Kansas agitator. [volume], July 12, 1894, Image 1

About Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
p
VOL. 5.
GARNETT, KANSAS, JULY 12, 1894.
NO. 8.
Devoted to the interests of
THE MASSES.
A Fearless, Aggressive, Progressive
Advocate of All Reforms.
W.O.CnAMPE, Editor.
J M Alexander, ) Assoc,teEd8.
W. II. Ambrose, )
EUGENE V. DEBS.
Eugence V. Debs, president of the
American Railway Union, was born
in Terre Haute, Ind., in 1855, on
Guy Fawkes' day. He attended his
father's store in the daytime, aud
got his education at night. His
first work was in the paint shops of
the Vandalia road, from which posi
tion he arose to be a fireman on a
locomotive running between Terre
Haute and Vandalia. It was not
until he joined the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen that he devel
oped his ambition. He was sent as
a delegate to the convention, and
ultimately became editor of the Lo
comotive Firemen's Magazine. In
1884, he was sent to the state legis
lature by the Democrats. In 1893,
he set to work to organize the Amer
ican Railway Union. Personally,
Mr. Debbs is an earnest, quiet, de
termined, undemonstrative man.
Speaking of Mr. Debs, the Chi
cago Record (which cannot be said
to be a very warm friend of the
laboring man) says :
"The gentlemen who write so bit
terly against Mr. E. V. Debs are
certainly unacquainted with him.
We will not believe they would wit
tingly misrepresent so sincere, so
loyal and so kindly a man. Mr.
Debs is, to our thinking, laboring in
serious error just at present, but we
do not question his sincerity, be
cause we know him personally, and
we know him to be a sincere, ear
nest, honest man. We can forgive
much and overlook much nay, we
are prepared to even make conces
sions and sacrifices to earnest and
sincere people, even though their
theories and practices and methods
may not be in conformity with our
ideas. Debs is by no means the
monster some of our contemporaries
m It,
would have jou believe him to be.
His nature is by no means dictato
rial, and he is wholly incapable of
executing or planning or. suggest
ing or approving of violence. He
believes he is right, and he believes
he is doing what is to the benefit of
those whose interests appeal to him
for sympathy, advocacy and co-operation.
People who are bo wise as
some of the rest of us are can sure
ly afford to tote fair with a man of
whom the worst that can truthfully
be said is that he is misguided.
"George M. Pullman may be right
and E. V. Debs may be wrong
seriously wrong ; let us presume so ;
and, having granted that much, this
much can be added with positive
ness : If ye be ill, or poor, or
starving, or oppressed, or in grief,
your chances for sympathy and for
succor from E. V. Debs are 100
where your chances with G. M.
Pullman would be nil whittled
down."
We quote the following from a
personal letter from Mrs. Mary E.
Lease : "What a crisis is upon us 1
and how wonderfully God is edu
cating the voters of this nation ! It
would seem as though the great
work of reform is to be developed
and carried on whether we take part
in the movement or otherwise. It
seems to mo that we have reached a
time when men and personalities
must bo lost sight of that principles
may triumph. I may be wrong, but
back of Cleveland and his order to
the federal troops I see the controll
ing influence of England. I arn re
minded of Luther's hymn :
"We wait beneath the furnace blast
The pangs of transformation.
Not painlessly doth God recast
And mould anew the nation."
Strikes are no help to the strik
ers, but, in nine cases out of ten,
are a positive detriment.
It is an awful fact it is really
not short of awful that in this
country (Great Britan) with all its
wealth, all its vast resources, all its
power, 45 per cent. that is to say,
nearly one half of the persons who
reach the age of 60 are or have
been paupers. I say that it is a tre
mendous fact, and I cannot conceive
any subject more worthy of the at
tention of the legislature, more
worthy of the attention of us all.
John Morley.
And it is another "awful fact"
that since the adoption of the Brit
ish system of finance by the United
States, pauperism and crime have
increased at an appalling 1 late.
Special privileges granted by legis
lative enactments have enabled the,
few favored ones to rob the English
nation and make "45 per cent." of
the inhabitants of the" sea-girt
isle paupers. Considering the length
of time the robber system of finance
has been in force in this nation, its
effects have been much . more dis
astrous. Twenty five years more
will make more than 45 per cent, of
this people paupers or put them so
low in social and financial condi
tions as to wrest from them a love
of country, and then will come col
lapse. The purest patriotism will
develope in defence of home.
"Men will not fight for a mere
boardincr house."
We print the following extract
from a private letter from an uncle
who lives at Dublin, Ind.: "It
seems that the money power and
labor are engaged in a death strug
gle. So long as the saloon controls
politics, capital will come out on
top. I have frequently remarked
that we are, to-day, more the vassals
of Great Britain than when the tea
was sunk in Boston harbor ; but 1
am inclined to vary that and say we
are the vassals of the Rothschilds'
house of German bankers. If the
indebtedness of the world is two
hundred billion dollars, and the en
tire amount of gold in the world in
$3,700,000,000, and the Rothschild'
house owns $3,000,000,000 of th
whole amount, on a gold basis,- hov
is the debt 10 be paid ? You hav
studied algebra I never did. Ca i
you figure it out ?''
Send us a dime and get a "Keep
Off the-Grass" badge. It's a daisy
..A.
a)
I