress characteristic of his style. just q clear stater' ent of the facts as he upheld them. To the jury he said:
 'I have no dispute with the evil dence presented by the government; no criticism of the counsel for the I would not take back q word of what l believed right to save myself from the penttentiary. I am accused of crime, but l look the court in the face. ] look the jury in the face, I look the world in the face, for in my heart no accusation of wrong testers.
 "Gentlemen, I have been accused of obstructing war. I admit it, I abhor war. l would oppose the war if I stood alone"
 Although Debs made no efforts to resist penalty his friends rallied to his support and the fight to save him was carried to the United States supreme court, which. on March 10, 1918, upheld the convic- ton. He was taken to Moundsville on April 13, 1919, and a few months later was transferred to Atlanta, Ga.
 Was Passive Prisoner.
 Still in prison Debs made no effort 10 obtain his release, but his friends worked unceasingly in his behalf. President Wilson on several occasions was petitioned to pardon Debs but refused on the ground that it would seriously affect the morale of the people. The last time such peti- ton was backed by an inquiry by the