People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1895 — PATRIOTISM IN JAIL. [ARTICLE]

PATRIOTISM IN JAIL.

Ringing Words of Patriotism From a Victim of Corporate Villainy. From the jail at Woodstock, 111., E. V. Debs has issued the following manifesto to the American people: “In joing to jail for participation in the late strike w r e have no apologies to make nor regrets to express. We go to jail, not like quarry slaves, but sustained bj’ the consciousness that wc have done our duty. No ignominy attaches to us on account of this sentence. I would not change places with Judge Wood*, Mid if it in expected that

six months or even six years in j'«it "] purge me of contempt rhe punishuifl will fail of its purpose. I “Candor compels me to charaet® ize the whole proceedings as infamal It is not calculated to revive the ril idly failing confidence of the Amefl ean people in the federal judicial There is not a scrap of testimony I show that one of us violated any -fl whatever. And if we are guilty ■ conspiracy why are we punished fl contempt? This question will cJ tinue to be asked with ever-increasffl emphasis. I “I would a thousand times ratherl accountable for the strike than for fl decision. I “The ridicule of the press that I are ’posing as martyrs'will not detrifl the people. We all have homes al loved ones, and none of us is here fl choice. We simply abide by trary action of the courts. There fl higher power yet to be heard frefl No corporation will influence its defl ion. Our cause is that of conscientifl liberty and we have an abiding fafl in the American people. We acefl our lot with becoming patience fl composure. I “We can afford to wait. I “So far as I am concerned I feel til when all the circumstances are efl sidered it would only have been, fl graceful if we had so acquitt&? ol selves as to have kept out of jail, fl enemies are entitled to all the comffl they can extract from our imprisfl roent, and our friends need have® concern. I “Questions of great and grave fl port are up for decision. Great pfl ciples involving the liberty of fl qitizen are at stake. Out ot all fl good will come. There is one fun® mental, bedrock principle that fl American people will never suffer® be sacrificed. It may be menaced® it now is, but when the high eofl ‘We, the people,’ have judgment its enthronement will H fixed and secure for all time. ■ "We are by chance the mere mentalities in the evolutionary jfl jesses in operation through which® dustrial slavery is to be abolished fl economic freedom established. Tl® the starry banner will symbolize, a® was designed to symbolize, social, ■ litical, religious and economic email pation from the thraldom of tyranfl oppression and degradation. I “Eugene V. Debs, fl “McHenry County Jail, Woodsttfl 111., Jan. 8, 1895.” I