Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1894 — DEBS ON THE STAND. [ARTICLE]

DEBS ON THE STAND.

Th* A. B. V. Chief Tell* of th* Pnllma. Strike and What Led to It. President Debs, of the American Railway Union, in his testimony before the strike commission, now in session in Chicago, told cf having received word that a strike in Pullman was imminent and of his coming to Chicago to investigate. “1 found," he said, “that the men were working for the Pullman Company at wagas upon which they could not live. I found that salaries had been cut time and again, until the skil ed mechanics were working their livex away for wages not sufficient for a common laborer; that the town of Pullman with its stops, its houses and its stores, was so schemed that every penny the workingmen made found its way back into the company’s coffers. In fast I found the workingmen of Pullman in a pitiable condition. The strike followed, ordered by the men themselves. Then came the boycott, ordered by duly elected delegates to our convention, and then followed the railroad strikes, ordered bv the various local unions, each of which had g.ievanoes of its own.”

"Would the railroad strike have occurred .had there been no Pullman trouble?” asked Commissioner Wright. “No; the Pullman strike was the prime cause. We desired to stop Pullman’s cars and shut off his income, thus forcing him to arbitrate. But the railroad men had grievances of their own. The Managers’ Association had been organized with the avowed intention of giving assistance to railroads in labor troubles. The evident aim was to drive organ!, ed labor from existence. No sooner had this a-sociation been formed than a systematic reduction of rai road wages all over the co ntry began. The cuts were made on one road at a time and in one department at a time, but the systematic regu arity with which they appeared wat sufficiently significant The men were ready to strike and felt they had cause. But the troub'e would not have come when It did had it not been for the Pu Iman matter." Mr. Debs then said that within five days after the strike was declared the union had the railroads beaten. “They were paralyzed, ” he said, “but just at that time injunctions were sown broadcast and shortly afterward the officials of the American Railway Union were arrested lor contempt of c urt. That beat us. It wasn t the railroads or the army, but the power of the United States courts that boat us." In reply to a question Mr. Debs said that the union had taken every possible means to prevent rioting and disorder. “We objected to the presence of the Federal troops, but not to the State troops and police. "